Taking a leaf out of Pixar’s book, which has long featured warm, funny and engaging shorts ahead of their feature film releases, Disney has announced that its upcoming movie Big Hero 6 will be preceded by what looks a touching short film indeed, Feast.
(To be fair, Disney has been making wonderful short films since they began weaving their animation magic in the 1920s but it was Pixar who revived the idea of a cartoon feature having a companion short to usher it in.)
Described by the studio as “the story of one man’s love life as seen through the eyes of his best friend and dog, Winston, and revealed bite by bite through the meals they share”, it features one adorable enthusiastic puppy who frankly has yet to find a yummy piece of food he doesn’t love almost as much as the man who feeds him.
Feast will be the directorial debut for Patrick Osborne who was the head of animation on Paperman, one of the most emotionally-evocative and beautifully-drawn shorts I have seen any animation studio release anywhere.
Much like a short story, you have to accomplish a lot in just a few short minutes, and Osborne has proved himself more than able to meet the challenge in his years at Disney as Hollywood Reporter notes:
“Feast is Osborne’s first project as a director since joining Disney Animation in 2008 as an animator on Bolt and moving on to projects such as Tangled. He also acted as co-head of animation for Big Hero 6 prior to assuming full-time directing duties for Feast.”
Feast, and indeed Big Hero 6, are a further reminder that Disney animation, fresh off the mega success of Frozen is at the top of its game, back producing the sort of animation magic that has charmed us all for decades.
Feast and Big Hero 6 open in USA on November 7, and in Australia on December 26.