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Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Not Pixar at their very best, but a very impressive early effort. The animation on the clown is a little rough especially to how the rest of the animation looked and I personally think the short could have been a little longer. But for such an early Pixar short Red's Dream does look great and holds up really well, the most striking being the noir-ish opening sequence that could have easily won an award on its own. Also loved the bright and atmospheric colours, the meticulous detail given to the rainfall and even by the look of his design you immediately connect with Red. Red's Dream has an intimate music score and sound effects that are subtly used but authentic, the rain falling actually sounds like rain falling. The story is very simple but Red's Dream is an example of simplicity done right, it has a lot of charm as well subtly moving and hauntingly moody. It sustains the short length beautifully and doesn't feel rushed. The characters are also simple but immensely likable too, you'd never think that you'd fall in love with such a simple object like an unicycle but you certainly do with Red. To conclude, not among Pixar's best but a beautifully done short that is proof of not doing an awful lot but still be good. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Red's Dream (1987) *** (out of 4) This early Pixar short works best when you really think at how remarkable the animation was considering the entire CG thing was rather new so in many ways this short is very fresh and original. It tells the story of a red unicycle who is sitting alone in a store on a dark and stormy night. The unicycle then begins to dream what it would be like if someone would actually buy it and let it impress them. Once again, I was really impressed with the visual style of the film as the animation is quite good even though it's still rather young in its making. I thought the entire look of the film was wonderful especially the early shots of the rain, the look of the store and the very final shot. There really aren't any laughs but I guess that's not a bad thing as this movie was clearly meant to tell a brief story that's charming.

I make my living as the night engineer at the local PBS TV station. I also happen to be a LONG time animation freak.I've loved and collected the cartoons from Disney, the Fleischer Brothers, Warner Brothers and all the rest for a very long time. I felt that the art of the cartoon was a static field and that it would never drift far from it's pen and ink roots.One night at work... after a program that ran a few minutes short of a full hour, PBS used RED'S DREAM as filler material to round out the hour.A whole new world opened up on the screen...When RED came along, computer animation was still in it's infancy. I think Pixar produced the film as a demonstration piece for what their technology is capable of. At that point in time computer animation was still very expensive, probably as expensive as the traditional, one drawing at a time process of making cartoons by hand.Cartooning done the traditional way has become SO expensive that it's caused some major players to either get out of the field, or make major concessions in film quality.The beloved "Termite Terrace", the old Warner Brother's cartooning unit, closed years ago. Likewise, to cut down on the number of drawings required, Fred Flintstone suffers from "Hanna Barberra Palsey"; frequently, Fred's feet and mouth are the ONLY things on the screen that move.To combat the high costs of traditional, full motion cartooning, SOME concessions to modern technology have come to the fore. In some of Ralph Bakshi's work (HEY GOOD LOOKIN' and THE HOBBIT for example) he moved offshore to cut labor costs (Ireland), and used Xerox copying.Disney had ALWAYS been the unquestioned master at giving drawn characters the subtle nuances of personality, and occasionally he did it with inanimate objects like Red. My personal Disney favorite is "Casey Junior", the little locomotive that pulls the circus train in DUMBO. I saw somewhere that Casey's personality was inspired by the cartoonist watching a puppy. I can believe that easily; while trying to get the train moving, Casey does a maneuver that's VERY familiar to anyone who has spent a lot of time around dogs; Casey does a "Play Bow", a canine move used as an invitation to other dogs to come out and play with him. It was little touches like this that convinced me that the cartoonist and animator never had to worry about being automated out of a job by computers.But... then came Red.Red is ASTONISHING. This simple little unicycle achieves the goals that every cartoonist shoots for in his creations. In a very short film he introduces himself, displays a clearly defined personality, communicates to the viewer his wants, needs, and motivations, and he manages to touch that indefinable something deep inside of the viewer that makes you CARE about him. You really IDENTIFY with this simple little character in a four minute film.That's what cartoons are all about, and Red touches every one of the bases.When I saw this little guy, I realized that the traditional pen and ink and drafting board were on their way out, to be replaced by the microprocessor and the graphics tabletThe Shreks, Roger Rabbits, and all of the other modern cartoon characters were inevitable, both because of the economics of animation, and the success of little films like RED'S DREAM.We owe this little unicycle, yearning for stardom, a vote of thanks. He himself may be a dead end, but he opened the door to a whole new generation of cartoons.

Just like Red, waiting abandoned in the corner- This is an undeniable star just waiting to shine. The film is very short and kind of silly, but it's one that takes multiple viewings to get a true appreciation of it. Watch for the expression of total disgust from "Red" as the clown goes on oblivious to what's happening to him. The timing is perfect and hilarious. Good job Pixar!