Lifted is Pixar’s tenth short film which was once again nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film and once again failed to win it. It is a nice film, albeit too expected.
It is about an alien abduction where a clumsy alien named Stu unsuccessfully tries to abduct a man under the supervision of another alien. Now, the story has an intriguing setting and sci-fi theme which is definitely new for the studio. It is also brilliantly executed and very well edited with a superb opening and excellent conclusion. It is one of the best crafted Pixar shorts for sure. And it is funny at times, but it is unfortunately only mildly funny and the story is highly predictable once you get past the first surprising gag. That is the biggest problem here, the gags are never as good as they should have been thus diminishing the whole effect a bit.
The characters are great. Stu is of course the highlight as the clumsy and sympathetic protagonist. You really can’t help but love him. Ernie is just there as a plot device, but he has a funny conclusion as well. And the examiner Mr. B is a great irritated counteract to the exuberant central character.
The animation is really good. I like the blue colors here and the character design of both the human and the two aliens is very well done. It is a charming film to look at and it is also technically polished with excellent editing as mentioned before and a very memorable score.
Lifted has a great score, really good animation and a unique sci-fi theme to it along with charming characters, but it is expected and the gags are never as funny as they should have been.
Lifted Review
