Purl

So funny and clever. Love the animation style as well. Pixar never disappoints.

This film is getting just a little too much grief in the reviews. It's an important film in terms of women directors telling their own stories. Pixar is a pretty male dominated company as is the rest of the film industry and it's nice to see that changing. Yes the film isn't exactly subtle about what it's trying to comment on, but why should it be? And for those criticising the animation, yeah the background stuff isn't top tier but I can't imagine the budget was either.

Good thing I decided to watch this before playing for my 5 and 2 yo.

Sure, 'Purl' is more adult in content than everything else that Pixar has done and it is definitely the most adult of all the SparkShorts short films. Can also understand why it won't work for some. Having said that, to me the criticism is excessive and unfair. Animation is not just for kids, it's aimed for the whole family and Pixar epitomises this. Also Pixar have been tackling deep, bold, more complex themes for a while now, which have also been present in animation for decades (cartoons from as early as the 30s tackled the dangers of alcohol and smoking for example), though some of their newer work has been more suited to older viewers.

'Purl' is definitely not one of Pixar's best short films overall and its approach to a difficult subject matter (that was always going to cause critical division from the get go) is not always perfect. Also do prefer other SparkShort Pixar short films, all worth seeing, especially 'Loop' and 'Float' as they connected with me more emotionally and were more relatable. 'Purl' though to me is a lot better than given credit for and while its execution was not consistent that it even dared to approach this subject was brave.

Am going to start with what could have been done better. Will agree that 'Purl' can be too on the nose and executes some of the content heavy-handedly. The message is actually a good, relevant and important one that makes its point, it just could have done it more subtly. Then again on reflection this is a topic that is not easy to execute with subtlety.

Did feel that some of the pace could have been tighter.

However, there is a lot that is good about 'Purl'. Pixar always delivers when it comes to the animation, and 'Purl' is no exception. Especially on the cute and quirky design on Purl herself. The music has a nice quirkiness and energy while also being beautifully orchestrated. Really loved the character of Purl, she is very endearing and the SparkShorts series has consistently delivered on having characters that are easy to root for and relate to and Purl is no exception.

The content of 'Purl' is the most adult of all of Pixar's short films, some may find it too crude but to me it was quite witty and wasn't anywhere as tasteless as it could have been. What is depicted here writing-wise does happen in the workplace so it didn't feel out of place, and especially with such an uncompromising approach to something that one doesn't see a lot in animation. The depiction of workplace diversity and how toxic and discriminatory it can be was interesting and is actually not only realistic but has been known to be true. 'Purl' still manages to have a lot of heart and can be very cute and funny.

On the whole, very good and much better than given credit for here. 8/10.

Watched it with my 8 year old. Then I had to rewatch when I read people complaining that Purl curses because I didn't catch it the first time. I asked my son if he heard the bad word and he responded "wait, there was a curse word?!" The jokes and swear word went right over his head. I can't help but laugh at how offended people are getting over this.