Presto (film)

Infobox Film
name = Presto


director = Doug Sweetland
producer = Richard Hollander [cite web |work=The Pixar Blog |title='Presto' producer: Pixar is 'crazy'|url=http://pixarblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/presto-producer-pixar-is-crazy.html |date=2008-09-20]
writer = Doug Sweetland
starring = Doug Sweetland
music = Scot Stafford
distributor = Pixar Animation Studios
released = June 27, 2008 (with "WALL-E")
runtime = 5 min.
country = USA
language = English
preceded_by =
imdb_id = 1245104

"Presto" is a 2008 Pixar computer-animated short film released in theatres with "WALL-E". It was directed by veteran Pixar animator Doug Sweetland. Sweetland also provides the voices for both of the movie's characters

Plot

Turn-of-the-century magician Presto DiGiotagione (whose name is a play on the word "prestidigitation") is famous for a hat trick. Presto's apprentice, a rabbit named Alec Azam (a play on the magic word "alakazam"), is hungry and unhappy that he is locked in a birdcage just out of reach of a carrot. [http://disney.go.com/vault/supplement.pdf Supplement to Dave Smith's 2006 book "Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia"] ] Once Presto starts the performance, Alec refuses to cooperate until he is given the carrot. Presto then spends the rest of the show trying to catch Alec through the magical portal between his top hat and a wizard's hat kept backstage. Unfortunately for Presto, Alec cleverly turns the hat's magic against his guardian in a several painful and humiliating ways, such as putting his finger in a mouse trap, in an electrical socket, sending a large ladder through hitting him between the legs, blinding himself, yanking off his own pants, having his head sucked into the hat due to a vacuum kept offstage etc.

Finally, after unintentionally entertaining the audience with his endeavors (at his very painful expense), Presto ends up falling from the ceiling with assorted heavy objects chasing him down. Alec uses the magic hats to save him, earning the audience's wild approval for both himself and Presto. As the film ends, Presto gives Alec the carrot, as well as second billing (as "Alec Azam") on the posters advertising the show.

Director

Doug Sweetland has worked on many Pixar films, and was nominated for an Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Character Animation for "Toy Story 2". [cite web|url=http://annieawards.org/28thwinners.html
accessdate=2008-04-11
title=Annie Awards: Legacy - 28th Annual Annie Awards
date=2008-02-09] Doug won the Annie Award for Character Animation in a feature film for his work in "Monsters, Inc." and "Finding Nemo". "Presto" marks his first directorial effort for Pixar. He has also been a visiting artist for the California Institute of the Arts Character Animation program, where he attended school in the early 1990s. [cite web|url=http://www.calarts.edu/filmvideo/visitingartists
accessdate=2008-04-11
title=Visiting artists
publisher=California Institute of the Arts
date=2008-04-11]

References

External links

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