User Reviews

Like always Pixar has created another one of a kind short for all of us to enjoy.

Lifted is set in the quiet/peaceful country side. When a flying saucer appears to abduct a sleeping individual with a tracker beam. unfortunately the tracker beam is operated by an alien trainee who isn't doing too well on his first job. And keeps messing up on the job while the professional alien grades him on his performances.

I won't give away any of the good or funny parts. But it is one of the funniest Pixar shorts yet. The use of no dialog, interesting characters and special effects is all made possible by Pixar. Along with the ever popular films, their shorts are very highly acclaim. And each one makes a further break through in animation or experiment a story that hasn't been made into CGI yet.

You're able to see Lifted along with Ratatouie.

This is another fun little short in the tradition of fun little shorts from Pixar. Soundman extraordinaire Gary Rydstrom directs for the first time (according to IMDb), and the result is solid.

Not surprisingly, the sound for this short is fantastic, opening with some isolated nighttime noises of a country farmhouse. I've spent a fair amount of time on the real life equivalent of this digital set and this part sounded realistic to me.

By the way, I wrote this whole mini-review just so I could finish with this: Aieeeeeeeeee!

See Gary, the audience really IS listening.

I've always thought it fantastic that Pixar precedes their excellent feature-length films with an equally-excellent animated short, since it serves beautifully to settle the audience down and ready them for the coming feature. With 'Ratatouille' currently in cinemas, the short film this time around was 'Lifted,' a brief but amusing tale of an attempted alien abduction that doesn't quite go to plan. It was directed by Gary Rydstrom, a first-time director but incredible seven-time Oscar winner, thanks to his excellent work in the sound department on such films as 'Jurassic Park' and 'Titanic.' Like Pixar's finest short films, the simple plot is propelled forward without the need for any dialogue, relying mostly on effectively-chosen sound effects. Accordingly, Rydstrom was an ideal candidate to direct.

In a quiet country farmhouse, a human sleeps peacefully, blissfully unaware that an immense UFO has stationed itself outside his house. Inside the spaceship, a young alien, named Stu, is trying desperately to remember which unlabeled toggle switches to press, presented with a vast selection across a large control panel. Stu's instructor, Mr. B., watches over him menacingly, his expression offering not a hint to the correct procedure and answering every mistake by scribbling briefly onto his notepad. Meanwhile, as Stu fumbles tentatively with the controls, the unfortunate human finds himself lifted from his bed by the spacecraft's tractor-beam and tossed violently against the wall and ceiling, never waking from his slumber.

I thought it was rather ambitious that the filmmakers decided to show the beings inside the UFO, since it is rare that we actually get to see a cinematic alien fiddling with buttons and levers behind a control desk. Not only this, but the two extraterrestrials – in just five minutes – become relatively well-developed characters: we immediately sympathise with poor hapless Stu, and Mr. B. discovers a streak of compassion that we hadn't originally expected of him. The comedic timing is just about perfect, and we hold our breath as Stu moves to press another button, before laughing at the unexpected consequence of this upon the unlucky human – his movements largely represented by a holographic blip above the control panel. The sound effects are cleverly-chosen, and the addition of the Wilhelm scream at the very end was a nice touch.

A remote farm-house (probably in the Midwest) is suddenly bathed in a bright, clean light and the sleeping farmer is picked up from his bed and carried towards the window, where an alien craft awaits. Unfortunately for him, the abduction is being undertaken by a trainee, who really needs more hours in the simulator before tried to do it on a live subject.

This short film was screened before the feature Ratatouille and worked well in getting the audience in the laughing mood. Like the equally good "For the Birds" this short film delivers constant laughs in a short time before bowing out with a strong finish. The former short focused on a big tall bird, this film focuses on a trainee alien but the approach is the same – have one weakness or failing be the subject of the short. Here the trainee cannot get the man out the window with the controls and the repeated failures are simple but also very funny. This continues to the end, which is a nice big laugh at the end. The animation is typical Pixar, very clean, professional and impressive with plenty of cultural references in the alien abduction itself for film fans.

Overall then a very clever and funny short film that works very well because it knows just what it needs to do and does it in a ruthlessly efficient manner.

This animated short is on the 2-Disc Special Edition of Ratatouille, and I understand that it was also played in theaters right before aforementioned feature was. With a running time of five minutes and not a single spoken word, this communicates entirely through the visuals, and the quality is definitely top-notch. The story-telling is quite good, and this doesn't go for the cheap audience-pleaser of just doing fancy stuff with the ever-expanding technology, and instead uses it. This has a cool enough, minimalistic plot that you can instantly get into, and a conflict that takes a mere second to wrap your head around, including for young children, in spite of the exact situation being one that I'm willing to bet no one in the audience has found themselves in. All of the sound is excellent, as is the use of it. I didn't personally find this terribly funny, but I can imagine that many will. The material tends to be physical, with slapstick and sight gags. Cartoon violence, and a brief image that might remind people of plumbers is the extent of the offensive material. I recommend this to fans of CGI movies. 7/10

i just viewed this short a few minutes ago,and i thought it was great.the animation was excellent,but i really loved the story.i won't give anything away here,but if you're a fan of Pixar,you should really enjoy this little gem.even if you're not,i still think you'll enjoy it.it's very clever and manages to tell a great story in just 5 minutes.i laughed out loud more than once,in fact more often than i have in some full length comedies.if this is something that interests you,it's available as a Pixar collection of shorts which are probably available in most stores,or online.anyway,i loved Lifted and highly recommend it.

The first impression of this movie was I already had feeling that it would become a funny movie. And I was not wrong. The film about two aliens working together in order to lift a human up to their UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) is brilliant. First of all, I like how they portrayed aliens as green slime like creatures. Not to mention they are irresistibly cute as well. The small alien is my favorite. He probably has no talent to be what aliens are supposed to be, but he would never stop trying. The human who is going to be lifted is so unrealistic in my opinion, but that is what makes this film more interesting in the first place. This film is only five minutes, and I recommend you to watch it.

One night, two green aliens came to earth by spacecraft. Their purpose is to abduct a man who is sleeping in his bed. The smaller alien tries to control the man with a lot of switches.

I could not help laughing to see this film. The contrast between the smaller alien and the man was funny. While the alien is trying to catch the man, he does not notice what is happening to him and continues to sleep. I was surprised at him. The bigger alien is very tolerant. No matter how many times the smaller alien fails, the bigger one gives one more chance to the smaller one. I fell that there is a strange bond between them. However, this film is a comedy. It can make you laugh to the end. It is a very short film, so you can watch it anytime you want.

How about watching it when you are sad or depressed? It can make you laugh and feel happy.

This is probably Pixar's weakest short film. Every Pixar short has one of these three qualities - It can be cute or it teach us something or atleast be funny. But this film did not has any of the three. I didn't feel entertained.

You will watch this short in the theatre before the beginning of Ratatouille. And it's very well placed, since it indicates much of the theme that drives Ratatouille. An artist puppeteering an instrument in order to create his art.

This short may be understood as a synonym for the work of an animator. Really really hard to manage, check out the number of buttons in the board of the spaceship. It's hard to learn the job, and while you don't master it, all you do will be a disgrace. But if you get to do it well, you'll do wonders. You'll puppeteer the world below, create and destroy, move and control.

These small appointments (not necessarily short films) are interesting to me because they are explicit indications pointing on how each creator comes out with his own originality and my opinion is, the creations reflect usually every stuff which is very close to the creator, usually his own thoughts and life (It's the second time in a short time i identify these signs, the other was with Miyazaki's Kiki).

The funny thing is when the construction, no matter how simple it is, is honest in its origins, works out very effective, so this short is really really funny.

My evaluation: 4/5

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This is Pixar's short film about the alien from space who try to abduct the sleeping man in countryside using functions of alien's aircraft, but it is really complicated.

This film is really funny. There is no dialog in this film (actually, one line of dialog is in this film but we cannot understand language), but because this film is animation, characters move comically and change their facial expression emotionally. In addition, that is the point I was impressed most, this film made me laugh many times by building up the story like waves. It means I could laugh almost constantly. In terms of comedy, I think showing a huge clump of continuous amusing scenes make audiences tired or bored, so it is not effective. On the other hand, this movie puts some interval between each amusing scenes, so these scenes come to me like waves and do not make me weary. In addition, despite the waves, this film is a 'short' film so these waves are arranged compactly. It harmonizes the film beautifully.

This is Pixar's film but short film so I think it is not known as much as ordinary Pixar's movies. So, I want to recommend this to people who do not know this film.

The film is a pure comedy. There are two aliens. One is testing for lifting a man and striving to pass the examination. The other is the examiner. The examinee makes mistakes so many times. The examiner is so stern that the examinee is uneasy and gradually becomes upset. And the end of this film is very surprising and amusing.

I watched such an amusing film for the first time in a long time. The way to make audience have fun is elaborate. For example, the use of background music is good. Seemingly, a scene is serious and the music of the scene is solemn, but the next moment it becomes comical. The film delighted me while I was watching it.

The film had a great influence on me. It showed me how important striving to achieve something was. I came to think that efforts necessarily bore fruit.

And the film also showed me how beautiful friendship was. If we cherish our friends, they might also cherish us, I'm sure. The film reminded me of it.

The film is very humorous and shows us important things. I would like to watch the film again. I recommend that you watch this film.

When I watch this film for the first time, I think that the character designs of this film are very cute and sweet. The pretty character makes a lot of mistakes, so it looks more lovable. At the end of this film, I think that the character succeeds in doing the task at last, but, unfortunately, the character fails. This may be the intention of the director of this film. Thanks to this, this film is very interesting and funny. I think that this film is mainly loved by little children and older people because the story and the character designs of this film are aimed at them. If you watch this film, you may become happy. I think that this film has a power to make people who watch this happy.

"Lifted" is a quiet comedy about the abduction of a sleeping human being by aliens. The young alien is still an apprentice, and the examiner is testing him. The story is exciting and leaves me wondering what is going on from the beginning. The main character doesn't seem to be very smart and always makes mistakes. Also, his actions make me nervous. Although the examiner looks scary at first glance, he actually has a kind personality, willing to let his apprentice take the wheel again even if he fails. The use of sudden light and sudden loud sounds is impressive and makes me even more fidgety. Also, the characters' facial expressions are so funny that I can't help but laugh even when they're not saying anything. This is a good film packed with fun, surprises, and excitement in just five minutes, and I think it's worth watching. You won't want to miss the end scene.

The boy is sleeping on the bed in evening. Then, a huge UFO appears above the boy's house. Two green aliens who were in the UFO try to carry out the boy by using beam, but a small alien fails in carrying out man repeatedly because there are too many switches. Although the tale is simple, it is very interesting. The image of aliens is scared, clever, and so on, but this small alien is not clever. This is the funny point. I think that the fun of the Pixar work is in the abundance of the character's expression. There are no words in this story, but we can fully enjoy watching this film by the cute character's expressions. The big alien has a nice face, and he is very kind. I like his character. Although it is a short film, the composition of the tale is solid and we can laugh at the end. I would like to recommend this short film for everyone.

This short animation by Pixar Studios recounts the training of an alien in abducting humans on earth. The young inexperienced alien is having quite a hard time figuring out all the tricks of the job. He indeed needs to figure out how to use a machine with more than a thousand buttons that look exactly the same in order to successfully lift the human target out from his window and into the spaceship. Though the trainee alien seems quite confident on his capacities to succeed his examination, it will not be without a couple of hardships along the way.

I saw this short animation for the first time in the cinema when I was a child before the screening of a Pixar movie. I remember enjoying it then and my feelings have not changed a bit, I still laughed at every twists and turns. The film therefore does an amazing job in catching the attention of every age groups and making them laugh just the same, and doing so only through visual representations, as there are no dialogues. Even if the context is that of an alien passing a training exam, it is so easy to project oneself through him. The stress, the unflinching gaze of the examiner watching and judging every one of your move, the loss of confidence and failing every new attempt: all these characteristics are so relatable, and reminded me so much of my own traumatizing experience of the driving license exam. We therefore easily get attached to the trainee alien, but also to the examiner when we realize his "humanity" at the very end of the animation. Overall, a sweet and funny short animation which brightened my day.

This is a really funny and interesting short in my opinion. The short tells the story of a little alien who is doing the practical test for using an UFO and lift humans inside it, but it does not work and everything turns bad and the human hits every object inside his house. Without any piece of dialogue, the short is able to tell a story, but not a normal one, one really funny actually.

The character of the little alien is the main point of the story, but I would say that the funniest character is the other big alien who is supervising the test. His face expressions and the way he acts towards the little alien are the funniest parts of the story. Also, the way that we can relate to this story even them being aliens is really big. I mean, who does not think about the driving license test while watching this short? It is a really good reference about daily life in a very original way.

Finally, the short has a good outline in my opinion; is really easy to understand what is happening and why. Maybe it is because it is a film whose target are children, but I also think that there are some parts that adults can understand in other ways and I think that this makes the film really good. Good outline, good characters and funny, everything is well done.

This movie is that the aliens try to lift a man to their spaceship who sleeps in his house.

There are many interesting scenes in this film. I like the contacts between aliens. It is very humorous. A small alien's trial and error is very funny and a big alien's correspondence is cool and interesting. The scene that a man in a house crashes into a wall many times is also funny. The BGMs in this movie are very good. They suit each scenes. They also enlarge the fun of this film.

There is no scene that I don't like. I like all of the scenes.

This movie is constituted by the funny moment, so I think it is made to make people funny. I like the movie that is full of fun. When you are sad and want to make yourself cheer up, you should watch it!