Luxo Jr.

The iconic living, moving desk lamp that now begins every Pixar motion picture (from Finding Nemo to Monsters, Inc. to Up) has its genesis in Luxo Jr., a 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 gray balance-arm lamps — one parentally large and one childishly small (the "Junior" of the title) — interact with a brightly colored ball. In strikingly vivid animation, Lasseter and Reeves manage to bring to joyous life these two inanimate objects and to infuse them both with personality and charm—qualities that would become the norm in such soon-to-be Pixar productions as Toy Story, Cars and WALL-E. Nominated for an Oscar in 1986 for best-animated short, Luxo Jr. was the first three-dimensional computer-animated film ever to be nominated for an Academy Award.

Luxo Jr. was added to the National Film Registry in 201#.