Pixar has consistently been the exception to that rule, and the studio has shipped so many bumper shorts that it has put out a whopping three compilations of the things. To promote the latest collection, Pixar Short Films Collection: Volume 3, the Disney-owned studio has made a bold decision: to give away its latest (and possibly best) short on YouTube.
As it turns out, Pixar has never offered such a giveaway until this week.
The short, named “Bao,” debuted at the beginning of this June’s , and it includes a lot of what you might expect from a Pixar quickie. Meaning, it continues the tradition of telling a somewhat melodramatic story sans dialogue—and getting away with cheesy moments by combining beautiful designs with touching stories. In the case of “Bao,” that story revolves around a mother-and-son story that is abstracted by the mom discovering that her latest kitchen creation, a warm dumpling, has somehow become a living, breathing thing.
Caring for the big-eyed dumpling leads to a few hilarious interactions, particularly while mom practices group meditation in a park. After that cute start, the child’s growth from bun-baby to bun-man lets Pixar put a new twist on an archetypal story of overprotective parents and changing traditions—and imbue it with an organic amount of culturally specific context, courtesy of Chinese-Canadian Director Domee Shi.
Since this one is full of tear-jerker potential, we recommend waiting until you’re not around coworkers or public-transit patrons before watching the embedded video below. (But if you like crying in public, then by all means, let Pixar take you to sob city.)
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