Pixar and Dreamworks films discussions

Mytch wrote:

Am I the only person on the planet who actually liked A Bug's Life?

I liked it, too. It just wasn't as good as Pixar's other stuff. It was their second major movie (if I remember this correctly), and it was almost as good as Toy Story, but with better technology. Then they did Monsters, Inc., which was brilliant, and (until Cars) have never looked back.

I liked A Bug's Life, I don't care what all these other clockers say.

And I only just saw Cars for the first time because it happened to be on tv last sunday.

Strewth wrote:

And I only just saw Cars for the first time because it happened to be on tv last sunday.

The silence after that. What does it mean?!

I also liked A Bug's Life. That was back when my wife and I would hit a Pixar flick every year on the way back from the family Thanksgiving party (that started with Toy Story and ended with... I forget when Pixar deviated from that schedule). As a follow-up to Toy Story it was great.

Cars was one I didn't bother seeing in the theater, and I regretted it after watching it with the kids.

Big Bug's Life fan here.

Guys, A Bug's Life has a 91% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It isn't exactly a poorly reviewed film. Car's is actually the (now second) worst reviewed film on there, at 74%. Cars 2 is at 37%, though I'm sure it'll still do gangbusters at the theater.

I'll never be much of a fan of Bug's Life, since I massively prefer Antz to it, which was both funnier and cleverer to me. My kids preferred Bug's Life, however.

I quite liked Cars (I rate it higher than ABL and Ratatouille, and also Up, which [apart from Sad Montage] didn't do anything for me), and I imagine I'll be going to see Cars 2 with the kids.

I constantly forget Ratatouille exists and is a Pixar film.

It's a fine piece of work but I just keep forgetting it. =\

Of all the Pixar movies, the only one I can't really see myself ever watching again is Cars. I'm not sure what exactly it is, but the writing doesn't feel that tight to me for whatever reason.

I also liked A Bug's Life but it's been a really long time since I've seen it (it's never on TV and I'm to lazy to hook up my VCR). Cars was the only Pixar movie that I didn't like and Cars 2 will be the only (announced) Pixar movie I never see.

In addition to being compared to Jar-Jar Binks in that one review, the AV Club compared Mater to Poochie. Ouch.

iaintgotnopants wrote:

In addition to being compared to Jar-Jar Binks in that one review, the AV Club compared Mater to Poochie. Ouch.

What's a Poochie? And how can it be worse than a Jar-jar?

I haven't read the AV review, but I'm thinking he means Poochie from the Simpsons.

Mytch wrote:

Am I the only person on the planet who actually liked A Bug's Life?

I own it - I thought it was great!

I also liked A Bug's Life-- way more than Antz, which was like post-70's Woody Allen making a kids movie with creepy animation. Oh wait.

WipEout wrote:

I also liked A Bug's Life-- way more than Antz, which was like post-70's Woody Allen making a kids movie with creepy animation. Oh wait.

QFT. I think A Bug's Life gets panned because the company it's in. Some title has to sit at the bottom of the list, and it's as good as any. Now Cars 2 can live there, apparently.

From Firstshowing.net a film site I respect quite a bit.

With Cars 2, Pixar has done the unthinkable. They've released a film that isn't funny, is never engaging, and falls to pieces under its particularly hulking attempt at being an easy money grab. It isn't like them. Pixar, animation giant that it is, has a completely spotless record, but even films that slightly miss their respective mark like A Bug's Life and the first Cars have the notable credit of heart and humor fitted into them to a point. Those two films were good but not great, mind you, and it seemed unlikely Pixar would have an out-and-out bomb in their immediate arsenal. Even with apprehension stemming from Cars, hopes were high for Cars 2.

Those hope were nowhere near met. In their latest movie, and latest sequel following Toy Story 3 last summer, the jokes fall short at every... um... turn, and the character arcs found therein seem either paint-by-number or, worse, shoehorned in out of a necessity. You would expect more from John Lasseter, the man who kicked off the Pixar feature brand by directing their first, three outings. You would expect more than an abysmal attempt at pulling nostalgia, disguised as inspiration, from the espionage and intrigue films of the '60s. That's what spawns Cars 2's adventure element. Sure, it's better than the Doc Hollywood copy-and-paste job found in the 2006 original, but the lack of satisfying execution leaves the espionage concept spinning its proverbial wheels.

Honestly, I don't blame Pixar for this. I blame Disney and their sequelitis/cashgrabbing ways. I feel like Disney was the only real reason we got any sequels out of Pixar at all.

Oh well. Puss In Boots is going to suck too, so I'm not worried that Pixar will lose it's place at the top any time soon

WipEout wrote:

Honestly, I don't blame Pixar for this. I blame Disney and their sequelitis/cashgrabbing ways. I feel like Disney was the only real reason we got any sequels out of Pixar at all.

Oh well. Puss In Boots is going to suck too, so I'm not worried that Pixar will lose it's place at the top any time soon :)

Wikipedia wrote:

John Alan Lasseter (born January 12, 1957) is an American animator, director and the chief creative officer at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. He is also currently the Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering.[1]

I know that, but it doesn't stop my selective hatred

Honestly, I did know this already, and figured that point would be brought up to me were I to say I blame Disney and not Pixar. But I say that Pixar was once a privately owned organization, and during that time they were able to make what they wanted. As a part of Disney, they have shareholders and CEOs and such to answer to, which means they can no longer work as independently as they once did. Notice that the only times Pixar ever makes sequels are the times at which they are owned by Disney.

John Lasseter spoke at my school's orientation in 2003. He said then (around the time Finding Nemo was out) that Pixar would never voluntarily do a sequel because they make stories to explore worlds, and sequels are simply revisiting those worlds already explored. They did indeed make Toy Story 2, but then they detached themselves from Disney for a time and made some of the best 3D animated films ever created. They were then bought back by Disney, and we get Toy Story 3 (arguably good, however) and Cars 2.

So, I blame Disney.

I think Wipeout's got a point. Interestingly enough, Cars 2 was originally supposed to come out next summer. This summer's release was supposed to be a film called "Newt", but they cancelled it for some reason or another. What's next? Monster's Inc 2. Yeah. Disney Animation has a couple of original projects, but we're another year or two away from another original Pixar film.

buzzvang wrote:

What's next? Monster's Inc 2. Yeah.

Nah. Next is an originial IP called "Brave", "Monsters University" (AKA Monsters Inc. 2) comes out in 2013.

Just got done seeing Cars 2 with my sons. It was pretty mediocre. Dear God I hate the character of Mater now more than ever. It was boring (even with all the action) and my kids (ages 5 & 3) had no idea what was going on. I could not wait for the credits to roll which, like the movie itself, were bland and dull as well. No neat gimmicks or loose end tie-ups. Some spoilers ahead...

I think my kids were driving the theater patrons nuts asking question after question... "Why are the cars blowing up?" "Why are they shooting at Mater?" "Who are those black cars?" Trying to explain microwave death rays, secret agents and the mafia was a little much for them. There is a rather mature theme running throughout the film that doesn't jive with their target audience at all and when that theme is executed poorly, it sucks for everyone.

I think that somewhere in the past 5 years Pixar lost their whimsy or decided to move into adolescent territory. Wall-E was phenomenal story telling and direction and the last movie I feel comfortable letting my kids repeatedly watch. Up emotionally sucker punched you at the begin and then the story flaws were coupled with surprising violence for one of their movies. Toy Story 3 had that completely crazy moment when the toys were struggling for minutes to not be incinerated. And now we have Cars 2 with vehicles shooting at each other and blowing up into bits. And yeah, there was some violent themes in the other movies but they were always played up in a cartoonish manner. Toy Story 3 and Cars 2 are both movies I won't purchase DVDs of for my kids.

LockAndLoad wrote:

Toy Story 3 had that whole Eastern European gulag vibe, which may have been the most inappropriate little-kids-movie motif I've ever seen.

Expanded that for you.

If Pixar is growing up, they must have kinda dysfunctional parents. Some of their recent things have been surprisingly dark; TS3 bothered me to watch, what with the forced labour camp, torture and borderline abuse of the mentally ill. A war story with toys was not what I was expecting.

SallyNasty wrote:
Mytch wrote:

Am I the only person on the planet who actually liked A Bug's Life?

I own it - I thought it was great!

I'll see your owning it and raise you a vhs copy with 1/4 different covers on it (mine had Dot) and then repurchased the collector's edition 2 disc set for dvd.

I've mentioned this somewhere, possibly even in this thread... but Dot was voiced by Hayden Panettiere (of Heroes "save the cheerleader, save the world") when she was about 7 years old. I love finding stuff like that out.

bnpederson wrote:
buzzvang wrote:

What's next? Monster's Inc 2. Yeah.

Nah. Next is an originial IP called "Brave", "Monsters University" (AKA Monsters Inc. 2) comes out in 2013.

I thought they were the other way around. Hunh.

buzzvang wrote:
bnpederson wrote:
buzzvang wrote:

What's next? Monster's Inc 2. Yeah.

Nah. Next is an originial IP called "Brave", "Monsters University" (AKA Monsters Inc. 2) comes out in 2013.

I thought they were the other way around. Hunh.

Nope. And I remember seeing somewhere that a third Pixar movie, unnamed but reportedly original IP, is coming out only a few months after "Monsters University", but for the life of me I can't find the article I saw it in so I could be smoking crack.

bnpederson wrote:

Nope. And I remember seeing somewhere that a third Pixar movie, unnamed but reportedly original IP, is coming out only a few months after "Monsters University", but for the life of me I can't find the article I saw it in so I could be smoking crack.

They had been working on a movie called "Newt" but it was cancelled. Apparently, it was too similar to "Rio".

I just came to post all the information that you guys stated. Hadn't heard of Brave. Looking forward to it.

Whoa. Brave looks awesome.

iaintgotnopants wrote:
bnpederson wrote:

Nope. And I remember seeing somewhere that a third Pixar movie, unnamed but reportedly original IP, is coming out only a few months after "Monsters University", but for the life of me I can't find the article I saw it in so I could be smoking crack.

They had been working on a movie called "Newt" but it was cancelled.

Based on the dark place Pixar seems to be going into noted above, I assume it was a movie detailing the events bridging the gap between Aliens and Alien 3?

I know you said it was too similar to Rio, but by the end of that movie, I would have cheered if a facehugger had attached itself to any of the characters onscreen.

Hope to take my girls to Brave then this summer...hopefully that means first half of July.