Les Aventures d'André et Wally B.

It was proof that motion blur techniques and complex 3D objects could be used against a partially rendered background. This was the birth of the greatest animation studio currently working today. The seed that enabled The Graphics Group to form, what is now known as, Pixar. Therefore automatically assigning this animation short as an important part of animation history. A refreshing new method into filmmaking, especially back in 1984. Colourful 3D shapes conjoined together to create models. Unfortunately though, its conceptual proof does not make for an engaging story...or anything engaging for that matter. A man/creature/thing gets chased by a bee. Simple. Totalling at less than two minutes long, it contains no characterisation, interactivity or memorability. Nearly a third of the short itself is introductory and closing credits, consequently leaving approximately one minute to establish some sort of entertainment. Too bad it fell flat. The primary focus for innovation meant that its actual purpose as entertainment was lost. However I appreciate the technical prowess and astute innovation, acting as a stepping stone for the pinnacle company of animation that we know and love today.

I gotta admit that if you watch this film today and don't understand the context for it, then you will most likely not be particularly impressed. It's such a very simple animated short and one that seems amazingly ordinary--something you could easily make today given the right rendering software and a home computer. However, think back to 1984. People rarely had home computers and those who did had systems that had major compatibility issues--with not much more power than a modern calculator (less in some cases). There were no hard drives--those that did exist were minuscule. Macintosh computers were yet to come and IBM compatible computers used primitive versions of DOS and many were using Commodore and other simple computers. And, most importantly, most games were either text only or had very, very rudimentary graphics. In this context, ANDRE AND WALLY B is absolutely amazing and breathtaking. The Pixar folks were not yet a big company but just a few individuals doing work on huge computers and they had to design all the software themselves!! And, in spite of all this, the graphics were lovely and the story of a cute bee quite watchable--even though it was really more an experimental film than anything else. Oddly, while this film is not terribly exciting today, I still prefer it to a couple of the later Pixar films (such as RED'S DREAM). A great start.

This was the next short on Disney plus that I hadn't already reviewed. Certainly, one of the most significant on the app, it's desperately short and desperately dull - but it's all about it's history.

A humanoid character, Andre awakens in a forest and discovers that a bumblebee is in his eyeline. He convinces the Bee, Wally, to look the other way and then makes a run for it. Wally though has other ideas.

I mean, it's not fun. It's over in a couple of minutes and has very little in the way of anything really to entertain you, particularly in comparison to what computer animation is capable of today. But you have to divorce yourself from the present and consider the historical significance of the short. Directed by Alvy Ray Smith and animated by John Lasseter. They would produce the short under the name "The Graphics Group" which at the time was a small sub-division of Lucasfilm. Soon though these same people would form Pixar and become a company in their own right believing firmly in the principles of computer-generated animation and going on to create several beloved masterpieces.

You are effectively trying to review a tech demo, rather than something designed to be genuinely entertaining. You quite simply don't get to "Toy Story 3" without these small, crude looking steps taken decades earlier. It's hard though to recommend you watching it, beyond those interested in cinematic history.

From 1984, this short film was the first work that John Lasseter, Eben Ostby and Bill Reeves made as a team but it was made when they still were part of Lucasfilm. Basically is just the beginning of all so everything is quite limited. With only one and half minute this short film can't be more than just the very important and fantastic beginning of something. Is great to hear the commentary of the Blu-ray and now is fun to hear the fact that Lasseter and pals could only made geometric designs with their program. Still the could create two nice characters that are the protagonist of a "one joke" story and with that they could not only show a project that was new in matters of technology but at the same time they could put to it soul, they made that their colleagues didn't care about the fact that when the short was showed, in a very known event by them, was not even finished. It was something new, something different.

This is the kind of stuff that if -TODAY- you are going to show to your girlfriend, for example, and she doesn't really know about it you really have to explain her everything behind it, make sure that she will not judge it just for how the animation looks or how funny was the story, make sure that she appreciate everything behind because and after all it is just a must-see important piece of work and for me it was absolutely great to finally watch it.

An android and a bee in Conflict.

It is worth noting that this was very important when it was first released. By the standards of the time it is impressive. I'd like to call attention to the opening which imitates a crane shot and pan, highly cinematic in its own right, and something that hadn't really been seen before this in animation, at least not looking so convincing.

Of course by today's standards it is very dated. It doesn't feel fair or particularly useful to criticize 3D that is literally just shy of 40 years old. So I will not be doing that. However, it isn't particularly fun or engaging, something absolutely not true of other works of the time, and much further back, including ones not live action. Of course I'm not expecting something profound in 90 seconds not counting in credits. And I do appreciate that this was legitimately just something John Lasseter and others made for his kids. I'll just say that I'm really glad that Pixar has gone above and beyond improving that they have a lot to offer since making this. This, along with a lot of its ilk, is currently available at no additional fee on Disney plus.

I recommend this to completists. 6/10.