Released in 2007, Pixar’s first collection of short films offered a glimpse of the company’s evolution from 1984 through 2006. Watching that first collection, it’s fascinating to witness the tremendous leaps in CGI that were occurring during Pixar’s earliest efforts. Watching this recently released second collection—which covers 2007 through 2012—it’s impossible not to admire Pixar’s abilities with CGI. They are simply head and shoulders above everyone else.

Twelve shorts make up this collection. Six of them made their debut in front a Disney or Pixar theatrical release; four made their debut on Blu-ray and two, until now, have only been available online on iTunes, Amazon VOD, Facebook or YouTube. Despite the fact that all of these shorts have been previously available, it’s nice to have them gathered together in one place with a few special features.

  • Your Friend the Rat (Ratatouille, 11:16): Remy and Emile (Patton Oswalt and Peter Sohn) host a video on the history of the Pixar Shorts 2conflict between rats and humans. While it may run just a tad too long, the various styles of CGI and hand drawn animation are fascinating. Writer/ director Jim Capobianco’s script also offers some truly clever moments.
  • Presto (Wall-E, 5:15): In one of my favorite shorts, this two character, dialogue-free film has all the creativity of Pixar’s best feature-length films. The story of a magician struggling to perform with an uncooperative rabbit is a true classic.
  •  Burn-E (Wall-E, 7:35): Running parallel to the events in Wall-E, this is the story of maintenance bot Burn-E and the difficulties he has accomplishing a relatively simple task aboard the starship Axiom. If you haven’t seen Wall-E, or don’t remember it, this one might seem a bit strange.
  • Partly Cloudy (Up, 5:49): In this rather sweet tale, we follow a stork named Gus who also has to deal with the toughest baby deliveries. Yes, I suppose it’s a little hokey, but this short has a big heart.
  • Dug’s Special Mission (Up, 4:42): Dug (Bob Petersen) is trying his best to carry out the orders of his superiors, Doberman Pinscher Alpha (Peterson, again), Rottweiler Beta (Delroy Lindo) and Bulldog Gamma (Jerome Ranft). Nothing goes as planned for the three bullies and misadventures ensue.
  • George & A.J. (Up, 4:01): Originally only available an iTunes exclusive extra, this hand-drawn short follows Shady Oaks Retirement Village nurses George and A.J. (Jason Topolski and A.J. Riebli III) after Carl’s house takes to the air and floats away. This really feels like storyboard material more than a completely. This is definitely the weakest entry in the set.
  • Day & Night (Toy Story 3, 6:02): Pixar’s first 3-D animated short finds day and night working to put aside their differences and learning to co-exist together. A real stunner in terms of animation, this one also offers a very nice story.
  • Hawaiian Vacation (Cars 2, 5:53): The first of two Toy Story mini-sequels, Hawaiian Vacation reunites Buzz (Tim Allen), Woody (Tom Hanks) and the gang, as they throw Barbie and Ken (Jodie Benson and Michael Keaton) an impromptu getaway… in Bonnie’s room. Pixar can just keep doing these Toy Story shorts as long as they want…Awesome!
  • Air Mater (Cars 2, 5:12): In this first short created by newly minted Pixar Canada, Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) learns to fly and joins up with the aerial formation, “Falcon Hawks.”
  •  Small Fry (Toy Story 3, 7:06): More Toy Story goodness! Buzz (Tim Allen) finds himself left behind at a fast food restaurant, only to be replaced by a Happy Meal mini-Buzz (Teddy Newton). Meanwhile, Buzz is forced to endure discarded toy counseling sessions. Hands down, the funniest short of this set.
  • Time Travel Mater (TV, 6:23): Mater tells Lightning about his recent time travel experience, which saw him keep Stanley (John Michael Higgins) from skipping town, so that he could meet his beloved Lizzie (Katherine Helmond).
  • La Luna (Brave, 6:57) Three generations of an Italian family go about their business of cleaning falling stars off of the moon’s surface. This wordless short will leave a smile on your face.

All 12 shorts in this collection are presented in their original aspect ratios varying from 1.78:1 to 1.85:1 to 2.39:1 and are all delivered in 1080p resolution using the AVC codec. As you might expect from Pixar, there are no digital anomalies to speak of and the color and sharpness is stupendous throughout. Contrast is perfect.

The shorts have varying audio tracks from lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 EX tracks to DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby True-HD 5.1 and 7.1 tracks. Much like the video, each track fits its respective short very well and has no inherent issues. As one might expect, the lower budgets of these short subjects means that their sound designs are never as complex as their feature film counterparts.

English, English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles are available.

Along with a standard DVD, the following special features are included:

  • Audio Commentaries: There’s a commentary for each of the animated shorts: “Your Friend the Rat” with director Jim Capobianco and production designer Nate Wragg, “Presto” with director Doug Sweetland, “Burn-E” with director Angus MacLane, “Partly Cloudy” with director Peter Sohn, “Dug’s Special Mission” with director Ronnie del Carmen and supervising technical director Brad Winemitter, “George & A.J.” with director Josh Cooley, “Day & Night” with director Teddy Newton and layout artist Sandra Karpman, “Hawaiian Vacation” with director Gary Rydstrom, story supervisor Jason Katz and supervising animator Angus MacLane, “Air Mater” with director Rob Gibbs, producer Kim Adams and production designer Bob Pauley, “Small Fry” with director Angus MacLane, “Time Travel Mater” with director Rob Gibbs, editor Torbin Xan Bullock and production designer Anthony Christov, and “La Luna” with director Enrico Casarosa and producer Kevin Reher.
  • Pixar Directors’ Student Films (HD, 39 minutes): Seven student short films, each includes a director’s introduction: “Nitemare” and “Lady and the Lamp” with John Lasseter, “Somewhere in the Arctic” and “A Story” with Andrew Stanton, and “Winter,” “Palm Springs” and “Next Door” with Pete Docter.