A Spirited Valentine ...

[Bairstow]

I like the original but feel like Cars 2 should've never happened and Cars 3 should've been Cars 2.

Well that's assuming Cars 3 isn't also a complete waste of time. I'm sure it will move tons of merch, though, and maybe move a few parents to book vacations to see California Adventure.

It's CoCo that I'm more interested in. Unkrich has done good work so far.

 

[Sonconato]

It's hard to watch something which brought so much joy to our family and friends being destroyed for the sake of short term profit.

For 43 years I have been going to MK and sometimes nowadays I get stunned into a depressed silence after returning from there. That's why I love AK so much: it's one thing that hasn't been ruined...yet.

 

[HMF]

Same thing that's happening to retail, People say retail is dying and not spending on clothes and stuff, Well when Housing/Energy/Food costs are exploding somethings got to give and that's discretionary spending. aka Retail, It's not about Amazon being the big meanie eating up all sales people simply are not BUYING if they don't need it.

Which is why I think necessities and luxuries should be based on two completely different financial systems. That way people are more inclined to spend on luxury items.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Yeah, not doing sequels is leaving money on the table. If you're an artist and you made big money with your novel about sandwiches or a painting of a twister, would any of us have the artistic integrity to not write another food novel or create another weather painting? How many plays about royal families did that hack, Shakespeare, write?

Furthermore, if there's more stories to tell, why not tell them? I don't remember there being a Law Against Art that dictates that the only true art is when the artist tries something completely different.

And further furthermore, if people want more stories of cars or toys or fish... why not?

Besides, Pixar would have had another 'unique' film out in Newt if it weren't for another company's similar Rio. And Coco is most likely delayed because of that other Day of the Dead animation.

Besides besides, the last original, Dinosaur, wasn't exactly an artistic masterpiece. There's no guarantee of higher quality art simply because they do something 'original.'

There is a world of difference between a storyteller having another story to tell and a non-storytelling demanding another story.

 

[VJ]

In other news a nice article from The Atlantic about how the Disney acquisition of Pixar has driven Pixar to creative bankruptcy and reduced it to merely pushing sequels to previously successful movies.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/06/how-pixar-lost-its-way/524484/

Notice the theme once Iger gets his claws on something he squeezes the value out of it entirely

I remember bringing up the formulaic nature of Pixar's films since Toy Story 3 and everyone on this forum got on me for calling out the almighty and do-no-wrong Pixar.

Interesting.

 

[FigmentJedi]

I remember bringing up the formulaic nature of Pixar's films since Toy Story 3 and everyone on this forum got on me for calling out the almighty and do-no-wrong Pixar.

Interesting.

I think in the years since Up, it's become more apparent. Like as long as you have sequences as heartwrenchingly real as "Married Life" to get critics invested, you can fill the rest of the running time with whatever you want like talking dogs in little biplanes and old people fighting..

Like how Monsters University is mostly a fun college comedy that gets super real in the third act to address the anxiety and pressure put on college students to succeed and admits that sometimes you just can't achieve your goals the way you want to. Or the tragic backstory given to Dory in Finding Dory contrasted by a chase scene where an octopus drives a truck off a cliff and into the ocean. Or a good chunk of Inside Out.

When DisneyToon was planning a Seven Dwarfs spinoff franchise that underwent various permutations (mostly with the goal of making the world of Snow White more Tolkien-y in with one of this franchise's spinoffs being a T-rated video game by Obsidian) before starting to skew more comedy, it still retained a sense of darkness from the earlier drafts in that they were going to explain Dopey's muteness by explaining that he's been traumatized into silence because he watched his mother die. John Lasseter saw that and canned the project on the spot.
And yet "Dopey watching his mother die" sounds exactly like the sort of thing Pixar would put into one of their own movies these days to maintain their perception in the mainstream that they deserve to win an Oscar every year.

 

[Bairstow]

I think in the years since Up, it's become more apparent. Like as long as you have sequences as heartwrenchingly real as "Married Life" to get critics invested, you can fill the rest of the running time with whatever you want like talking dogs in little biplanes and old people fighting..

Like how Monsters University is mostly a fun college comedy that gets super real in the third act to address the anxiety and pressure put on college students to succeed and admits that sometimes you just can't achieve your goals the way you want to. Or the tragic backstory given to Dory in Finding Dory contrasted by a chase scene where an octopus drives a truck off a cliff and into the ocean. Or a good chunk of Inside Out.

When DisneyToon was planning a Seven Dwarfs spinoff franchise that underwent various permutations (mostly with the goal of making the world of Snow White more Tolkien-y in with one of this franchise's spinoffs being a T-rated video game by Obsidian) before starting to skew more comedy, it still retained a sense of darkness from the earlier drafts in that they were going to explain Dopey's muteness by explaining that he's been traumatized into silence because he watched his mother die. John Lasseter saw that and canned the project on the spot.
And yet "Dopey watching his mother die" sounds exactly like the sort of thing Pixar would put into one of their own movies these days to maintain their perception in the mainstream that they deserve to win an Oscar every year.

Isn't that the formula followed, out of necessity, by every "family" picture ever? Certainly everything since Bambi.

 

[FigmentJedi]

Isn't that the formula followed, out of necessity, by every "family" picture ever? Certainly everything since Bambi.

It just kinda strikes me as a bit of a "Do as I say, not as I do" thing when thinking about it.
Plus I feel like some of the cases of Pixar movies with troubled productions and director shifts that turned out bland like Brave or The Good Dinosaur just kinda reek of "We can't have this be a really bad Pixar movie, we gotta make it super safe".
Pixar's got a reputation for taking risks, but over time, it's turned into take risks only if you follow certain parameters and the tastes of a man who reaaally likes playing with toy cars.

 

[AEfx]

Isn't that the formula followed, out of necessity, by every "family" picture ever? Certainly everything since Bambi.

Usually the bad ones. It's just that Disney has gotten a pass on it since, Disney.

 

[ford91exploder]

There is a world of difference between a storyteller having another story to tell and a non-storytelling demanding another story.

Yes there is, Unfortunately the latter is in charge these days.

 

[ford91exploder]

I think in the years since Up, it's become more apparent. Like as long as you have sequences as heartwrenchingly real as "Married Life" to get critics invested, you can fill the rest of the running time with whatever you want like talking dogs in little biplanes and old people fighting..

Like how Monsters University is mostly a fun college comedy that gets super real in the third act to address the anxiety and pressure put on college students to succeed and admits that sometimes you just can't achieve your goals the way you want to. Or the tragic backstory given to Dory in Finding Dory contrasted by a chase scene where an octopus drives a truck off a cliff and into the ocean. Or a good chunk of Inside Out.

When DisneyToon was planning a Seven Dwarfs spinoff franchise that underwent various permutations (mostly with the goal of making the world of Snow White more Tolkien-y in with one of this franchise's spinoffs being a T-rated video game by Obsidian) before starting to skew more comedy, it still retained a sense of darkness from the earlier drafts in that they were going to explain Dopey's muteness by explaining that he's been traumatized into silence because he watched his mother die. John Lasseter saw that and canned the project on the spot.
And yet "Dopey watching his mother die" sounds exactly like the sort of thing Pixar would put into one of their own movies these days to maintain their perception in the mainstream that they deserve to win an Oscar every year.

The best thing Pixar has done recently is 'Piper'. But that's a short and does not really count.

 

[RSoxNo1]

What's happened with Pixar is that many of the creatives have revitalized Disney Animation. While Pixar is cranking out sequels, Disney Animation has been revitalized with "new" concepts.

 

[FigmentJedi]

What's happened with Pixar is that many of the creatives have revitalized Disney Animation. While Pixar is cranking out sequels, Disney Animation has been revitalized with "new" concepts.

Only John's really actively involved himself with what's going on at Disney Animation. Most of the recent slate is new directors finding their voices, Ron and John continuing to stick around and do stuff at Disney, and Rich Moore injecting a bunch of Simpsons DNA into their comedies.

 

[RoysCabin]

All this talk of Pixar possibly losing its creative touch a bit is reminding me what a bummer it is that Kubo and the Two Strings didn't win Best Animated Picture at the Oscars.

 

[Nubs70]

Yes there is, Unfortunately the latter is in charge these days.

MacBeth: The Cauldron

 

[ford91exploder]

All this talk of Pixar possibly losing its creative touch a bit is reminding me what a bummer it is that Kubo and the Two Strings didn't win Best Animated Picture at the Oscars.

By rights it should have won.

 

[HMF]

My idea of merging Disney and Pixar into a single Animation Studio makes more and more sense every day.

 

[Goob]

Maybe you should pitch your idea to Disney.

 

[HMF]

Maybe you should pitch your idea to Disney.

Yeah, they will listen to me. If that were the case the majority of the last decade or so of Disney History would not have happened the way it did.

 

[VJ]

I think in the years since Up, it's become more apparent. Like as long as you have sequences as heartwrenchingly real as "Married Life" to get critics invested, you can fill the rest of the running time with whatever you want like talking dogs in little biplanes and old people fighting..

Like how Monsters University is mostly a fun college comedy that gets super real in the third act to address the anxiety and pressure put on college students to succeed and admits that sometimes you just can't achieve your goals the way you want to. Or the tragic backstory given to Dory in Finding Dory contrasted by a chase scene where an octopus drives a truck off a cliff and into the ocean. Or a good chunk of Inside Out.

When DisneyToon was planning a Seven Dwarfs spinoff franchise that underwent various permutations (mostly with the goal of making the world of Snow White more Tolkien-y in with one of this franchise's spinoffs being a T-rated video game by Obsidian) before starting to skew more comedy, it still retained a sense of darkness from the earlier drafts in that they were going to explain Dopey's muteness by explaining that he's been traumatized into silence because he watched his mother die. John Lasseter saw that and canned the project on the spot.
And yet "Dopey watching his mother die" sounds exactly like the sort of thing Pixar would put into one of their own movies these days to maintain their perception in the mainstream that they deserve to win an Oscar every year.

Exactly my thoughts. Bravo. You said it better than I ever could. That's been my pet peeve for Pixar as of late.. there's always the "make you cry" moment that everyone latches onto and that's why that Pixar movie is "da best muvee evarr!11!!1". Then Disney Animation Studios started being more like Pixar and now they have a formula which is a lot like Pixar's. I dunno, I just feel like if you're expecting the twist/heartbreaking moment, it's a lot less impactful.