Do you need a reason to go see Bolt? How about this: starting Friday, 3D Bolt showings will be preceded by a 3D animated short called Tokyo Mater, based on Pixar's 2006 hit Cars. This may not sound like much if you were already hesitant about watching a talking dog movie, but for some, this is very intriguing; it's the latest step towards revitalizing my favorite mutation of cinema: the animated short.

But first, let's tinker with Tokyo Mater. As part of the vocal minority that didn't think much of Cars (fans of it, hold the flames), the idea of watching a short based on my least favorite Pixar movie starring the movie's most grating character, Tow Mater, was less than exhilarating. Fortunately, the short focuses on crisp, frenzied action -- arguably the best strength of the original feature.

Directed by Pixar founder and Chief Creative Officer of Disney animation John Lasseter, Tokyo Mater is the fourth in a series of Cars shorts (the previous three premiered on Toon Disney late October). It's a fanciful tale of how Tow Mater, voiced again by Larry the Cable Guy, after towing a stranded car to Japan gets challenged to a race and becomes the drifting king of Tokyo.

Owen Wilson and the late Paul Newman (who voiced Lightning McQueen and Doc Hudson) have been replaced with sound-alike actors, though the vocal differences are rather miniscule. We've seen Pixar's writing evolve and become thematically heavy in recent years, and I feel like they've been using their shorts to explore more accessible, pop culture-centric humor. Most of the jokes in Tokyo Mater are gentle ribbings of Japanese culture: getting modified, mingling with uber-cheerful auto girls, some martial arts, and the appearance of ninja cars. With the 3D glasses on, Tokyo Mater is a visually sumptuous trip, kind of a mix between the Axiom marketplace in WALL-E and any given scene from Speed Racer. The city's electronic billboards and the hot, hazy glow of Tokyo Tower (climatic centerpiece of the short) stand out especially.

So is it possible for Pixar to make a bad animated short? Probably not. Not as long as Lasseter is around. When I talked to Lasseter about his favorite movies, he had a unique request: that he include an animated short for each selection. And not because he wanted to show off, or because he saw an opportunity to promote Disney animation's new promise of adding shorts to the front of their features. More because Lasseter sees movies specifically. They need heart, for example. They need humor. Movies need to be seen in theaters. And, to sweeten the deal, they all need an opening act.

Lasseter chose five Chuck Jones shorts. They star Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Roadrunner, and Wile E. Coyote, characters you wouldn't see roaming around the Disney lot. This didn't surprise me. His vote for Warner Bros. toons felt reasonable. Watching those five cartoons, I realized why: Disney's shorts may have been saturated with bright color, cute animals, and fluid motion, but the Warner Bros' directors knew how to tell a joke. Most of the Looney Tunes had backgrounds like Krazy Katscapes, with characters whose movements were sharp, economic; WB boiled their animation down to essentials, all the less to distract from the visual kapow of Elmer Fudd shooting Daffy Duck in the head with a shotgun.

I think Lasseter thinks about cartooning the same way Chuck Jones did: it's not looking cute and bright, it's more like convincing an audience of the impossible: that ducks can survive buckshots, elephants can fly and toys can talk, or that four stupid boys from South Park, Colorado can beat back the devil. That's probably why I'm particularly fond of the animated short -- I like the challenge of watching a cartoonist do all of that in under 12 minutes. And if such a trend is revived, it'll be fun to see them on a very big screen, and not just in front of Pixar movies.

Have you heard of Disney's The Little Matchgirl? It was a cel-animated short originally intended as part of Fantasia 2006 and, after that project got shelved, has since found a home as a Little Mermaid DVD extra and online in the swampy lo-res land of YouTube. Check it out -- The Little Matchgirl is solid evidence that interesting 2D animation can still be produced by major American studios. And how great would it have been to see it in theatres as intended, matched up perhaps with a Miyazaki movie? I'm hoping this reserved spot for animated shorts will become a platform for new talents to emerge and veterans to work their experimental muscles (Matchgirl, for example, was from Lion King director Roger Allers). So, Mr. Lasseter, if you're reading this: your new cartoon, Tokyo Mater, I liked. I didn't love it. But I do love what it all could spell for animation.

Check out the 3D Tokyo Mater short along with the Certified Fresh Bolt, starting this Friday.