Turning Red producer Lindsey Collins defends Pixar's decision to stop releasing short films along with every theatrical feature film. Beginning in 1998 with A Bug's Life, pairing a Pixar short with each movie was once the studio's hallmark. Over the years, a new generation was introduced to the short film medium through these brilliant little works of experimentation, which often explored new animation techniques and narrative territory. In 2019, Toy Story 4 broke the long trend, releasing in theaters without a short film attached.
Fans grew to expect Pixar shorts over the years after falling in love with early works, such as Geri's Game, which was attached to A Bug's Life. That first attempt, which was also Pixar's early exploration in rendering the human form, turned out to be very indicative of what the rest of the shorts would be like. It had little-to-no dialogue, yet delivered an entertaining emotional ride through heartfelt storytelling. In 2019, Pixar's Bao won an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film. It had been released in theaters alongside Incredibles 2 the previous year, garnering praise for its endearing story of a Chinese Canadian mother grappling with empty nest syndrome when one of her dumplings suddenly comes to life.
In an exclusive interview with Screen Rant, Collins defends the choice to phase out the tradition of Pixar shorts attached to theatrical releases. Her main argument centers on the evolution of Pixar's theatrical shorts into their current program, SparkShorts, which can be watched on Disney+. Debuting with the short film Purl, the program was designed to foster new directing talents, particularly from voices that have been traditionally underrepresented in Pixar animation. Collins argues that this transition is the smartest way to spread the short animation budget across many more projects at a time, as opposed to pouring all resources into one single theatrical release. Check out Collins' full quote below.
I know, I know. Well, we kind of evolved it. I'm gonna defend it. I'm gonna defend the decision. I think part of it was, we kind of evolved it into the SparkShorts program, and the purpose of that was obviously to spread that budget and time and resources across a lot more projects to see if we could find future voices for development and for features, which I think has been really successful. We actually have, I think, four directors in development right now who went through the SparkShorts program. So, I know. But then there is that, and what I think everybody also misses is just the ability to see those short films in front of the movies in the theaters. It's like such a little gift that you get as the audience when you get to watch a surprising short that you've never seen before. So yeah, I'm with you, I'm torn.
Collins agrees that fans miss the ability to see their short films in theaters, but stands by the decision, given how it has resulted in an incredible collection of work and the progression of Pixar's next pool of seasoned directors. The lineup of wonderful storytelling within the SparkShorts program makes her argument a strong one. After Purl, more amazing work from new voices kept coming in, including Smash and Grab, Kitbull, Float, Loop and Wind. Some of the new work deviated a bit from the old formula, including, for example, more traditional amounts of dialogue, though some, like Wind, stick to the no-dialogue tradition.
The real strength behind all of Pixar's short film work is their painstaking attention to powerful, universal emotions. The same can be said of their feature-length films, though the shorts manage to condense that same emotional weight into 12-minute nuggets, making them that much more potent. Despite not being able to see them on the big screen, or to see one paired with this week's Turning Red Disney+ release, fans will be enjoying Pixar's short films for years to come.
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