Lovable Oddballs

day1One thing I forgot to mention on my gushing rave review about Pixar’s Up was the new short animated film that played before the movie: Partly Cloudy. In case you didn’t catch it, here’s a video:

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In case that doesn’t load for you, or if you’re too lazy to watch (gasp! Don’t be!), here’s the story of Partly Cloudy (skip this part if you don’t want to read).  It’s about cloud people who creates babies, puppies, kittens and all kinds of nice and sweet baby stuff and the storks who deliver them. Out of all the cloud people, there’s a darker cloud named Gus, who creates the babies who are, well, less lovable. Like a baby crocodile, or a baby bighorn sheep, or a baby porcupine (thanks, Wikipedia). His delivery stork, Peck, gets stuck with all the deliveries and grows wary with every delivery, and seems envious with his fellow stork who gets to deliver the cuddly and safe babies. When Gus creates a baby shark, Peck flies away to another cloud, as if to leave Gus behind. Gus throws a fit, but then Peck returns with protective gear, proving that he won’t be abandoning Gus.

To be honest, this part of the short film almost made me cry. There was something so lovable about Gus, about how proud he was with every baby he makes. The way his eyes lights up with excitement with every baby, the way he seems to be genuinely happy in creating the little oddballs that other people would think is harmful or icky or scary.

And there’s also the way he hugs Peck, how his eyes widen with concern everytime Peck returns and looks distraught. I guess Gus must have known that he’s giving Peck a hard time with the deliveries, but he still can’t stop making the little oddballs he makes because that’s what he’s supposed to do.

I think it’s sweet. Peck’s return was the clincher in the short, like he’s saying, “I’m not leaving you, buddy.” Which he probably is, if he could speak. And even if what Gus handed him next still managed to hurt him, he was still there to stick by Gus, no matter what.

Ah, to have someone (or some people) who will stick by you, regardless of whatever odd things you do. If you have at least one person in your life like that, well, you’re very blessed. :)

Okay, someone’s being a bit too mushy, I think. It’s probably the hormones speaking now. :P But we could all learn a lot from Gus and Peck up there. :)

1/30.