Disney has released a brand new collection of shorts from Pixar called “Pixar Popcorn”, which consists of 10 shorts, roughly about a minute long, featuring many characters from well established Pixar franchises including “Cars”, “Incredibles”, “Finding Nemo”, “Coco”, “Toy Story” and “Soul”.

Each short looks identical to what you would expect, so Pixar hasn’t cut any corners in how these shorts look.  However, they did cut the budget on the audio side of these shorts.  Only two of the Toy Story shorts have any voices in them, 8 of the shorts don’t have a single word being uttered.  Which is disappointing, but at barely a minute long each, it doesn’t take too much of the enjoyment away from this short collection.

The “Dory Finding” short was one of the highlights of this collection and gave me a few good laughs, as Dory found human items in the ocean and played with them.  It’s pretty simple but effective.

The two stand out shorts both feature Ducky and Bunny, who were introduced in “Toy Story 4” and are the only two shorts to include any dialogue.  Having these two characters arguing away with one another is charming and funny, especially the little nod to “Seinfeld” in the opening credits.  I do wonder if the dialogue was originally going to be part of “Toy Story 4” and was just reused for these shorts.

The latest Pixar movie “Soul” does get a Pixar Popcorn moment, showcasing Joe playing the piano with people around New York living their lives. It’s nice and uplifting, but its nothing groundbreaking.  It does look the most impressive out of all the shorts, as I had wondered if they might have cut back on the animation since “Soul” is so much more visually better than most Pixar movies.

Another short I enjoyed was the one featuring characters from “Coco”, which is set in the world of the dead.  We get to see loads of skeletons running around living their lives, all with one of the excellent tracks from the film.  It was great seeing some of the characters from “Coco” getting a little love, since its one of my favourite Pixar movies.

The only short I didn’t think much of was the main “Toy Story” one with Buzz Lightyear doing some exercises, maybe had this one been nearer the end of the collection, I might have given it more credit, but I was generally disappointed with this short. Still, it did establish the level these shorts would be.

Both of the “Cars” shorts were pretty fun, it’s always nice to see these characters in action, and there is always something new for them to be doing.  The dancing episode did feel the most natural out of the episodes not to feature any dialogue but its a shame they didn’t do more with Lightning McQueen.

Both of “The Incredible” shorts also were delightful to watch, especially seeing them trying to steal a cookie without waking up Mrs Incredible, since this also made use of there being no dialogue, but used it as part of the story.

Overall, I was amused by this collection of shorts; they aren’t anything groundbreaking but are fun to watch.  Just don’t expect too much from them going in and take it for what they are.  I wondered if this was a “lockdown” project that came about or if this is something Pixar is planning on using for a while to help maintain interest in some of their franchises and provide more content for Disney+ more regularly.

One of the great things about this collection was that they added a longer version, which features all of the shorts one after another, so you don’t have to keep grabbing the remote to go onto the next one.  This was one of my complaints about the “Short Circuit” collection, so I’m glad Disney did this, which will really help younger viewers watch them on repeat.

Pixar Popcorn is a nice collection of bite-sized shorts that will keep kids entertained, but adult Pixar fans might just get a couple of chuckles out of.  The animation is fantastic; it’s full of character, just no dialogue!  It’s a mixed bag but definitely worth checking out for younger Pixar fans.

Rating 3.5 out of 5

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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