Lava

Lava tells the story of a lonely volcano, yep really. Anyway this volcano spends his days singing and that's the general premise of this. Generally I adore these beautiful little shorts and Piper (2016) really set the bar. Don't get me wrong Lava is good, it has your usual Pixar charm and hits you right in the feels but it just didn't have "It" whatever "It" may be.

If I saw two one man bands competing for the attention of a little girl to get a shiny gold coin (One Man Band: 2005) I'd laugh and cheer, if I saw a magician trying to keep his unruly rabbit in check (Presto:2008) I'd be in hysterics, if I saw a baby bird brave the new world I'd d'awww (Piper:2016) but I can confidently say if I saw a singing volcano I'd run screaming in soggy trousers (It'd be sweat I swear).

Sweet, heartfelt, but a lonely singing volcano really?

We saw this short before "In & Out" just a day after returning from a vacation in Hawaii, where my 11 year-old daughter learned to play the Ukulele. When the music started and the story unfolded, we looked at each other and gave the "Thumbs Up" sign, really enjoying this short. The Pixar artists did a great job in capturing the serenity and calmness of the Hawaiian island spirit of nature. Having been listening to IZ before and during our vacation, the music and voices did justice to his spirit of music and the cute play on words with "Lava".

My daughter is now desperate to locate the written score for this music to learn to play on her ukulele. I hope this will become available for sale soon!

Pixar - thank you for something different that has a valuable message: in the vastness of the natural world, what we have here on Earth is special, and finding someone to share our hopes and dreams is an amazing event worthy of our best hopes, dreams, and inspired creativity.

I had seen this little short film before seeing "inside out" in the cinema so in 2015 and I saw it again today in 2021, it's a marvel! An excellent romantic poetry! Very emotional and the song is amazing. One of the best short films ever made!

Lava is a charming short animation from Pixar.

The story is simple, a volcanic mountain in the middle of the ocean is singing for companionship. A female lava or should I say lover.

As the centuries turn into millenniums then into millions of years, the lonely volcano is sinking beneath the sea in extinction but right at the bottom for all this years was a female volcano who forever has been enchanted with his song who rises out from the bottom of the ocean just as he dips beneath it.

Can the old volcano make his lava stir one more time and find true love?

A simple, elegant original cartoon with a catchy song and wonderful animation.

Lava (2014)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Exceptionally entertaining Pixar short has a volcano singing about "lava" and how he wishes he had someone to spend time with. Over millions of years we learn that there's a volcano under the water who has heard him the entire time. This Pixar short is another classic from the studio who seem to be just as good at making shorts as they are the features and that's saying a lot. As you'd expect, the actual animation is really wonderful and I'd argue that some of the studio's best work can be found here including a brilliant sequence where we see the volcano over thousands of years. The time elapse was just something beautiful to see. Then there's the song itself, which is incredibly clever and packs a nice little punch at the end. This film really does a great job at showing this love story through the ages and I think parents will enjoy it just as much as children.