Op-Ed: Why Pixar Should Bring Back Bloopers

in Disney, Entertainment

pixar bloopers monsters inc all monsters fall

Credit: Pixar

I was re-watching Monsters Inc. last night, and I realized something: Pixar stopped doing those cute little bloopers long ago.

Remember those? At the end of the movie, Pixar would put bloopers between sections of the end credits or maybe play them over the top. They crafted them as though the characters in their film were actors on an autobiographical set; it was still Buzz and Woody telling their own story, but they were actors on camera with a script and a penchant for pranking one another.

The Short History of the Pixar Outtakes

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Pixar started doing fake bloopers with A Bug’s Life, their second film and a follow-up to their smash hit Toy Story. They even included a couple of Toy Story cameos in the bloopers – Woody is shown holding the clapboard at one point. Early on, Flick, like a new actor at a famous studio, says “to infinity and beyond,” and then, apologetically to the “crew” off-screen, “Can you blame me?”

They then continued the practice, much to everyone’s delight, in Toy Story 2, where Mrs. Potato Head stuffed Mr. Potato Head’s caboose with everything from his angry eyes (just in case) to some blue play dough and a yo-yo, and Woody got his butt stuck in a roll of tape.

There were cameos in this one, too – the Bug’s Life characters showed up and teased a sequel, only for Flick to find out that they had been cast as extras in Toy Story 2 (before they were karate chopped by Buzz.)

Finally, there was Monsters. Inc.

pixar bloopers monsters inc roz pranks
Credit: Pixar

Monsters Inc. did it a little differently. The first half of their credit bloopers was normal – an exercise in the thought experiment of “what would the production challenges be of filming a live-action version of this movie if we could just make all of this suddenly exist?” Actors mess up lines; the floor, too waxy, causes monsters to slip and fall; Roz pranks the cast with sudden on-set switcharoos. Continuing their Toy Story cameo tradition, they include Rex auditioning for the part of Ted. It’s delightful.

Then, they switch it up on us, and it only gets better. Suddenly, we’re watching not a blooper but Mike Wazowski’s actual production of Put That Thing Back Where It Came From Or So Help Me, the fake musical that Mike apparently just ran with after they got to take over the company. (Hey, the employees had to hear what happened somehow, right?)

What follows is Billy Crystal singing a medley of songs (that Mike Wazowski DEFINITELY wrote) that retell the story of the film – sort of like Olaf does in Frozen 2, but more musical and with a somewhat-confused cast of monsters behind him.

This was, sadly, the last time Pixar ever did these outtakes. The Incredibles DVD contained a blooper reel, but, like the one eventually added to the original Toy Story, it was just a compilation of computer animation mistakes that looked especially silly.

Why Did Pixar Stop Doing Bloopers?

pixar bloopers toy story 2 buzz wings for rent
Credit: Pixar

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Other Pixar films have had scenes over the credits. Still, they usually just epilogues or sweet little vignettes, like in Toy Story 3 when Barbie and Ken write a letter to update Bonnie’s toys on how cool and groovy Sunnyside is, or in Inside Out when they show you the inside of a dog and a cat’s brain.

Most kids who grew up with these films agree that they were delighted by the outtakes, and each could probably even quote one or two of them – I remembered some of the lines from the bloopers better than I did the movie. So the question is, why did they stop?

There’s no consensus on this – those in charge at Pixar didn’t make a big deal out of stopping the practice at the time, and when Finding Nemo came out and there were no fish outtakes, nobody asked them any questions. It’s speculated that they stopped because it simply took too much time and effort to animate a whole set of non-essential sequences for the film and get the actors back in to do more lines.

Given that it seems to be that Pixar just stopped doing this because they didn’t think anybody cared enough, I have a request: Start doing it again.

The Case for Bringing the Bloopers Back

pixar bloopers toy story 2 angry eyes
Credit: Pixar

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Seriously, everybody loved those little outtakes, but especially kids – my siblings and I quote a lot of films, but Barbie’s “Can we take a break? Little break? Okay,” is one of the most common.

But aside from the unadulterated joy it brings children to see the characters they just watched have a serious adventure, let loose, and be a little silly, there are many other reasons why this would be an excellent thing for Pixar to start doing again.

Number one: Nostalgia.

Pixar seems to be aware by this point that their audiences are no longer all children and their parents – they’ve built a loyal base of fans who have loved their movies all their lives (Toy Story, like me, is 28 years old this year) who are always eager to see what ideas they’ll come up with next. If what they came up with reminded them of some of the funniest jokes of their childhood, they’ll come out of theaters delighted.

Number Two: YouTube.

pixar bloopers a bugs life
Credit: Pixar

It’s not exactly a secret that the choice not to animate something often comes down to cost. If you can’t offset the price of making whole animation sequences, the argument for making them becomes much steeper, especially when they’re not essential to the film itself. When people stopped buying DVDs for the DVD extras as often, it probably was just a novelty that got cut.

However, even the shortest little clips are monetizable on platforms like YouTube and Instagram. Pixar could take advantage of the viral views they would inevitably get from those funny little bloopers. Honestly, the way it works now, they could probably count them as promotion – and given the nostalgia reasoning highlighted above, it would probably work really well.

The real reason to bring those Pixar outtakes and bloopers back was that they were well-loved. People remember them with deep fondness because they were a sweet gesture from the studio – the fact that they didn’t have to do it was part of what made it so special. That’s very hard to put a price tag on – but hey, now they could do that too.

Do you think Pixar should bring back the outtakes? Can you imagine some of the ones we missed? (I, for one, am sad that they deprived us of Frozone bloopers.) Leave a comment below!

in Disney, Entertainment

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