User:Arobeah/Lava (2014 film)

Shortly before the film production had begun, Murphy went back to Hawaii in order to "reconnect emotionally" with the land that sprung his inspiration.

Lava is unique in that it lacks any verbal communication other than the song.

The production of the film took an entire year and required a 100-person crew.

Under Plot:

Production
Before creating "Lava," the director, James Ford Murphy, identified characteristics in which he wanted Lava to mimic. These desired characteristics came from 5 other Disney Pixar Shorts that Murphy revealed:


 * 1) "Knick Knack" (1989)
 * 2) "For the Birds" (2000)
 * 3) "Partly Cloudy" (2009)
 * 4) "Day & Night" (2010)
 * 5) "La Luna" (2011)

Critical response
The short had mixed reviews.

Nicholas Garrett gave the short a positive review; he said that "it is one of their most touching and subtle (shorts)". Oliver Lyttelton said that it was "beautiful". Pat Mullen gave the short 3 and a half stars out of 5, praising its "fantastic visuals" and its "overall originality and artistry". Nelson Rivera said "The story is told musically, which is always exciting, because music can really get to core emotions and Lava most certainly achieves this, almost effortlessly".

However, Pablo Ruiz gave a negative review, describing its storytelling as "lazy" and arguing that "there's no character growth, no arc. There's no story. It's just things happening on screen." Michael Colan ranked Lava as one of Pixar's weakest short films based on the writing, saying it has "too much telling, not enough showing". He praised the short film for its "gorgeous animation", however, and thought that it had a "good idea."

Accolades
The short film "Lava" appeared at both the Telluride and Hiroshima film festivals.