Disney/Pixar Animated Short Reviews: #66 Movie Time 2015 6 out of 10

Movie Time 2015   6 out of 10

In the latest Mickey Mouse cartoon --Mickey Mouse braves the storm of the century in search of snacks for movie time.  This wasn't one of the better cartoons in the series.  Mickey basically ignores the storm warning -because movie time without snacks is unthinkable.  The storm rages on as he blindly wanders through the streets with the wind blowing other animals past him.  The cartoon relies on the man focused on his task unaware of the wacky things happening around him concept.  He gets to the store and is trying to pick out a bag of chips as the storm rages on.  Finally he realizes how bad the storm is as it levels the building he is in his the shop owner and then he tries to rescue Minnie --getting electrocuted several times in the attempt.  It was a decent cartoon with several okay sight gags --but it just didn't rise to the level of many of the cartoons in the series.  

You can see these cartoons on Disney online or the Disney Channel.

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Disney/Pixar Animated Short Reviews: #65 Riley's First Date ? 2015 9 out of 10

Riley's First Date?  2015  9 out of 10

Pixar’s Animated Short  Riley’s First Date?  Proves that the story potentials for the world they created in Inside Out are endless.  Although the concept for Inside Out wasn’t new as I talked about in my movie review 
http://braddisneylandblog.blogspot.com/2015/06/disney-animated-movie-review-11-inside.html
Pixar took the concept to the next level with the movie.  


There is so much to play around with in this fictional world.  
Inside Out mainly focused on the emotions Inside Riley’s brain –but it also gave us a look inside some of the other characters heads as well.   There is a classic scene in the movie where we see inside both the parents brains as they try to figure out why Riley is in such a bad mood in the film.   In Riley’s First Date we get to see more of what the parents are thinking as they try to deal with the fact that their daughter may be going on her first date.   
The cartoon also goes inside the mind of the date and the results are a great entertaining little cartoon.  The Dad doesn’t want any guy dating his daughter and we get to see his emotions react to this boy sitting in his house.  The mom is trying to act “cool” and find out what is going on with her daughter.  This was a great setting for an Inside Out story.    If you liked the movie this cartoon is a must see.  I hope they do many more of these cartoon shorts in the Inside Out world.    If you recall the final scenes from the film during the credits---the possibilities for story ideas are absolutely endless.    I would love to see a cartoon in the Inside Out world between  featuring a dog and a cat.   We briefly got to see inside their minds at the end of the feature film….but imagine a take on an old Tom and Jerry cartoon when you can see what is going on inside their minds.   

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Disney/Pixar Animated Short Reviews: #38 Monsters University: Party Central 9 out of 10

Monsters University: Party Central 9 out of 10

This Pixar short that preceded The Muppets Most Wanted was great.  It feautures the hapless Revenge of the Nerds like Frat that our favorite Monsters from the film.  They are  trying unsuccessfully to throw a college party.  Mike and Sully show up with a couple of Monsters Inc doors which they use to cleverly steal the party from the more popular frat.   It was really funny with many interesting sight gags they sneak the party piece by piece through doors that pass through a couple of humans bedroom.  It was the perfect use of the characters in the Monsters University setting.   The gags involving the use of the doors were great.  Definitely check this short out if you like the Monsters universe.

Disney/Pixar Animated Short Reviews: #29 O Sole Minnie 2013 8+ out of 10

O Sole Minnie  2013  8+ out of 10

The latest Mickey Mouse short follows Mickey in Venice as a Gondolier trying to woo Minnie.  This was a cute cartoon with Mickey battling to get Minnie's attention while having to overcome obstacles along the way.  Mickey keeps getting thwarted by bad timing and a giant hippo that mistakes his efforts for him trying to woo her instead.  Eventually Mickey wins Minnie's heart in this cute stylish adventure.   A strong effort in the series. Mickey is at his best when he is in hero mode.

The cartoon can currently be found airing on the Disney Channel and Disney Online

Disney/Pixar Animated Short Reviews: #12 La Luna 7 out of 10 2011

La Luna  2011  7 out of 10  

This Pixar animated short is a short, simple and sweet tale about a little boy learning from his grandpa and dad.  They have very strange job which is too row a boat out into the middle of the ocean and climb a ladder up to the moon in around to make the moon the shape it is for the evening.  Like I said it is simple and yet effective little short that captures a special feeling like nearly all Pixar shorts do.

This short premiered with Brave in the theaters and can be found on Pixar's Animated Shorts Volume 2 DVD.

Disney/Pixar Animated Short Reviews: #9 Small Fry 2011 9 out 10

Small Fry  2011  9 out of 10

This short animated Toy Story toon was really clever fun and enjoyable.  A mini Buzz Lightyear  fun meal toy replaces Buzz while at a trip to the local fast food restaurant.   The real Buzz ends up lost in the ball pool and then finds himself in a  support group for  fast food toys that haven't been played with.   The cast of forgotten toys is classic and this short feature is really worth checking out just to see the cast of misfit toys.  The creativity behind these fake not so fun toys is true Pixar.  I laughed out loud at Ghost Burger.

Small Fry can be found on the DVD Pixar Animated Shorts Volume 2

Disney/Pixar Animated Short Reviews: #7 Hawaiian Vacation 2011 7 out 10

Hawaiian Vacation   7 out of 10

Hawaiian Vacation is a fun little Pixar animated short that features pretty much all the Toy Story gang from Toy Story 3.  Ken and Barbie were hoping to tag along with Bonnie on a Hawaiian Vacation --but instead end up stuck in her bedroom with all the other toys.    The gang decides to create a vacation for them that had some funny moments with the characters we have grown to love.  It wasn't one of the better Pixar shorts---but any adventure involving  the Toy Story gang is worth enjoying.

The highlight was probably Buzz Lightyear's  glow stick twirling  Luau act.

This short is featured on the Pixar animated shorts DVD Volume 2

Disney/Pixar Animated Short Reviews: #5 Dug's Special Mission 2009 7+ out of 10

Dug's Special Mission  2009  7+ out of 10

This Pixar short follows the adventures of Dug the cute and funny talking dog in the movie UP before he meets the main characters in the movie.  It is Dug's birthday and the pack of dogs that he works under  give him a special assignment to basically keep Dug out of the way --which backfires.  Dug haplessly keeps getting in the way in a style that seems straight out of a Road Runner cartoon.  The short is short and sweet as Dug finally has a happy ending to his birthday and is a great companion piece to the movie UP.

This short can be found on Pixar Shorts Volume 2 DVD.

Disney/Pixar Animated Short Reviews: #4 Partly Cloudy 2009 9 out of 10

Partly Cloudy 2009   9 out of 10

This Pixar short features an interesting and creative story idea.   We all know that in cartoons Storks deliver babies....but where do they get the babies that they deliver.  This question is answered in a cartoon that is both funny, cute and sweet all rolled into one.   The babies are made by clouds in the sky and the storks team up with these clouds in getting the babies where they need to go.  Partly Cloudy features a cloud that makes all the dangerous babies in the world.....like sharks and gators and rams and the poor bedraggled stork that must deliver them.   This clever Pixar short gets laughs and sentiment in a short amount of time and is a must watch.

Partly Cloudy can be found on Pixar Shorts Volume 2 DVD

Disney/Pixar Animated Short Reviews: #3 BURN-E 8 out of 10 2008 7+ out of 10

BURN-E   8 out of 10    2008

BURN-E  is a cute little Pixar Animated Short that features the story of a little repair robot whose only goal is to repair a beacon on the side of the Space Ship from the movie  WALL-E.    He keeps getting distracted by events from the story of WALL-E that are cut into the short and isn't able to accomplish his goal do to a series of distractions.    Just like WALL-E the animators are able to show emotion in a robot without words. You really feel for the little robot as he tries so hard to complete his task.  It is a cute little companion piece to the film.

You can find BURN-E on the Pixar Shorts  Volume 2 DVD

Disney/Pixar Animated Short Reviews: #2 Presto 2008 10 out of 10

Presto   2008  10 out of 10

Hilarious!!  This little Pixar short is a funny tour de force that stands along such great animated shorts as the Roger Rabbit shorts.  The  Presto's rabbit decides to be uncooperative in his magic hat act since Presto forgot to feed him and the results are comic gold as the magic hat is used to torture Presto to the laughter of anyone watching.   The CG animation is top notch and the plot is a great funny little bit.  Presto is a 10 out of 10 great from beginning to end

Presto can be found as a part of Pixar's Shorts Volume 2 now on DVD.

Disney/Pixar Animated Short Reviews: #1 Your Friend the Rat 2007 7 out of 10

Your Friend the Rat  2007  7 out of 10

This Pixar short from 2007 is basically a throw back to the old school educational/entertainment style cartoons Disney used to do.   It is basically a propaganda film that Remy has put together to show you the history of rats and how they are misunderstood in a cute and entertaining way.   It uses a good mix o the CGI with Remy and some old school Disney style hand drawn animation that makes me think back to the kind of funny little  animated films Disney once made to demonstrate things.   It was a cute little short.

This is the first in a series that I'm going to do of my thoughts about Disney or Pixar shorts and cartoons.   I'll do a couple of this a week cataloging all the shorts I've seen.  I just got the Pixar Shorts  Volume 2 for Christmas so I'll start with those and then work my way back through some classics.