| Lava | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpg) | |
| Directed by | James Ford Murphy |
| Written by | James Ford Murphy |
| Produced by | Andrea Warren |
| Starring | |
| Music by | James Ford Murphy |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures[a] |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 7 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Lava is a 2014 American animatedmusical short film produced byPixar Animation Studios.[2] written and directed byJames Ford Murphy and produced by Andrea Warren, it premiered at theHiroshima International Animation Festival on June 14, 2014, and was theatrically released alongside Pixar'sInside Out, on June 19, 2015.[1]
The short is amusicallove story that takes place over millions of years.[3] It is set to a song (also called "Lava") written by Murphy,[4] and was inspired by the "isolated beauty of tropical islands and the explosive allure of oceanvolcanoes."[5] In an interview with Honolulu-basedKHON-TV, Murphy explained that his interest in Hawaii began 25 years prior whilehoneymooning on the main island ofHawai'i. Shortly before the film production had begun, Murphy went back to Hawaii in order to "reconnect emotionally" with the land that sprung his inspiration.[6]
Years later, he heardIsrael Kamakawiwoʻole's rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World", which touched him.[7] "I put together this fascination and love and this experience I had with my wife in Hawaii, with this feeling I had for this song and thought, wow, if I could blend those two things, it would be really—a film I would love to see."[7]
The idea began to coalesce while attending the wedding of his sister, who married at the age of 43. "As my sister stood up on the altar, I thought about how happy she was and how long she'd waited for her very special day. There, at my sister’s wedding, I rememberedLoihi and I had an epiphany... What if my sister was a volcano? And what if volcanoes spend their entire lives searching for love, like humans do?"[7] "Lava" is unique in that it lacks any verbal communication other than the song.[8]
On a tropical island in thePacific Ocean, a lonelyvolcano watches the wildlife creatures frolic with their mates and wishes to find one of his own. He sings a song to the ocean each day for millions of years, gradually venting his lava and sinking into the water, but does not realize that a femalesubmarine volcano has heard him every day and has fallen in love with him.
She emerges on the day when the male volcano becomes almost extinct, but her face is turned away and she cannot see him. He sinks fully into the ocean, heartbroken, but revives when he hears her singing his song to him. His fire reignited, he erupts back to the surface alongside her, and the two merge to form a single island so they can sing together.
Before creating "Lava," the director, James Ford Murphy, identified characteristics in which he wanted Lava to mimic. These desired characteristics came from 5 other Disney Pixar Shorts that Murphy revealed:[9]
The production of the film took an entire year and required a 100-person crew.[12]
The short had mixed reviews.
Nicholas Garrett gave the short a positive review; he said that "it is one of their most touching and subtle (shorts)".[13] Oliver Lyttelton said that it was "beautiful".[14] Pat Mullen gave the short 5 stars out of 5, praising its "fantastic visuals" and its "overall originality and artistry".[15] Nelson Rivera said "The story is told musically, which is always exciting, because music can really get to core emotions andLava most certainly achieves this, almost effortlessly".[16]
However, Pablo Ruiz gave a negative review, describing its storytelling as "lazy" and arguing that "there's no character growth, no arc. There's no story. It's just things happening on screen."[17] Michael Colan rankedLava as one of Pixar's weakest short films based on the writing, saying it has "too much telling, not enough showing". He praised the short film for its "gorgeous animation", however, and thought that it had a "good idea."[18]
The short film"Lava" made its debut as the main opening headliner for the opening day of the Hiroshima film festival’s grand opening day celebration event.[6]
The song to the short, also titled "Lava", was released on June 16, 2015, as a digital single, and as a bonus track on the CD release ofInside Out's soundtrack.[19][20]
