21. Geri's Game (1997)- Jan Pinkava

Geri's Game Short Film (5:03)

This Pixar animated short film follows one man, Geri in his quest for success in a heated chess game...with himself. This charming little story carries a big message about creativity and the use of your imagination as a way of never being alone. On the other hand, Geri's story can also be seen as actually quite sad. He is an elderly man, sitting alone in a park playing chess with no one and having a delusional interaction with himself where he fakes his own death to beat himself in a game. Overall though, I find Geri amusing and delightful and was so excited to see him make a reappearance in Toy Story 2. Pixar has had some great animated shorts over the years, but what I like about this one is that it isn't trying to hard to be overly funny, or too serious, or complex, but rather simple and enjoyable.