Knick Knack (1989)

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  TheMovieDiorama

  5 / 10

  Knick Knack lacks the warmth that made Lasseter's previous shorts memorable. After winning the Academy Award with 'Tin Toy', Pixar continued experimenting with its, at the time, genre capabilities. This time dabbling into pure visual comedy, reminiscent of classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons like 'Tom and Jerry' (damn, I miss that show). The reliance of slapstick humour, crazy antics and a disposable premise made for a slightly entertaining watch. However its technical merit has somewhat depreciated and is a step down from 'Tin Toy'. This computer animated cartoon sees a snow globe snowman attempt to break out of its prison so that it can join a summer themed party of other souvenirs. I'm sure the primary question you are asking yourself is: how does a snowman break out of a snow globe? Well my friend, easy question. A cutting torch, carrot chisel, jackhammer and the detonation of TNT. A mightily equipped souvenir, clearly. Watching it unleash all of these constructive (yet destructive) tools will certainly keep younger viewers entertained for its three minute runtime. The jazzy a cappella accompaniment also adds to its zaniness. Yet, something was missing. It almost felt too derivative, lacking the memorability of the previous shorts. The animation was squandered, with supposedly curved edges looking more jagged than a triangle, in order to focus on the comedy aspects. The anthropomorphic characters lacked design, the addition of sunglasses was a feature that felt uninspired. In terms of technical advancements, this really didn't test the the experimental boundaries that it should've been targeting. Still, a mildly entertaining short that just feels too cold.

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