Pixar is the best animation studio in America today. That title previously belonged to Disney, for many decades from the 1920s through the 1960s, then again in their revival from the 1980s through the 1990s. Sadly, Disney has lost their way over the last 10 years, and most other animation studios turn out work that ranges from competent to worse. For the most part, they simply don’t get what makes a good movie, and they get caught up in the technology, pop culture in-jokes and trying to commercially appeal to both adults and children at the same time.
Pixar, on the other hand, just makes good movies, and they do it the old fashioned way: compelling characters, interesting story and plot, and multiple layers of thematic depth.
Beneath Pixar’s digital dazzle lies reverence for the past
Pixar Perfectionists Cook `Ratatouille’
Pixar is so successful, both artistically and commercially, because they have great film directors like Brad Bird working for them: “People in Hollywood, the press always fixates on technology because it’s easier to quantify. The truth of the matter is the technology has never been the answer. The same answers to making a good movie are the answers that were around 80 years ago.” He’s absolutely right. No great movie has ever been made off the sheer scope of its technology. (Someone alert George Lucas, who used to know this.) All great movies have the same two things in common: great storytelling (which itself is composed of many elements) and compelling characters. Pixar understands this, and it’s a credit to them how they’ve ingrained this concept into the culture of their studio.
By all accounts, Ratatouille is another Pixar triumph. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’ll post my review here when I do.
On another note, although what has happened to Disney over the last 10 or 15 years is tragic, there is great hope they are turning over a new leaf. Although Disney bought Pixar last year, it seems that it’s Pixar who is taking over, and in my opinion, it couldn’t have happened soon enough:
Disney to scrap lucrative direct-to-DVD animated sequels
Thank you Steve Jobs, John Lasseter and Brad Bird. You guys are giving us a new golden age of animation, and I can’t wait for your influence at Disney to pay dividends for the formerly great studio. I believe that Walt has finally stopped rolling his grave, knowing the foreseeable artistic future of the studio is in your very capable hands.
What, you don’t like “films” like Cinderella 3?
lol…seriously, I always thought that if Walt were alive, he never would have permitted a direct-to-video department like that. The stuff they turned out was dreck (much as it entertained my kids), and I’m glad Lasseter is shutting it down.