So I finished reviewing all the Pixar shorts and had a blast. Honestly there isn’t any that I dislike and I think the lowest score I gave is a B.
That said, them all being so great in a way made the task of ranking them a little bit tricky. What is especially tough is how to do you gauge something that is a huge technical achievement like Luxo Jr against a visual storytelling delight like La Luna? They are special in different ways.
I normally hate rubrics for scoring movies because I feel they can force you to give you grades or scores to things that don’t jive with your actual views and feelings. Other people like them but I couldn’t feel right about giving something a grade I don’t think it deserves. Plus, I also don’t like that with a rubric there is no way to give a perfect score. I feel like the focus can become what are the problems instead of the overall great experience I had at a top-tier film. For other people it works but not for me.
However, in this case where I like them all but for different reasons, it seemed like the best way to go. So, here’s what I came up with. Each short had the potential of 20 points- 5 for Technical Achievement, 5 for Story, 5 for Artistry and 5 for Overall Enjoyment. You can see how each film worked out below points-wise.
These are also only the original shorts. I only reviewed 2 of the spin-off shorts based on or including characters from their feature films but I did not include either of them in my ranking.
All that said, here’s how I rank the shorts. (You can find reviews of all these shorts here)
16. Adventures of Andre and Wally B
15. Blue Umbrella
14. One Man Band
13. Luxo
12. Knick Knack
11. For the Birds
10. Lava
9. Day and Night
8. Lifted
7. Partly Cloudy
6. Tin Toy
5. Boundin’
4. Red’s Dream
3. Presto
2. Geri’s Game
1. La Luna
But like I said they are all great so thanks to Pixar for such lovely works of art!