Geri’s Game (Jan Pinkava, 1997): USA

Reviewed by Byron Potau. Viewed on DVD.

Geri's Game

Pixar has been nearly perfect in their making of short films. Almost every one a gem. Almost. Their one blemish is Geri’s Game. An Oscar winner for best short, it is, nonetheless, the worst of the Pixar shorts.

Geri, an old man, sets up a game of chess in the park, his opponent being himself. As he plays he moves back and forth between the opposite sides of the chess board portraying very different personalities. When his cockier, livelier side is near a dominating victory his more aged, timid side fakes a heart attack to cause a distraction and turns the board cheating his other side out of the victory.

While this short has the lovely and amazingly detailed animation we are accustomed to from Pixar it just simply is not funny, nor very engaging. We never really believe Geri is two people so we are resigned to watching an old man play a game of chess by himself which is not very fun. Even the ending is very unsatisfying as the side of Geri that cheats wins the game. This is easily the weakest scripted of the Pixar shorts as it lacks the inventiveness, charm, and, especially, the laughs of their other short films.

The one thing to appreciate in this film is the animation. From the details of Geri’s hands to his hair, to the beautiful Autumn day in the park it is a breathtaking visual. The film works better as an exercise in animation rather than entertainment.

Usually Pixar can’t go wrong, but this is the one Pixar film, short or feature, that I really recommend skipping. The good thing is that if you do decide to watch it anyway you will be thankful it is a short film.

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Published:
04.12.10 / 1am
Category:
Animation, DVD, Films, Short films