Review a Media Doc

Whether or not you would enjoy the short documentary John Lasseter: A Day In The Life will largely depend on personal preference. The narrative aspect of the documentary is simple, but well executed. It starts from the morning in the home of John Lasseter, the man responsible for Pixar and the numerous films to come from that studio, and follows him throughout a day of work involving the preparation of Cars 2. It opens with a tour of his home and then transitions to his offices at Pixar Studios. The documentary does an exceptional job of seamlessly intercutting the footage from Cars 2 that the viewer is seeing edited. The scoring and pace of the documentary work well, because while on the whole the work is a positive piece that doesn’t really have a lot to say, they are still able to imbue a sense of urgency or drama around certain areas of the documentary. The work does a good job of giving the viewer a small peak at the work that goes into a digitally animated film. If you are looking for an in depth behind the scenes look at digital animation, this probably isn’t the documentary for you. But if you have a passing interest in the field this does a good job of showing several different aspects of the job. The most interesting part of the documentary is John Lasseter’s personality. He really is a unicorn of a man. From his walk in closet of only Hawaiian shirts to his office filled with toys from each of his films, the viewer just gets the sense that he must be a fun human being. Whenever he greets someone in Pixar, he usually greets him or her with a hug. The word radiation alone probably wouldn’t have been a huge trigger, but he was sensitive to the issue and worked around it. You truly get the sense that he absolutely loves what he does. His positivity is infectious and at times even beyond belief. What are the odds that upon leaving the studio, a rainbow would be visible? That’s the kind of thing that happens in John Lasseter’s world. He is living his dream and simply watching him makes me more enthusiastic and optimistic about the future. If you want to watch a documentary about the technical details that go into the movie-making process, or even just an in depth look at Cars 2, this probably isn’t the documentary you’re looking for. But if you want to brighten your day a little bit by learning a little bit more about the man who created some of your favorite childhood films, you should give this a chance.