New York Knicks Beach Ball

Experience these masterpieces of storytelling from the creative minds that brought you TOY STORY, MONSTERS, INC., FINDING NEMO and many more. With revolutionary animation, unforgettable music and characters you love, these dazzling short films have changed the face of animation and entertainment and are sure to delight people of all ages for years to come. Featuring 'JACK JACK ATTACK' , the INCREDIBLES short, 'MIKE's NEW CAR' featuring Mike from MONSTERS INC, 'Mater and the Ghostlight, featuring the little town from the film CARS, and seven others.

Pixar's unprecedented string of hit animated features was built on the short films in this collection. John Lasseter and Ed Catmull used these cartoons the way Walt Disney used the "Silly Symphonies" during the 1930s: as a training ground for artists and a way to explore the potential of a new medium. Although it's only 90 seconds long, "Luxo, Jr." (1986) ranks as the "Steamboat Willie" of computer animation: For the first time, audiences believed CG characters could think and feel. (It was also the first CG film to make audiences laugh.) When the artists began work on Toy Story, they had learned so much from the shorts, they were ready to undertake that landmark creation. In the later shorts, the viewer can see the artists continuing to experiment: with a more realistic human figure in "Geri's Game" and with new ways of suggesting atmospheric effects in "Boundin'." Some of the more recent shorts continue the adventures of the characters from the features. "Jack-Jack Attack" reveals what happened to the hapless baby-sitter while the Incredibles were off fighting Syndrome, while "Mater and the Ghost Light" shows that life goes on for the inhabitants of Radiator Springs. When Sully from Monsters, Inc. tries to adjust his seat in "Mike's New Car," the animators prolong the moment to wring every drop of humor from the situation--just as an earlier generation of animators milked Wile E. Coyote's antics for all they were worth. The long-unseen films for Sesame Street are an unexpected bonus. A delightful collection of entertaining shorts, and a significant chronicle of the growth of computer animation. (Rated G: suitable for all ages: cartoon violence) --Charles Solomon

Limo driver and hardcore New York basketball fan Whoopi Goldberg is hired by the team's new Texas billionaire owner to coach her beloved Knicks. Stuck with overpaid and lazy players, Whoopi tries to whip the hoopsters into shape using streetwise tactics. Frank Langella, Dennis Farina and Richard Jenkins co-star; features lots of cameos from real players. 100 min. Widescreen; Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital stereo; theatrical trailer.

Whoopi Goldberg plays a loudmouthed, obsessive fan of the New York Knicks who wins a contest to coach the team. She soon finds that handling players is tough, fans are tough, owners are tough, and so on, but she's big enough to conquer them all with determination, smarts, and personality. The first half of the film is pretty cute as Goldberg's character makes the jump from opinionated spectator to the gal in the hot seat. But everything derails in the second half, which is mostly an op-ed piece about keeping pro-ball teams from moving out of their cities. --Tom Keogh