George & A.J. (2009)

Directed by: Josh Cooley | 4 minutes | animation, comedy, short film | Original voice cast: Jason Topolski, AJ Riebli, Steve Purcell, Peter Sohn, Bob Peterson, Kim Donovan, Claire Munzer, Valerie LaPointe

‘George & AJ’ is a Pixar short, but unlike the other films that are grouped under this heading, it has not received a theatrical release, nor a DVD or Blu-ray release. The film, cast in cartoonish form, had its premiere on the internet, you got it when you bought ‘Up’ from iTunes. In retrospect it is strange that the short cannot be found on the DVD or blu-ray of ‘Up’, because without having seen ‘Up’, ‘George & AJ’ is incomprehensible and not fun at all.

We see the events in ‘Up’ from the perspective of George and AJ, the two aged care workers employed by Shady Oaks, the retirement home where Carl (not the voice of Ed Asner as in ‘Up’, but Steve Purcell) would start a new life. have to start. They ring his doorbell and turn out to be full of prejudices. These are almost immediately suppressed by Carl: he is definitely not an old man who has to empty his bladder a dozen times a day! Anyone who has seen ‘Up’ knows what is happening and the permanent terror on the faces of the two gentlemen is funny in several scenes.

It’s also nice that the other elderly, soon to be moved to Shady Oaks, are inspired by Carl Fredericksen’s daring act. Turns out there are many more variations on the balloon theme from ‘Up’. But the joke is quickly over and thanks to the simple animation on ‘George & AJ’ (only the beginning is CGI) there is little to really enjoy. ‘George & AJ’ is a nice addition, but is certainly not the best that the DVD and blu-ray of the Pixar Short Films Collection 2 has to offer.