The Blue Umbrella (2013)

A very sweet, simple story about a blue umbrella falling in love with a red umbrella. The animation is gorgeous and the soundtrack is fittingly charming.Though giving the red umbrella (and the red umbrella alone, in a sea of umbrellas) extra long eyelashes and her human rain boots with 3" heels felt a bit unnecessary. Have you ever even seen rain boots with heels? It comes across as stupid rather than the "it's a straight couple" assurance I assume they were going for.

I know this is animation and we're supposed to be dazzled, but I had the opposite reaction. I did love it, I do marvel at it, but it's so well done I allowed myself to believe it was real. That's the goal, I think, of this kind of animation work, this advancement and it was so advanced beyond what we've come to expect I said YES and went along with it. Of course, I know the truth ... but my 7-year old nephew who watched it with me did not think it was animation. For him and for children, inanimate objects can come to life, they can have faces, they can have drama. So I watched from his perspective and it was marvelous.I hope this kind of work continues and becomes so accepted that audiences will stop talking about the technical and come back to the story. (Or as much.)I will note that in my opinion, the storytellers worked very hard to prevent any decision of male or female for their humans. There was only one moment when I thought "that's a woman" -- otherwise, it could have been two men, two women, one of each ... I wonder if people are assuming male/female because of the colors of the umbrellas and boots? Or because the umbrellas' faces have been rendered with choice of male/female? Then again, that's ME making an assumption, that long eyelashes and coy looks are female. And that's not necessarily so!As far as the idea of coupling it with MONSTERS UNIVERSITY, I think it's a great idea. As I said, I watched it with my nephew and he has watched it over and over and over again, making my purchase of the DVD even more worth its value than if he was just watching an obviously animated movie. I'm happy for him that he also got a smaller packaged gift of suspension of disbelief.

The Blue Umbrella is the short Pixar film which accompanies the cinema release of Monsters University. Like all Pixar shorts, it is highly accomplished, very entertaining, and completely distinctive. And, apart from animated features, it appears to be completely live action. Of course, it is not, but Pixar's strengths are such that what they put on screen can be indistinguishable from reality: it may well be that all this film is animated.Whatever. This is just rumination from an animation fan, and consideration of technicalities should not spoil the enjoyment of this simple but effective movie which makes excellent use of 3D.

I do think this was a great animated short. PIXAR really outdid themselves with the hyper-realistic CGI in here, and the simple story of a blue umbrella falling for a red umbrella in a sea of indifferent, monochromatic umbrellas. The subtle expressions of their surrounding environment can really captivate future animators who're looking for something to build off of.Unfortunately, it's slightly awkward to watch in a theater, as it comes before Monsters University, and it makes me feel as though some people may have walked into the wrong movie. I really want them to enjoy it, but because of its placement, it's hard to do so.I'm sure PIXAR had good intentions placing it before Monsters University started, but with a bunch of kids coming in to watch MU, I don't think it will garner much positive attention. I, for one, like it, but parents of rambunctious kids may not find it funny when their kid starts to act out from boredom. Maybe those kids will appreciate this short in the future, but not today.