Lava (2014)

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

"Lava" is a 7-minute short film that was screened already about a year ago at festivals, but its real release was together with Pixar's new "Inside Out". And I must say Pixar delivered again in terms of this short movie. It's probably, even with this runtime, one of the most Hawaiian films ever, especially in animation. They are so so good in breathing emotion and life into inanimate objects and here they fully succeed again, this time with volcanoes. The two do not manage to get together as one of the is always under the sea or has its back turned to the other, but of course in the end they are united. It was predictable yes, but that does not take away a bit of the magic. Together with this wonderful love story once again, comes a beautiful song that fits the atmosphere perfectly and the two singers do a really fine job. And it's not just the volcanoes falling in love. If you take a closer look, you will also see dolphins, turtles and seagulls in love. About 1 minute before the end, I thought the only thing that could still improve this already brilliant film would be the two singers performing a duet that fits the happy ending and this is exactly what happened. Excellent animation too, but that's a given with Pixar. Perfect rating. A true gem of a movie.

A lonely volcanic island sings a song of hopeful love over the years: just as he goes extinct and sinks below the surface, a new volcano arises, inspired by his song: but will they ever be together? Lava is the Disney/Pixar short which accompanies Inside Out. It is, as usual, visually beautiful but, for me, it falls quite a long way short of the usual standard of these short films: it is trite and obvious, and contains little of real substance other than its visuals. I was also not terribly amused by the conflation of "love/lava" in the song lyrics.Sorry to be out of step on this one.

Lava is a great short film with a well developed story and a terrific voice cast. The film manages to tell a very sweet story in the space of less than ten minutes, and also within this small amount of time it takes place over hundreds of years, it's very impressive how a short film can do that and we feel a genuine connection for this talking volcano and want him to succeed in his dream. As far as Pixar's short films go, this isn't one of the greats, I would normally find myself given these shorts a rating of nine, but Lava is missing that magic that is evident in shorts such as Day & Night and For the Birds, and it simply isn't as memorable. The voice acting is outstanding, there are only two voices heard in this movie, which is quite rare for a Pixar short, their singing is beautiful and perfectly conveys the overall ton and message of the film, to never give up on your dreams. It's not Pixar's finest short, but Lava is a fun and a very sweet seven minutes that will warm you up for Inside Out, definitely worth the watch. A volcano struggles for millions of years to find love.

After reading a lot of mixed reviews for Lava, from those who really loved (or shall we say 'lavad' it) and from those who consider it Pixar's worst short film. Lava is not one of my favourites from Pixar, and is perhaps one of their weaker short films (a contrast from seeing it with one of Pixar's best, and their return to form, Inside Out), but it is still very sweet and touching as well as well-made so it's still a winner.The only real problem for me with Lava was the song. It is a lovely, beautifully sung and well-meaning one, and fits nicely within the short (also did like how the story was told through the song), but felt a touch overlong and repetitive, which dragged the pace a tad and one does wish that there was a little more story, while effectively simple it was like a lot of attention went into the song and it dominated everything else. However as always from Pixar the animation in Lava is wonderful, the character designs of the lover volcanoes are appealing but even better are the vibrant colours, gorgeously rich backgrounds and the nature surrounding visuals. The time elapse of a thousand years on the volcano is a visual masterstroke and very cleverly done.No matter how slight or predictable the story is, it is difficult to deny how truly sweet and touching it is, it really resonated with me emotionally. The characters are very cute and it was easy to feel their charming romantic chemistry, while the singing voices are beautiful and soulful which does help to give the song, no matter whether you like it or not, the emotion it does clearly have. All in all, an above-decent short film from Pixar, if not one of their best, almost did 'lava' it. 8/10 Bethany Cox