5 stars for the content, but, considering this is a compilation of experimental CGI from the 1980s of the sort where a half minute of shiny metal dinosaurs running took months of work, the "bad CGI" tag really isn't fair because the animators were doing the best they could with the computing power they had available at the time.

This was playing on a perpetual loop at the store where I bought all my Commodore software & peripherals.

The future was so cool.

I'm not criticizing the quality of most of the demo reel clips shown here for reasons I mentioned before, but do you want to know my theory as to why LUXO JR. has aged much better than most other examples of mid-1980s experimental CGI?

Yeah, LUXO JR. has a simple-but-appealing narrative and, yes, John Lasseter had some traditional animation training that a lot of the other computer guys experimenting with computer animation lacked, but I think there's a specific technical reason why it's not as glaringly primitive: it's the genius of making the characters desk lamps, not only because they are relatively easy to model but articulated enough where each lamp can move with a distinct personality, but also because making the characters lamps give a plausible-to-the-audience's-critical-mind excuse as to why only a tiny area of the "scene" is illuminated.

John Lasseter didn't have to model anything more than the lamps (and their wires), the ball, and tiny area of floor with a wooden texture. By showing nothing more than what was absolutely necessary, LUXO JR. doesn't look as glaringly artificial as most other 1980s CGI. (I'd even argue that LUXO JR. has aged slightly better than Pixar's later TIN TOY, at least the original version pre-breast reduction.)