Presto

Presto is a 2008 American Pixar computer-animated short film shown in theaters before their feature length film WALL-E. The short is about a magician trying to perform a show with his uncooperative rabbit and is a gag-filled homage to classic cartoons such as Tom and Jerry and Looney Tunes. Presto was directed by veteran Pixar animator Doug Sweetland, in his directorial debut.

The original idea for the short was a magician who incorporated a rabbit into his act who suffered from stage fright. This was considered to be too long and complicated, and the idea was reworked. To design the theater featured in Presto, the filmmakers visited several Opera Houses and theaters for set design ideas. Problems arose when trying to animate the theater's audience of 2,500 patrons—which was deemed too expensive—and was solved by showing the back of the audience.

Reaction to the short was very positive, and reviewers of WALL-E's home media release considered it to be an enjoyable special feature. One critic called Presto a "winner through and through", while another found it to be "a short and hilarious animated film". Presto was nominated for an Annie Award and Academy Award. It was included in the Animation Show of Shows in 2008.

Plot
Vaudeville-era magician Presto DiGiotagione is famous for a hat trick wherein he pulls his rabbit Alec Azam out of his top hat. The short begins with an unfed and irritated Alec locked in a cage, unable to reach his carrot. After Presto returns from eating a meal, he begins practicing his act with Alec, revealing that his top hat is magically connected to a wizard's hat kept backstage with Alec, so that when Presto reaches into the top hat, his hand appears out of the wizard's hat, allowing him to grab Alec and pull him out of the top hat. He intends to feed Alec the carrot, but realizes that he is late for the show and rushes off to the stage without doing so, much to Alec's anger. Presto tried to start the performance, but Alec has reached his limit and refuses to cooperate until he is given the carrot. Presto then spends the rest of the show trying to catch Alec through the opening between his top hat and the wizard's hat.

Alec cleverly turns the hat's magic against his master into multiple painful and humiliating ways and unsuccessful attempts of magic. Presto's hand is hit by a drawer off stage, his finger is stuck into a mouse trap, and he is hit in the face by an egg (which he himself had dropped into the hat in an attempt to humiliate Alec). Presto responds by antagonizing Alec, turning the carrot into a flower. Furious, Alec sucks Presto's head into a vacuum kept offstage, which spikes Presto's hair, making his face red and then rips his slacks off. Angered, Presto looks angry at Alec. Alec closes Presto's hand into a drawer backstage, and looks through his sleeve for the carrot. Presto starts running at Alec, but instead is poked in the eye by his own hand. Presto drops his hat, and when he grabs the wizard hat, he accidentally takes of his pants. Furious, Presto wants to attack Alec, but in a act to defend himself, he puts a ladder into the wizard hat, and Presto is hit between the legs by the ladder kept off stage. Trying to get revenge, Presto attempts to hit Alec with the same ladder (but the plan backfires, and he is sent hitting his chin on the ladder). Presto antagonizes Alec again, covering the carrot with a cloth before smashing it into a pulp with a piece of the ladder. An extremely angry Alec retaliates by aiming the opening of the wizard's hat towards an electrical socket which Presto's finger goes into, causing him to dance wildly to bluegrass music. The audience interprets these shenanigans as part of the act and applauds with increasing approval. Presto, now very angry, has had enough and chases Alec backstage, catching his foot in a rope that lifts him up to the fly space above the stage when he mistakenly releases the weights holding down some stage props. When his foot comes loose from the rope, he falls, along with a piano and some suspended scenery. Alec, realizing that Presto will be crushed, reluctantly uses the magic hat to save him, earning the audience's wild approval for both himself and Presto. Presto gives Alec the carrot (returned to its original shape), as well as second billing on the posters advertising the show (as seen in the promotional poster above), and they are rewarded for each show they do, roses for Presto and carrots for Alec.

Production


Presto was directed by veteran Pixar animator Doug Sweetland, in his directorial debut. Sweetland provides the dialogue-free voice acting for both of the movie's characters. He pitched the film at the start of 2007 and began production late in the year, completing it in May 2008. Presto 's gag-based format was heavily influenced by classic cartoons. Looney Tunes cartoons directed by Tex Avery were a major influence, with Alec being easily compared to Bugs Bunny. Other influences include Tom and Jerry, the Marx Brothers, and Charlie Chaplin. The character design for Presto was based on William Powell.

The original scenario for the short involved a magician who incorporates an autograph-seeking rabbit into his act after his previous rabbit leaves him. Complications arise as the new rabbit suffers from stage fright. Sweetland compared it to the plot of A Star Is Born. The idea was reworked due to being too long and complicated, taking an estimated three minutes longer to tell.

To achieve the highly formal environment, the filmmakers looked at the Royal Opera House in London, the Paris Opera House and classic vaudeville theaters like the Geary in San Francisco—which the crew took a tour through—for set design ideas. Animating the theater's audience of 2,500 patrons proved an expensive proposition, even with the help of the crowd-generating MASSIVE software. Early suggestions were to show cutaways of just a small portion of the audience, but the full effect was achieved by only showing the back of the audience. To save time, most of the audience models were borrowed from the previous Pixar film, Ratatouille. Additionally, Presto's body (from the neck down) is Skinner's lawyer, and the carrot was one of the many food props from that film.

Reception
Reaction to the short film was very positive. Carl Cortez of If called Presto a "winner through and through". Marcos Bernal-Salas of The Examiner named Presto his favorite bonus feature of WALL-E ' s DVD. Bernal-Salas described it is "a short and hilarious animated film" and praised the animation and sound design. Jake Coyle of the Associated Press found Presto to be "a delightful and cartoonish appetizer" which kept the tradition of short pre-feature films alive. Darren Bevan of Television New Zealand thought that although WALL-E was a "delightful tale" and "truly gorgeous", Presto "very nearly stole Wall-E's thunder". James Sanford of the Kalamazoo Gazette called the short a superb and hilarious curtain-raiser, describing it as a Bugs Bunny Looney Tunes version of The Prestige. Presto was nominated for the 36th Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject. The short was also nominated for the Academy Award for Animated Short Film, but lost to La Maison en Petits Cubes. It is currently honored on Imdb's Top Short List as the 3rd greatest short film ever.