Geri's Game is a 1997 American animated short film produced by Pixar and written and directed by Jan Pinkava. The film was Pixar's first film to feature a human as its main character. The titular character later made an appearance in Toy Story 2 as "The Cleaner", where he was voiced by Jonathan Harris and Bob Peterson.

Plot

In a park, an old man named Geri sets up a chessboard, puts on his glasses, and makes his first move, playing as white. Since he is alone in the park, and has no opponent, he removes his glasses and goes to the other side of the table, and moves a black piece. The pattern continues, as Geri goes back and forth across the table, with “Black Geri” not wearing glasses, while being confident and aggressive, and “White Geri” wears his glasses, being nervous, and makes several mistakes. The shots go back and forth very quickly, giving the illusion that there are two Geri’s playing the game. Black Geri eventually captures all of White Geri’s pieces, leaving only the king, and places him in check. White Geri becomes very anxious, but fakes a heart attack and falls to the ground. Black Geri becomes concerned and confused; he checks his own pulse, and looks under the table to check on White Geri. White Geri secretly rises and spins the chessboard around, swapping the players’ pieces. Black Geri notices that White Geri is alright, and they resume playing. White Geri moves one of the black pieces, placing the white king in checkmate, causing Black Geri to resign and knock over the white king. White Geri then holds out his hand, and Black Geri gives White Geri the prize of the chess match: his dentures. White Geri puts the dentures in his mouth and chuckles in his victory. As the film ends, the camera pans out, once again showing Geri alone in the park, reminding the viewer that there was only one Geri all along.

Awards