Wonderful character development!

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

I have always loved Pixar, and One Man Band is one of my favourites of theirs. For me, it is a perfect example of the short film being better than the film it is shown with, in this case it was Cars which I still like but consider it one of Pixar's weakest. Back to One Man Band, as is the case with all of Pixar's work it is gorgeously animated, with vibrant backgrounds, cute character designs and a sense of whimsy about it. The music is absolutely wonderful, as are the genuinely funny visual gags and musical sparring, in fact I was pleasantly surprised by how much there was too see and hear in such a short duration(4 minutes)and the story is told with plenty of charm and heart and moves swiftly. The characters are great, especially the lead character. True the little girl is a brat, but you learn to warm to her. Overall, a brilliant short film and one of my favourites. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Again and again, Pixar films has produced the very best in cutting-edge shorts using computer generated animation. The quality is top-notch and the writing exceptional--so good that for the worst of these short films I'd give them perhaps an 8. The problem, however, is that the films are so good, so consistently great that I think the Academy Awards folks are reticent to give this studio the Oscar for Best Animated Short--otherwise, smaller and less prestigious studios might feel left out and not even bother entering since Pixar would take home most of the awards. I have noticed that their films don't seem to win like they used to and in a few cases (such as KNICK KNACK) they weren't even nominated--even though, to me, they seemed to be producing the best shorts. They are consistently very funny and the most technologically challenging product out there.Now it is very difficult to assess whether or not the wonderful ONE-MAN BAND was yet another case like this because although I have seen this film, the winner (THE MOON AND THE SON) is difficult to find and isn't available anywhere on the internet. I'm not even sure where I can get this HBO produced short. All I can say is that ONE-MAN BAND looks near-perfect, has tremendous set and character design and will make you laugh even though it is dialog-free. A truly exceptional and charming film.

Unfortunately, the theater's projection screen ruined the animation nuances -- strangely, "Cars" didn't suffer the same way. So this should be better suited to the DVD medium. Think of it as a high-tech nod to Melies.As for the metaphor, it's a Pixar jab at the big studios. This is a reminder that little Pixar doesn't need frippery to succeed. The competition only offers bells and whistles; Pixar offers core values first. Notice that the 'big guys' don't understand why they haven't won the 'gold coin'.Sadly, this is the end of Pixar as an uncompromising entity. The Disney deal will probably spell an inexorable slide into mediocrity.

This is different from the other Pixar shorts in a way. For instance it's taken place in a peasant village during the olden days.There's a One Band Guy trying to attract a crowd and get some doubloons.No one to be seen except for a kid with a doubloon.So he performs some catchy lyrics to get the kid's attention and hoping to get the doubloon.But another One Band guy comes by and starts performing his style of music, also hoping to get the doubloon.Eventually the 2 one band guys start competing each other by playing music or trying to look more impressive than the other.There's not much to say about it, so I won't give away the ending, since it's a short film.But one thing similar to the other shorts, is no dialog but contains a very simple and funny plot. Great animation and probably one of the best shorts yet.You're able to see this for yourself on the Cars DVD.