User reviews

For the theatrical release of 'WALL•E (2008),' Pixar Studios continues that lovely time-honoured tradition of preceding the main feature with an amusing animated short. Not only that, but they've developed one of their best, second only to the mini-masterpiece that is 'Geri's Game (1997).' A hilarious throw-back to the classic Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons – such that we can almost envision Bugs in a starring role – 'Presto (2008)' concerns itself with the art of magic. When an uptight stage magician, Presto DiGiotagione, neglects to feed his hungry rabbit, Alec Azam, the malnourished pet mischievously decides to exact revenge on his owner, with the help of two magic hats and no shortage of dangerous backstage implements. Each time Presto attempts to pull the rabbit from his top hat, his hand emerges clutching all sorts of painful contraptions, from mouse traps to live electrical wires to an entire ladder. His performance already in tatters, the red-faced magician tries even harder to convince the rabbit to cooperate, his every action only making matters worse.

'Presto' was directed by Doug Sweetland, a long-serving animator at Pixar, in his directorial debut. Entirely wordless, as most of Pixar's shorts are, the film relies on terrific visuals and sound effects to provide the humour, though this effort is notably less reliant on sound effects than the previous 'Lifted (2006)' {which, appropriately, was directed by sound effects whiz Gary Rydstrom}. Working with a simple scenario, 'Presto' begins with relatively minor sight gags, gradually upping the ante until all hell breaks loose on-stage, and the hapless magician finds himself strung high above the ground. Obviously, the audience finds all this utterly magnificent, and Presto – however battered and bruised – is only too happy to accept this gracious applause. Some may find all this to be rather mean-spirited, but certainly no more so than Bugs Bunny when he got Elmer Fudd in his sights, and children will definitely find the rabbit's hilarious antics to be uproariously entertaining. This is a delicious cinematic appetiser from the best in the business.

As any fan of Pixar's animated films know, when they send a new feature out, they include a short cartoon with it. PRESTO is the film that accompanies WALL-E and it is a silent picture.

A good part of the publicity surrounding WALL-E is that it is largely a silent film. But PRESTO is wholly one, concerning a stage magician, his carrot-hungry rabbit and a piece of real magic: a top-hot that is connected to a dunce cap. The magician can put his hand into the top hat and draw out things from the dunce cap. And, as is traditional, he intends to pull out the rabbit, but the rabbit, who resembles the rabbit in the TRIX cereal commercials, is upset that he is not getting any carrot, and sabotages the act in various amusing ways using the logic of the set-up.

A very amusing cartoon, and Pixar is to be commended for continuing to develop animation talent in its short subjects.

Pixar is the new Disney (as in the good Disney of old). They continue to make quality stories, push boundaries of visual design capabilities and, above all, charm audiences young and old. The same holds with Presto, the team's latest short cartoon which played before each screening of Wall-E. In it, a hungry rabbit, upset his magician owner will not give him the carrot promised to him, decides to sabotage the show in a variety of increasingly humorous ways until he gets it. What makes this simple premise shine is the clever slapstick gags, great characters and the overall sweet tone throughout the film. It's just pure and simple cartoon fun that sets the right tone for the film after it. The absence of dialogue actually makes the whole thing funnier, as their are no corny lines to ruin the enjoyment like in most non-Pixar cartoons. I highly recommend buying it on iTunes or seeing Wall-E just to make sure yo get to experience it.

To go with Pixar's most perfect movie, we're treated to a 5 minute short before the picture starts. Presto is beautifully animated, looking just as good as a full length animated picture would, and also, like the movie it was shown with, Wall-E, it has no dialogue, yet still comes off brilliantly. It induced more laughs than any other full length film I've seen this year.

Presto is a magician. He's late to work and forgets to feed his rabbit who he's about to use for a trick. Presto has a hat where anything that goes into the hat comes out of another hat. Rebelling against Presto, the rabbit refuses to be pulled from the hat and tries to make the magician look bad. Chaos ensues, as do many belly laughs, which have never been produced in me to this magnitude from a cartoon.

This was one of Pixar's best shorts. It was the perfect length with the perfect amount of jokes, mostly slapstick, which caused some real laughter from me, and the entire audience. The animation was vibrant and colorful, and the way it had a nice glow to it, similar to the way Ratatouille looks (I don't know how to explain it). Never has a crotch hit been more expertly thought out, and never have I laughed harder at an animation as I did with this little gem.

My rating: **** out of ****. 6 mins.

I have always loved Pixar, and Presto- shown before the enchanting WALL-E- is one of my favourites ever from them. Pixar films and shorts always have had amazing animation and Presto is no exception. The colours have so much vibrancy and warmth and the backgrounds are smooth and elegant. The music is suitably rousing and dynamic with what's going on screen. Presto has some great and very funny humour, not through dialogue, but through slapstick and visual gags. In fact, for me Presto is one of the funnier Pixar short films, the slapstick and visual gags are not just funny and there are plenty of them but also very clever. I also love how much heart there is in the simple story and how engaging the characters are, especially the rabbit. Presto has humour and heart, but what makes it so good is also its sweet tone without making it cloyingly sweet. Overall, a superb short film, it really is 5 minutes of sheer joy. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I love the concept so much, I just don't think it needs to be five minutes long. Once you get the idea it becomes slightly tedious to sit through every single gag.

I didn't do my research. Had I come to IMDb before seeing Wall-E, I would have known that we would be seeing Presto. It's a great Looney Tunes style short that pits a rabbit against his magician, all for a carrot. It actually had me laughing. Not just chuckling, but laughing and since you can't see the original Looney Tunes I used to love, it was a refreshing change to have a short cartoon do that for me. I'd almost forgotten what it was like. The animation is much better than the old favourites, but not quite as detailed as something like Shrek or even Wall-E itself. They keep it simple and light on its feet. Works perfectly in my opinion. I would gladly sit through Presto again if I went to see Wall-E a second time.

wildly entertaining. very cute. and very exciting. all with no dialogue.

the quick story is really clever too.

again, a very very funny short film. kids will love it, and so will adults, and so will you.

it will win an Oscar. you'll see.

gotta love Disney and pixar. they always provide. and keep getting better. Presto really upped the scale for future DP short films.

i thought that presto was just the perfect appetizer for Wall E. it really gets you in the mood to laugh at the very charlie chaplin humor.

A magician, his magic top hat and his desperately cute and hungry rabbit.

PRESTO is a Pixar featurette before WALL-E and has brought back the classically hilarious "short," popularized by Warner Bros. and Bugs Bunny cartoons all those decades ago.

The protagonist, being a rabbit, made me feel somehow like a person from the 40s or 50s might have felt when that other cheeky rabbit careened across the silver screen for the first time, with that sense of amazement and wonder at watching something so guttingly funny.

Presto the Magician is onstage for his act, but his rabbit wants to be fed, so refuses to be pulled from Presto's magic hat until he gets his fix of carrot. The myriad ways in which he confounds Presto's attempts to drag him from the hat are – once again, when speaking of Pixar – absolutely ingenious.

Pixar shorts have long established themselves as not only gorgeous eye candy and funny but also clever and intelligent. I have always found it incredible how short films (whether they are animated or not) seek to tell a story in a short space of time. The very best do so in such a way that you have become connected with what you watch. In this sense I find short films to be much more remarkable than full length features as the most poignant of them have to overcome the limited time slot allocated to them. And Presto does just that. How can a magician and a little rabbit cause so much hilarity and mayhem in just a few minutes while also making you actually care for both characters? It is beyond me but that's what Pixar delivers. Presto lends homage to many of the classic Looney Tunes cartoons and is a roller coaster ride of enjoyment for both young and old. Following on from the equally magnificent "Lifted", "Bounding" and "One Man Band", Pixar has cemented themselves as not only the masters of creative story telling on the feature-length screen but also the short-length one. Combine that with the ever amazing (and now taken for granted) techniques used in their animation and you have an animated package that you will want to watch over and over again. Bugs would be so proud...

Unusually for a Pixar short, Presto is a rather fast and frenetic cartoon.

A magician is preparing for his stage show and has a nice juicy carrot for his rabbit.

The rabbit is salivating but the magician is just teasing him with it. The hungry rabbit causes chaos with the show especially with the magic hats.

Inadvertently with all the bedlam and the magician getting injured with the tricks going wrong, the show wows the audience.

Presto (2008)

*** (out of 4)

Animated short from Pixar, which was originally shown in front of Wall-E. A magician who specializes in pulling a rabbit from his hat forgets to feed that same rabbit. That night at the show the rabbit protests and refuses to be pulled, which leads to trouble. This film runs a short five-minutes and while it's not as attractive as the main feature it's still a nice little gem. There's some very funny stuff here as the magician has to do battle with his partner including a very good sequence where the rabbit keeps pulling tricks of his own. The animation is quite nice and the story work fine as well.

If you've never watched 'Looney Tunes', 'Tom and Jerry' or even 'Scooby Doo, firstly please remove yourself from the insignificant rock that you reside under, and secondly this may just be the most accessible stepping stone to the world of cartoons. We've got a Vaudeville magician who rushes on stage without feeding his mischievous rabbit, who unsurprisingly refuses to cooperate with the act and utilises a magical wizard's hat to his own advantage. Y'know, a powerful teleportational piece of clothing that is linked with the magician's own top hat that, when objects pass through, are buoyantly received from the opposing hat. No? You ought to purchase one. They're mighty good fun! As expected, the rabbit is throwing eggs, mousetraps, ladders and all sorts of health and safety hazards through the hat, resulting in an animation that primarily hones in on visual cartoon comedy.

It's a treat, albeit a forgettable appetiser. And the reason for this criticism is due to the short being, well, short. Back in the day, when a cat named Tom was producing meticulous traps to catch a sneaky mouse named Jerry, it was decent fifteen minute escapade. There was build up. There was creativity. There was the inevitability that the trap would backfire. Cartoons need buildup in order to deliver the laughs, and "hey presto" five minutes just doesn't cut any carrots. It's a rapid succession of quick fire shenanigans that, yes do produce smiles, but no chuckles. Fortunately the superb animation, Sweetland's acclamation for cartoons and the partnership moralised narrative ensures that this magical act remains delightful and mystical throughout. A suitable companion piece for the beast that is 'Wall-E'.

I quite liked this short film which I saw before Wall-E (2008). It relies on physical comedy to tell its story revolving around a cute magician's rabbit. It made me smile!

It's magician Presto DiGiotagione and his Hat of Wonder. The top hat is actually connected to a wizard's cap. His rabbit wants a carrot and is not willing to cooperate in the teleportation trick until he gets that carrot. Presto keeps trying but rabbit outsmarts him at every turn. It is a non-stop string of slapstick hijinx. Presto's failures only make the audience laugh even more. This is a lot of fun. There is no dialogue and these are not known characters. This is a fun five minute skit. It's a Pixar short that hearkens back to the best of the old Looney Tunes cartoons. The animation looks great. It's not the most complicated thing but these characters are worthwhile to have more done with them.

The hungry bunny was cute. I could feel I was there!