Piper

Piper (2016) is a Pixar animated short you can watch online on iFILM. Director Alan Barillaro tells the story of a baby sandpiper taking its first steps at the shoreline — and promptly getting soaked by a wave it never saw coming.

That first drenching leaves the chick terrified of the water. Then a group of hermit crabs shows it a trick: dig into the wet sand and let the wave pass over. Six minutes, no dialogue, pure visual storytelling — and Pixar's animation team pushed photorealistic feathers and water to a level that still holds up. Stream Piper online on iFILM.