For the Birds (film)

For the Birds
Poster for For the Birds
Directed by	Ralph Eggleston
Produced by	John Lasseter (executive) Karen Dufilho-Rosen
Written by	Ralph Eggleston
Starring	Ralph Eggleston
Music by	Riders in the Sky
Editing by	Jennifer Taylor Tom Freeman
Studio	Pixar
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures
Release date(s)	June 30, 2000 November 2, 2001 (with Monsters, Inc.)
Running time	3 min. 27 sec.

For the Birds is an animated short film, produced by Pixar and released in 2000. It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 2001.^[1] It was shown alongside a theatrical release of the 2001 Disney/Pixar feature film Monsters, Inc. It is also available on some home video versions of the film.

This marks the first time John Lasseter served as an Executive Producer, after he directed Toy Story, A Bug's Life and Toy Story 2.

Plot

A small bird lands on a telephone wire and makes itself comfortable, only to have a second bird land next to it. As the two birds start to fight, many others land on the wire and join in. They are interrupted when a very large, gangly, awkward-looking bird sitting on top of the pole honks to them. Soon, the small birds start mocking the large one by puffing up their feathers to resemble its plumage and imitating its honk. They then slide farther out along the wire and chatter suspiciously among themselves, ignoring the large bird's attempts to befriend them until it settles on the wire. However, its weight causes the wire to sag almost to the ground and all the small birds slide down toward it.

As the large bird keeps trying to make friends, the small ones get annoyed and try to push it off the wire, only for it to hang upside down by its feet. The two nearest the center start pecking at its toes, egged on by the rest of the crowd. One of the other birds suddenly panics, realizing how low the wire is, and tries to stop the pecking. The others understand and stop too late; when the large bird's last toe slides off, the wire snaps upward and flings all the small birds out of sight. The large one is so close to the ground that it settles down easily, accompanied by a shower of feathers from the small birds.

One of them falls to the ground, having lost all its feathers, and the large bird laughs and offers it a leaf to cover itself. The others soon tumble down as well and hide behind the large bird as it laughs even harder. A white splatter against a black screen, similar to the mess caused by bird droppings, marks the end of the film.

Awards

For The Birds won the following awards:

• 2002 - 74th Academy Awards - Best Short Animated Film
• 2001 - Vancouver Effects and Animation Festival - Animated Computer 3D Short
• 2001 - Anima Mundi Animation Festival - Best Film x2
• 2001 - Chicago International Children's Film Festival-Short Film or Video - Animation-Second Place
• 2000 - Annie Award - Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Short Subject
• 2000 - Sitges - Catalan International Film Festival - Best Animated Short Film

Easter Eggs

A reference to "For the Birds" was put in the 2006 Disney-Pixar movie Cars. When Lightning McQueen is in the back of Mack, they drive down the freeway and pass a section of power line with the birds resting on top, which is accompanied by the squeaks the birds made to communicate with each other.^[2]

References

External links

• Official website
• For the Birds at the Internet Movie Database
• For the Birds at the Big Cartoon DataBase