La Luna (2011) User Reviews (33)

La Luna - A short film that packs an emotional punch

[cory-huff3897 · 9/10 · 23 June 2012]

Preceding Brave is the Academy Award nominated short film, La Luna. What we have here is a silent film that tells the tale of the lessons a son learns from their father, and vice versa. This is nicely juxtaposed next to Brave, which is about the lessons mothers and daughters teach each other. La Luna is a gorgeous and moving little film that manages to tell a better story in a few minutes (with no dialogue) than most of its two-hour long counterparts. To go into too much detail would really ruin the fun of discovering just why this boy is at sea with his father and grandfather. Just know that the few minutes this short film lasts are very moving and are something to behold.

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The Pixar short La Luna is a sight for the ages

[tavm · 8/10 · 26 June 2012]

Just watched this Oscar-nominated Pixar computer animated short before the feature Brave with my movie theatre-working friend. He didn't know about this showing before the feature and was a little confused when it ended. I, however, knew about it but I didn't know what to expect. I mean, there's a young boy, his father, and his grandfather and they're on this boat and the moon is full...I'll stop there and just say that what happens after that is so wonderful and awe-inspiring and just such a sight to see that I don't want to reveal too much. Just that if you have an active imagination, you really shouldn't miss La Luna. I mean, don't expect any loud laughs but expect to maybe chuckle a bit at some of the way the three characters interact with each other. So, yeah, that's a recommendation.

A very nice departure for Pixar

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 19 February 2012]

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.

Best Short I've Seen

[mcoyle-381-636753 · 10/10 · 9 July 2012]

"La Luna" is an incredible experience. From the first seconds, the film portrays absolute peace, and the music is the star. I would have been content if there was no plot; just the setting, the music, and the brilliantly animated characters were enough to take me far away from the movie theater and transport me into another world. There's none of the goofiness that's present in many of Pixar's other shorts. Instead, the film is honest; enthralling.

The plot is timed out absolutely perfectly, so the audience is begging to know what will come next without wishing the story would move any faster. More often than not, I find that short films (especially the funny ones) struggle with timing, and stretch out one simple idea a little bit too long. "La Luna" masterfully avoids this problem by presenting a well-developed, mysterious story (in fact, a main idea is hidden from the audience until the last few seconds) that is more fulfilling than any full-length feature I have seen in months.

So Good

[themusgrat · 10/10 · 29 July 2012]

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.

As great as expected, and even more!

[marco_n65 · 8/10 · 19 August 2011]

I've seen it at the Disney D23 annual Event in Los Angeles today. Enrico Casarosa, writer and director of "La Luna", was present during the screening. He explained that it is a very personal project, and that the characters and their personalities were based on himself and also members of his family. I personally thought that it was a masterful work of imagination, beautifully animated and totally charming. The music was also perfect, thanks again to Michal Giacchioni. Pixar fans, and everybody else as far as i'm concerned, won't be disappointed. A magical and original experience. An academy award nomination awaits for this awesome short!

A feast for eyes and ears

[Horst_In_Translation · 8/10 · 19 June 2015]

"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.

cute

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 22 October 2016]

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.

So Gentle, So Captivating

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 1 May 2019]

It takes all of six minute to see the point of this, but that doesn't matter. Every step of the way we are introduced to little wonders. Why are these people out in this little boat? What's with the ladder? Why is the little boy included? All this is eventually explained. The visuals are crisp and sound. The music is so calming. When we think of moonlight, we think of centuries of people who have felt its spell. Don't miss this one. It can't help but raise your spirits.

La La Land

[ashfordofficial · 7/10 · 4 December 2021]

What an interesting and original concept! Family traditions differ from generation to generation. Each person has their own personality molded by their family, so they can carried their legacy even far into the moon.

Pixar does it again!

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 31 January 2012]

I have always liked Pixar, their films and short films. La Luna is perhaps not quite on the level of Pixar's best shorts like Geri's Game, Presto, One Man Band and Knick Knack, but it is still a treat and even better than the wonderful Day and Night. It is gorgeously animated, especially the backgrounds, I love how poetic and charming the story is(also one of the more personal stories of any Pixar short film perhaps) and Michael Giacchino's music is some of the most beautiful he's ever done. La Luna could be said to be a departure for Pixar in terms of short films, whereas before there was the traditional emphasis on comedy with visual gags and slapstick action(in a good way that is) the humour is very gentle which suits the personal and poetic tone of the story I feel. As is the case with almost all of Pixar's projects the characters are very endearing and the heart is still there. Overall, a true treat. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Captured my imagination and my heart

[Gordon-11 · 8 November 2017]

This film tells the story of a young boy, who is taken to work by his father and his grandfather for the first time. His task is to go on the moon and sweep the stars.

Despite the film being just six minutes and thirty seconds long, it already tells a very sweet and adorable story. The story is imaginative, as I have never even imagined that stars have such as effect on the moon. The stars are beautiful, the characters are cute and the story is very sweet. In the space of just a few minutes, it has captured my imagination and my heart. It is a great animation.

Quirky and somewhat oddly amusing.

[Hellmant · 6/10 · 10 July 2012]

'LA LUNA': Three Stars (Out of Five)

Another Pixar animated short film, this one debuted in theaters before 'BRAVE' and was nominated for a 'Best Animated Short Film' Oscar at last year's Academy Awards. It tells the story of a boy, named Bambino, who goes to work with his father and grandfather for the first time one night. The three sail far out to sea and board the moon in order to clean up fallen stars on it. The boy's father and grandfather disagree on how to train Bambino and he must decide which one's instructions to follow or to do the job his own way. It was written and directed by first time filmmaker Enrico Casarosa and is spoken all in gibberish. The movie is pretty odd but without a doubt creative and original. I liked it's uniqueness but didn't find that much to really enjoy in the story. The characters aren't really developed enough to relate to or find inspiration from but it is only a 7 minute cartoon. It does have that classic old school cartoon feel to it and is quirky and somewhat oddly amusing. Not a great little short film but a decent one.

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One of the most romantic Pixar shorts

[b-13616 · 9/10 · 10 February 2019]

This is one of the most favorite short films in my life. It starts from the scene on the boat - the boat with a boy, father, and grandfather goes on a silent, calm night ocean. The sounds of Spanish guitar is romantic, and I was attracted from the first moment. The little boy is always middle of his father and grandfather, and tries to behave like adults - so I can easily suppose it is a story of boy's growth. But the way to express it is really breathtaking! When the full moon rises, adults slowly prepare to climb to the moon! With the help of the anchor and ladder, the boy arrives at the moon, where lots of little star covers the surface. Again, I have never seen such an expression for the moon, and it tells us the image of warm, bright, and even cozy place for the moon, it is so surprising. While caught in a dilemma between the way of father and grandfather, they find a huge shooting star is coming. In an attempt to put it off, the boy finally finds his way to achieve the task. We do not have the answer to the question "What are they doing?" till the end, but once you look up the sky, the answer will be there.

La Luna review

[maddiebuggie · 9/10 · 21 June 2020]

This is a fun, silly, cute story. The animation is really beautiful and well done. The storyline, plot line, characters, character development were all really good too. The storyline was different from anything I have ever seen before when it comes to animation and movies. This is a short film but they did a great job with the time limit they were given. This is a family friendly short film. Everyone no matter what age they are can watch this. I highly recommend you watch this at least one.

Beautiful

[neil-476 · 10/10 · 17 August 2012]

La Luna is the CGI short which accompanies Pixar's Brave. As always, there is a thematic link with the main picture: in this case it is to do with coming of age and bridging the generation gap.

Papa and Nonno take Bambino out in the boat at night for the first time to help them carry out their work (he is given his first work hat). I will say no more about what that work is: that would spoil a number of surprises.

The dialogue is cod-Italian, and the music is gorgeous. This charming, gently humorous little film is stunningly beautiful, and has a couple of quiet "Wow!" moments in it. I loved it.

Delightful Story Beautifully Told

[gpeevers · 8/10 · 12 April 2019]

Fanciful tale of a boy, his father and grandfather.

The families task is to arrange the fallen stars on the moon's surface to display the phases of the moon that are seen in the sky.

The story sound outrageous and there is no dialogue just gibberish which is meant to sound like Italian, but despite this its a delightful story beautifully told. The Italian influence comes from both the writer/director Enrico Casarosa and the composer Michael Giacchino.

The animation has nice watercolor/pastel look to it and the stars in particular have a simple but magical look, like a candle inside frosted glass.

The visuals over the films end credits reflect the storyboards.

Gently pleasing even if it is a bit too obvious for my taste

[bob the moo · 16 November 2013]

One can be misled when one reads a lot of glowing reviews for a short film and in this case it is best not to raise your expectations too high based on the very good reviews on this site. For sure this is a nice short film with heart and imagination, but it is not the opening 10 minutes of Up nor anything like it. On one hand we have a coming of age story and on the other we have a rather imaginative story set in space. This mix is an odd one and it doesn't totally work as either if I am honest – although it does do well enough as both to a certain extent.

The situation is a bit too obvious in how it spells how the "different paths" the boy can take and how he could also take his own – it was obvious to the point of detracting a little bit from the content, because I felt it was not as clever as it could have been. The moon based stuff is quite charming though and I liked it as an idea, although again the link to the coming-of-age aspect was a bit too spelt out, almost as if the film doubted my ability to get it and thus overcompensated for my stupidity with heavy visual indicators.

It still looks very nice though and has a warm charm to it; shame it wasn't a little bit more subtle with it though.

Not Pixar's Best But Starry, This One!

[nairtejas · 7/10 · 15 December 2012]

So, what if it was nominated for Oscars, I believe it had some errors, although not factual but Pixarized errors!

The film depicts the expected for some time and then deviates to what is totally unexpected. You can watch it anyway, cause it is only 6 minutes long. But, I would prefer Presto over this! But the film Brave which it was the successor of also failed to score well for me.

La Luna is equivocal in itself as it seriously confuses itself whether it is a galactic movie or tradition infested one! Problem? The characters are well endowed. The twist at the midway is also appreciable, but I think the story writing could've been better!

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

A Nice Little Short That Gets You Ready For The Movie,

[lesleyharris30 · 8/10 · 10 September 2012]

La Luna is a good short film with a great story and humor.I like how lots of movie studios are making an effort with bringing back shorts lately,but they all probably got the idea of Pixar.After Pixar started doing it,we've seen new Looney Tunes shorts,Toy Story Toons,The Simpsons short that aired before Ice Age 4: Continental Drift,among many other great short movies using old characters that have already appeared in movies,and new characters too.It was nice to see some original stuff from Pixar,seeing that there hasn't been an original Pixar short since Day And Night,and also Brave,with there hasn't been an original Pixar movie since Up.

A boy,his father and his grandfather sail out to see,and late at night,get an opportunity to go up to the moon.They decide to clean the place up.

Pretty Short.

[colorthekid · 7/10 · 28 December 2019]

These dudes really out here sweeping the heck outta the moon, like damn. Anyways, it's a Pixar short, so yeah.

Gorgeous and heartwarming

[Neptune165 · 8/10 · 20 March 2023]

The animation style was very much like the illustrations from a child's book with simple lines, yet unique characteristics as well as colourful and eye-catching. The use of gibberish dialogue forces the viewer to perceive the dynamic between the three characters strictly by action, which was well utilized in this short. The use of objects such as the hat and cleaning tools was a clever way to express the arguments and resolution. This is more a story of the arguments of two generations (grandfather and father) trying to raise another generation, the son, in different ways that they both think to be the better, with the son eventually finding his own way of interpreting tradition. Working the theme of next generational contention though a child-like contemporary folktale worked well with the moral being expressed. A great little animation that kids and adults can appreciate.

Really sweet

[freemantle_uk · 9/10 · 22 January 2021]

Pixar has a great ability to make touching short films and La luna was one of them as a father and grandfather take a child to work. It was a great little story as the child shows his invention and skill to his family.

Visually nice work which is sweet, gentle and touching

[llltdesq · 8/10 · 26 February 2013]

A short done by the Pixar studio, this is a very visually beautiful film, which is par for the course with Pixar. It's somewhat different for Pixar in that it doesn't go right for the funny bone. It's charming, sweet and sentimental in nature. At roughly six minutes, it develops a rather fascinating idea with visual brush-strokes (so to speak). Any discussion of depth must necessarily divulge something about the film, so there are mild spoilers below: Three generations set out in a boat-grandfather, father and young boy. At moonrise, the viewer finds out why they're out in the middle of the water. As the film develops, it becomes a sort of coming of age fable, with the young boy showing more common sense than either of his elders.

This opened before the film Brave and is also on the DVD release of Brave. A good case can be made that it's more successful than Brave, at least in terms of storytelling, though both films are quite good in and of themselves. La Luna is well worth watching and is recommended.

Interesting movie

[shuna-14122 · 9/10 · 26 July 2016]

This movie is interesting movie. the characters are cleaners of the moon. For the main character, the boy, he has not ever been to the moon. So, he is taught to operate to change phases of the moon. His father and grandfather has each different way, so each tries to teach the boy, they quarrel. 2times. First, they quarrel how to suffer of the hat which the father gives the boy. Second, they quarrel how to sweep stars. General also, by generations difference people quarrel the way to carry out. But, the boy discovered how to break the big star so they come not to quarrel. I think general quarrel is little things. In this story, the boy play a role to inform that things.