Not bad for a show about a couple lamps. There is actually quite a bit of emotion coming from the lamps, which is remarkable, but this film is more interesting for its historical importance (as the origin of the hopping Pixar lamp logo) than its content. Sure it may bring a grin to your face, but how many times would you really want to watch it?

Pixar was formed after George Lucas decided that computer graphics were too expensive and time consuming (at the time) to keep working on and so he closed the CGI unit down (only to re-open it a few short years after).

This, of course, was the new Pixar's first film and now days (and even back then) it seems more like a technical demo than a true short. However computer graphics were still in their infancy and even a project like this would have taken a lot of a CPU’s resources up. These days however, you could knock this up on any modern computer.

What can I say? It's Cute, short (very short at 90 seconds), sweet and terribly outdated.

It's cute, and at the time it was made it was amazing that they could do something like that with computers, but now it's nothing outstanding. However, it is neat how they got the lamps to convey emotion. I give it a three because of that.

Wow. I never realized it was made in the mid 1980s . . . actually I wouldn't have guessed it!

I first saw this about a couple of years ago. The story was basic: an "adult" lamp and a "childish, young" lamp are together while the young one plays with a ball. It is less than 2 minutes long and I think that it was the birth of a new era in animation, thanks to those 90 seconds.

The personification of the lamps and their personalities are stunning. Even the comedic ending is simply funny. You have to see it for yourselves to understand why this is such an interesting short.

Wow, writing this review makes me want to watch it again! Really!

My rating: 4 stars

It all started with a lamp...

*Caution: spoilers ahead*

An adult desk lamp watches as a juvenile desk lamp pushes a small ball into shot, plays with it, then jumps up and down on it till it deflates. Then it goes and gets a huge ball. The parent lamp thinks this is a bit much.

Actually that's not really a spoiler, it's the whole film. 'Luxo' goes for 90 seconds. It was sort of like Pixar's portfolio piece - "Here, look what we can do with this computer animation thing", and back at the time we all went "Wow, look what they can do with that computer animation thing."

In fact, for what it is, it's a faultless animation exercise in imparting emotion and intent to inanimate objects. It's quite perfectly done, but why anybody would want to watch it today except for historical or nostalgia reasons, or perhaps for study purposes is a bit beyond me. It's an oustanding piece of craftsmanship and is very clever, but I don't think it's ever inspired any fan fiction.

I'm giving it 2 stars because I really have no idea what else to do with it. It's probably the best 90 second 3D animation involving desk lamps ever made, but if I give it 4 stars, does that mean I think it's as good as 'Princess Mononoke'?