The Blue Umbrella (2013)

Touches You

Sadly Over-hyped

Great Film overall

Fantastic!

And with that I am not talking about general audiences, but about awards bodies. It baffles me to see how this Pixar entry was shut out pretty much everywhere. Admittedly, it does not have the deepest story, but it succeeds in every other area in my opinion. And greatly so. Our hero, the title character, meets a red umbrella and it's love at first sight. However, in his attempts of winning her heart, he loses almost everything. It was raining already pretty strongly, but now also a heavy wind blows. And it blows the umbrella away from its owner, far far away. Still he is lucky and his owner finds him again quickly and there are more positive surprises coming. I quite liked the use of colors in this one and it was also sweet how they used his owner and the woman as human equivalents of the umbrellas. Finally another thumbs-up for the supporting characters and with that I mean the inanimate objects who keep smiling during the end. They are perfect for this one, do not take away too much attention, but add something unique to this very short movie. Really, I can only repeat myself again. I feel sorry for German director and writer Saschka Unseld here that this did not only not get in at the Oscars, but got shut out pretty much completely. He worked on several high-profile Pixar films already and I hope he gets to make his own at some point. I am positive he has the talent. In my opinion, this is one of the best short films from 2013 and people should definitely watch it. Oh yeah, finally one thing I forgot: Sarah Jaffe's singing was very nice too and perfectly fit the tone of the movie. Highly recommended.

What I like about this animated short is the photorealistic animation and lighting. I like the way various objects in this film have faces with expressions. These objects include street signs, street lights, awnings, mailboxes, windows, drain pipes, rain gutters, etc. All these objects come to life during a rain storm. Umbrellas also have faces during this rainstorm including a blue umbrella and a red umbrella who meet and fall in love. There is no dialogue in this animated short only facial expressions. I think it is very artistic the way a story is told with just imagery and facial expressions This animated short also includes a pleasant musical score. So I find 'The Blue Umbrella' delightful.

Amidst a sea of black umbrellas, a blue umbrella falls for a red umbrella and risks everything to be with her.Holy cow, just looking at the almost unanimously glowing reviews here you would think that The Blue Umbrella was a work of both pure genius and originality, revolutionary in terms of storytelling and in technical execution. It's not. It's an overly twee short blessed with excellent CGI animation that frequently verges on realism but saddled with a predictable narrative and a saccharine sweet ending.I'm also rather surprised that no-one has mentioned just how weird it is to see umbrellas—inanimate objects with zero control over where they go—fall in love; it's a bizarre concept that just doesn't work for me (and one that raises too many questions in my mind about how they might take their relationship to the next level).5/10, largely for the technical skill that went into creating such photo-realistic animation.

. . . and say just because the Pixar imprint is on BLUE UMBRELLA, it must be rated a "10" out of 10, and acclaimed as the best thing ever to come out since bug spray was invented. Obviously, everyone else here has done so (note that these opinions are all from Pixar Dittoheads, who mention Pixar by name every other word in their paeans of praise, like something you would expect to hear in Vatican City). The fact of the matter is that THE BLUE UMBRELLA cannot hold a candle to last year's winning inanimate object cartoon short, PAPER AIRPLANE. While the latter is genuinely original as well as being romantic, the former seems to strain for its attachment angle in a way that is a little too cutesy and a lot too predictable. Based on my experience with other reviews, someone from Pixar will soon read this, feel it is not 1000% worshipful of BLUE UMBRELLA, and have it deleted from this site. (Yes, a few uptight movie directors and studios actually do this on IMDb!) So if you've read this and are NOT a Pixar employee, congratulations--it's your lucky day, as you have won a sort of First Amendment Free Speech Lottery (so be sure to run down to 7-11, and play your lucky numbers to keep your hot streak going!).