Presto, the directorial debut of Pixar’s Annie Award-winning supervising animator Doug Sweetland is set to premiere in front of WALL-E.

The five minute short computer animated film follows Presto DiGiotagione, a turn-of-the-century magician, who is famous for an astounding hat trick. Presto’s apprentice rabbit, Alec, however, is dissatisfied as he shares none of Presto’s wild success. While Presto is out eating lavish dinner, Alec is left behind, locked in a birdcage with a carrot torturously out of reach. Sweetland also provides the voices of both Presto and Alec.

Sounds like a promising premise. I was actually a little disappointed with Lifted, the short attached to Ratatouille, because I felt it lacked depth and quality of past Pixar shorts. Don’t get me wrong, it was better than anything Disney or Blue Sky has produced in years. I think I just hold Pixar up to a much higher standard, and the story, character and set design weren’t up to par with Geri’s Game or Birds.

WALL-E hits theaters on June 27th 2008.

source: PixarBlog