Late to the WALL-E party.
As usual, I’m very late to the party, but I wanted to say a few words about Floyd Bishop’s fabulous Pixar debate.
(Immediate background: I just returned from seeing WALL-E with my family. My 13 year old was somewhat bored but appreciated the theme; my 11 year old saw it for the second time, surprised how much he loved it the first time out; my wife loved it both times she saw it; I was way impressed but not deeply engaged.)
I love everything Pixar does, for every reason imaginable, not the least being it’s the only studio (Frederator excluded, of course) that relies on animator trained folks as their primary writers (Lasseter, Stanton, Doctor, Bird, et al). And it really shows in the unique quality of the movies. And, of course, their box office success. I’m not the first to point out they’ve had a much better track record than even Disney, much better. Of course, they’ve learned from Walt Disney’s well worn path, and they do not only rely on their leader’s singular vision. John Lasseter is a generous creative leader and seems to enjoy everyone’s else’s triumphs as much as his own.
The first CG films? Sure, I suppose their innovations have inspired them to keep pushing and growing. But I, for one, can’t wait until the studio unleashes their first home grown 2D picture (it’ll happen) and everyone sees it’s the great characters and great stories they create. These people could make sock puppets films and we’d genuinely love them.
One event I observed (note: I only know one Pixar employee, and “know” would be too strong a word): I was at the 2003 Annie Awards, the year “Finding Nemo” was sweeping everything everywhere in the world, including our imaginations. At first, I was even shocked to see the Pixars at the Annies, no less about 30 of them, including auteur Andrew Staton, since it was clear to everyone they were about to win another Academy Award. But, with every Annie win (and there were a lot of them), the group exploded with excitement, jumping to their feet. You would have thought they had already won the Oscar. They’d been the same way for their Toy Story II Annies, and would be again for the Incredibles. The absolute joy and respect they felt winning accolades from their animation peers was palpable, and I must say, unique in my Annie experience. What an amazing group they are.
Do they hit it out of the park every time? Geez Louise, give them a break. The movies are authentic, they have a unique voice, and they want the audiences to love their pictures as much as they themselves do. Congratulations guys. We do.
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