i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

After its final credits, it continuous in your mind. the music. the characters fight . the coin. the fountain. and the feel to be part of film yourself. because it is ( almost ) perfect. no reason to explain why. but the emotion and smile and the young woman who could be an old one, the clothes of performers and the musical instruments are so...lovely than the animation is more than great or amazing. its simplicity and the care for each detail transforms it in one of memorable story about music, competition and ...the wise choice.

Pixar's one man band get cacophonous when two buskers vie to get a gold coin from a little girl. The short story starts with an avuncular busker playing simple music with his trumpet, when he sees that a little girl is about to drop her coin in the fountain, perhaps for a wish. But he manages to lure her with his music and immediately pushes his bowl so that the coin goes into his pocket. Just when the girl reaches to drop the coin into the bowl, another violinist begins to play his instrument. This man is lanky and he plays his instrument mellifluously.The war begins and the girl gets confused as both the buskers get more and more competitive. The ending is unexpected, and I'm glad Pixar didn't go for an emotional ending. The animation is quite vibrant and detailed for a short film and the humor is subtle. My rating: 7/10

For a moment I thought I had walked into the wrong theatre. The Pixar-animated short ONE MAN BAND was the first thing on the screen -- no announcement, just there, unfolding itself as a simple story of a little child who goes to a wishing well with one gold coin and is wooed by two musicians carrying the most complicated apparatuses that can in essence replicate an entire orchestra and play smart tunes.Watching the little girl react to the first musician who distracts her from throwing her coin into the water was a hoot. More so, when the second musician appears in defiance. Soon a frenetic play-off sends the little girl back into the fountain and before she has a chance to throw her coin, down it goes into the gutter, leaving now three people coin-less.I thought that it would turn into a schmaltzy moment -- the little girl's contorting grimace as she veers close to tears certainly seemed to indicate so -- but it's here when the story turned into something completely different, straight out of Warner Bros. hilarious toons. She asks the musicians to pay her, but they have nothing, and then she asks one of them to hand over a violin, then a bow -- which he does -- and she begins playing. Badly.No sooner than she starts than out of nowhere a by-passer throws a bag filled to the top with coins. It was a sudden, remarkable moment -- I was caught taken by surprise and laughter at its "Bang!" quality -- and thus, she is proved the winner in this little battle for survival as she throws two coins into the top of the fountain. The last scene has the two musicians trying to climb to the top of the fountain, at night, still trying to take away the coins she left.A funny little intro to CARS, one crackling with the crazy wit that toons should always have instead of hammering away at the strings of the heart like it were some kind of perverse guitar. If only the rest of the movie would have had this sort of pulling the rug moment, but CARS was made to manipulate people to feel good, cry a little, and wonder what it's like to live in a world where even little insects are mini-cars. Somewhere, James Cameron must be chuckling to himself. The machines in this Universe have won.

Unfortunately, the theater's projection screen ruined the animation nuances -- strangely, "Cars" didn't suffer the same way. So this should be better suited to the DVD medium. Think of it as a high-tech nod to Melies.As for the metaphor, it's a Pixar jab at the big studios. This is a reminder that little Pixar doesn't need frippery to succeed. The competition only offers bells and whistles; Pixar offers core values first. Notice that the 'big guys' don't understand why they haven't won the 'gold coin'.Sadly, this is the end of Pixar as an uncompromising entity. The Disney deal will probably spell an inexorable slide into mediocrity.