Day & Night (2010)

I'll tell you why so serious

Fresh and Exciting

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

This short was nominated for an Academy Award for Animated Short. There will be spoilers ahead: This is a very simple but effective short, based on the premise that two different entities showcase whatever point they occupy during the day or at night and whatever is happening on the spot at a particular point in time is visible within their frame.One of the more interesting and entertaining aspects of this short for me is that what the viewer sees within the characters frequently corresponds with what that character or those characters are doing. It's done quite effectively.The two, "Day" and "Night" begin by being surprised, disturbed, distrustful and angry at the differences, escalating towards conflict between them until they accidentally find a way to mutually benefit through cooperation, thus opening up whole new vistas and opportunities only available to them if they work together.In case the visuals you see don't make that point, there's some radio chatter toward the end of the short which makes the point directly and explicitly. It's a lecture, but it's an entertaining lecture.This short is available on DVD as an extra on Toy Story 3 and on the Pixar Shorts Collection 2 and is well worth watching. Most recommended.

'DAY & NIGHT': Four Stars (Out of Five) Another classic six minute animated short film from Pixar and directed by Teddy Newton, who has been involved in the art department and acting in Pixar and other animated films for several years now. The film tells the story of 'Day' and 'Night' meeting and of course clashing by each others' frightening differences. The film turns into a tale of not judging others for being alien to you and learning to get along despite differences. It opens preceding 'TOY STORY 3', like classic animated films used to (and Pixar has been doing for years now). I'm sure it will be up for an Academy Award come Oscar time. A nice little film.Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBqNUf10kuk

I've been a huge fan of Teddy Newton since I saw his amazing collages on the "Incredibles" special features. I'm a mixed-media/collage artist myself, and I wanted to hang his art on my wall with spotlights and background music. :) He's incredibly talented, and I'm thrilled that he got to direct a short.The concept and the characters were absolutely precious. However, do we HAVE to have another movie/cartoon/kids show about the virtues of tolerance and understanding? I can't keep PBS Kids on the TV without my kids being spoon-fed "tolerance" in 100 different ways. It's apparently one of the highest virtues possible, other than caring for the environment. /sarc.Plus, a lesson on the evils of preconceived notions just feels like cheesy story-telling. I remember on the commentary for "One Man Band," the directors said (in essence), "We thought about having the two work together at the end, but we found out that working together just isn't very *funny.*" If story is built on conflict, and yet your story tries to teach us that conflict could be avoided with just a little more understanding, it stops being a story! It starts being a sermon. (Side note: The reason why I hate Christian movies is because they're 99% sermons, and sacrifice story on the altar of persuasion. I really hope Pixar doesn't take that route in the secular world.) I hope Teddy Newton directs again soon. I love his work. I just don't like being preached at.

Day & Night THIS is why I love Pixar's imagination and storytelling techniques mixed with the best technical product they can offer. They take 3D animation and make a movie entirely about very traditional looking, 2D flat characters--the 3D is the landscape seen through their silhouettes, the action is all two dimensional against black. Honestly amazing and original.Unfortunately, Pixar's shorts are so successful in my mind precisely because they rely on telling a story without dialog, usually utilizing sound for comedic effect instead. This time they just had to go and insert a message stated directly to the viewer right into the movie, instead of presenting their message in its own way. I think the whole radio moment could have been completely edited out, and they go right on into the sunrise/sunset juxtaposition that was so much more creative and beautiful.--PolarisDiB