Lifted (2006) User Reviews

Another unique and funny short.

[emasterslake · 8/10 · 6 July 2007]

Like always Pixar has created another one of a kind short for all of us to enjoy.

Lifted is set in the quiet/peaceful country side. When a flying saucer appears to abduct a sleeping individual with a tracker beam. unfortunately the tracker beam is operated by an alien trainee who isn't doing too well on his first job. And keeps messing up on the job while the professional alien grades him on his performances.

I won't give away any of the good or funny parts. But it is one of the funniest Pixar shorts yet. The use of no dialog, interesting characters and special effects is all made possible by Pixar. Along with the ever popular films, their shorts are very highly acclaim. And each one makes a further break through in animation or experiment a story that hasn't been made into CGI yet.

You're able to see Lifted along with Ratatouie.

All Hail the Wilhelm!

[jwf22 · 8/10 · 2 July 2007]

This is another fun little short in the tradition of fun little shorts from Pixar. Soundman extraordinaire Gary Rydstrom directs for the first time (according to IMDb), and the result is solid.

Not surprisingly, the sound for this short is fantastic, opening with some isolated nighttime noises of a country farmhouse. I've spent a fair amount of time on the real life equivalent of this digital set and this part sounded realistic to me.

By the way, I wrote this whole mini-review just so I could finish with this: Aieeeeeeeeee!

See Gary, the audience really IS listening.

Close Encounters of the Inept Kind

[ackstasis · 7/10 · 15 September 2007]

I've always thought it fantastic that Pixar precedes their excellent feature-length films with an equally-excellent animated short, since it serves beautifully to settle the audience down and ready them for the coming feature. With 'Ratatouille' currently in cinemas, the short film this time around was 'Lifted,' a brief but amusing tale of an attempted alien abduction that doesn't quite go to plan. It was directed by Gary Rydstrom, a first-time director but incredible seven-time Oscar winner, thanks to his excellent work in the sound department on such films as 'Jurassic Park' and 'Titanic.' Like Pixar's finest short films, the simple plot is propelled forward without the need for any dialogue, relying mostly on effectively-chosen sound effects. Accordingly, Rydstrom was an ideal candidate to direct.

In a quiet country farmhouse, a human sleeps peacefully, blissfully unaware that an immense UFO has stationed itself outside his house. Inside the spaceship, a young alien, named Stu, is trying desperately to remember which unlabeled toggle switches to press, presented with a vast selection across a large control panel. Stu's instructor, Mr. B., watches over him menacingly, his expression offering not a hint to the correct procedure and answering every mistake by scribbling briefly onto his notepad. Meanwhile, as Stu fumbles tentatively with the controls, the unfortunate human finds himself lifted from his bed by the spacecraft's tractor-beam and tossed violently against the wall and ceiling, never waking from his slumber.

I thought it was rather ambitious that the filmmakers decided to show the beings inside the UFO, since it is rare that we actually get to see a cinematic alien fiddling with buttons and levers behind a control desk. Not only this, but the two extraterrestrials – in just five minutes – become relatively well-developed characters: we immediately sympathise with poor hapless Stu, and Mr. B. discovers a streak of compassion that we hadn't originally expected of him. The comedic timing is just about perfect, and we hold our breath as Stu moves to press another button, before laughing at the unexpected consequence of this upon the unlucky human – his movements largely represented by a holographic blip above the control panel. The sound effects are cleverly-chosen, and the addition of the Wilhelm scream at the very end was a nice touch.

Clever and funny

[bob the moo · 4 May 2008]

A remote farm-house (probably in the Midwest) is suddenly bathed in a bright, clean light and the sleeping farmer is picked up from his bed and carried towards the window, where an alien craft awaits. Unfortunately for him, the abduction is being undertaken by a trainee, who really needs more hours in the simulator before tried to do it on a live subject.

This short film was screened before the feature Ratatouille and worked well in getting the audience in the laughing mood. Like the equally good "For the Birds" this short film delivers constant laughs in a short time before bowing out with a strong finish. The former short focused on a big tall bird, this film focuses on a trainee alien but the approach is the same – have one weakness or failing be the subject of the short. Here the trainee cannot get the man out the window with the controls and the repeated failures are simple but also very funny. This continues to the end, which is a nice big laugh at the end. The animation is typical Pixar, very clean, professional and impressive with plenty of cultural references in the alien abduction itself for film fans.

Overall then a very clever and funny short film that works very well because it knows just what it needs to do and does it in a ruthlessly efficient manner.

Very cute and funny

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 9 February 2008]

LIFTED was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short for 2007 but it lost to THE DANISH POET. While THE DANISH POET was more original in style and scope, this Pixar short is simply funnier and more entertaining--even though the style isn't all that innovative these days (after all, there are TONS of CG shorts these days).

LIFTED was released both in theaters and on DVD with RATATOUILLE--a remarkable film in its own right. Here is the interesting part. It wasn't until the second time that I realized the character playing the sleeping guy was the same guy from RATATOUILLE. I think most people won't notice this right away either because seeing the short before the main feature, you aren't familiar with the character.

As far as the film goes, it represents the very state of the art in computer generated animation--you can't get any better. However, the cartoon isn't just CG but the story is cute and very funny. I really thing that the great success of Pixar actually hurt the chances of this film winning, as the studio already has won several awards and they are the "big boy" in the field--often, it seems, the Academy and film festivals are looking for more independent films in this category.

Funny Movie

[blackhayatego · 8/10 · 26 July 2022]

This movie was made in 2006. It's a short comedy movie.

One night, the swing is shaking. A house is illuminated by the light from the sky. There is a UFO. A boy sleeping in the house floats in the air and hits his head against the window. He hits his head many times. The boy is controlled by a little alien from the UFO who tries to carry the boy out, but he fails many times. There is another big alien who watches his operation and records something. He presses a lot of buttons while looking at the big alien's complexion, but it doesn't work. He finds the correct button, but drops the boy from the ship finally. Then, the big alien operates to put everything back. They go home with the little alien's driving... It was an interesting movie. The little alien's face shows his situation. I like the big alien letting the little alien operate the spaceship at the end. I think it's good to watch the last scene which is especially interesting. I couldn't predict it.

Oscar-nominated Lifted goes great with companion feature

[tavm · 10/10 · 30 June 2007]

Unless others are doing this at the same time, it looks like I'll be the first to comment on the Oscar-nominated short Lifted which is now playing right before Ratatouille since both films are produced by, you guessed it, Pixar. In this one, a young man is being abducted by a spaceship as indicated by the light that's on him. It doesn't go smoothly, however, since the light has the still sleeping man constantly hit a wall. Turns out the one doing the abduction is a trainee who has trouble remembering simple directions as indicated by the glum-faced guide watching over him inside the spaceship. All I'll tell you after that is how many things go constantly wrong in some of the most laugh-inducing scenes I've seen in the theatre all year so far. Definitely worth viewing with the feature it's attached to so what are you waiting for? Just go!

Just like "For the Birds": terrific and in the grand style of the best Looney Tunes

[karn · 10/10 · 7 January 2009]

I keep waiting for Pixar to run out of good ideas, and they never do. My favorite of their shorts, "Lifted" and "For the Birds", are very much in the tradition of the old Warner Brothers. The emphasis is on characterization, sight gags, facial expressions and sound effects rather than dialog, and much of the humor comes from playing with our expectations. You simply don't expect a huge "Close Encounters" alien ship to be piloted by an inept trainee on a check ride who can't even fit his captive through the window. You don't expect a highly advanced alien flight instructor to take notes with an ordinary clipboard and ball point pen. You don't expect that a would-be abductee would stay asleep through all that only to wake up when his alarm goes off.

The WB greats also discovered that the biggest laughs often come from the smallest details. When the Coyote realized that he was about to get pounded (again) by a huge falling boulder, his eyes shrank to pinpoints. I always found that funnier than the actual boulder-pounding. In "Lifted", watch the mailbox near the farmhouse when the spaceship (unexpectedly, of course) crashes. A moment later, the flag on the mailbox falls. I missed it even in the Blu-Ray version, but once the director pointed it out in the commentary, it became the funniest part of the gag for me.

I won't put it down

[TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews · 7/10 · 7 November 2009]

This animated short is on the 2-Disc Special Edition of Ratatouille, and I understand that it was also played in theaters right before aforementioned feature was. With a running time of five minutes and not a single spoken word, this communicates entirely through the visuals, and the quality is definitely top-notch. The story-telling is quite good, and this doesn't go for the cheap audience-pleaser of just doing fancy stuff with the ever-expanding technology, and instead uses it. This has a cool enough, minimalistic plot that you can instantly get into, and a conflict that takes a mere second to wrap your head around, including for young children, in spite of the exact situation being one that I'm willing to bet no one in the audience has found themselves in. All of the sound is excellent, as is the use of it. I didn't personally find this terribly funny, but I can imagine that many will. The material tends to be physical, with slapstick and sight gags. Cartoon violence, and a brief image that might remind people of plumbers is the extent of the offensive material. I recommend this to fans of CGI movies. 7/10

very funny animated Pixar short

[disdressed12 · 9/10 · 25 May 2008]

i just viewed this short a few minutes ago,and i thought it was great.the animation was excellent,but i really loved the story.i won't give anything away here,but if you're a fan of Pixar,you should really enjoy this little gem.even if you're not,i still think you'll enjoy it.it's very clever and manages to tell a great story in just 5 minutes.i laughed out loud more than once,in fact more often than i have in some full length comedies.if this is something that interests you,it's available as a Pixar collection of shorts which are probably available in most stores,or online.anyway,i loved Lifted and highly recommend it.

Funny

[nadeshikomail · 7/10 · 11 July 2018]

The first impression of this movie was I already had feeling that it would become a funny movie. And I was not wrong. The film about two aliens working together in order to lift a human up to their UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) is brilliant. First of all, I like how they portrayed aliens as green slime like creatures. Not to mention they are irresistibly cute as well. The small alien is my favorite. He probably has no talent to be what aliens are supposed to be, but he would never stop trying. The human who is going to be lifted is so unrealistic in my opinion, but that is what makes this film more interesting in the first place. This film is only five minutes, and I recommend you to watch it.

Best of the short animation

[nekogasuki · 10/10 · 26 July 2013]

It is hard to become full-fledged. It is the same for aliens. When you become full-fledged in your work, you have to pass your boss's mission. It is same with aliens. A green alien tries to abduct sleeping human from his bed. At last, did he clear his mission? This film is made by PIXAR which I think is the king of animation. It is only 5 minutes animation, but it was a respectable MOVIE. I felt much longer than 5 minutes. Despite the absence of conversation, alien's conversation seemed to hear by their face or moving. This is a great power of PIXAR animation which cannot be imitated by any other. I most like the last scene which the boss give the green alien control machine when he look the green alien is really disappointed about his failure. It is OK if the film finished by his failure. However, I think it is meaningful he could have another chance from his boss. I recommend watching this, both children and adult who is in management.

Lifted

[jboothmillard · 6/10 · 27 February 2008]

If you have Ratatouille on DVD, then you would have this short animated film in the special features. From the geniuses at Pixar, this another amusing short. Basically a human is peacefully sleeping, and all of the sudden a bright light appears outside. A large alien ship tries to pull the human outside with the light power, the abduction by the way is being done by a teenage alien. There are so many switches tough, and he is failing to even get out the window, and no matter where he is being thrown and banged against the wall, the human doesn't wake. The other alien is not pleased, but the human does eventually come out the window, but looking all smug, the teenage alien forgets the light power, and they put him back in bed, but not before crashing into the ground, and taking the ground, apart from the human's bed, with them. Phew! Obviously see it for yourself, I'm not always good with long explanations like this, even for a short film. It was nominated Oscar Best Short Animated Film. Good!

Doesn't look funny to me

[AnonymousbutDilpreet002 · 4/10 · 23 June 2018]

This is probably Pixar's weakest short film. Every Pixar short has one of these three qualities - It can be cute or it teach us something or atleast be funny. But this film did not has any of the three. I didn't feel entertained.

Puppetering

[RResende · 11 September 2007]

You will watch this short in the theatre before the beginning of Ratatouille. And it's very well placed, since it indicates much of the theme that drives Ratatouille. An artist puppeteering an instrument in order to create his art.

This short may be understood as a synonym for the work of an animator. Really really hard to manage, check out the number of buttons in the board of the spaceship. It's hard to learn the job, and while you don't master it, all you do will be a disgrace. But if you get to do it well, you'll do wonders. You'll puppeteer the world below, create and destroy, move and control.

These small appointments (not necessarily short films) are interesting to me because they are explicit indications pointing on how each creator comes out with his own originality and my opinion is, the creations reflect usually every stuff which is very close to the creator, usually his own thoughts and life (It's the second time in a short time i identify these signs, the other was with Miyazaki's Kiki).

The funny thing is when the construction, no matter how simple it is, is honest in its origins, works out very effective, so this short is really really funny.

My evaluation: 4/5

http://www.7eyes.wordpress.com

Incompetence from the sky

[ManOfKino · 9/10 · 20 June 2018]

A sleeping man is visited by aliens in a flying saucer. As the familiar scenes of alien abduction start playing out, it turns out that the abductors are experiencing certain technical difficulties. What is it that these nefarious aliens really want?

Lifted is a very funny animated short that takes a familiar and clichéd story -alien abduction- and has fun with it. The comedy is mainly physical, taking the form of slapstick as the unfortunate sleeper is accidentally tossed around with the flying saucer's beam. Inside the saucer, we see the unprepared pilot wrestle with the saucer's impossibly complicated controls as well as with the unflinching gaze of his superior. The animation style of Lifted is not particularly distinctive, but works well. There is no spoken dialogue in the film, and as such everything is conveyed through action only.

I thought that the concept of this short was pretty interesting, and that it had the potential to be transformed into a longer film. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be in the works.

A funny abduction

[k0038546 · 9/10 · 15 February 2014]

"Lifted" is a film about abduction, an UFO lifting a human in it by unscientific power. It might sound scary but it's a comical film. Two aliens are on the UFO, and one of them is a little boy alien trying to pull a human by using many controllers of the UFO and the other woman alien is testing him. The little boy alien isn't doing very well and the woman alien is getting displeased about it. Will he able to succeed in the abduction? If you want to know, you must watch this film! I was surprised with this film because the theme of it is abduction which is actually a scary thing but this film is rather a funny one. The characters are like cartoon and no words are spoken but you will know what the aliens are feeling by their faces and how they act. It's only about 5 minutes, short enough to watch in your free time!

A Cute Little Alien

[rosechocoberry · 8/10 · 11 July 2018]

***This review may contain spoilers*** This animation short film is unique because it is about aliens who practice how they kidnap humans. A newcomer alien tries to get a man out of house with a lot of handles in UFO, however, he is stressed by his boss's staring and he starts panicking. It is very different from other films with the concept about aliens try to take human away to their planet. I can sympathize with the young alien who is still learning how to use UFO, which is very relatable for me because we all can be like that when we are new to something, and not being good at them. It reminds me of training of part time job, because it sometimes can be gone wrong like this. The aliens are expressed very humanly. I have never seen aliens so likable and funny. I think this is a little bit related to Monster's Inc. which is one of the most famous works of Pixar. I like how they make scary creatures into loveable creatures. Also, I like the way they use the end credit to keep amusing audience. In this film, they use only the sounds to lead what happen at the ending during the end credits, which is very lovely idea.

Oh, really?

[dreameable · 8/10 · 18 June 2018]

The story is about aliens who try to kidnap a man from his countryside house. The movie is presented in the 3d animation, which can suit this science fiction and comedy film pretty well. The film use visual storytelling to create the plot. We can understand the role and duty of each character in the very short time of the movie. They also use the music together with the scene to emphasize the action what characters is facing, making the joke even funnier. Since there are only 3 characters in the film, the story can drag us into curiosity all of the 5 minutes length. The animation itself is nicely done as high as Pixar standard. There are two aliens on the UFO, one is professional alien, one is trainee alien. They communicate through their action and facial expression. The trainee alien clearly show that he need more practice before trying to kidnap a real living thing, but the mistake ha makes is the main point that makes this movie being funny movie.

Another good job

[Polaris_DiB · 7/10 · 17 July 2007]

Animated shorts are making something of a small, barely-noticed comeback, mostly because of Pixar. In general, they are used as extra bells and whistles in special edition DVD releases to help tack on an extra five bucks or so to the cost of the disc. However, Pixar has been very faithful about preserving an old tradition and including animated shorts before each feature in the theatre.

The best part? Almost all of them are sans-dialog.

"Lifted" is another short in this vein involving a botched alien abduction. It's very good slapstick, and a great opening to a very visual and kinetic film to follow (Ratatouille). In terms of general approach, the characters are a lot more cartoon-y than previous Pixar works (Yeah, I know, it is a cartoon, but these characters seem more like something you'd find on a cable children's show than as an independent feature), but they're still well written and empathetic.

I wouldn't say it's a more memorable short from such a prolific studio, but the way things have going these past years, "Lifted" itself is much more worth the price of admission than most other Hollywood films.

--PolarisDiB

Lifted

[rumi-s0507 · 9/10 · 21 August 2013]

This film is the Pixar work and the short comedy. One night, the spaceship which is carrying two creatures from outer space comes to earth. And then, one creature operates a lot of switches of the spaceship and tries to lift the man who is sound asleep. But it meets with failure because of the lack of his skill.

Pictures and the story are very interesting. It is a film that I want to see again and again. Two characters, the green strange creatures are cute. Their comical movements and rich expressions are portrayed very well. Especially the, the small creature's face when he is sensitive to the big one's moods is quite real. I think the movement of eyes is the most important to make such a rich expression. Music and sounds stop suddenly and begin playing again. We can enjoy this film by not only the sight but also hearing.

Sleeping Beauty

[sashank_kini-1 · 7/10 · 28 August 2011]

The guy getting abducted is like Sleeping Beauty. He is tossed and turned, thrown, pummeled, dragged but he still remains in a slumber. And that's the best part of Lifted, the animated short preceding Ratatouille which wasn't shown to us in the theater but I caught it on YouTube and it's a riot.

Impatient and clumsy teenage alien tries to abduct a young chap but miserably fails. And on top of it he is being judged by a stone-faced supervisor. The short gets more and more funny as it progresses and the funniest part is the one I mentioned above. Some funny additions include the chaps buffoons being visible when he is stuck in the window, and the moment when he is almost lifted with angelic music in the background for a few seconds before being thrown back inside. The ending is all the more funny. It would serve as a great opener to my personal favorite of all the Pixar hits, Ratatouille (which I loved all the more after subsequent viewings).

My rating: 7 out of 10.

Pixar Does It Again

[shadab-54637 · 8/10 · 31 May 2016]

Disney and Pixar are in their own separate league when it comes to animated movies and Lifted is not any different from the high standards they've set already. How they think of such original ideas year after year without compromising on the humor is hard to contemplate, really.

This short 5 minute film starts with an alien ship hovering over a stranded house in the middle of nowhere and as it happens in almost every sc-fi movie, aliens are trying to abduct the human from the house. You may not be laughing at the description, but trust me, when you see it, you will laugh. Laughter is inevitable.

This short is tears in your eyes hilarious. It is a one joke short, but the joke works so well and so funny that it doesn't matter, it only needs that one joke to carry it through.

Lifted may not be unique but it is surely funny and that's something you can't say for many movies these days. Lift your spirits with this one.

Okay little alien story

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 9 October 2013]

Lifted is another 5-minute short film from Pixar. Main player behind it is Gary Rydstrom, who already won 7 Academy Awards for his sound work in films by Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and others. What most don't know is he worked for Pixar since the very early years. Luxo Jr., Tin Toy, Red's Dream, he was always on board in the sound department. But Lifted was his very first directorial effort. And the result is a fairly good one, even if it lost the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film to "The Danish Poet".

We see an alien obviously doing his equivalent to a driver's license test and the supervisor takes carefully notes about everything that goes wrong. Which is a lot. The young alien's task is to get a man out of his house with the help of an energy beam, but there's oh so many buttons to control. Too many for our hero. At least the human keeps sleeping even after crashing into walls, so the learner has all the time in the world and finally succeeds. Or does he? Animation's as good as always, but story-wise I don't think it's among Pixar's best work. All in all it's a cute little film that got a laugh out of me once or twice.

nice

[satohakilesson · 5/10 · 17 July 2013]

This movie is that the aliens try to lift a man to their spaceship who sleeps in his house.

There are many interesting scenes in this film. I like the contacts between aliens. It is very humorous. A small alien's trial and error is very funny and a big alien's correspondence is cool and interesting. The scene that a man in a house crashes into a wall many times is also funny. The BGMs in this movie are very good. They suit each scenes. They also enlarge the fun of this film.

There is no scene that I don't like. I like all of the scenes.

This movie is constituted by the funny moment, so I think it is made to make people funny. I like the movie that is full of fun. When you are sad and want to make yourself cheer up, you should watch it!