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I refer to
Has Pixar Lost Its Magic? by Boon Chan (Life!, June 22). Even given some of
their recent let-downs, the studio has created a legacy of well-told stories,
films made by people who take “kids’ flicks” seriously and broke barriers in
terms of technology and storytelling in making these films.
The best of
Pixar's movies are built upon a high-concept premise that is strengthened with
memorable characters and set in world audiences can readily buy into and get
lost in. Ratatouille was about a rat
who wanted to become a chef in a prestigious Paris restaurant – an amusing spin
on the formula of children who decide to march to the beat of a different
drummer than their parents. WALL-E
delivered a character whom most everyone could instantly fall in love with in
those poetic, dialogue-free opening twenty minutes.
The thing
about the “worst 3” Pixar films selected by Chan is that they are largely
unoriginal and clearly geared towards marketing and kid appeal. Cars is just Doc Hollywood with cars; to that end Cars 2 is The Man Who Knew
Too Little with cars and Monsters
University is a chaste Revenge of the
Nerds with Monsters, Inc.
characters.
Taking a
look at the studio’s slate of upcoming films however, there’s definitely still
potential for imagination and wonder: The
Good Dinosaur has dinosaurs and humans co-existing in the present day, Inside Out takes place within a little
girl’s mind and there’s also a project set in the world of Dia de Los Muertos
(the Mexican Day of the Dead.) So I guess moviegoers shouldn’t give up on Pixar
just yet, and hope that story wins out over what makes for colourful toys and
backpacks.
-Jedd Jong
This is the article it was written in response to:
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