Sanjay's Super Team

I love this animated Disney/Pixar short called because I love the plot. This short film is about the director, Sanjay Patel's childhood and how he has a conflict between doing what he likes and his father's traditions.

I like this film because it has a nice message – "Traditions may seem boring at times until you take the time to learn about them." You can find ways to incorporate what you like and still keep your family traditions. You will see that it can be fun to do what your parents want to do with you.

I think many people will relate to this film. My favorite part of the film is when Sanjay imagines himself inside his Dad's cabinet where he is small and these heroes save him.

I give this film 5 out of 5 stars and recommend it to ages 5 to 18. I think adults might like it as well. Some of these scenes might be intense for kids ages under the age of 4. I recommend this to people who like family and adventure shorts. This short will play prior to the new Disney/Pixar film, The Good Dinosaur which opens nationwide in November, 2015.

Reviewed by Ryan R., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic.

"Sanjay's Super Team" (United States, 7 min.) – Probably the most widely seen of these five Oscar nominees, this animated short played in American theaters as a featurette before showings of "The Good Dinosaur". It's about a young Indian boy who's watching his favorite superhero cartoon when his father turns off the TV and brings the boy over to join him in prayer to the Hindu gods. As his dad prays, Sanjay daydreams a story in which the Hindu gods are superheroes. The story is based on the childhood of the film's director, Pixar animator Sanjay Patel. The film is a creative, colorful and entertaining meditation on the generation gap between fathers and sons and how that gap might be bridged. "A-"

This delivers everything we expect from a Pixar short. It's clever, funny, has something to say, the music and sound design are on point and the animation is amazing. This one focuses on superheroics and the contrast between those and real life.

While the kid really wants to watch Saturday morning cartoons his father believes it is important for them to hold on to his own faith in Hinduism which he wants to spread to his son. This is a conflict common to modern life. Old and new. I felt like they did a really great job exploring it here. I love seeing one of these not the so focused on white people. Recommended. 7/10.

I grew up as a third culture kid in both India and the US.

This storyline really resonated with me. When I was a kid playing with my action figures, I'd envision scenarios where the heroes of Indian mythology like Hanuman, Bheema, and so on would team up with Batman, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, etc.

Sanjay has a culturally-syncretic experience like that in this short.

And that's what most people took away from this.

BUT THAT'S ONLY SURFACE LEVEL. IT'S SO MUCH MORE.

When I re-watched this I noticed there was so much interesting imagery.

On the side of the room over the television set was a map of America, where Sanjay finds his Western heroes. Over the small shrine on the other side is a map of India, where his Dad has his own heroes, his Gods.

The way the reflection of the lamp and flame on the floor looks like a bell represents the way light cuts through the darkness, the way sound cuts through the silence.

Speaking of the darkness, the shapeshifter initially takes on the form of a rakshasa, a demon that represents the worst of human self-destructive behaviors, but after the sound of the bell subdues it (created by smashing his idol, the action figure), the form looks human again, with palms together, meaning the darkness we must subdue is our own.

Another point about of light subduing the dark is at the end when Sanjay opens the blinds on the dark room, and also when his father and him meet in the middle.

Tangentially-- I was surprised Mychael Danna did the score, because I was most familiar with his work in Boondock Saints. But then I realized he also scored Monsoon Wedding and Life Of Pi, and then I was like "Oh, that makes sense."

P.S. The negative reviews here from bigots... shame on you. I think it's very telling about how small-minded you are, that you react to something foreign, that you don't understand, with so much fear, and no willingness or desire for knowledge or understanding. I'm an atheist, and even I understood the beautiful message in this film.

Sanjay's Super Team is a breath of fresh air, not only to Pixar animation, but to all of mainstream animation and certainly to anything generally coming from Disney. This short follows Sanjay, a little boy who is a big fan of superheroes, but not of practicing his religion much to the dismay of his traditional Hindu father. But as the tables turn, Sanjay is thrust into action and the short really takes off into beautifully wild and inspiring action. Through a series of different styles of animation, Sanjay's adventure goes from mundane to epic, bringing with it bright colors and intricate designs that command the screen.

This short is shiny, a true visual feast, but it also stands out for its story content. Sanjay's Super Team feels authentic because it is, as real life Sanjay Patel directed the short based on exaggerated experiences from his youth. It's lovely to see a culture and it's religion that is oft overlooked in American cinema get some attention. This is Pixar's first project, of all of their shorts and feature-length projects alike, featuring humans to be lead by a person of color protagonist, after all, so it's as important as it is fun, if not more. It's also nice to see Hinduism and it's Gods portrayed in such an encouraging and positively energetic way.

It has moments reminiscent of The Powerpuff Girls and Samurai Jack, which is a completely good thing. If only Pixar had given us a new feature length action film of this caliber and laid those tired old dinosaur bones to rest.