Preface/Premise

• Alrighty, I don’t typically review many SUPER obscure things here on My Movie Thoughts but part of what makes it fun is that I can when I want to.
• So for example: if I were to ask you what “Lava” is, you’d probably say that red hot magma stuff that comes out of volcanoes.
• Lava is also the name of the newest Pixar short film airing before Inside Out.
• It’s only 7 minutes long, but it’s something I haven’t stopped thinking about since I saw Inside Out and even though I loved that movie, I may have loved this short film even more.
• So here are my quick thoughts on it!

Short Film, Short Review

• So Lava is basically centered around this one volcano named Uku (yes he does have a name). And Uku is just looking for someone to love, someone to spend his days with!
  • Yes, as volcanoes can love too…
• And what this movie does so well is that it takes place entirely in song.
• Songs are typically something very simple, very quick and something that are almost dumbed-down for audiences.
• Granted, I love music but that’s the simple fact, it’s why we don’t have many songs longer than 4 or 5 minutes nowadays.
• So the fact that James Ford Murphy (writer/director of this short) was able to write a song that was witty in its puns, expressed a thoroughly fleshed out story (ABOUT VOLCANOES for God’s sake), and create these rich characters and settings that were deep is impressive to say the least.
• The fact that he was able to do it in a less than 7 minute short-film with volcanoes is ridiculous.
• I loved a short-film like Feast that played before Big Hero 6, but ultimately this song looked at the opposite spectrum of animated shorts.
• Feast was entirely silent, meant to build emotion and development.
• Lava used a more in-your-face style of storytelling like a song and conveyed that emotion and development even more.
• But the song, the lyrics that do the developing, aren’t the only factor at play here.
• Because the song would not work without the animation.
• The animators and director portray these volcanoes as looking so far apart from each other, and add a lot of flair.
• They make us think of times when we were apart from our loved ones, or just felt lost and away from something we wanted.
• They showed how times like these can just feel like crap, but ultimately people (or in this case volcanoes) persevere!
• It just makes you want to hug a volcano…

In Conclusion

• Guys, in conclusion I was amazed by Lava.
• Songs aren’t typically used in these short animated features.
• Songs are usually a quick and catchy thing that you don’t want to be caught listening to on your ride to work.
• But Lava was a scripted song that had heart and wit and beauty to it.
• It was a song that was lyrically so impressive, I couldn’t believe it was among the best scripts I had heard this year.
• The animation is beautiful and the islands look phenomenal, I love the look that Murphy and his team did in personifying these volcanoes.
• The whole creative team took this big scientific concept and merged it with this big life concept and the two worked together so beautifully.
• It’s just a breathtaking piece of cinema and even though I loved Inside Out, I may have loved Lava even more.
• I don’t have a rating for short films but I loved Lava, I downloaded the song on iTunes, and when I go to see Terminator: Genisys tomorrow night I’ll probably sneak into an Inside Out showing early to check this out again.
• And whether it be sneak in or not, I strongly urge you guys to check this thing out too.

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So guys, those are my brief thoughts on Pixar’s short film Lava! Have you guys seen this, and what are your thoughts on it? Let me know in the comments down below, and as always, thanks for reading guys.