This simple story is about two umbrellas who meet in the city one rainy night. But, they are soon separated and it sure looks as if the boy umbrella will never again meet the lady umbrella. As far as the story for "The Blue Umbrella" goes, it's good
.but that's NOT the reason to watch the film—especially since the story is incredibly simple and lacks complexity. Instead, it's like Pixar's showing off to the world just how good they can do CGI, as the film often looks like it was filmed live---it's THAT good. This is especially true at the very beginning. Then, slowly, it becomes obvious that it's NOT real, as you see an anthropomorphic city—but one that is amazingly well rendered. In fact, it's so well done it makes you wonder just how much longer it will be until they create films where you simply cannot tell it's not filmed live and with real live actors!
UPDATE: Since I reviewed this film many months ago, the list of Oscar nominated animated shorts was released and I went to a special showing of the nominees today. "The Blue Umbrella" was not nominated and I assume this is because another Disney short, "Get a Horse!" was nominated (and I think each studio can submit only one short--though I could be wrong here). "Get a Horse!", in my opinion, is by far the best of the films I saw today--but "The Blue Umbrella" was awfully close. Confused? Well, in the last few years, in addition to showing the five nominees, the show also present a few so-called 'Commended Films'--ones that weren't nominated but which are awfully good--and "The Blue Umbrella" was one of them. Sadly, "The Blue Umbrella" was better than any of the nominees other than "Get a Horse!" and will probably be overshadowed by it. But it's a nice and lovable film on it's own merit.
UPDATE: Since I reviewed this film many months ago, the list of Oscar nominated animated shorts was released and I went to a special showing of the nominees today. "The Blue Umbrella" was not nominated and I assume this is because another Disney short, "Get a Horse!" was nominated (and I think each studio can submit only one short--though I could be wrong here). "Get a Horse!", in my opinion, is by far the best of the films I saw today--but "The Blue Umbrella" was awfully close. Confused? Well, in the last few years, in addition to showing the five nominees, the show also present a few so-called 'Commended Films'--ones that weren't nominated but which are awfully good--and "The Blue Umbrella" was one of them. Sadly, "The Blue Umbrella" was better than any of the nominees other than "Get a Horse!" and will probably be overshadowed by it. But it's a nice and lovable film on it's own merit.