The National Film Registry of the Library of Congress has selected the Pixar short “Luxo Jr.” as one of 25 films to be preserved as part of the annual selection. Under the terms of the National Film Preservation Act, each year the Librarian of Congress names 25 films that are “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant. The films must be at least 10 years old.
The moving desk lamp that now begins every Pixar film has its genesis in this charming, computer-animated short subject, directed by John Lasseter and produced by Lasseter and fellow Pixar visionary Bill Reeves. In the two-minute, 30-second film, two lamps—one parentally large and one childishly small (the “Junior” of the title)—interact with a brightly colored ball. Nominated for an Oscar in 1986 for animated short, “Luxo Jr.” was the first three-dimensional computer-animated film ever to be nominated for an Academy Award.