Great article. I hear people say things like this and I just laugh. It’s like they expect that just because a company has a great track record that they will never have a flop. From what I have heard and seen, the Pixar acquisition under Disney changed very little in terms of Pixar’s film catalog. In some sense it was a win-win for both companies by bringing together more talent and resources for better things.
I know I (and my family) are in the minority of “critical” viewers in that we really enjoyed Cars 2. We enjoyed it for what it was…a cheesy and fun adventure film. Granted, we’re huge fans of the “spy movie” genre with a full collection of the James Bond library and so that helped influence our enjoyment. But we have also legitimately enjoyed all of the other Pixar films we’ve seen (though we haven’t seen them all) both before and after full Disney acquisition (it should be remembered that Disney was involved with Pixar even before fully acquiring them).
Expecting a film company to have nothing but success for their entire catalog is like expecting a great baseball star to hit nothing but home runs or a champion chef to never have a soufflé fall flat.
“The Atlantic implies many of Pixar’s movies are simply being made to renew an interest in theme park attractions across Disney’s parks”
>> Well, don’t they have a strong grasp of the obvious? Must come from working with their hands.
In 1984, Roy E. Disney said the following when he resigned (as shown in the documentary, Waking Sleeping Beauty), wow, Duh.
“The real heartbeat of this company– was, is and will always be the film business. Because from the film business comes the ideas that then generate new things in the parks, new promotions, new, a kind of a, a sense of continuing newest about the company in general … they told me, we really don’t even need it (film business) anyway, well that gave me all sort of (pounds chest) problems, because, I remember saying at one point, well if you really think that way then what you’re doing is running a museum.”
Great retort to the article from the Atlantic. And if I can add…look what Pixar has done to the resurgence of Disney films. Disney was in a slump and was revived under Pixar’s tutelage. Pixar’s very own John Lasseter is the CCO of Pixar and Walt Dinsey Animation and a Principal Creative Director for Imagineering.
I agreed with the Atlantic article. When he called Brave a disappointment, he was referring to the story, not the box office numbers (and, for me, it was, indeed, a disappointment.) And Brave should not have even won that Oscar, it should have gone to Wreck-It Ralph. Moreover, that article isn’t the first I’ve read that handed at the idea that Pixar had maybe greenlit certain sequels due to the merchandise sales (a perspective that I’m more than inclined to embrace when it comes to the Cars franchise.) I’m a HUGE fan of the first several Pixar movies. I think Toy Story 2 is even better than the first one, and that movie, along with Monsters, Inc. and The Incredibles are literally at the top of my list of my favorite movies of all-time ( I’m 26 years old, if you’re wondering; I was 5 when Toy Stoty was released.), but that doesn’t mean I won’t acknowledge the fact that I think Pixar has fallen off creatively. And it’s not because they keep making sequels, its because the sequels, as well as thr original films that have come out the past 7-ish years have not been good (aside from Inside Out). I make a point of seeing all the major Disney movies in theaters, but I have no intention whatsoever of seeing Cars 3, and I will see Coco, but my expectations aren’t high. I don’t know if the slump in the quality of the movies has anything to do with their acquisition by Disney or not, but you definite cannot compare their most recent works to their earlier ones.
Comments for How Pixar Hasn’t Lost Its Way
Okie
Great article. I hear people say things like this and I just laugh. It’s like they expect that just because a company has a great track record that they will never have a flop. From what I have heard and seen, the Pixar acquisition under Disney changed very little in terms of Pixar’s film catalog. In some sense it was a win-win for both companies by bringing together more talent and resources for better things.
I know I (and my family) are in the minority of “critical” viewers in that we really enjoyed Cars 2. We enjoyed it for what it was…a cheesy and fun adventure film. Granted, we’re huge fans of the “spy movie” genre with a full collection of the James Bond library and so that helped influence our enjoyment. But we have also legitimately enjoyed all of the other Pixar films we’ve seen (though we haven’t seen them all) both before and after full Disney acquisition (it should be remembered that Disney was involved with Pixar even before fully acquiring them).
Expecting a film company to have nothing but success for their entire catalog is like expecting a great baseball star to hit nothing but home runs or a champion chef to never have a soufflé fall flat.
TriSeb
“The Atlantic implies many of Pixar’s movies are simply being made to renew an interest in theme park attractions across Disney’s parks”
>> Well, don’t they have a strong grasp of the obvious? Must come from working with their hands.
In 1984, Roy E. Disney said the following when he resigned (as shown in the documentary, Waking Sleeping Beauty), wow, Duh.
“The real heartbeat of this company– was, is and will always be the film business. Because from the film business comes the ideas that then generate new things in the parks, new promotions, new, a kind of a, a sense of continuing newest about the company in general … they told me, we really don’t even need it (film business) anyway, well that gave me all sort of (pounds chest) problems, because, I remember saying at one point, well if you really think that way then what you’re doing is running a museum.”
Adam
Great retort to the article from the Atlantic. And if I can add…look what Pixar has done to the resurgence of Disney films. Disney was in a slump and was revived under Pixar’s tutelage. Pixar’s very own John Lasseter is the CCO of Pixar and Walt Dinsey Animation and a Principal Creative Director for Imagineering.
Stephanie Aghahowa
I agreed with the Atlantic article. When he called Brave a disappointment, he was referring to the story, not the box office numbers (and, for me, it was, indeed, a disappointment.) And Brave should not have even won that Oscar, it should have gone to Wreck-It Ralph. Moreover, that article isn’t the first I’ve read that handed at the idea that Pixar had maybe greenlit certain sequels due to the merchandise sales (a perspective that I’m more than inclined to embrace when it comes to the Cars franchise.) I’m a HUGE fan of the first several Pixar movies. I think Toy Story 2 is even better than the first one, and that movie, along with Monsters, Inc. and The Incredibles are literally at the top of my list of my favorite movies of all-time ( I’m 26 years old, if you’re wondering; I was 5 when Toy Stoty was released.), but that doesn’t mean I won’t acknowledge the fact that I think Pixar has fallen off creatively. And it’s not because they keep making sequels, its because the sequels, as well as thr original films that have come out the past 7-ish years have not been good (aside from Inside Out). I make a point of seeing all the major Disney movies in theaters, but I have no intention whatsoever of seeing Cars 3, and I will see Coco, but my expectations aren’t high. I don’t know if the slump in the quality of the movies has anything to do with their acquisition by Disney or not, but you definite cannot compare their most recent works to their earlier ones.
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