Geri's Game is a computer-animated short film made by Pixar in 1997. It was written and directed by Jan Pinkava, and the first Pixar Short created after Toy Story. It was released in theaters on November 25, 1998 with A Bug's Life, and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film that year.
Plot[]
An elderly man named Geri plays a game of chess in the park against himself. He starts off playing as white (while displaying a calm and docile personality), but then hoists himself up and lumbers over to play as the black opponent (while displaying a snarky and cocky attitude). He quickly dominates the game as the black side, although he is his own opponent. White Geri (with glasses), on the verge of losing with only his king piece left standing, fakes a heart attack to outsmart Black Geri (without glasses) and falls to the ground. This alarms Black Geri, and in turn, he tests his own pulse. While he is doing this, White Geri looks up and flips the board around, inverting their colors. He checkmates Black Geri and makes him hand over a set of dentures as the prize. As the movie ends with him giving a toothy grin, the camera backs out, revealing that there is only one Geri; a reminder to the audience that he played this game all by himself.
Awards[]
- 1998 Academy Award Winner for Best Animated Short Film
Trivia[]
- When Geri first puts the box of chess pieces down, the old Pixar logo can be seen on the top-left corner.
- Geri's chess box reads "Point Richmond PIXAR SHORTS." This is because Pixar's old headquarters was originally located in Point Richmond.
- Geri appeared in Toy Story 2 as the Cleaner who fixed Woody. When the Cleaner opens one of the drawers in his case, his chess pieces can be seen, in reference to the short.
- After pretending to have a heart attack, Geri knocks down the chess box while spinning the board around. When the camera zooms out at the end of the short, if you look to the ground, the chess box is not there. This was discussed in Jan Pinkava's audio commentary for the short. When he was asked about this question, he simply replied, "We just forgot to put it in."
- As the game/short goes on, the lighting changes. This is to make it seem like the game has been going on for the whole day.
- In one scene, both of Geri's personas can be seen. In the short's commentary, Jan Pinkava states that it was an intentional joke.
- Pixar shareholders received a VHS copy of Geri's Game with their 1997 annual report.
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