The Legends and 'Luxo Jr.'

On an important short and its context.

Pixar’s old logo from the front of Luxo Jr. (1986)

Welcome! We’re back with another Thursday edition of the Animation Obsessive newsletter. Our topic this time is a landmark: Luxo Jr. (1986).

You’ve likely watched it — and you’ve definitely seen its little lamp character bounce on the i in Pixar. The film comes from the studio’s first year, from the early days of computer animation. Its place in history is a big one.

Luxo Jr. was a test — of technical stuff, but not only that. It used Disney’s 12 principles (like anticipation and squash and stretch) to get people invested in CG characters. Which worked. The film was an achievement calling for “some kind of a medal of honor, award or Hollywood contract,” noted one paper.¹

In 1986, Time argued that this short:

… manages to charge two perfectly realistic desk lamps with the emotional intensity of a father-son relationship. When Luxo Jr. accidentally bursts his bouncing ball, the film evokes sadness, compassion and remorse with nothing more than the wave of a lamp cord and the dip of a smooth, metallic head.²

The film became a piece of the story that people told about Pixar, and that Pixar told about itself. Its eventual Oscar nomination wasn’t the first for computer animation — but that reality wasn’t often brought up. And, although Luxo Jr. was a non-commercial festival short that didn’t launch a massive series, comparisons to Mickey Mouse and Steamboat Willie arrived anyway.³

For years, a certain narrative hardened around the film. “It also marked the point when journalists, guided by Pixar’s publicity department, began associating Lasseter with the legacy of Walt Disney,” wrote the author Richard Neupert.

Today, that makes Luxo Jr.’s story a bit murky. The film had a real impact, and it remains a charming watch. But all of it is more complicated than it once seemed.

Thumbnail sketches for Luxo Jr. — courtesy of The Story Before Toy Story