User reviews

Pixar's one man band get cacophonous when two buskers vie to get a gold coin from a little girl. The short story starts with an avuncular busker playing simple music with his trumpet, when he sees that a little girl is about to drop her coin in the fountain, perhaps for a wish. But he manages to lure her with his music and immediately pushes his bowl so that the coin goes into his pocket. Just when the girl reaches to drop the coin into the bowl, another violinist begins to play his instrument. This man is lanky and he plays his instrument mellifluously.

The war begins and the girl gets confused as both the buskers get more and more competitive. The ending is unexpected, and I'm glad Pixar didn't go for an emotional ending. The animation is quite vibrant and detailed for a short film and the humor is subtle. My rating: 7/10

Highly recommended!

The 2 street musicians battle for money. And one little girl was wondering which one is better musician to give some tips.

And accidentally, she drops the coin in the hole. She was disappointed, so she begging money from them, but they don't have enough money so they gave one guitar to her.

She played the guitar so well and she could make more money than another musician.

The 2 musicians were expected to collect money from her but she throws coins into the pond. I enjoy watching this movie, thank you.

One Man Ban was an absolutely charming piece of work! The colors were vibrant and whimsical and the designs were cute and caricatured. I loved it from the moment it started until the very end! It's surprising it didn't win the Oscar; it was definitely better than the winner. I suppose the judges couldn't justify giving the same crew Oscar after Oscar after Oscar...

The story is about a pair of street performers locked in a competition to out-perform the other and win the golden coin of a little girl passing by. Their musical dueling was delightful and I can't even imagine directing a film where the whole script is music!

10/10

In a village square a busker prepares for what seems like a quiet day. As luck would have it, a child walks into the square with a shiny coin. She seems intent on making a wish at the fountain but the busker sees his opportunity and strikes up to attract her attention. Unfortunately for him another busker is in the square with the very same idea – and so begins a tense busk-off in the otherwise quiet square.

Attached to the Cars DVD, this short film was better than the customary short that featured the characters from the full film. The scenario is very simple and it goes where you expect in regards the busking becoming more intense. It is pretty funny but more pleasing was the ending which saw the little girl come into it more and become part of the comedy herself. Certainly compared to Mater & the Ghostlight, this film is fun and energetic to the point where it will appeal to adults as much as children and, to my mind, this is what Pixar is all about and is what made this short fun to watch.

Now that is quite something! Finally a beautiful, imaginative, and allegorical short film from Pixar. Probably, the best in the series.

One Man Band is simply one of the best shorts ever produced. The minute I saw it I was enchanted and knew I had found my favorite Pixar short to date. Pixar's meticulous attention to detail is conveyed in the brilliance of the story and the craftsmanship of the animation. The short plays like a silent film. No dialogue. Just pantomime. It tells the story of two street musicians trying to compete for the gold coin of a young peasant girl who just wants to cast it in the town square's wish fountain. A simple story told with lots of wit and humor. Plus, there's a twist. It doesn't end the way you think it will. As always, the animation is spot-on and very impressive. The character designs are so cute and appealing. The sound quality is top notch. And the surrounding Renaissance world is a feast of warm colors and visual beauty. It's funny, original, and clever. Proves the simplest ideas are often the best. If I have one complaint about One Man Band is that it isn't longer in length. I was hoping for more! Great addition to the Cars DVD!

WELL Personally I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT BECAUSE ONE MAN BANDS ARE MY LIFE. AND SO IS DAN THE ONE MAN BAND. but anyway. its such a amazing film because its all about a big beefy man with his own band and he just trots around all day with his little musical instrument. one day i want to be just like him and become famous and have a film made about me doing this. it is such a in depth film on the thoughts and feelings of people like me and how they feel about playing on there own with their accordian and oboes etc. it really hits the nail on the head and i personally devour this film as it is exactly the kind of film i like watching.

There's a couple of funny beats in this story; it moves fast and holds the attention. But there's really nothing unexpected in it once the scenario is set-up. It is a real pity as well because the Medieval trappings of the short are fun and stand out in the Pixar catalog for being "period."

The beauty of Pixar's animated shorts, is their ability to emanate innovation and creativity. A chance for the team to experiment with various techniques. We saw it in the evolutionary 'Geri's Game' and the musically engrossing 'Boundin'. So then we come to One Man Band, a short involving two varyingly different one man bands trying to earn a coin from a young girl. A storyboard absent of any dialogue, focusing on musical implementation and pantomime to provide a narrative backbone. It's Giaccino's short as much as it is the studio's, with the differing clashes of instrumental compositions exhuming the composer's natural fluidity in producing scores. The brass and percussion tonally challenging the strings and woodwind, to then culminate into a bittersweet symphony of obvious storytelling.

The character flavour comes from the instruments, and unfortunately lacks that subtle ingenuity to make the animation in its entirety ever-lasting. The forced humour exposed at the end of the conflicting composition, from the little girl, somewhat diminished the talent that these one man bands had acquired. Never mind the fact that the instruments themselves must've cost a fortune, and the fact they are battling it out for just one gold coin. Its simplicity and lack of characterisation makes this a forgettable short, despite Giaccino's inventive score. Tell you what, if one of them used a triangle, they would've instantly won in my book...

Pixar, at least the preDisney Pixar, uses shorts as experiments. They've used them for new volume computation routines. Remember the birds squooshed together on a telephone line? Remember "Boundin'" which investigated the use of quickly changing space? This one is an amusement of course, they all are. But its reason to be what it is, is the opportunity to explore how characters define space. A problem with the type of 3D animation Pixar does is that the characters become harder. Their skin becomes more of an edge that separates them from their context. Human actors have ways around this. Digital puppets don't have this same possibility.

But they have others, and one of those is to be compound beings. But how to use this so the characters "read" well is unknown. So we have this experiment. As with all Pixar projects, its a triumph. Its more amazing when you know the problem they were solving.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Unfortunately, the theater's projection screen ruined the animation nuances -- strangely, "Cars" didn't suffer the same way. So this should be better suited to the DVD medium. Think of it as a high-tech nod to Melies.

As for the metaphor, it's a Pixar jab at the big studios. This is a reminder that little Pixar doesn't need frippery to succeed. The competition only offers bells and whistles; Pixar offers core values first. Notice that the 'big guys' don't understand why they haven't won the 'gold coin'.

Sadly, this is the end of Pixar as an uncompromising entity. The Disney deal will probably spell an inexorable slide into mediocrity.

This is a silly and fun short. It about two guys one are one man band which means they do everything themself get into a competition with each other. The music is about average. The animation is really good and well done. The characters, character development, storyline and plot are all really good. They did a good job on it. This is super family friendly. Everyone no matter the age they are can watch this short film. I highly recommend everyone watch this short film.

I am a band student, and this short basically sums up the arguments between band and orchestra. Two buskers fight over being one-men bands and winning a little girls coin, while in the end, the girl wins way more than either of them. The first man is using wind and percussion instruments, while the second is using string. Its a playoff between these two, with funny little accidents and alot of beautiful music!

The little girl was the only likable character in the whole film. But in the end, she lost her human qualities as well. What was the end trying to say, really? I felt bad watching it, don't know for whom as I really don't like any of the three characters. But the ending is very sad.

The short is so wonderful! I can not remember in what movie this short is in, but even now I can still remember the short. The graphics is superb, with great attention to details to the characters and scenery. Kudos Pixar! Even thought he short is very short (thus the term short, d'oh), it is very entertaining. When I watched his short in the cinema, the crowd enjoyed this short very much that the cinema roared with laughter. It almost felt like watching your favorite team scored a goal in a football game.

This is an experiment by Pixar. There are other shorts made by the animation giant like the short about a group of birds sitting on an electric wire, and another short about a bear (or is a penguin? Sorry, can't remember what it is actually) wanting to and find his girlfriend but ended up trapped in the snow globe. Both are two examples of the shorts made. Sorry though, because I forgot both the titles to the shorts I mentioned above.

I have always loved Pixar, and One Man Band is one of my favourites of theirs. For me, it is a perfect example of the short film being better than the film it is shown with, in this case it was Cars which I still like but consider it one of Pixar's weakest. Back to One Man Band, as is the case with all of Pixar's work it is gorgeously animated, with vibrant backgrounds, cute character designs and a sense of whimsy about it. The music is absolutely wonderful, as are the genuinely funny visual gags and musical sparring, in fact I was pleasantly surprised by how much there was too see and hear in such a short duration(4 minutes)and the story is told with plenty of charm and heart and moves swiftly. The characters are great, especially the lead character. True the little girl is a brat, but you learn to warm to her. Overall, a brilliant short film and one of my favourites. 10/10 Bethany Cox