Presto (2008)

Dreadfully Boring

A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

This short is simply perfect in my opinion. It is cute, amusing, and very well animated, having great CGI and a very appealing design of characters. Even when the plot from this short isn't something incredibly "complex" or "deep", that doesn't made this any less enjoyable. In fact, I think that the light-hearted tone from "Presto" balances very well the seriousness of "WALL•E", being something quite charming and delightful from beginning to end. "Presto" has all elements of a perfect crowd pleaser. It could be easily compared with the Disney's Silly Symphonies shorts, or seen at least as a modern equivalent for those classic animations.10/10

Presto is Pixar's CGI short film which accompanies Wall-E. It tells a simple story of a stage magician, his hat, and his rabbit. Without giving too much away, the story hinges on two things: one, the magician wants the rabbit to perform before he is fed, and the rabbit is disinclined to cooperate; and, two, the hat is genuinely magical in that the interior of the hat is a portal to elsewhere.With these two bits of the machinery oiled and ready to go, Presto springs into action like - well, like a brilliantly executed magician's trick. It is fast, it is furious, it escalates magnificently, it features wonderful acting by both the magician and the rabbit and a selection of violent cartoon slapstick which vies with the best of Tom and Jerry and the Roadrunner and, above everything else, it is hysterically funny.This is a terrific little film.

Like last year, I went to a special showing of the Oscar-nominated animated short films. However, unlike last year, in addition to the nominees, several "commended films" were also shown. In this review I'll make my predictions, though if it's anything like last year's choices, I'll probably once again pick the wrong shorts as my favorite for the award.PRESTO is a cute little short about a rabbit who is hungry yet his master, a magician, is unwilling to let him eat. After all, the show must go on and it's time for them to be on stage. But, being so very hungry, the rabbit decides to use a bit of prestidigitation himself and soon a battle ensues between bunny and magician--with hilarious results. In many, many ways, the film looks like a CGI version of an old Tex Avery cartoon--with lots of good old fashioned violence and silly mayhem.Overall, this was probably my second favorite of the nominated films. I loved the artwork (not surprising, considering it's a Pixar film) and the film was cute yet violent (a great combination if you ask me). There certainly wasn't much depth to it but you can't fault the Academy for selecting it as a nominee--it's state of the art and clever.Unlike the four other shorts that were nominated, this one actually received a very widespread release--being shown before the full-length film, WALL-E. Because of this sentiment and because the CGI is unbeatably good, it's probably the odds on favorite to win the Oscar. It's my second favorite of the nominees, as I slightly preferred THIS END UP--though I must admit its animation wasn't quite as good as PRESTO's. The reason I prefer this other film is because it had a very sick sense of humor and seemed much more creative--taking many risks. PRESTO, on the other hand, is a very typical Pixar release--a real crowd pleaser instead of an innovative or risk-taking film.UPDATE: LA MAISON EN PETITS CUBES was the winner this year. Not surprisingly, I got this one wrong but at least saw the film as a strong contender.

Pixar shorts have long established themselves as not only gorgeous eye candy and funny but also clever and intelligent. I have always found it incredible how short films (whether they are animated or not) seek to tell a story in a short space of time. The very best do so in such a way that you have become connected with what you watch. In this sense I find short films to be much more remarkable than full length features as the most poignant of them have to overcome the limited time slot allocated to them. And Presto does just that. How can a magician and a little rabbit cause so much hilarity and mayhem in just a few minutes while also making you actually care for both characters? It is beyond me but that's what Pixar delivers. Presto lends homage to many of the classic Looney Tunes cartoons and is a roller coaster ride of enjoyment for both young and old. Following on from the equally magnificent "Lifted", "Bounding" and "One Man Band", Pixar has cemented themselves as not only the masters of creative story telling on the feature-length screen but also the short-length one. Combine that with the ever amazing (and now taken for granted) techniques used in their animation and you have an animated package that you will want to watch over and over again. Bugs would be so proud...