La Luna

"La Luna" is an incredible experience. From the first seconds, the film portrays absolute peace, and the music is the star. I would have been content if there was no plot; just the setting, the music, and the brilliantly animated characters were enough to take me far away from the movie theater and transport me into another world. There's none of the goofiness that's present in many of Pixar's other shorts. Instead, the film is honest; enthralling.

The plot is timed out absolutely perfectly, so the audience is begging to know what will come next without wishing the story would move any faster. More often than not, I find that short films (especially the funny ones) struggle with timing, and stretch out one simple idea a little bit too long. "La Luna" masterfully avoids this problem by presenting a well-developed, mysterious story (in fact, a main idea is hidden from the audience until the last few seconds) that is more fulfilling than any full-length feature I have seen in months.

It takes all of six minute to see the point of this, but that doesn't matter. Every step of the way we are introduced to little wonders. Why are these people out in this little boat? What's with the ladder? Why is the little boy included? All this is eventually explained. The visuals are crisp and sound. The music is so calming. When we think of moonlight, we think of centuries of people who have felt its spell. Don't miss this one. It can't help but raise your spirits.

Preceding Brave is the Academy Award nominated short film, La Luna. What we have here is a silent film that tells the tale of the lessons a son learns from their father, and vice versa. This is nicely juxtaposed next to Brave, which is about the lessons mothers and daughters teach each other. La Luna is a gorgeous and moving little film that manages to tell a better story in a few minutes (with no dialogue) than most of its two-hour long counterparts. To go into too much detail would really ruin the fun of discovering just why this boy is at sea with his father and grandfather. Just know that the few minutes this short film lasts are very moving and are something to behold.

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I don't know short films like these other guys do, but what I know is that after this short ended, I told my brother it was worth the price of admission just to see the cartoon. I say that, and I walked in the theatre after the short was well underway.

The music is great, it's simply great, and it makes the film. I find it fascinating that the music does so much, yet the animation is so entrancing that the music is felt rather than heard. It's rare to see something on par with excellent music.

I write this only because I'm desperately searching for an online copy, I must see it again.

Just watched this Oscar-nominated Pixar computer animated short before the feature Brave with my movie theatre-working friend. He didn't know about this showing before the feature and was a little confused when it ended. I, however, knew about it but I didn't know what to expect. I mean, there's a young boy, his father, and his grandfather and they're on this boat and the moon is full...I'll stop there and just say that what happens after that is so wonderful and awe-inspiring and just such a sight to see that I don't want to reveal too much. Just that if you have an active imagination, you really shouldn't miss La Luna. I mean, don't expect any loud laughs but expect to maybe chuckle a bit at some of the way the three characters interact with each other. So, yeah, that's a recommendation.