Bao (2018 short film)

If you thought something like the montage at the beginning of “Up” could sustain a proper short film, good news, you’re right and “Bao” is proof of how right you are. I imagine some of the beats it was going for went over my head, but the core of it is easy to get on board with and Pixar have enough sense to imbue their technical mastery with effective humor before getting to its emotional wallop. This was a shoo-in for Best Animated Short in 2019, but “Bao”’s eight minutes are arguably more affecting than many of Pixar’s feature-length projects.

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