Geri's Game was the first post-Toy Story short made by PIXAR and was the first to have a human protagonist. It won the 1997 Academy Award for Best Animated Short and was the first PIXAR short to be released alongside a PIXAR feature, with A Bug's Life (1998).
In it we see an old man named Geri play a game of chess by himself, and plays as different characters with sharp contrast, differentiated by the color of the chess pieces. He doesn't sat much but he does laugh at himself while playing it, and since chess is a game of wits, he fakes a heart attack so he flip the board around and checkmates the other Geri, and the other Geri hands over his dentures and Geri with the glasses on smiles, the camera pans back and it turns out there was only one Geri the whole time.
This short I really find to be one of their best early works because PIXAR had previously used inanimate objects to come to live and now they were capable of animating human beings and not make them look too plastic. I really like this old man can play chess without a real opponent and Geri reminded me of my grandfather who was like the ultimate chess champion and won tournaments for over 30 years by outsmarting his opponents. A very timeless game and a very timeless animated short that all ages will enjoy. And yes, Geri would later return as the cleaner guy in Toy Story 2 that fixed Woody and was given more dialogue. Recommend!
10/10.
In it we see an old man named Geri play a game of chess by himself, and plays as different characters with sharp contrast, differentiated by the color of the chess pieces. He doesn't sat much but he does laugh at himself while playing it, and since chess is a game of wits, he fakes a heart attack so he flip the board around and checkmates the other Geri, and the other Geri hands over his dentures and Geri with the glasses on smiles, the camera pans back and it turns out there was only one Geri the whole time.
This short I really find to be one of their best early works because PIXAR had previously used inanimate objects to come to live and now they were capable of animating human beings and not make them look too plastic. I really like this old man can play chess without a real opponent and Geri reminded me of my grandfather who was like the ultimate chess champion and won tournaments for over 30 years by outsmarting his opponents. A very timeless game and a very timeless animated short that all ages will enjoy. And yes, Geri would later return as the cleaner guy in Toy Story 2 that fixed Woody and was given more dialogue. Recommend!
10/10.
