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6 out of 6 people found the following review useful: Nice early Pixar short, 9 February 2005 Author: rbverhoef (rbverhoef@hotmail.com) from The Hague, Netherlands
'Knick Knack' starts with a couple of souvenirs taken from vacation in Florida. We see some palm trees dancing and a beach bunny dancing on a nice little tune. Then we take a look at the other end of the table. A souvenir from Alaska, a snowman in a glass dome, wants to join the hot party and especially the hot girl. He tries to break the glass of the dome in any way possible.This animated short directed John Lasseter ('Toy Story', 'A Bug's Life') is a pretty impressive early film from the Pixar studio. It looks great and is inventive. The ending gives us the biggest laugh, but before that there are quite some funny moments.
5 out of 5 people found the following review useful: Judge this by 1989's standards and you'll realize its brilliance, 12 February 2008 Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida
If you watch this today, you're bound to enjoy this short quite a bit because of its wonderful humor and decent computer generated animation. However, when you realize that it was made almost 20 years ago AND the state of computers and computer graphics at that time, you'll know just how creative ahead of its time it was when it debuted. Think about it--most homes didn't have computers. Those who did had 386 processors or even less powerful processors and Windows 3.0 (a mess) was just about to debut. Serious animation STILL needed to be done with enormous and ridiculously expensive computers and the software for rendering these images couldn't be bought--it had to be created by Pixar. Unlike more modern CGI,where Dreamworks, Fox and even people at home can make nice quality graphics, this was all done from scratch. Talk about a huge undertaking!!!! So in light of all this, KNICK KNACK was an absolutely incredible film. Heck, even today, it's still incredibly funny and watchable. I might even put it STILL in the top 2 or 3 of Pixar's films because the script is so hilarious and poignant. A masterful achievement in every respect. So,...then WHY wasn't this film even nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film?!?! Several other Pixar films were but not KNICK KNACK--yet I loved this film and almost anyone (except the absolute worst curmudgeon) would also love this film! If anyone knows the answer to this conundrum, please drop me a line--I'm dying to know.
5 out of 5 people found the following review useful: Proves Pixar was onto something, 11 June 2003 Author: Agent10 from Tucson, AZ
Even when the whole idea of computer animation was still in its infancy, Pixar displayed ingenuity which wasn't even being thought of in the current industry. It just goes to show that Pixar is here to stay, and the serene cuteness of this little film proved to be one of the building blocks for a future empire.
5 out of 5 people found the following review useful: A wonderful, wonderful film, 18 February 2003 Author: Riaz Shah from London
I first showed this to my business unit in 1996, to show that we needed to keep trying to achieve our goals, despite the setbacks along the way.It became a kind of anthem for our team as we grew, and we ended up showing "the snowman film" at every group biannual meeting since.I totally love the soundtrack, the animation, the story and everything about it - a real 10/10!
6 out of 7 people found the following review useful: Great short-film!, 25 July 2003 Author: m0rpher from Spain
This is truly a wonderful short-film. I love it!The animation was great, the storyline is clever, and every time I've watched it, it's made me smile.(Oh, and thumbs up to the amazing Bobby McFerrin for the awesome background music.)
4 out of 4 people found the following review useful: A Solid Animation Short, 6 December 2003 Author: travisimo from Pocatello, Idaho, USA
Before computer animation was all the rage, I bet the Pixar guys made this little gem simply as a labor of love. From this early creation, you can take a glimpse of the clever storytelling that would become a staple of Pixar's full-length features. This short gives you a chuckle as the disgruntled snowman struggles to get out of his snow globe to hang with the knick-knack ladies of Hawaii and Atlantis. It's quite a cute feature, but it can only go so far. I wouldn't consider it a classic like other animation shorts like `Mickey's Trailer' and `Duck! Rabbit, Duck!' but I think it will become a nice little treasure in the Pixar vault.My IMDB Rating: 8/10
3 out of 3 people found the following review useful: four minutes of the cutest Pixar animation yet, 21 October 2006 Author: MisterWhiplash from United States
This is a perfectly goofy time with Knick Knack, especially before a feature. It's four minutes of a situation, with a little snowman in a snow-globe pining for a little woman in the mix of a group of boppin-souvenirs. He finally gets out, but to a disastrous finale. It's very to the point in every measure, and all the while cute without actually being only for kids. In fact, I think I laughed at this harder now than I did when I first saw this as a kid. It's got a sense of humor to it that starts with the first shot, and continues all the way to the very end. Is it laugh-out-loud funny? Not entirely; it's got me 'heh-heh' type laughs all abound, with a few of the biggest laughs coming with the obvious pratfalls and errors. But even the music used is done with a big wink and a grin, especially during the end credits as the little voices are accompanied by a 'blah-blah-blah' voice. It's an Oscar-caliber little ruby of a short that, much like the early Disney shorts, doesn't overstay its welcome, and has an appeal ranging from 2 years old to 92 (to put it like a typical critic). It's a sweetly cruel piece of fluff.
3 out of 3 people found the following review useful: A funny and good Pixar short, 16 April 2005 Author: emasterslake from United States
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
This is another Pixar short made during their early years.It's about Knick Knacks, and the characters are knick Knacks resembling Warm places. While one is a snow globe with a Snow Man in it. He wants to join with the other Knick Knacks but he's stuck in his own Snow Globe.Through out the short he tries all he can to escape from the Snow Globe. This short contains allot of Chuck Jones like references. And has some good animation on the snow flakes in the snow globe.You're able to see it off of Find Nemo DVD.Rate: 8/10 Very memorable and funny wish they start making a collector's line up of these knick knacks.
3 out of 3 people found the following review useful: Short and very funny, 10 July 2004 Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK
In a room full of ornaments and toys, a group of dolls, little models and decorations all sit enjoying the warm temperature and glow of an unseen sun.All, that is, except a single snowman, trapped inside a 'greetings from Alaska' snow dome. With a doll waving him on, he attempts to break out and enjoy the party.Found on the DVD for Finding Nemo, I found this film to be funnier and much more enjoyable than the feature (although both were good). It stands to show that Pixar were onto something as, even if the graphics are a bit blocky compared to Nemo, the comedy is great and the characters are well enough created to be fun. The routine is basic – snowman tries to break out without much success, however it has such energy, pace and solid imagination that I was laughing consistently despite a slow start (ie the first 20 seconds – what a moaner!).The animation is slick if not perfect and my early worries over the snowman were never realized. I thought he looked a bit too sinister to be a sympathetic character, but his mishaps helped win me round even if his features were still pretty rough and unlikely to get him the dolls in question! He is a great lead and you can't help but feel sorry for him – but not to the point where you stop laughing at him!Overall this was a very pleasant surprise and the continuation of a very clever ploy in regards Pixar DVD's. I for one love the short films on many of their DVD's and I hope they continue doing it even if I would rather see them release a compilation DVD with all of them on one disk. Anyway, this was very well put together even if it has aged a bit and I laughed the whole way through it to the bittersweet ending – well worth seeing if you get the chance.
4 out of 5 people found the following review useful: An early Pixar gem, 4 June 2003 Author: Steven Bailey (skad13@aol.com) from Jacksonville Beach
I first saw this Pixar short when it appeared in theaters in 1989 as part of a short-film project sponsored by American Express. It was like a great delight that popped up on the screen and then anonymously disappeared. I just saw the theatrical Pixar release Finding Nemo, and Pixar has had the great good sense to preface their new feature with this charming short. It's a 4-minute gem, with hilarious gags and great music by Bobby McFerrin. I hope Pixar puts this out on the Finding Nemo DVD. In the meantime, if you're seeing Finding Nemo, don't be late--Nemo is very good on its own, but this short is worth the price of admission in itself!
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