Red's Dream

Pixar were starting to experiment. After the success of their previous short 'Luxo Jr', Lasseter attempted to recreate the technicality and wonderment of the animation by introducing new techniques. Imitating geographically complex locations, such as the bike shop, showcased how advanced rendering has evolved throughout the 80s. Lasseter was able to detail several bicycles (include the spokes) and still maintain a consistent frame rate. Still, he managed to convey a story through visually striking methods, this time an unwanted unicycle nostalgically dreaming about its time at the circus. As minimal and weak as the story is, it melancholically portrays depression. A somewhat mature theme for the younger audience, but with enough buoyancy and creativity to keep them engaged. The anthropomorphic objects are consistently animated and uphold a sense of personality, however with the introduction of a human character, highlights areas of weakness in terms of animation. That clown is something else. Absolutely terrifying, and I'm sure many kids bursted into tears. The rigid formation, stiff facial features and essence of inhumanity show that replicating human models was just not ready. Although, an admirable attempt nonetheless. Certain aesthetics have aged well, others have not. Red's Dream certainly is no nightmare, but not the idyllic fantasy Lasseter may have visualised. Certainly ambitious!

'Red's Dream', at the time of writing, currently ranks as one of Pixar's lesser known efforts, something which I find quite ironic considering the subject matter of this endearing little short - a lonely and dejected unicycle has to deal with being the only item in a bicycle store restricted to the clearance corner. His only real coping mechanism is to sit there dreaming of better things, and the amazing stunts he could pull if only given a chance to prove his worth, in particular upstaging a rather clueless clown in the circus ring. It's more of a situation than a story, really, but it works very well, and you get a good feel of Red's sorrow and predicament as it goes. And I can't help but love it as much as any of the company's classic material - it's downbeat, there isn't a great deal to laugh at, and its overall sombreness will probably come as quite a shock to anyone raised solely on 'Knick Knack', 'For the Birds' and Pixar's other various laugh-out-loud contributions. But 'Red's Dream' manages to hold the viewer's attention through something a little more striking than just its potential comedy value. For all its fantastical personification, it succeeds in capturing a very real and very poignant aspect of human nature - that is, the desire for escapism from a bleak reality.

The reality in which our protagonist lives - as reflected in the colourlessness of the bicycle store - is cruel and harsh, and subjects him to constant negligence from those around him (not even the other bicycles seem to respond to him). But Red finds solace in his dream, however temporarily, and I know that everyone can identify with him on that one on at least some level, just as we can all see something of ourselves in both Woody and Buzz of the 'Toy Story' realm. Strange as it may sound, you really end up feeling for this poor little wheel, and when he envisions his colourful circus scene, and being loved by the audience, you really wish that it could come true and that he could stay there. But at the same time, you're left with the uneasy awareness that that's all it is - a dream, and nothing more - and that Red will have to face up to the real world sooner or later.

The 3D animation quality is nice enough - that clown does look pretty grotesque and chunky I'll admit, being Pixar's first real attempt at an organic character, and a telling sign of their current lack of expertise in this particular field, but then again, he IS a clown, so I don't think it really matters! Otherwise, the visuals are thumbs up, and Red himself is undeniably cute (it says, a lot don't you think, that you can end up getting attached to an animated unicycle with no organic features whatsoever?) On the whole, the general mood of the short did leave me feeling a little cold, but appropriately so, and it's definitely worthy of being a classic in the same league as 'Luxo Jr'.

Above all, Pixar are capable of making me actually care about such everyday inanimate objects as desk lamps, tin toys, miniature snowmen and unicycles - and that has got to be worth something.

Grade: A-

It was slightly creepy due to the animation style, but i really loved the plot and it was really sad :( i think it was really good for the time, and the way they made a unicycle emote >>>

A unicycle dreams.

The relfective water and rain really shows us something that was not yet commonplace. Like other of the early Pixar shorts, this has some impressive animation that pushed the boundaries, and is otherwise not all that interesting. It's slow, repetitive and not especially funny. The cartoon physics gag especially is weak - Looney Tunes had done substantially better decades earlier.

Basically the titular Red imagines that a Pennywise level creepy clown would use him as part of his juggling act. Three and a half minutes. It's on Disney+, at no extra charge after the subscription fee.

I recommend this only to completists. 6/10.

I make my living as the night engineer at the local PBS TV station. I also happen to be a LONG time animation freak.

I've loved and collected the cartoons from Disney, the Fleischer Brothers, Warner Brothers and all the rest for a very long time. I felt that the art of the cartoon was a static field and that it would never drift far from it's pen and ink roots.

One night at work... after a program that ran a few minutes short of a full hour, PBS used RED'S DREAM as filler material to round out the hour.

A whole new world opened up on the screen...

When RED came along, computer animation was still in it's infancy. I think Pixar produced the film as a demonstration piece for what their technology is capable of. At that point in time computer animation was still very expensive, probably as expensive as the traditional, one drawing at a time process of making cartoons by hand.

Cartooning done the traditional way has become SO expensive that it's caused some major players to either get out of the field, or make major concessions in film quality.

The beloved "Termite Terrace", the old Warner Brother's cartooning unit, closed years ago. Likewise, to cut down on the number of drawings required, Fred Flintstone suffers from "Hanna Barberra Palsey"; frequently, Fred's feet and mouth are the ONLY things on the screen that move.

To combat the high costs of traditional, full motion cartooning, SOME concessions to modern technology have come to the fore. In some of Ralph Bakshi's work (HEY GOOD LOOKIN' and THE HOBBIT for example) he moved offshore to cut labor costs (Ireland), and used Xerox copying.

Disney had ALWAYS been the unquestioned master at giving drawn characters the subtle nuances of personality, and occasionally he did it with inanimate objects like Red. My personal Disney favorite is "Casey Junior", the little locomotive that pulls the circus train in DUMBO. I saw somewhere that Casey's personality was inspired by the cartoonist watching a puppy. I can believe that easily; while trying to get the train moving, Casey does a maneuver that's VERY familiar to anyone who has spent a lot of time around dogs; Casey does a "Play Bow", a canine move used as an invitation to other dogs to come out and play with him.

It was little touches like this that convinced me that the cartoonist and animator never had to worry about being automated out of a job by computers.

But... then came Red.

Red is ASTONISHING. This simple little unicycle achieves the goals that every cartoonist shoots for in his creations. In a very short film he introduces himself, displays a clearly defined personality, communicates to the viewer his wants, needs, and motivations, and he manages to touch that indefinable something deep inside of the viewer that makes you CARE about him. You really IDENTIFY with this simple little character in a four minute film.

That's what cartoons are all about, and Red touches every one of the bases.

When I saw this little guy, I realized that the traditional pen and ink and drafting board were on their way out, to be replaced by the microprocessor and the graphics tablet

The Shreks, Roger Rabbits, and all of the other modern cartoon characters were inevitable, both because of the economics of animation, and the success of little films like RED'S DREAM.

We owe this little unicycle, yearning for stardom, a vote of thanks. He himself may be a dead end, but he opened the door to a whole new generation of cartoons.