A young boy joins his father and grandfather on their row boat La Luna. They row out into the waters. Using a long ladder, they climb up to the moon. Stars fall on the moon and they sweep them up. A particular large star lands and they have difficulties moving it. The boy uses a little hammer to shatter it into little stars.This was shown with the movie Brave and nominated for an Oscar. It's a cute fable from Paxar. It hits on a couple of solid ideas. There's the family aspect, the old-timey tradition, and the fanciful world. I do have a few minor problems. It's a very light short and doesn't have much in the way of drama. It is fanciful and cute. I would expect 'Brave' to start with a short about the Brave world. The main connection is that both are European fables. Instead of a fake language, it would be nice to have the characters talk a real language. There is no problem with them speaking Italian without any subtitles. It's been done before by superior classic movies. The adult in me also asks why the family does what it does. Overall, it's cute but a bit light.

"La Luna" is a 6-minute animated short film from 2011 written and directed by Enrico Casarosa. It's his only directorial effort so far, but he also worked on "Ice Age", "Ratatouille" and "Up" in less influential roles. And currently, he is the the co-writer for Pixar's "The Good Dinosaur" which will hit theaters soon. Could be a huge breakthrough for him if it turns into a quality movie. But back to "La Luna". It was nominated for an Annie Award and an Academy award, but lost both to, in my opinion, inferior films.We see two men "one of them looks a bit like the dad from "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs") and a boy in a boat named "La Luna". It becomes obvious that they are grandfather, father and son and the two men take their son to show them their profession for the first time. There is not that much humor in this short film, maybe except the funny looking two men with their massive beards and eyebrows. But there is some decent emotion for this short running-time. You could actually imagines how, maybe 30 years back, the father was the son and the now-old man showed him the business back then. Or also the boy's big eyes because everything he sees here is no new and amazing. Apart from that, "La luna" is certainly a winner in terms of visuals. The moon is amazing to watch and so is his mirage in the water. And the scene with the boy letting one big star explode into many is perfect to watch. But it's also nice to listen to. The sound effects of the clinking stars are maybe the most memorable thing about this short film. The only problem I had with it was maybe that I did not really understand what they were doing for the entire movie. But with the very last shot, this problem is solved as well in a truly creative manner so that everything makes sense now. Excellent short film. Recommended.

I don't know short films like these other guys do, but what I know is that after this short ended, I told my brother it was worth the price of admission just to see the cartoon. I say that, and I walked in the theatre after the short was well underway.The music is great, it's simply great, and it makes the film. I find it fascinating that the music does so much, yet the animation is so entrancing that the music is felt rather than heard. It's rare to see something on par with excellent music. I write this only because I'm desperately searching for an online copy, I must see it again.

For the last several years I have gone to see the Academy Award nominated shorts--both live action and animated. This year is a first for the animated category in that as we sat watching, I overheard a lot of murmurs about how bad the nominees were. The folks watching seemed, at times, genuinely mad at the choices. Fortunately, after three very sub-par films, the final three were excellent and it seems pretty clear that the race is between "La Luna" and "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore". And, like the last couple years, following these nominees, they showed some animated shorts that were not nominees but were sort of like runners up--and the folks I talked to preferred these films to several of the nominees."La Luna" is a very unusual film considering it comes from Pixar. While the computer animation is, as always, exceptional, the story itself is quite different from their usual shorts. Instead of going for laughs, the film clearly is intended more as an art film. It's gentle, sweet and clearly worthy of being nominated. And although I prefer another short (about flying books), I wouldn't be the least bit disappointed if "La Luna" won--there is nothing not to like about the film. It screams quality throughout and his VERY high on charm. It's also a film that can be enjoyed by all ages and all sorts of people (even film snobs). It's just that the other one is just a teensy bit better in my opinion.