If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Lava tells the story of a lonely volcano, yep really. Anyway this volcano spends his days singing and that's the general premise of this. Generally I adore these beautiful little shorts and Piper (2016) really set the bar. Don't get me wrong Lava is good, it has your usual Pixar charm and hits you right in the feels but it just didn't have "It" whatever "It" may be.If I saw two one man bands competing for the attention of a little girl to get a shiny gold coin (One Man Band: 2005) I'd laugh and cheer, if I saw a magician trying to keep his unruly rabbit in check (Presto:2008) I'd be in hysterics, if I saw a baby bird brave the new world I'd d'awww (Piper:2016) but I can confidently say if I saw a singing volcano I'd run screaming in soggy trousers (It'd be sweat I swear).Sweet, heartfelt, but a lonely singing volcano really?

I don't get the point of Lava, it's a short film for the fabulous Inside Out, but this short is a joke, a Volcano making love With another Volcano, what, here's why this is the worst Disney short film yet.The short follows a Volcano back 1 million years ago sings a song about when he will find someone he will love, then a lot of days later, a female Volcano comes up from the sea and the male Volcano gets his prize, a Volcano to love, that's basically i can sum up this Garbage.The animation is good, but not Incredible, With creepy designs and weak Development time, the song that Plays through this 7 minute short is too sad to be true, it's creepy and unfitting, especially With a talking Volcano, seriously.The concept is the worst in a short ever, i even thought that awful Blue Umbrella short was better than this, the only good thing about Lava is when Inside Out finally starts, i was confused for the entirety of the short.Lava is a weak but decent short film, animation, song and concept is terrible.4/10

This exquisite short musical animation appeared before a screening of the full length animation Inside Out and it blew me away. It made me laugh and cry at the same time. It's the simple fable of how a tiny volcanic island was formed. A big old male volcano longs for love and sings his feelings but almost becomes extinct, trying to keep his hope alive in his isolation. Unbeknownst to him, a beautiful female volcano submerged in the sea nearby falls in love with his voice and his story. She fires up, and emerges, singing, from the sea as an island, which in turn fires up the male volcano to emerge from where he's sunk into the sea. The two volcanoes finish up leaning on each other, happy and singing, forming a new, united, island volcano. It's a creation story, told as though you're sitting around a Hawaiian campfire, with a lovely, operatic ukelele soundtrack. I loved it..

Lava (2014)*** 1/2 (out of 4) Exceptionally entertaining Pixar short has a volcano singing about "lava" and how he wishes he had someone to spend time with. Over millions of years we learn that there's a volcano under the water who has heard him the entire time. This Pixar short is another classic from the studio who seem to be just as good at making shorts as they are the features and that's saying a lot. As you'd expect, the actual animation is really wonderful and I'd argue that some of the studio's best work can be found here including a brilliant sequence where we see the volcano over thousands of years. The time elapse was just something beautiful to see. Then there's the song itself, which is incredibly clever and packs a nice little punch at the end. This film really does a great job at showing this love story through the ages and I think parents will enjoy it just as much as children.