Lava (2014)

Such a frustrating disappointment

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Lava tells the story of a lonely volcano, yep really. Anyway this volcano spends his days singing and that's the general premise of this. Generally I adore these beautiful little shorts and Piper (2016) really set the bar. Don't get me wrong Lava is good, it has your usual Pixar charm and hits you right in the feels but it just didn't have "It" whatever "It" may be.If I saw two one man bands competing for the attention of a little girl to get a shiny gold coin (One Man Band: 2005) I'd laugh and cheer, if I saw a magician trying to keep his unruly rabbit in check (Presto:2008) I'd be in hysterics, if I saw a baby bird brave the new world I'd d'awww (Piper:2016) but I can confidently say if I saw a singing volcano I'd run screaming in soggy trousers (It'd be sweat I swear).Sweet, heartfelt, but a lonely singing volcano really?

Lava is a charming short animation from Pixar.The story is simple, a volcanic mountain in the middle of the ocean is singing for companionship. A female lava or should I say lover.As the centuries turn into millenniums then into millions of years, the lonely volcano is sinking beneath the sea in extinction but right at the bottom for all this years was a female volcano who forever has been enchanted with his song who rises out from the bottom of the ocean just as he dips beneath it.Can the old volcano make his lava stir one more time and find true love?A simple, elegant original cartoon with a catchy song and wonderful animation.

This exquisite short musical animation appeared before a screening of the full length animation Inside Out and it blew me away. It made me laugh and cry at the same time. It's the simple fable of how a tiny volcanic island was formed. A big old male volcano longs for love and sings his feelings but almost becomes extinct, trying to keep his hope alive in his isolation. Unbeknownst to him, a beautiful female volcano submerged in the sea nearby falls in love with his voice and his story. She fires up, and emerges, singing, from the sea as an island, which in turn fires up the male volcano to emerge from where he's sunk into the sea. The two volcanoes finish up leaning on each other, happy and singing, forming a new, united, island volcano. It's a creation story, told as though you're sitting around a Hawaiian campfire, with a lovely, operatic ukelele soundtrack. I loved it..

Before the Disney/Pixar feature Inside Out, this short by them appeared. It concerns a male volcano who sings of wanting someone to love as he witnesses various creatures with significant others. Will he find her? Well, since there's a requirement of ten lines for this review to be submitted here, I'll just say that by some kind of miracle, he does! Oh, let me also mention that as he sinks lower, that other is rising above him. How? Well, I don't want to reveal everything or how the happy ending comes. I'll just now say this was a very enjoyable short with all those images and the singing and, well, I'll just now say that Lava is very highly recommended.