Lava

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.

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.

Lava is a great short film with a well developed story and a terrific voice cast. The film manages to tell a very sweet story in the space of less than ten minutes, and also within this small amount of time it takes place over hundreds of years, it's very impressive how a short film can do that and we feel a genuine connection for this talking volcano and want him to succeed in his dream. As far as Pixar's short films go, this isn't one of the greats, I would normally find myself given these shorts a rating of nine, but Lava is missing that magic that is evident in shorts such as Day & Night and For the Birds, and it simply isn't as memorable. The voice acting is outstanding, there are only two voices heard in this movie, which is quite rare for a Pixar short, their singing is beautiful and perfectly conveys the overall ton and message of the film, to never give up on your dreams. It's not Pixar's finest short, but Lava is a fun and a very sweet seven minutes that will warm you up for Inside Out, definitely worth the watch.

A volcano struggles for millions of years to find love.

This is an Academy Award worthy short film. The music is amazing, the artistry was beautiful, and I may have even shed a tear or two. It is a must see for all. Pixar is a petri dish for animation geniuses. This is by far one of their best shorts yet. It is as good if not better than Paperman and Knick Knack . Not to mention it blows Frozen Fever out of the water despite the cute Snowgies. In fact I'd pay to see Inside Out again just for this short. My only complaints are that I have no where to download the song, and l have to wait for the next Pixar Short Films Collection. I give it a 10 star rating. But don't take my word for it go see it yourself.

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!