Pixar's has already been praised. Yet, Pixar may have one-upped themselves with the animated short, Sanjay's Super Team, set to release along with the film.
Despite having over 25 years of animated films behind them, Sanjay's Super Team hits a few firsts for the studio. It is the first Pixar film to center around Hindu culture and the first by a director of Indian descent.
Sanjay's Super Team is also Sanjay Patel's directorial debut. Patel ed Pixar in 1996 as an animator on A Bug’s Life, and has worked on several films since, including Toy Story 3, Monsters, Inc. and The Incredibles. Though he never directed before, his story and sketches won over Pixar boss John Lasseter, who encouraged Patel to helm the short. So far, it looks like audiences agree with Lasseter, as the crowd at San Diego Comic-Con -- where it premiered for a lucky few in July -- reportedly swooned over the short.
Patel describes the the seven-minute short as partly autobiographical. Growing up, he lived with his devout father in San Bernadino, California where, “Every morning my dad worshipped his gods and his shrine, and I worshipped mine in mine — which was the TV,” Patel told Yahoo! Movies during a recent interview.
The film starts off in the bland room you see in the clip (based off the Lido Motel, an old Route 66 stop-off where Patel's family still work and live), but as Sanjay's imagination explodes, the colors and visuals grow 'cosmic'.
While the clip doesn't reveal too much of the short film, there is enough to get animation fans excited for what's in store come November. And, according to Patel, the short is packed with "Easter eggs" in the form of Hindu symbols that, for those well-versed in the culture, should offer a pleasant surprise. And for those who are not, this will make for an entertaining way to become familiar with the culture.
The art shows visuals that are as bright and dynamic as any Pixar film. Stylistically, though, it blends a lot of different influences. Futuristic backgrounds, like something out of Disney's Tomorrowland, anime-like eyes and movement in the character design, and old school comics art in the cartoon Sanjay watches are all mixed together. Though Sanjay will be something new for Pixar, it looks as drop-dead gorgeous as the studio's long line of award-winning shorts usually do.
Sanjay's Super Team hits theaters along with The Good Dinosaur November 25th, 2015.
Source: Disney/Pixar, Yahoo! Movies