Channel Frederator Blog

Ever since the release of “Toy Story” back in 1995, movie audiences seem to have been in love with all things Pixar. This goes for many animation fans as well, sometimes to the point of fanaticism. Is this a healthy thing? In this post, I’ll be asking some questions that challenge that fanaticism, and I hope that Pixar fans will try to provide some answers in the comments section.

When Dreamworks released “Shark Tale”, many people implied that Dreamworks was trying to follow in the footsteps of Pixar’s “Finding Nemo”. They are both films that are primarily based underwater. The similarities end there for me. When Pixar released “WALL-E” this year, no one seemed to remember either Blue Sky’s “Robots” from 2005, nor the design of Johnny 5 from “Short Circuit” (another robot who becomes self aware and gains a personality). Granted, the Pixar films were stronger films in both cases, but the similarities are there just the same. Why does Pixar get a pass in this situation? If this were a Dreamworks or Vanguard film, would they get the same reception?

While general audiences embraced “Kung Fu Panda”, many animation fans and bloggers wrote very negative posts about it, seemingly just because it came from Dreamworks. When the film actually came out and was seen to be quite good, the nay sayers quieted down. There are many forums on the internet where Pixar criticism of any kind is swiftly shot down by droves of fans and supporters. Why is this? It would seem that for some, for Pixar to be good, all others must be bad.

A few years ago, when Disney was producing sequel after sequel of some of their classic films, the internet buzzed with posts about how unoriginal Disney was. Why can’t they produce something new? Many people groaned when it was announced that there are several more “Shrek” films on the way. Why do we need more Shrek sequels? His story has already been told. Sequels are one way for a studio to ensure some return on their investment. They are pretty much done just to cash in on an existing property. It was recently announced that we will be getting another “Toy Story” sequel (who will lose their arm this time?), a follow up to “Cars”, and there are rumors of a “Monsters, Inc” sequel. Why aren’t audiences outraged? Is this the ground breaking Pixar that audiences fell in love with, or just another movie studio that needs a sure thing to ensure it continues to make payroll for its ever increasing staff? Maybe it’s both? That is NOT a bad thing.

On a final note of blind fanaticism, take the latest Pixar offering: a teaser trailer for the Pete Doctor film “Up”.

There was a rather large thread about this piece over on Cartoon Brew. Many people praised it, though it features almost no animation at all. The Brew did another post about Disney’s 2D feature “The Princess and the Frog”. Many people began to critique the teaser for that film, claiming that it was just more of the same. One could say this for the “Up” teaser. Is this even an original visual? This was the first thing I thought of:

In conclusion, while there is no doubt that Pixar has done some amazing films and continues to push the envelope of character animation, they are not the infallible force that some would make them out to be. They have a great track record, but as with any studio, Pixar is a studio run by real people. It is OK for you to critique their work.

Why do you think Pixar has such a great following?

-Floyd Bishop