The short film that preceded Monsters University, The Blue
Umbrella, is a beautiful work of visual poetry, using music and rhythm to
progress the narrative, with absolutely no dialogue whatsoever. It’s a story about –
as you may have guessed – a blue umbrella that develops an attraction to
a red umbrella, which happens to be the only other color that stands out
amongst the sea of traditional black (there’s some symbolism in there
somewhere).
When the blue umbrella finds itself blown away during a rain storm, a world of inanimate objects comes alive, working together to save the helpless little guy from all sorts of peril, all to reunite him with his bright red crush. The animation is absolutely fantastic; perfect rain effects and dark lighting dominate the environment, creating detailed shadows and reflections everywhere. Pixar is a studio that once combined incredible technical polish with a unique approach to storytelling. Their true power is shown during this wonderful little short.
Then The Blue Umbrella ended and Monsters University began. From there on out things seemed fairly run-of-the-mill -- a very sad thing to have to say about any Pixar production. After all, this is the studio that gave the world masterpieces like Ratatouille (2007) and Toy Story (1995).
When the blue umbrella finds itself blown away during a rain storm, a world of inanimate objects comes alive, working together to save the helpless little guy from all sorts of peril, all to reunite him with his bright red crush. The animation is absolutely fantastic; perfect rain effects and dark lighting dominate the environment, creating detailed shadows and reflections everywhere. Pixar is a studio that once combined incredible technical polish with a unique approach to storytelling. Their true power is shown during this wonderful little short.
Then The Blue Umbrella ended and Monsters University began. From there on out things seemed fairly run-of-the-mill -- a very sad thing to have to say about any Pixar production. After all, this is the studio that gave the world masterpieces like Ratatouille (2007) and Toy Story (1995).