Thanks for the tip, Amid !

I downloaded it . I love that short ! I can watch this over and over.

Beautiful work. To me this animation transcends “CG” . It doesn’t have that plastic doll/puppet/automaton look anymore. Looks like drawings come to life , but painted as fully rendered illustrations, not flat cel colors . (I thought the same about The Incredibles and Ratatouille. Pixar just gets better and better at their craft .)

Oh cool…

Unless I really feel the urge to go and see Wall-E again, I can see Presto. And of course, $1.99 beats $8.50 anyday.

PIXAR is doing a movie about coffee tables? Oh boy!

I love framing through this short. the poses these character hit are amazing. clear silhouettes, and the motion blur looks hand painted almost. it blurs the motion without obscuring the models too much.

I’m glad they made this one available so soon, as I wasnt able to appreciate it in the theaters with wall-e because this girl kept coughing like a hag.

I live in the UK, but I can’t wait to see it.
I wasn’t entirely surprised it was released on iTunes, what with the whole Pixar-Apple link.

I can’t help but notice after all the dumping that Bolt has taken here that Amazon pairs as the Most Frequently Bought Together book with “Art of Pixar Short Films” as … “The Art of Bolt.”

Heh.

This was a great short! I’ve read in other threads all of the comparisons to Warner cartoons, but to me I was most reminded of Tex Avery’s MGM short “Magical Maestro”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va2YVwH5J3E

I would love to see a feature length Pixar film like this. Nice stuff, everyone involved.

Man, it was such an awesome short. I’d love to see a whole feature animated and cartoony as this!

It’s not available for download in Canada, just the US! =(

I found this last night and have watched it several times. I was scouring the crowds looking for cameos from other Pixar characters. Didn’t find any Pixar characters, but I found Statler & Waldorf! They are in their usual box seats (I think it’s around 2:38) when Presto’s hand is stuck in the drawer and he is running back across the stage and you get a look out on the audience.

I noticed that Jay Ward is the Executive Producer of “Presto” — is he working at Pixar now?

I’m with you Floyd, Avery’s toon was the first thought that came to mind, especially after looking at the bunny design.

Fun short, total animation and eye candy. I wish they’d release more shorts…

lol FP

Yeah! (is that really how you spell that? wierd)
I shall have the bunny on my ipod. SWEET.

The Luxo ball comes out of Presto’s sleeve.

I think that the animation community often fails to recognize that just because there is a referrence to classic animation (a-la Tex Avery in Presto), doesn’t automatically make for a good film. Perhaps most disturbing is, the idea held by many, that we have to reconjur the past in order to make something good today.

If we want a great Tex Avery film, watch Tex Avery. He does the best Tex Avery in the business. Film’s like Presto prove that Pixar shorts need to develop their own attributes. I have faith they could, but they’d need to pump out more than one or two shorts a year to develop those muscles.

Great short! Pixar keeps getting better and better.

As one of the lucky guys who got to work with the great Tex Avery, I’m sure he would have loved this animated short.

“They did this with computers?” I can see Tex scratching his head, now.

One of Pixar’s best shorts and certainly one of my favorites. Great production design and lighting. Loved the Stalling-esque music. Great manic energy. Definitely calls back to those old school cartoons.

What a great short possibly my favorite, Mickey’s hat from Fantasia was a nice touch. Also loved the old intro background they used in the golden age of Animation for Disney. Once again Pixar never disappoints.

Times like this I really hate having a dial-up connection :(

Dave Levy, I wouldn’t be as harsh, but I agree with a some of your points.
Presto is very cute (a little too fast for all the gags to register with me) but I still prefer vintage Avery. I also prefer “For the Birds” and “Geri’s Game” —Pixar shorts that slow down the pace and focus more on character.

I will say that this frenetic short made a really good contrast with the feature film, which had a nice leisurely pace in the opening act.

Not seen this yet. Living in the UK..

In responce to Dave Levy. I hope that they can do that, and expand to produce more shorts per year. I would like to see a series of shorts starring a common character, as well as new original shorts, and spin-offs from the features.

I’ll comment on Presto when it arrives on my shores..

Good conversation! I should explain my issues further. I felt disconnected watching Presto because the characters just seemed to be props bouncing around to suit the needs of the plot. I know many of us are starved for full animation and strong poses, etc… but, I don’t think this short added up to much beyond the obvious good intensions and proffesionalism. I’m still a Pixar fan and I mean the criticism in the most constructive way.

Dial-up! You need to re-prioritize Larry. Haven’t you ever heard of Top-Ramen? I’m glad they have made this a download because my daughter kept me from watching it.

You know what I loved most about Presto?

The fact that the rabbit DID NOT BELCH after eating the carrot at the end.

I mean, seriously! Can you even imagine the cojones it takes to NOT add the obligatory belch in this day and age? My hat’s off, as it were, for that one thing more than anything else in the short.

One thing I will say about Presto being “Avery-esque” etc, is that the shorts program at Pixar seems to be primarily about improving technique, weather it be learning to do something new with the computer, letting a future feature director cut his teeth, break in new artists, etc… much like a school project. So when you go to school you study various types of art and artists, and then you learn by doing - this was the Pixar guys learning how to make an Avery-style Looney Tune. It happened to be a great effort, and a wonderfully made film. Yes, even the title cards were 40’s Disney, a great touch. BTW now that How To Hook Up Your Home Theater is available on iTunes, I finally saw it. Funny John Lasetter cameo in there :)

Thanks for sharing the link! I bought it after seeing it at the theater yesterday, and spent about 3 hours stepping through it frame by frame to figure out how they pulled it off in CG. (that’s normal behavior, right? Please tell me that’s normal!)
It’s a great study in timing, and I wrote a short post about it on my blog, for anyone who’s interested.

I hear that Presto was inspired by Biblical symbolism.