Let's be realistic.

Excellent, a Must See

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

This is a five-minute animated short film from almost 20 years ago. Basically all we see in this short film is how an old man plays chess against himself and tricks himself at some point to victory. This is a decent idea on make-believe. If the camera is in the right position, we do not realize that he is the only one playing if we hadn't already known from the start. Maybe this revelation would have been better at the end. Anyway, my guess is that the old guy is slightly senile and that is why he believes himself that he is actually playing somebody else. He is looking down on the chess board, so he does not perceive nobody is sitting at the other side just like we don't see it when we only see the old man. Attention also to how one of the "two" players is clearly meaner and really willing to win, while the other certainly looks much more careful and defensive, even cowers down at one point. But he is as playful a trickster as his enemy. He even fakes a heart attack at one point.The film's director is Jan Pinkava and he did not have a full feature career as I would have expected after this short film. The only other impact he made was by writing "Ratatouille" 10 years after "Geri's Game. But maybe it's fine this way as I really wasn't too wowed by this short film. The animation is good, but there is really nothing entertaining to the whole story about it in my opinion. I am a bit surprised to see it won an Oscar. To me, it is one of Pixar's worst efforts sadly.

I have always loved the Pixar short films, and they are generally consistent with their feature films as well. Geri's Game is my favourite of their short films and I am a big fan of Knick Knack, One Man Band and Presto too. The visuals are astounding, full of bright colours and sophisticated backgrounds and character designs, advantaged by the single best editing of any of their short films. The music fits the mood and story beautifully, the story alone makes it one of Pixar's most charming overall efforts and while not laugh out loud hilarious like Knick Knack or Presto the humour has an endearing gentle quality to it. Geri is one of Pixar's sweetest and most likable title characters, it is very easy to warm to him. All in all, brilliant and my favourite of the many great Pixar short films. 10/10 Bethany Cox

There's not much to say about this animated short since it runs at about 3 minutes. It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short (and although it's very memorable, I would agree that there were better ones that year). The animation is superb and the attention to detail is obviously prevalent.This is a story about an old man who sits down at a table to play chess. He takes out his pieces, sets both sides up and begins to play... by himself! He switches back and forth slowly and moves each piece. After a while though, the man stops moving and he's playing with an imaginary friend who looks exactly like him.There isn't much to this story, and it was probably written in about 5 minutes, but the fact of the matter is that for its time, the animation is perfect. The movement of the character is utterly realistic and the setting around him is amazing. The old man's face is also very real, and as he sways from hysterically laughing to frowning, we not only find it hilarious but also very creative."Geri's Game" is one of those animated shorts you just love to see before a movie. As I remember watching movies like "George of the Jungle" and "Men in Black", I remember this little film was always on before, and I always loved it. This is an animated short that children would love to watch over and over and over.

Geri's Game is a brilliant, funny original short from Pixar. A senior, Geri, sits in a park and plays a game of chess with himself. We get to see both perspectives, himself and himself the opponent, as well as the perspective of an observer to the entire game. The expressions on Geri's face while he loses to himself and the ultimate way in which he wins are priceless.Free of dialogue, but abounding with colour, image, expression and humour, this is everything a short should be.An Oscar winner for best animated short, it helped solidify Pixar as the pioneer's in computer animation. They are still to this day yet to make a false step. ***1/2 out of ****.