Pixar’s First Animated Short Is 25 Years Old Today
In the fall of 1995, we caught an advanced screening of "Toy Story," the first CG animated feature from a company called Pixar. We didn't know what to expect, but 80 minutes later we were speechless: We distinctly remember walking away from the screening, running into a friend, and blabbering incoherently about how we'd seen the future of movies. Pretty over-the-top, sure, but it turned out to be true: Sixteen years later, Pixar is the gold standard of Hollywood companies, winning 10 Oscars, raking in more than $6 billion worldwide, and permanently raising the bar for kids' films. But today they're celebrating a special anniversary. "Luxo, Jr.," their very first short, is 25 years old.
The Los Angeles Times has a great piece that traces the history of the short, which made its debut at the SIGGRAPH conference in Dallas on August 17, 1986. It was dreamed up by John Lasseter, Pixar's mastermind (and current chief creative officer for Walt Disney and Pixar). Initially, though, it was just an exercise in creating a character:
"I had a big drawing table in my office with a Luxo lamp on it, so I just took that lamp in front of me as a subject. I love bringing inanimate objects to life, and thought it would be a fun object to move around."
Encouraged by a colleague to make a story out of it, he became enchanted by a co-worker's infant son, which gave him the idea of making his short about a Luxo lamp and his rambunctious son, who enjoys playing with a bouncing ball even though he doesn't have any arms. Before "Luxo, Jr.," Pixar was still primarily a hardware company that had recently been acquired by Steve Jobs, but when Lasseter unveiled the short at SIGGRAPH he knew he had a hit on his hands, particularly when computer graphics guru Jim Blinn's only question was whether the parent lamp in the short was the mom or the dad. "I knew by Jim's question that we had entertained audiences because of the story and the characters, not because it was made by a computer," Lasseter told the Los Angeles Times.
"Luxo, Jr." ended up being the first Pixar film to be nominated for an Oscar. It didn't win, but Lasseter won two years later for the short "Tiny Toy." Pixar hasn't looked back since, although it's funny how, even 25 years later, "Luxo, Jr." still captures the spirit of the groundbreaking company. The sweet, impish humor is there, as is the impressive, effortless animation. And it works for kids and adults alike. No wonder the Pixar logo still features cute little Luxo, Jr. You could say it's been their guiding light.
A little lamp lights the way for Pixar's success [Los Angeles Times]
