Lifted (2006) User Reviews

Another unique and funny short.

[emasterslake · 8/10 · 6 July 2007]

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.

All Hail the Wilhelm!

[jwf22 · 8/10 · 2 July 2007]

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.

Close Encounters of the Inept Kind

[ackstasis · 7/10 · 15 September 2007]

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.

Clever and funny

[bob the moo · 4 May 2008]

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.

Very cute and funny

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 9 February 2008]

LIFTED was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short for 2007 but it lost to THE DANISH POET. While THE DANISH POET was more original in style and scope, this Pixar short is simply funnier and more entertaining--even though the style isn't all that innovative these days (after all, there are TONS of CG shorts these days).

LIFTED was released both in theaters and on DVD with RATATOUILLE--a remarkable film in its own right. Here is the interesting part. It wasn't until the second time that I realized the character playing the sleeping guy was the same guy from RATATOUILLE. I think most people won't notice this right away either because seeing the short before the main feature, you aren't familiar with the character.

As far as the film goes, it represents the very state of the art in computer generated animation--you can't get any better. However, the cartoon isn't just CG but the story is cute and very funny. I really thing that the great success of Pixar actually hurt the chances of this film winning, as the studio already has won several awards and they are the "big boy" in the field--often, it seems, the Academy and film festivals are looking for more independent films in this category.

Funny Movie

[blackhayatego · 8/10 · 26 July 2022]

This movie was made in 2006. It's a short comedy movie.

One night, the swing is shaking. A house is illuminated by the light from the sky. There is a UFO. A boy sleeping in the house floats in the air and hits his head against the window. He hits his head many times. The boy is controlled by a little alien from the UFO who tries to carry the boy out, but he fails many times. There is another big alien who watches his operation and records something. He presses a lot of buttons while looking at the big alien's complexion, but it doesn't work. He finds the correct button, but drops the boy from the ship finally. Then, the big alien operates to put everything back. They go home with the little alien's driving... It was an interesting movie. The little alien's face shows his situation. I like the big alien letting the little alien operate the spaceship at the end. I think it's good to watch the last scene which is especially interesting. I couldn't predict it.

Oscar-nominated Lifted goes great with companion feature

[tavm · 10/10 · 30 June 2007]

Unless others are doing this at the same time, it looks like I'll be the first to comment on the Oscar-nominated short Lifted which is now playing right before Ratatouille since both films are produced by, you guessed it, Pixar. In this one, a young man is being abducted by a spaceship as indicated by the light that's on him. It doesn't go smoothly, however, since the light has the still sleeping man constantly hit a wall. Turns out the one doing the abduction is a trainee who has trouble remembering simple directions as indicated by the glum-faced guide watching over him inside the spaceship. All I'll tell you after that is how many things go constantly wrong in some of the most laugh-inducing scenes I've seen in the theatre all year so far. Definitely worth viewing with the feature it's attached to so what are you waiting for? Just go!

Just like "For the Birds": terrific and in the grand style of the best Looney Tunes

[karn · 10/10 · 7 January 2009]

I keep waiting for Pixar to run out of good ideas, and they never do. My favorite of their shorts, "Lifted" and "For the Birds", are very much in the tradition of the old Warner Brothers. The emphasis is on characterization, sight gags, facial expressions and sound effects rather than dialog, and much of the humor comes from playing with our expectations. You simply don't expect a huge "Close Encounters" alien ship to be piloted by an inept trainee on a check ride who can't even fit his captive through the window. You don't expect a highly advanced alien flight instructor to take notes with an ordinary clipboard and ball point pen. You don't expect that a would-be abductee would stay asleep through all that only to wake up when his alarm goes off.

The WB greats also discovered that the biggest laughs often come from the smallest details. When the Coyote realized that he was about to get pounded (again) by a huge falling boulder, his eyes shrank to pinpoints. I always found that funnier than the actual boulder-pounding. In "Lifted", watch the mailbox near the farmhouse when the spaceship (unexpectedly, of course) crashes. A moment later, the flag on the mailbox falls. I missed it even in the Blu-Ray version, but once the director pointed it out in the commentary, it became the funniest part of the gag for me.

I won't put it down

[TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews · 7/10 · 7 November 2009]

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

very funny animated Pixar short

[disdressed12 · 9/10 · 25 May 2008]

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.

Funny

[nadeshikomail · 7/10 · 11 July 2018]

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.

animated short film

[ktkt-80912 · 8/10 · 14 July 2022]

'Lifted' is an animated short film by Pixar. One night, a large UFO flies over a house in the middle of nowhere and attempts to take a sleeping resident inside. Inside the UFO, a green alien sits in front of a giant control panel and manipulates rays of light to lift the resident up. However, the alien, who is still an apprentice, is unable to control the UFO well, and the inhabitant ends up hitting the walls and ceiling. I like this movie. This is because although it is a short film of a little over five minutes, it has ups and downs within it and is very interesting. There is no dialogue, but it is relatively easy to understand. Through this film, I was reminded of the importance of not giving up after a single failure, as we saw the apprentice alien grow up. Everyone should watch this film.

Lifted

[jboothmillard · 6/10 · 27 February 2008]

If you have Ratatouille on DVD, then you would have this short animated film in the special features. From the geniuses at Pixar, this another amusing short. Basically a human is peacefully sleeping, and all of the sudden a bright light appears outside. A large alien ship tries to pull the human outside with the light power, the abduction by the way is being done by a teenage alien. There are so many switches tough, and he is failing to even get out the window, and no matter where he is being thrown and banged against the wall, the human doesn't wake. The other alien is not pleased, but the human does eventually come out the window, but looking all smug, the teenage alien forgets the light power, and they put him back in bed, but not before crashing into the ground, and taking the ground, apart from the human's bed, with them. Phew! Obviously see it for yourself, I'm not always good with long explanations like this, even for a short film. It was nominated Oscar Best Short Animated Film. Good!

Doesn't look funny to me

[AnonymousbutDilpreet002 · 4/10 · 23 June 2018]

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.

Puppetering

[RResende · 11 September 2007]

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

http://www.7eyes.wordpress.com

to operate the spaceship

[sawii29 · 10/10 · 26 July 2013]

One night, a big spaceship suddenly appears. A probationer practices how to operate the spaceship. There are lots of buttons which are all identical. The probationer tries to lift a man, but seems to be confused and makes mistakes. An examiner finally comes to be fed up with his mistakes. Then the examiner lifts a man instead of him.

If I was the probationer, I would not be able to do that. However, giving up something is not my style, so I would be very disappointed at myself.

In the film, the examiner gives him another chance to do it. Practical process will make him better at operating it, I think.

So funny

[arkts31 · 8/10 · 10 February 2014]

This is an animation movie made by PIXAR about aliens trying to kidnap a human. The two alien characters are very cute and funny. They reminded me of Monsters,Inc. which is also a film of PIXAR.

I think the usage of music is interesting. Generally, music is used in order to make some kind of atmosphere. For example, music in major key or fast tempo creates exciting, happy or delighted mood. On the other hand, music in minor key or slow tempo makes people feel sad or depressed. However this film used this rule technically. For example, magnificent music is played just before a funny scene. While hearing such music, the audience are a little tense and excited to imagine what will happen next, but all of a sudden the music stops and then something funny occurs. Everyone is surprised and they cannot help laughing. It is very effective and clever.

The plot is so simple and clear that we can easily understand the story and just enjoy it. I could imagine the end of the film, but in spite of that I laughed at the last scene. As always, the sound effects are good and give realism to the film.

cute and hilarious!

[moenjeruu · 9/10 · 10 July 2018]

'Lifted' was an absolutely hilarious story. I loved it to bits. It was quite unexpected and I think Pixar said more with no dialogue than many others. The short was cute and funny, but also unpredictable. I didn't really expect the aliens to appear or for the aliens to have some kind of exam that involved kidnapping humans. The way they filmed it, the way they made it look like it is a very complicated process. The amount of knowledge that poor alien had to have about all the buttons and switches made me empathize with him so much. I felt bad for him, the test he had to take and about his strict instructor. I was very happy when the supervisor helped him at the end. It was a very nice ending. I wished it was a bit longer. I would have liked for it to be a bit longer.

Animated movies that adults can enjoy

[rinopechi · 8/10 · 17 July 2022]

I watched 'Lifted' for the first time. This was made in 2006. This is the story of an apprentice alien who tries to abduct a human. I like this film. There are three reasons. First, it is an interesting story that could be achieved only through animation. This is because I often feel uncomfortable and do not like it when I see fake aliens in live-action versions. Also, the pictures are cute, so it is soothing to watch. Second, the content is a jokey comedy, so I can enjoy watching it without thinking about it. It is easy to watch and energizing with the quick development of the story that is typical of short movies. Lastly, I like the way the movie ends. The last scene is not shown in the video, but it is interesting to see what happened just from the audio. For these reasons, I think people should watch this movie, and I think it is a great movie that has many other attractions besides these and can be easily enjoyed.

Another good job

[Polaris_DiB · 7/10 · 17 July 2007]

Animated shorts are making something of a small, barely-noticed comeback, mostly because of Pixar. In general, they are used as extra bells and whistles in special edition DVD releases to help tack on an extra five bucks or so to the cost of the disc. However, Pixar has been very faithful about preserving an old tradition and including animated shorts before each feature in the theatre.

The best part? Almost all of them are sans-dialog.

"Lifted" is another short in this vein involving a botched alien abduction. It's very good slapstick, and a great opening to a very visual and kinetic film to follow (Ratatouille). In terms of general approach, the characters are a lot more cartoon-y than previous Pixar works (Yeah, I know, it is a cartoon, but these characters seem more like something you'd find on a cable children's show than as an independent feature), but they're still well written and empathetic.

I wouldn't say it's a more memorable short from such a prolific studio, but the way things have going these past years, "Lifted" itself is much more worth the price of admission than most other Hollywood films.

--PolarisDiB

funny

[0810gsis · 9/10 · 6 October 2021]

This story is about a human being kidnapped by two aliens. I sympathized with the alien when he was taking a test where he tried kidnapping a man but he failed because of the many levers, and I wanted to cheer for him. I thought his depression and anger when he fails it was just like a human being. This movie reminded me of a driving school. It was also interesting that the boy who is almost kidnapped by the aliens does not wake up no matter what they do to him. In the middle of the movie, there is a scene where the room is a mess and the alien instructor cleans it up in an instant, but then I thought that he should fix up the boy's house before going back to space in the last scene. It is a short story, but it has a funny ending, and I thought it was a great story that people of any generation and any country could understand.

Peeping inside the mysterious alien's world.

[kumayama · 7/10 · 14 February 2014]

This movie "Lifted" let us peep inside the mysterious alien's world. Two aliens on the ship have characters in contrast. A little alien is childlike and inexperienced. But his charming appearance and friendly character make us cheer him on his training. Everything he does reminds us of our childhood. I can't stop laughing at the scene that he disgusted at making many mistakes and his poor work make the human child fly to the right and left and up and down in his room. There is one more creature watching the little alien affectionately. That's a big alien. Though he looks like just a strict and skilled teacher at first, we can find he cares for the little alien so much, and he want him to learn and experience. Both aliens are very attractive. Of course the picture is really good, and the sounds makes the situation funnier.

Funny

[mkminnieyk · 10/10 · 18 June 2016]

This movie is so interesting. I laughed at the story when I watched it. At the beginning, the music os dark and strange. The scene is dark, too. It looks like a mystery. However, when the next scene starts, it is very funny. The director of this movie knows about audiences. Simply, there are a lot of happenings in the movie, but the happenings are the same. The main character fails again and again and again. It is not persistent. It is very funny. I think the director knows when viewers get tired of seeing same action and what makes viewers happy. At the end of the movie, the main character fails again. Then the movie ends. After finishing the movie, one of the characters screams off-screen. It is ingenious. The content of the story is not deep but it is easy to understand. And also it is a very funny movie, so this movie is good for not only child but also adult.

Wish this wasn't a short or I wish it was longer

[CubsandCulture · 7/10 · 1 January 2021]

The concept of an alien teenager having to pass an abduction test (like a driving test) is very amusing. The short gets a lot of slapstick laughs out of the concept. Best of all the two characters are designed and animated strong such that you get a sense of their personalities. But for all that I think Pixar wasted the core concept-a alien learning to be an alien-on a short film.

nice

[satohakilesson · 5/10 · 17 July 2013]

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!