George and A.J.

2009 American film

George and A.J.

Poster

Directed by| Josh Cooley
Written by| Josh Cooley
Produced by| Galyn Susman
Pete Docter (executive)
Jonas Rivera (executive)
Starring| Jason Topolski
A.J. Riebli III
Steve Purcell
Peter Sohn
Bob Peterson
Edited by| Tim Fox
Jon Vargo (assistant editor)
Music by| Michael Giacchino

Production
company

Pixar Animation Studios

Distributed by| Walt Disney Studios
Home Entertainment

Release date

* November 12, 2009 (2009-11-12)

Running time

| 4 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English

George and A.J. is a 2009 American animated short film, directed and written by Josh Cooley which uses characters from the film Up. Taking place during the events of the film, it follows what nurses George and A.J. did after Carl Fredricksen left with his house tied to balloons. Due to its budget, all of the animation was done in a limited "storyboard" style, with some objects moving by keyframes, while other things like characters and their mouths barely move at all; however, the characters' expressions and the story are still conveyed.

## Plot

[edit]

The short starts out with a scene from Up, where two nurses from the Shady Oaks Retirement Village knock on Carl Fredricksen's door to escort him to the nursing home. As seen in the film, Carl instead takes off in his house, while Russell braces himself underneath it. George and A.J. stare dumbfounded at the sky while their van's alarm goes off (it had been bumped by Carl's house).

They continue to stare dumbfounded when they return to the van, and in bed during the night. The next day, a news reporter does a story about sightings of a floating house. She attempts to get George and A.J.'s opinion, but they are still staring dumbfounded. Meanwhile, other senior citizens around the city, including at Shady Oaks, are watching the news report and celebrating Carl's "escape".

A week later, George and A.J. are back at their task of escorting elderly citizens to Shady Oaks in their van. Unfortunately, the seniors have been inspired by Carl in performing similar ideas, and every time George and A.J. come to a house to take a person away, the senior living there escapes with their house somehow. Finally, they arrive back at the Shady Oaks Retirement Village, only to find an old man outside the door who yells "So long, suckers!" and hits his cane against one of many canisters attached to the outside of the building; the other canisters soon follow and spew out a powerful gas. After the man goes inside, the entire building launches into the sky. Still dumbstruck, George and A.J. stare up. A few canisters fall down, and one lands on their van, setting off its alarm again. Suddenly, from behind them, a giant blimp starts to descend. It turns out to be Charles Muntz's Spirit of Adventure dirigible, and Carl is flying it with Russell next to him. The airship lands on top of the van, crushing it and causing to effectively stop its alarm. Carl and Russell climb out and George incredulously says "Mr. Fredricksen?" They walk past the nurses, and Russell mentions that next time he would like to steer. A.J. turns to George and says "That was the craziest thing I've ever seen!" They look down to find Dug in front of them. Dug speaks "Hi there!" through his translation collar, and George and A.J. are even more shocked than before.

## Cast

[edit]

* Jason Topolski as George
* A.J. Riebli III as A.J.
* Steve Purcell[1] as Carl Fredricksen
* Peter Sohn as Russell
* Bob Peterson as Dug
* Kim Donovan as Reporter
* Claire Munzer as Old Lady
* Valerie LaPointe as Mrs. Peterson

## Home media

[edit]

Instead of being released on DVD like Partly Cloudy, Dug's Special Mission, or any other Pixar short film, George and A.J. was initially released on iTunes as an extra feature that came with a purchase of the film.[2][3] It was later released to fans of Disney/Pixar on their Facebook page[4] and later to the official Disney/Pixar YouTube page.[5] It was later released on Pixar Short Films Collection Volume 2.

The short also features a humorous commentary track in which Josh Cooley gives up in the first 30 seconds and asks Tom Kane to make it sound more exciting. Unfortunately for Cooley, Kane begins to make up epic false facts about the film to of which Cooley is annoyed by.

## Reception

[edit]

Animation Views said, "As flippant with the film’s core idea as it is funny, this was an online “extra” for a long while, animated with a budgetary concern (perhaps it was a proposal for the disc’s extra short before Dug’s Mission was chosen instead?) in a limited color storyboard animatic style."[6]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Mariotti, Greg (2009-11-11). "iTunes Version of Up Includes Exclusive Short: George and A.J.!". Pixar Talk. Retrieved 2010-11-24.
2. ^ "Connecting to Apple Music". iTunes.
3. ^ "Pixar's up Tie-In George and AJ Now Online | /Film". Archived from the original on 2010-04-29. Retrieved 2009-11-23.
4. ^ "Pixar". Facebook.
5. ^ Connelly, Brendon (November 21, 2009). "Pixar's Up Tie-In George And AJ Now Online". /Film. Archived from the original on September 28, 2021. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
6. ^ Simon, Ben. "Pixar Short Films Collection : Volume 2". Animation Views. Retrieved 13 June 2024.

## External links

[edit]

* George & A.J. on YouTube
* George and A.J. at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Shorts|

* Dug's Special Mission (2009)
* George and A.J. (2009)
* Dug Days (2021)
* Carl's Date (2023)

Other|

* Carl Fredricksen
* Video game
* Soundtrack
* Accolades
* Opening sequence

Related media|

* Redwood Creek Challenge Trail
* Rush: A Disney–Pixar Adventure
* Disney Magic Kingdoms

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Josh Cooley

* George and A.J. (2009)
* Riley's First Date? (2015)
* Toy Story 4 (2019)
* Transformers One (2024)

* v
* t
* e

Pixar Animation Studios

A subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of The Walt Disney Company.

Feature films|

* Toy Story (1995)
* A Bug's Life (1998)
* Toy Story 2 (1999)
* Monsters, Inc. (2001)
* Finding Nemo (2003)
* The Incredibles (2004)
* Cars (2006)
* Ratatouille (2007)
* WALL-E (2008)
* Up (2009)
* Toy Story 3 (2010)
* Cars 2 (2011)
* Brave (2012)
* Monsters University (2013)
* Inside Out (2015)
* The Good Dinosaur (2015)
* Finding Dory (2016)
* Cars 3 (2017)
* Coco (2017)
* Incredibles 2 (2018)
* Toy Story 4 (2019)
* Onward (2020)
* Soul (2020)
* Luca (2021)
* Turning Red (2022)
* Lightyear (2022)
* Elemental (2023)
* Inside Out 2 (2024)
* Elio (2025)

| Direct-to-video|

* Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins (2000)

|

Upcoming|

* Hoppers (2026)
* Toy Story 5 (2026)

Short films|

| Original|

* The Adventures of André & Wally B. (1984)
* Luxo Jr. (1986)
* Red's Dream (1987)
* Tin Toy (1988)
* Knick Knack (1989)
* Geri's Game (1997)
* For the Birds (2000)
* Boundin' (2003)
* One Man Band (2005)
* Lifted (2006)
* Presto (2008)
* Partly Cloudy (2009)
* Day & Night (2010)
* La Luna (2011)
* The Blue Umbrella (2013)
* Lava (2014)
* Sanjay's Super Team (2015)
* Piper (2016)
* Lou (2017)
* Bao (2018)

|

SparkShorts|

* Purl (2019)
* Smash and Grab (2019)
* Kitbull (2019)
* Float (2019)
* Wind (2019)
* Loop (2020)
* Out (2020)
* Burrow (2020)
* Twenty Something (2021)
* Nona (2021)
* Self (2024)

Feature-related|

* Mike's New Car (2002)
* Jack-Jack Attack (2005)
* Mr. Incredible and Pals (2005)
* Mater and the Ghostlight (2006)
* Your Friend the Rat (2007)
* BURN-E (2008)
* Dug's Special Mission (2009)
* George and A.J. (2009)
* The Legend of Mor'du (2012)
* Party Central (2013)
* Riley's First Date? (2015)
* 22 vs. Earth (2021)
* Ciao Alberto (2021)
* Carl's Date (2023)

Series|

* Cars Toons (2008–14)
* Toy Story Toons (2011–12)
* Forky Asks a Question (2019–20)
* Dug Days (2021–23)
* Cars on the Road (2022)

Compilations|

* Tiny Toy Stories (1996)
* Pixar Short Films Collection
* Volume 1 (2007)
* Volume 2 (2012)
* Volume 3 (2018)

Other works|

* Beach Chair (1986)
* Flags and Waves (1986)

Television series|

* Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000–01)

Television specials|

* Toy Story of Terror! (2013)
* Toy Story That Time Forgot (2014)

Limited streaming series|

* Dream Productions (2024)
* Win or Lose (2025)

|

Franchises|

* Toy Story (1995–present)
* Monsters, Inc. (2001–present)
* Finding Nemo (2003–present)
* The Incredibles (2004–present)
* Cars (2006–present)
* Inside Out (2015–present)

Associated
productions

* Exploring the Reef (2003; short film)
* Planes (2013)
* The Dam Keeper (2014; short film)
* Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014)
* Borrowed Time (2016; short film)
* Weekends (2017; short film)
* Monsters at Work (2021–2024; television series)
* Starling (2023; short film)

Characters|

* Luxo Jr.
* Toy Story
* Woody
* Buzz Lightyear
* Jessie
* Bo Peep
* Monsters, Inc.
* Mike Wazowski
* Dory
* The Incredibles
* Bob Parr
* Helen Parr
* Dash Parr
* Violet Parr
* Edna Mode
* Cars
* Lightning McQueen
* Tow Mater
* Sally Carrera
* WALL-E
* Carl Fredricksen
* Merida
* Joy
* Anxiety

Documentaries|

* The Pixar Story (2007)
* A Spark Story (2021)

Disney attractions
and experiences|

* It's Tough to Be a Bug! (1998)
* Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin (1998)
* A Bug's Land (2002)
* Turtle Talk with Crush (2004)
* The Seas with Nemo & Friends (2007)
* Cars Quatre Roues Rallye (2007)
* Crush's Coaster (2007)
* Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage (2007)
* Toy Story Mania! (2008)
* Monsters, Inc. Ride & Go Seek (2009)
* Toy Story Land (2010)
* RC Racer (2010)
* Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin (2010)
* Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop (2010)
* Alien Swirling Saucers (2018)
* Slinky Dog Dash (2018)
* Cars Land (2012)
* Luigi's Flying Tires (2012)
* Radiator Springs Racers (2012)
* Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters (2016)
* Remy's Ratatouille Adventure (2014)
* Nemo & Friends SeaRider (2017)
* Pixar Pier (2018)
* Games of Pixar Pier (2018)
* Incredicoaster (2018)
* Pixar Pal-A-Round (2018)
* Jessie's Critter Carousel (2019)
* Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy (2019)
* Cars: Road Trip (2021)
* Worlds of Pixar (2021)

Products|

* Pixar Image Computer

Software|

* Pixar RenderMan
* Presto Animation System

People|

* John Lasseter
* Edwin Catmull
* Steve Jobs
* Alvy Ray Smith
* Jim Morris
* Pete Docter

See also|

* Awards and nominations
* feature films
* short films
* Film references
* Computer Graphics Lab
* Industrial Light & Magic
* Lucasfilm Animation
* Circle Seven Animation
* Pixar Canada
* Pixar Photoscience Team
* Computer Animation Production System
* A Computer Animated Hand
* The Works
* The Shadow King
* Rush: A Disney–Pixar Adventure
* Disney Infinity
* Fortnite
* Kingdom Hearts III
* Walt Disney Animation Studios
* Disneytoon Studios
* 20th Century Animation

* Category
* Work group

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