Pixar: The Rise and Fall

It once was (and maybe it still is for some people) that the word ‘Pixar’ resonated with great animated films, in the same way that Hitchcock and Kubrick resonate with great film in general, the best of the best. But what has happen over the past four years is something that no one saw coming, the almighty Pixar turned out to be human after all. Recent film releases from Pixar fell below Pixar’s admittedly high bar, like when Kubrick released Eyes Wide Shut and everyone collectively said ‘I mean, I don’t hate it’, it was like that, but worse. Pixar has fallen from its perch upon high, and animating royalty is in a crisis. So, where did it all go wrong?

The success of Pixar, I feel, always came from how personal their films felt. You can go through Pixar’s back catalogue of films and you can highlight what makes each one special, something that connects to the audiences, a universal audience, like no other animated films could. You think of the Toy Story films and how we see the life cycle of toys, and how our attention to them changes as we grow up, Monsters Inc and how laughter holds more power than screams, Wall-E and how innocent love is portrayed, and Up, where even death and moving on are dealt with. Perhaps they don’t sound as incredible when they are described like this, but Pixar’s ability to take universal concepts such as love, death, and growing up, is a testament to what can be achieved through animation and a testament to the company itself.

This, ideally, would be where Pixar rides off into the sunset and we have nothing but fond memories of them, as Hayao Miyazaki (of Studio Ghibli fame) has just done. But no, this story takes a sudden turn for the worst, around June 24, 2011, upon the release of Cars 2, which was far and away the worst film Pixar has ever produced, and probably one of the worst animated films for the past 20 years. Cars 2 was essentially a cash in, the film’s premise was Lightning McQueen goes around the world racing the global circuit, and that’s really all you need to know. When a sequels premise is in direct opposition to the lesson learned in the first film (that would be humility for Lightning McQueen) then you know something is up. Needless to say, the film was devoid of plot, heart, and relatability, and far from being the universal film Pixar was known for, it was the lowest common denominator of ‘Hey kids, look, cars and shit with eyes, isn’t it all so wacky and goofy. Hahahahaha. Now, make sure your parents buy all of our merchandising’.

Cars 2 was the low point, but the two films that followed Cars 2, although better, still were not of the Pixar standard. Brave and Monster’s University were very confused films. The moral, or universal connection if you like, that resonated with the audiences was hard to grasp. In Brave, the whole story of ancient magic and reconnecting with family was all over the place, and frankly, had been done better in Brother Bear. Then there’s Monsters University, which as a concept is interesting, but it suffers from the same sin as Cars 2, it undermines the moral taken from its predecessor, as we’re back to scaring now, and while that makes sense in the context of a prequel, it’s still undermining. Furthermore, Monsters University seems rushed; they got so caught up in trying to relate every aspect of University to scaring that the context of Monsters Inc was lost. Randall‘s reason for hating Sully was stupid and gave no link as to why he would become, essentially, an attempted murderer, and worst of all, the film promoted the idea of ‘You CANNOT be whatever you want’ in the way it treated Mike, which is terrible. So, I’m not even mentioning the mess that is the films conclusion and how Mike and Sully got into Monster Incorporated because it was laughable, in a bad way.

This then brings us to the present day, and the future isn’t looking too promising with sequels galore on the horizon: Toy Story 4, Finding Dory, Incredibles 2, and, amazingly, Cars 3. What this says to me is that Pixar has run out of ideas. Apart from the Toy Story films, Pixar had never previously done sequels until Cars 2, and look how that turned out. There is no saying for sure that these future releases will continue the ever decreasing standard of Pixar’s films, but my gut tells me that’s what’s going to happen. My advice is hold onto hope that Pixar can revive itself, and in the mean time, check out How to Train your Dragon 2, that’s near enough Pixar standard.

Conor M.