Pixar’s newest short “Lou” brings a justice-seeking pile of objects to life

June will bring Disney fans not only the latest installment of the “Cars” trilogy, but also the brand new Pixar short “Lou.” USA Today revealed that this new short will be about a creature, named Lou, living in a school’s lost-and-found bin. After seeing the school bully, J.J., push the other kids around, Lou decides to take matters into his own hands.

“You either feel invisible because you don’t know the other kids or you’re embarrassed and you want to be invisible. I thought it’d be really cool to have a character who could hide in plain sight,” says Director Dave Mullins to USA Today.

Made up of baseball eyes and a red hoodie, Lou is just one of many inanimate objects Pixar has brought to life. The summary of the short is reminiscent of older Pixar works like “Toy Story” and “Wall-e”. While many joke about Pixar’s penchant for bringing inanimate objects to life, this trope has proven successful through their films, and will probably be just as effective in “Lou.”

While Pixar isn’t unfamiliar with bringing objects to life, the subject of bullying is quite new. Though J.J. does appear to be mean in the short, Mullins hints that his character goes deeper than the typical playground bully. “That’s what I like about Lou: True happiness comes from giving,” he says. “He gets J.J. to understand that and through that, what J.J. wants really is to be accepted by the other kids.”

“Lou” brings an old idea – giving inanimate objects life – and combines it with an attempt to address bullying directly, all within a few short minutes. It’s a big feat, but Pixar’s track record makes me confident that “Lou” will be as clever and emotionally resonant as its predecessors.

See “Lou” before “Cars 3” in theaters June 16, 2017.