Presto and Glago’s Guest | Cartoon Brew: Leading the Animation Conversation

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Presto and Glago’s Guest

June 24, 2008 12:05 am

Was privileged to see two new CG shorts last week: Disney Animation’s Glago’s Guest and Pixar’s Presto. Both films couldn’t be more different, yet both succeed in accomplishing their modest goals with style to spare.

Glago’s Guest is the second film from Disney’s new shorts unit, established by John Lasseter when hne took over the studio. The sole intent of producing new shorts at Disney is to experiment with style, test new techniques, and to develop new directors. Chris Williams was a story artist at Disney (Mulan, etc.) for fourteen years. His original tale of a Russian soldier stationed in a remote Siberian outpost is so far removed from what a Disney cartoon has been, it’s just what the staff needed to flex their muscles. To tell you what happens, or who his guests are, would ruin the experience - but the short is layered in luscious detail, and filled with more heart than most features ten times its length. It’s being released in 3-D on November 26th with Disney’s Bolt and it looks incredible in that format.

Pixar’s Presto is as perfect as any homage to classic Hollywood cartoons could be - especially with it’s opening title tribute to Disney shorts (against burlap) and MGM cartoons (note the type style). The story is a mash up of UPA’s Magic Fluke (1949), Avery’s Magical Maestro (1952), and Jones’ Case of the Missing Hare (1942) - magician versus his adversarial rabbit, who gets revenge via a magical hat. It’s the fast pace, strong poses, appealing characters and visual gags that turn this into a charming original entertainment - top notch fun from first frame to last. An absolute winner from Pixar. Catch it on the head of Wall-E this weekend at a theatre near you.

These shorts are special - that’s something we can’t usually say about short form films. I’m delighted Disney is producing films like these. Could a modern day equivalent of Melody Time grow out of such a program? After seeing these two, that wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

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21 comments posted in Disney, Shorts

« « George Carlin, RIP | The Golden Years of Annecy » »

06/24/08 12:53am	Elikrotupos says:
	Can “Your friend the Rat” be considered an equivalent of “Melody Time”? Anyway… I can’t wait for Glago! in 3D, oh my…
06/24/08 1:11am	Bitter Animator says:
	If I had to guess from the poster, I would have said that Glago was about a giant breast. So I’m sure you can imagine my disappointment when I read the description. Once I got over that, my interest definitely picked up. Sounds quite brave and I’ll be interested to check it out.
06/24/08 2:48am	Daryl T says:
	Sounds like that would be a cracking idea. Another great post.
06/24/08 6:04am	Tee says:
	I’m crossing my fingers, Jerry, I hope you’re an early witness to the new dawn of studio shorts, the one element that seems to have been missing in this glorious animation evolution we’ve been witnessing.
06/24/08 6:23am	Andy Norton says:
	For someone who grew up watching Golden Age shorts, I still have a soft spot for any new shorts that come across in this age of blockbuster animation. Glaso’ Guests maybe worth a look… but it depend whether or not Bolt is going to be my cup of tea or not. For Presto, the more I know about this Pixar short, the more I look forward to watching that than Wall-E. I loved Magical Maestro mainly for its memorable use of Barber of Seville; but then so do Rabbit of Seville and the Woody Woodpecker take on Barber of Seville. So I may have an enjoyable bias towards that when I see that at the cinema, because of its homage to magician-based cartoons of yesteryear.
06/24/08 6:54am	Steve Gattuso says:
	I’ve been looking forward to Presto as soon as I heard about it. Glorious design and expression. Going to be a good year for shorts.
06/24/08 7:08am	Steve Segal says:
	Presto is directed by Doug Sweetland, consistently one of Pixar’s best animators. From Toy Story to the present he has always had a distinctive style and vision. I’m so happy he has a chance to direct, perhaps he has a feature in the future.
06/24/08 7:57am	Ethan says:
	I couldn’t agree more. Both shorts are amazing and couldn’t be any more different. Presto is easily one of the best shorts Pixar has done so far. I love the animation, love the style.
06/24/08 8:04am	Carlos says:
	Man, I can’t wait! I’m so glad Disney is doing shorts like this, I hope the people really respond.
06/24/08 8:44am	pbcbstudios says:
	They’re both great. Chris Williams is a genius and I’m amazed by Glago. The scope and scale is incredible. It’s really unique and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a short like it. Congratulations on both of them!
06/24/08 9:32am	ElPatoLoco says:
	These are both great. It’s a great idea to implement a shorts program at FA. Yeah…too bad Lasseter and Catmull are gutting the story crew over at FA, shrinking the team down to a lean 10 artists and have been working to lower the story artists salaries to almost Union minimums across the board. Hmmmm I thought the layoffs were over.
06/24/08 9:49am	Tobey says:
	Just FYI, Walt Disney Animation Studios’ first short, “How To Hook Up Your Home Theater” is for sale on iTunes now.
06/24/08 10:27am	DanO says:
	Can’t wait to see these. Thank you for posting about them.
06/24/08 11:06am	Michelle Klein-Hass says:
	A shorts omnibus feature would be great. Actually I’d like to see Disney and Pixar go beyond their borders and maybe also include shorts they consider to be worthwhile from independents and students. I’d pay money to see a shorts omnibus curated by the mighty John Lasseter.
06/24/08 2:06pm	Alex Dudley says:
	Glago’s Quest looks and sounds fantastic. Hopefully, it won’t overshadow Bolt and awesomness.
06/24/08 4:14pm	Jessica Plummer says:
	that little snippet for ‘Presto’ before wasn’t enough for me…can’t wait to see the whole thing! And ‘Glago’s’ definitely got me hooked already from what I’ve heard, and the images show from it thus far. Really exciting! These are the kind of things I look forward to from the big guys out West.
06/24/08 11:24pm	Christian says:
	Yes, both shorts are very good and it’s true that you can’t say a little about Glago’s Guest without saying too much . . . but even if somebody spoiled it all the fun is still in the watching of it. How awesome is it when there’s two great shorts from Pixar and Disney on the horizon?
06/25/08 5:07am	Chris Hatfield says:
	Man I jumping out of my seat. I want to see these shorts so bad. Truly the rebirth of Disney feature animation has begun, I smell winds changing.
06/25/08 8:13am	Christopher Olson says:
	If you don’t want to ruin the surprise in Glago’s Guest, don’t look up the wikipedia entry they’ve got up on it now. It’s only a sentence or two long, but it’s got spoilers up the yin-yang. Re: ElPatoLoco: What you said about Lasseter and Catmull cutting staff salaries at Feature Animation sent a chill up my spine. Where did you hear that?
06/25/08 11:53am	ElPatoLoco says:
	Go to the Animation Guild and read the entry about “on call” status. That is happening at FA right now. I heard the salary deal “rumor” from an FA employee. The staff cuts are the thing that angers me. I thought John and Ed would be different. Meet the new boss…
06/25/08 3:55pm	elan says:
	I havent heard that rumor about the story department. Now, the animation department on the other hand…

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