Short and Sweet: Film #205 - Light & Heavy (1991)
Viewed July 24, 2006
In 1991, Pixar created a couple of short short cartoons for Sesame Street. If you’ve watched the show (and who hasn’t), you know the kind of thing; a simple, straightforward demonstration of a concept or idea. Light & Heavy examines the notion of the difference between light and heavy objects using the characters of Pixar’s groundbreaking Luxo Jr.
The interesting thing is that Light & Heavy, with its less than two minute running time, is able to convey almost as much character as the original short. The two lamps show that their personalities are strong enough for the audience to connect with them despite the brevity of the film and the comparative simplicity of the models.
Pixar used to do a lot of commercials, where they came to prominance with campaigns for Gummy Life Savers and Listerine (you may remember them). It’s a skill that they don’t use nearly as much as they used to as their films have become more sophisticated and on a bigger scale. Seeing something like Light & Heavy is a reminder of an earlier time in Pixar’s history, when they were still defining what CGI could do. Unfortunately, Light & Heavy is only commercially available on a DVD compilation “Computer Animation Showcase” and it’s companion piece, Surprise, is not apparently available at all. But fans of Pixar should seek them out. Light & Heavy, at least, has all the same magic as their better known works.