Director(s): Enrico Casarosa
Date Released: 2011
Theatrically Released Alongside: Brave in 2012
La Luna is a truly beautiful short.
Everything in it is wonderful: the soundtrack, the animation, the characters, the message—they’re all beautifully crafted within this subtle gem. There’s a true story that goes with La Luna, though it happened to my brother. When he and his friends went to see Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, the theater accidentally switched up films with Pixar’s Brave. Well naturally La Luna comes on, and rather than question the strange opening for an R-rated action film, the audience was instead engrossed by the short’s story—so much so that when the projector realized their mistake—stopping La Luna two-thirds through—the theater (including my brother and friends) burst into protest, demanding to see how the short ended. To have an R-rated audience transfixed over a family short goes to show how impressive La Luna truly is.
The story follows a generational cleaning family: a young boy going for the first time to work with his father and grandfather. As per the norm with Pixar shorts, their names are Bambino, Papà, and Nonno, which mean young child, father, and grandfather respectively in Italian (at this point I wouldn’t want Pixar to name their characters any other way). Yet these aren’t any ordinary cleaners, but lunar sweepers, whose jobs are to clean up stars on the moon. The short’s beauty is in its suspension of disbelief, an aspect Pixar (and Disney for such matter) is brilliant at crafting without raising need for logical explanation. The cleaners reach the moon by sea, arriving at an isolated starry spot and anchoring their boat. While waiting for the moon to rise, Papà and Nonno try teaching Bambino the ropes to their job, the only problem being their conflicting views—such as Papà wanting Bambino to wear his cap over his eyes, while Nonno suggesting it be worn pulled back.
Soon a full moon rises above the water, shimmering a splendid gold. The cleaners proceed by pulling out a ladder, allowing Bambino to climb up first—bringing along an anchor to hook onto the moon (securing the boat to the moon, or perhaps the moon to the boat). As Bambino gets close enough, the moon’s gravitational force pulls him upwards onto the moon’s surface (in a similar fashion to Super Mario Galaxy). Bambino marvels at the mass of small, golden stars covering the moon—a vibrant shooting star soaring right over his head, crashing into the moon with a soft, metallic ding. The short’s soundtrack couldn’t have been written better—a rich, Italian theme mixed with a melody of dreamy wonderment. The magical tune matches perfectly with the story’s enchanted concept and vivid animation. Papà and Nonno follow Bambino onto the moon, grabbing their cleaning equipment from a lunar broom closet. Papà wants Bambino to clean using a push broom (the same kind he uses), while Nonno suggests a traditional sweeper. The two begin quarreling, with Bambino humorously observing how both men’s facial hair appear similar to their respective brooms.
The men are interrupted by another crashing star many times larger than the earlier one. Their efforts to move it prove futile, until Bambino gets an idea. Turning his cap backwards (the way he prefers), Bambino climbs to the top of the star, using a hammer to tap just in the right spot (using the metallic sound heard earlier as a hint). The tap successfully bursts the large star into dozens of smaller ones—his family staring at the feat in awe, their eyes visible for the first time. Papà and Nonno show worry as Bambino’s covered in stars, yet the boy pops up unharmed, causing all three to chuckle (a touching little moment for the family). The three get to work cleaning up the mess, Bambino using a rake as his preferred cleaning device. When done, the family climbs back down to the boat, the moon now crescent shaped (the gold stars all to one side) thanks to their efforts. Papà and Nonno praise Bambino for a job well done, having accepted Bambino’s personal way of cleaning.