Pixar Short Films Collection: Volume 2 Blu-ray Review

Pixar have a long and storied tradition with short films. As with their parent company, Disney, before them, the studio got their start with short films - films like The Adventures of André and Wally B., Luxo Jr. and Tin Toy. But while Disney has largely moved away from shorts (although seem to have returned to the format in recent years, with great short films like The Ballad of Nessie and Paperman), Pixar have remained loyal to short production - having one precede each of their feature films.

So, five years after its original Short Films Collection, Pixar have now released the second collection of its acclaimed short films on Blu-ray and DVD; and it's been worth the wait!

Pixar Short Films: Volume 2 Due in November

La Luna director Enrico Casarosa hinted at it a few weeks back in an interview with this blog, but now we have confirmation and a release date for the Pixar Short Films Collection: Volume 2. Enrico, whose directorial debut, La Luna, will be featured on the collection, said we could expect an announcement on the collection soon, and the above image - a German flyer - states a November 2012 release date for the DVD and Blu Ray release.

The first collection featured all the shorts from 1984's The Adventures of André and Wally B. up until 2006's Lifted, this collection presumably picks up where that left off, with 2008's Presto. We can also see from the front cover that Day & Night, Dug's Special Mission, the Toy Story Toon, Hawaiian Vacation, and Partly Cloudy will be featured on the set. Enrico told us that La Luna's going to be on there, and it's fairly safe to assume that BURN-E, the Cars Toon, Air Mater, and the Toy Story Toon, Short Fry, (after failing to appear on The Muppets' home video release) will all be on here too.

Look also for behind the scenes features on the shorts, as Enrico said that "[the commentary track for La Luna is]supposed to be on the DVD of the shorts, you know, there’s a new shorts [DVD], and that’ll be available soon.". Well, we now know when soon is, so expect other special features for the other shorts also.

Via Pixar Talk, who link the story back to us.

More La Luna Details Emerge

Yesterday, details emerged on a brand new Pixar short, La Luna, set to debut later this year at the Annecy Film Festival and today yet more details emerge.

Firstly, we have the very simple yet effective looking title card for the short (above). As I said yesterday, I really like the look of the short and this title fits with what I've seen so far and just looks generally great.

Joining director Enrico Casarosa at the helm is Kevin Reher, as producer, who previously produced Partly Cloudy and Day & Night. It is a very solid sounding team at the top of this project and La Luna looks set to be a great addition to the already fantastic Pixar animated short film canon.

Finally, La Luna is set to have a running time of 6:53, which Mike of The Pixar Blog reliably informs us is Pixar's longest short film by almost a minute, adding to the feel of a "fable" that it is touted to be.

The short sounds great and could easily be the one we see attached to Brave in 2012.