Luxo Jr. (1986)

Directed by: John Lasseter | 2 minutes | animation, short film

Who would have ever thought that rats, insects, monsters, fish, toys, and even cars would be suitable subjects for animation and that, as movie characters, they could successfully express emotions and thereby move the viewer? The name of the animation studio that made all this happen is Pixar. This studio, which had a tumultuous relationship with Disney, but has now finally been taken over by this giant, has changed the animation landscape forever since 1995, with the first computer-animated feature film ‘Toy Story’.

Not only was the technology innovative, Pixar also showed the importance of a strong concept or original storyline, as well as showing an exceptional talent at animating normally completely static or “cold” (utility) objects. This was immediately apparent from this first official film, also the first computer-animated short film to be nominated for an Oscar. This movie, titled “Luxo Jr.”, is the reason Pixar has a skipping table lamp in its logo. The film, which dates back to 1986, lasts only two minutes and is very small, but above all it entertains and succeeds well in breathing life into such trivial objects as table lamps.

The only objects that play a role in the video are two table lamps, one large and one small, and a couple of beach balls. Without any dialogue, purely watching the movements of the lamps, the viewer instinctively understands that the big one must be a parent of the little one. The big one stands still and only moves his shade back and forth when a ball rolls past and later the small lamp jumps past. This little one is playful and moves his entire “body”: he shakes his stand, twists his hood, and jumps with his round foot. The big one tries to keep the little one in check, but this one proves incorrigible: when his bounce on a small ball ends badly, he comes back just as hard with a ball twice its size.

The movie isn’t as funny as some of the other Pixar movies, like ‘Knick Knack’ and ‘For the Birds’, but it’s certainly entertaining. It’s remarkable that Pixar can turn a situation with two simple table lamps into a cute interaction between a parent and their playful child.