It's no disguise just how personal and close-to-home Sanjay's Super Team is for Pixar animator Sanjay Patel, who makes this his directorial debut, as well. The short is a vibrant burst of energy and color for seven minutes, as the story focuses around a small boy named Sanjay, who simply wants to watch his favorite cartoon Super Team in piece. His preoccupation with his show distracts him from the meticulous process of his father as he sets up a Hindu shrine for meditation. Wanting his son to witness such a peaceful, mind/body-cleansing experience, Sanjay's father pulls him away from the TV to meditate.
Sanjay simply isn't interested, to the point where he retrieves a toy in the middle of his father's meditation and almost completely corrupts the process. Eventually, Sanjay becomes immersed in his personal journey, to the point where he imagines Hindu gods as his own band of superheros. Before his very imagination can keep up, Vishnu and Durga transform from two-dimensional abstracts into elaborate and colorful heroes that tantalize the very sensibilities of Sanjay.
Sanjay's Super Team evokes neon colors to near perfection, as we watch this story unfold with no dialog and a very slow and steady pace, even for such a short runtime. The only issue is that the takeaway from this is pretty slight, even by the recent standards of Pixar shorts (let's just say, it's nice this one got the Oscar love instead of the momentarily sad but utterly frothy Lava). There's not a lot of emotional connection, despite this being a fairly emotional story, and while Patel's passion and heart is here, there's just very little to say, unfortunately.
Sanjay simply isn't interested, to the point where he retrieves a toy in the middle of his father's meditation and almost completely corrupts the process. Eventually, Sanjay becomes immersed in his personal journey, to the point where he imagines Hindu gods as his own band of superheros. Before his very imagination can keep up, Vishnu and Durga transform from two-dimensional abstracts into elaborate and colorful heroes that tantalize the very sensibilities of Sanjay.
Sanjay's Super Team evokes neon colors to near perfection, as we watch this story unfold with no dialog and a very slow and steady pace, even for such a short runtime. The only issue is that the takeaway from this is pretty slight, even by the recent standards of Pixar shorts (let's just say, it's nice this one got the Oscar love instead of the momentarily sad but utterly frothy Lava). There's not a lot of emotional connection, despite this being a fairly emotional story, and while Patel's passion and heart is here, there's just very little to say, unfortunately.