Oh yes I did. "LOU" is a 7-minute animated short film from this year and it is certainly already now among the most seen and most successful short films of 2017. This has to do with the fact that it is another collaboration between Disney and Pixar and as such a force to be reckoned with when it comes to the Best Animated Short Film category at the Oscars 2018. The writer and director is Dave Mullins and he has worked in the animation department of quite a few Pixar films already, but this here is the moment of truth for him as the man in charge. Voice actor Jack Bright is also not new to the Pixar universe. Now the story here takes place at a school yard and we have the kids having fun until they are disturbed by a bully. The title character though is once again for Pixar not human, but the lost and found boy standing nearby that seems to possess some kind of spirit or artificial intelligence inside as the contents in there keep becoming all kinds of creatures in leading the bully kid back to the path of kindness. The inclusion of his favorite stuffed animal when he was way younger is where Pixar delivers emotionally as always, even if it may go a bit over the top eventually with the idea of self-sacrifice for the good cause. And the first 2-3 minutes also did not impress me at all. But luckily, there is a great deal of improvement in the second half of this little movie. And finally, yes it is Disney and Pixar and yes we sure expect the animation and character design to be really as good as it gets, but we should still not take it for granted that it is in fact on a very high level visually again. Overall, this should be a surefire for an Oscar nomination, but I am not entirely sold on it to win. Same for me personally. I think it will end up on my list of favorite animated short films from 2017, but I cannot really see it reaching the top spot, maybe not even the podium. But of course, it is definitely worth checking out if you love (modern) animation. I give it a thumbs-up.
Review of Lou
