Jubenhimer
Member
Pixar Animation Studios is among The Walt Disney Company's most famous production studios. It's known for Toy Story, Monster's Inc., The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Finding Nemo, and others. But upon re-watching their older films, I noticed something unique about them that I hadn't thought about before.
Let's look at their first movie, Toy Story for example. The original Toy Story is one of the greatest pieces of cinema in history, one that will always be enjoyed by kids and adults alike. Yet it took me until now to realize why exactly that was. When you watch the film, you notice something about it that's very... unique, not in its animation or anything, but the way the film is written and acted. The premise is very whimsical and child-like, it's a world where, whenever kids are away, their toys come to life and have adventures. Sounds like typical kiddy fare right? Well, in the hands of any other animated movie studio, it would be. But it's how Pixar presents this concept that makes it stand out. Let's look at this scene in particular.
Notice how, despite the concept of children's toys coming to life when no one's looking, everybody in this scene talks like a normal human being. These aren't bouncy cartoon caricatures, the scene doesn't present it as some fantastic, out-of-this-world idea. Rather, it instead treats this premise like a normal everyday normal occurrence. The toys talk and act like real people, they have relatable human issues, and engage in adult level conversations, they talk about things in a rather down-to-earth and grown up manner. It doesn't rub its weird concept in-your-face, it instead uses the concept of talking toys as little more than a back-drop to tell a story about adults, dealing with adult issues, abiet in a family-friendly tone.
And it's not just Toy Story
Monster's Inc. - A film about monsters coming out of children's closets... living in an everyday world where that's their 9 to 5 job.
The Incredibles - A film about superheroes... dealing with a mid-life crisis in a world where superheroes have been outlawed.
Inside Out - A film about a young girl growing up... that takes place primarily in her mind that's presented as a workplace story.
Not all of their films followed that exact style, but many of their best ones do, and even the ones that don't still have elements of that style littered throughout. I think this unique blend of down-to-earth, grown up writing and themes, juxtaposed against whimsical premises and childhood concepts is what gave Pixar their distinct appeal to both kids and adults.
But as we moved into the 2010s, something changed with Pixar... creatively speaking. Slowly their films began loosing that unique writing style more and more. In its place, we got sequels and spin-offs nobody asked for, seemingly made for the sole purpose of selling toys, or B-tier movies that feel like they could've been done by any other animation studio. Sure, Good Dinosaur, Brave, Luca and Turning Red are fine and all, but these don't feel like "Pixar" movies. These feel typical animated kids movies with the Pixar named slapped on to boost ticket sales and streaming views. Year after year, it felt like Pixar was slowly becoming Disney Animation Studios 2. A secondary outlet for movies Disney's main studio didn't want to deal with, so they got Pixar to make them instead.
I feel like Pixar has kind of lost that distinct style that gave them such broad appeal to people of all ages, and instead became... just another animated movie studio. Maybe I'm just crazy though.
Let's look at their first movie, Toy Story for example. The original Toy Story is one of the greatest pieces of cinema in history, one that will always be enjoyed by kids and adults alike. Yet it took me until now to realize why exactly that was. When you watch the film, you notice something about it that's very... unique, not in its animation or anything, but the way the film is written and acted. The premise is very whimsical and child-like, it's a world where, whenever kids are away, their toys come to life and have adventures. Sounds like typical kiddy fare right? Well, in the hands of any other animated movie studio, it would be. But it's how Pixar presents this concept that makes it stand out. Let's look at this scene in particular.
Notice how, despite the concept of children's toys coming to life when no one's looking, everybody in this scene talks like a normal human being. These aren't bouncy cartoon caricatures, the scene doesn't present it as some fantastic, out-of-this-world idea. Rather, it instead treats this premise like a normal everyday normal occurrence. The toys talk and act like real people, they have relatable human issues, and engage in adult level conversations, they talk about things in a rather down-to-earth and grown up manner. It doesn't rub its weird concept in-your-face, it instead uses the concept of talking toys as little more than a back-drop to tell a story about adults, dealing with adult issues, abiet in a family-friendly tone.
And it's not just Toy Story
Monster's Inc. - A film about monsters coming out of children's closets... living in an everyday world where that's their 9 to 5 job.
The Incredibles - A film about superheroes... dealing with a mid-life crisis in a world where superheroes have been outlawed.
Inside Out - A film about a young girl growing up... that takes place primarily in her mind that's presented as a workplace story.
Not all of their films followed that exact style, but many of their best ones do, and even the ones that don't still have elements of that style littered throughout. I think this unique blend of down-to-earth, grown up writing and themes, juxtaposed against whimsical premises and childhood concepts is what gave Pixar their distinct appeal to both kids and adults.
But as we moved into the 2010s, something changed with Pixar... creatively speaking. Slowly their films began loosing that unique writing style more and more. In its place, we got sequels and spin-offs nobody asked for, seemingly made for the sole purpose of selling toys, or B-tier movies that feel like they could've been done by any other animation studio. Sure, Good Dinosaur, Brave, Luca and Turning Red are fine and all, but these don't feel like "Pixar" movies. These feel typical animated kids movies with the Pixar named slapped on to boost ticket sales and streaming views. Year after year, it felt like Pixar was slowly becoming Disney Animation Studios 2. A secondary outlet for movies Disney's main studio didn't want to deal with, so they got Pixar to make them instead.
I feel like Pixar has kind of lost that distinct style that gave them such broad appeal to people of all ages, and instead became... just another animated movie studio. Maybe I'm just crazy though.
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