Right. I think it’s safe to say WHAT will happen in the end, but we probably just don’t know HOW it will happen. That’s what I think might surprise me.
Yes, this is very common for shorts. Since they are so short, there is in a sense less investment in making a complicated plot. So it’s usually about the journey, not so much the outcome.
What I find it’s that it’s usually about one or the other, because you don’t have time to develop the two.
So sometimes it’s how you say, e-j-e, but in others, the journey isn’t very important and the outcome is what gives it all sense. Then you have a twist ending, which is also very common in short films.
Whoa. I’ve gotta say, I knew this would be good, but it’s even better than I thought it would be. It’s a simple story which I like, but it’s also so cute and I love the music. I have to say that to me, it’s a lovely little short.
This short is great if you’re into the Paperman kind of thing. I’m not overtly impressed with the story, because frankly there was none to be spoken of. But I totally LOVE the photorealism and the nostalgic ambiance. I liked the music, but found having the vocal as background a little distracting. I wish it was just the orchestra.
This film is a real treat, but is no where near my favorite Pixar short! No denying that it was well done, and cute. But I wasn’t big on the music at all, but that’s just my personal opinion.
I think like you do.
It was pretty much like Paperman, one thin and generic short film story, that worked great because it was mostly a vehicle for an amazing visual experiment.
The photorealism was great, and I hope we could eventually get feature films that look like that!
I wasn’t a fan of the score either, but I think it worked for the film.
mehhh, I don’t. It’s just not my aesthetic taste.
Well, I think Pixar is trying for increased photorealism in each feature anyway, so I guess they’ll eventually get to that.
Monsters University itself was very photo-realistic, but the design of the characters made it look less so.
Ugggggh.
I for one found The Blue Umbrella to be insanely precious and insanely awesome! I love the photorealism that is given a touch of surrealism with its city characters, plus it’s just an overall sweet story. And the umbrellas are so adorable! I will never look at another umbrella the same way again! Fact: when [spoil]Blue flew away into the street[/spoil], I started whispering out loud “No no no no! Please be ok, please be ok!!!” What can I say? It didn’t take me long to get into it! 
Just, wow. Wowwowwowwowwowwowwow. One of my favorite Pixar shorts. While the premise was just a little generic (basically Paperman with umbrellas), the visuals more than made up for it. I hope Pixar does more with the photo-realism software they have because the film was stunning. My family didn’t even know it was animated, that’s how real it looked. As little as I’m looking forward to Finding Dory, if they use the photo-realism software from this movie for that, well, let’s just say that Pixar will never outdo itself then.
What made this different for me than Paperman was the photorealism and [spoil]how the whole city joins in to save the blue umbrella[/spoil]. And as matter of fact, the music IS my taste and the first thing I heard playing in my head when I got back home was that lovely tune with the vocalization. I loved the voice so much, I searched for her name in the end credits. It was like Sarah Jeffe or something. Loved the whole music bit.
And somehow, the mood of it seemed to give me a glimpse of what future Pixar features could be like.
^Agreed! The music was absolutely charming and too perfect for the short
The music definitely fit, but it wasn’t my style at all.
I liked the tune of the music. What I didn’t like was the girl’s voice over it. I would have preferred just instrumentation. I loves the visuals and thought it was precious! My parents liked the short better than MU, actually.
The music style kind of sounded like it could fit in a new Pixar film, a very good one. I’m not sure why I think that, though.
I find it interesting that this short shared similar quirks to Paperman in terms of animation and its critical reaction. Whereas the short showcase the realistic technique, Paperman showed off the uniqueness of combining handwritten and 3-d animation. So they both show off unique techniques.
With Blue Umbrella, there’s a heart to it, and an understanding of silence and characterization of inaminate objects (Pixar magic). Much like Paperman, which uses silence for dramatic effect and make the wham moments bigger (think of the “pillow shots” of Studio Ghibli films). But I felt Paperman incorporated the silence much better, had a lot more patience and timing to it.
Both films appear to have the term of the fate of love, and how fate conspires to bring the lovers together. But I just thought Paperman had the more solid plot structure and a sense of a story theme. Whereas with the Blue Umbrella, it’s a slew of sincere creativity (watching the objects save the umbrella) and, wham, happy ending, sweet, that’s it. In Paperman, the two lovers actively pursue their fate with the aid of… magic paper.
Blue Umbrella might lack a some needed plot structure, but there is a sense of atmosphere to this solid animation. I sense that it will foreshadow some later advancement of Pixar animation. I wish Pixar luck with that.
The soundtrack is available on iTunes now! <3 They have 2 versions of it: one with vocals, the other just instrumental.
I personally liked Paperman a whole lot better. But that’s just me.