Borrowed Time: Pixar animators' new short film is not for kids

'A goal for us was to make something that kind of contested the notion of animation being a genre, and one for children specifically'

Pixar has a history of weaving sombre moments into family-friendly movies…Ellie Fredericksen’s miscarriage in Up…the toys facing and accepting death in Toy Story 3… You could argue it is its duty to.

Two animators from the studio's new seven-minute short, Borrowed Time, goes darker than the studio has ever gone, however, and is not really even aimed at adults.

"A goal for us was to make something that kind of contested the notion of animation being a genre, and one for children specifically," animator Hamou-Lhadj said.

"We really wanted to make something that was a little bit more adult in the thematic choices, and show that animation could be a medium to tell any sort of story."

I won’t ruin it, but the fragment of story centres on a sheriff who returns to the scene of a tragic incident on a clifftop.

The short is of course beautifully animated and maintains that trademark Pixar style, which makes its themes all the more heartbreaking. I can’t remember seeing blood in a Pixar movie.

Borrowed Time was directed by Andrew Coats & Lou Hamou-Lhadj and produced by Amanda Deering Jones. Music comes from Academy Award winner Gustavo Santaolalla.