La luna (2012)

"La Luna" is a 6-minute animated short film from 2011 written and directed by Enrico Casarosa. It's his only directorial effort so far, but he also worked on "Ice Age", "Ratatouille" and "Up" in less influential roles. And currently, he is the the co-writer for Pixar's "The Good Dinosaur" which will hit theaters soon. Could be a huge breakthrough for him if it turns into a quality movie. But back to "La Luna". It was nominated for an Annie Award and an Academy award, but lost both to, in my opinion, inferior films.We see two men "one of them looks a bit like the dad from "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs") and a boy in a boat named "La Luna". It becomes obvious that they are grandfather, father and son and the two men take their son to show them their profession for the first time. There is not that much humor in this short film, maybe except the funny looking two men with their massive beards and eyebrows. But there is some decent emotion for this short running-time. You could actually imagines how, maybe 30 years back, the father was the son and the now-old man showed him the business back then. Or also the boy's big eyes because everything he sees here is no new and amazing. Apart from that, "La luna" is certainly a winner in terms of visuals. The moon is amazing to watch and so is his mirage in the water. And the scene with the boy letting one big star explode into many is perfect to watch. But it's also nice to listen to. The sound effects of the clinking stars are maybe the most memorable thing about this short film. The only problem I had with it was maybe that I did not really understand what they were doing for the entire movie. But with the very last shot, this problem is solved as well in a truly creative manner so that everything makes sense now. Excellent short film. Recommended.

I first saw this short on YouTube and at first glance it was beautiful to look at but the story was hard to understand to begin with. Three viewings later (thanks to my rental copy of Brave), I had a slightly better understanding of the story and it carried a positive hereditary message.As I have already mentioned in my summary, two of the best aspects are the appealing character designs, especially the adorable little boy, and the lovely musical score. The shading is a tad dark to begin with but it is quickly illuminated by the moon with fallen stars on it. While the characters spoke gibberish, their actions were easy to read and the two different brooms cleverly resembled the facial hair of the father and the grandfather. The funniest parts were those involving the father and the grandfather disagreeing over how the boy should wear his cap and the boy holding the brooms up against the father and the grandfather but after this, the humour wore thinly - I suppose this short isn't intended to be funny. The moon and the stars are beautifully illuminated and I was amazed when the little boy disintegrated the enormous star into several little ones.Overall this isn't Pixar's best short but it is slightly above par with the likes of Mike's New Car, Red's Dream, Partly Cloudy, Mater and the Ghostlight and Lifted. 7.5/10 to round up to IMDb's 8/10 rating.

I don't know short films like these other guys do, but what I know is that after this short ended, I told my brother it was worth the price of admission just to see the cartoon. I say that, and I walked in the theatre after the short was well underway.The music is great, it's simply great, and it makes the film. I find it fascinating that the music does so much, yet the animation is so entrancing that the music is felt rather than heard. It's rare to see something on par with excellent music. I write this only because I'm desperately searching for an online copy, I must see it again.

'LA LUNA': Three Stars (Out of Five)Another Pixar animated short film, this one debuted in theaters before 'BRAVE' and was nominated for a 'Best Animated Short Film' Oscar at last year's Academy Awards. It tells the story of a boy, named Bambino, who goes to work with his father and grandfather for the first time one night. The three sail far out to sea and board the moon in order to clean up fallen stars on it. The boy's father and grandfather disagree on how to train Bambino and he must decide which one's instructions to follow or to do the job his own way. It was written and directed by first time filmmaker Enrico Casarosa and is spoken all in gibberish. The movie is pretty odd but without a doubt creative and original. I liked it's uniqueness but didn't find that much to really enjoy in the story. The characters aren't really developed enough to relate to or find inspiration from but it is only a 7 minute cartoon. It does have that classic old school cartoon feel to it and is quirky and somewhat oddly amusing. Not a great little short film but a decent one.Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDQQKEqGhZQ