Hitchhiked (2006)

Directed by: Gary Rydstrom | 5 minutes | animation, short film

‘Lifted’, the short film that accompanied Pixar’s acclaimed animated feature film ‘Ratatouille’, is – and it’s getting annoying to mention it – beautifully animated, but also very effective in humor and concept, combining some attractive elements. , which come together in a beautiful whole. It has become a very atmospheric and funny short film from the famous animation studio, which is not much inferior to strong films such as ‘Knick Knack’, ‘For the Birds’, and ‘One Man Band’.

The film plays very effectively with the viewer’s expectations, immersing them in a compelling cinematic intoxication before introducing the humor into the story. And once the humor is there, it practically lasts for the rest of the movie, in a very simple, yet effective way. The film begins as a science fiction film, at a cottage in the countryside with a large tree in the front yard. A boy is sleeping peacefully in the upstairs room, but then things get ominous. The wind picks up, and the swing on the porch begins to rock. A blue light appears above the house, shining through the boy’s bedroom window. Soon the boy is lifted from his bed and he slowly floats towards his window. It’s a hypnotic atmosphere and it looks like the boy, without anyone noticing, will float out his window to be taken in a UFO.

But then… he misses the window and hits his head against the wall. Another attempt… and “pok!”, another collision. Then it switches to the person responsible for this: an alien abduction student who takes an exam in his spaceship, and fails miserably. He sits at a gigantic switchboard with hundreds of identical buttons, like the panels of a music producer or mixer. A little further on is a large, chubby alien made of some sort of gelatinous material. He has a clipboard and a pen in his hands and makes a note after every action of his student. His emotionless, static expression is especially great. When the student, who has a kind of bucket on his head, makes another mistake and looks anxiously at his teacher, he stares at him wearily and blinks only once. Hilarious in its dryness. This figure is very reminiscent of some characters from ‘Monsters, Inc.’, including Roz, the female administrator who behaved in an identical way.

It’s a simple joke – the kidnapping that just doesn’t work, leaving the boy against the walls of his house – but it’s used to the fullest and perfectly executed. When he doesn’t hit his head, his ass gets stuck in the window opening, which makes for another series of comedic moments. All this, combined with the dry moments in the spaceship, and the beautiful animation of the sleeping boy in his room, makes ‘Lifted’ both a unique cinematic and a very funny film.