Pixar review!

[trinityvixen]

edgehopper listed his favorite Pixar movies the other day, and it put me in a mind to do the same. Then I realized I hadn't said a word about Up. So I'll do both.

First, the list. These are my favorites, not some nebulous idea of "best" films:
1. Wall-E
1. Finding Nemo
1. The Incredibles
4. Toy Story
5. Monsters, Inc.
6. Toy Story 2
6. Ratatouille
6. A Bug's Life
6. Up
10. Cars

I apologize for nothing. I could never, never choose between my top three. Not even for money. (Okay, maybe for a lot of money.) My personal love of all things under the water and the fact that Finding Nemo came out right as I was discovering SCUBA diving means I'll never not love that movie. It's easily the most quotable of all the Pixar movies to date, and yet still manages to be a charming story about a parent having to let go of his child and let that child grow up. And, also, there's an epic journey.

The Incredibles continues that theme of maturity, but it shifts it to mid-life crisis territory. It's the classic give-and-take between people who yearn for the freedom to pursue their own glory days but are responsible enough not to throw over their family to do so. Sometimes, you have to knuckle under and do what's hard for those you love. Because they're worth it. And being selfish will end up isolating you. There are also superheroes, which, yeah, hard to argue against that.

And Wall-E. Nothing I can say about Wall-E will be coherent because I always devolve into a squealing mess when talking about that movie. It's a genuinely believable love story, a rare pearl in a bed of oysters. These days, romantic comedies haven't got one quarter of the chemistry between living, breathing humans as Wall-E has between a pair of animated robots. I think the environmental message on top is a fine one and all, but when it comes down to it, it's a love story with robots. (The director even said so.) That kind of earnestness is sadly lacking in the movies these days.

After those three, as I told edgehopper, it's all sort of equal. I have a slight preference for Toy Story and Monsters, Inc. to the rest of the Pixar catalogue, but I like them all about equally except for Cars. Cars is the decided bottom of the barrel because I felt that the main theme was both overdone and unoriginal. Yes, people need to slow down and appreciate life more rather than just being busy. Good sportsmanship is more important than winning, of course. But these are the sorts of mundane morals that you can find in any lesser product. My expectations from Pixar are always higher because they almost always deliver. They managed to sell the sort of hopeless message that love--no matter how fleeting or unfaithful--is worth investing in with your whole being, and no matter how good it is, it will always have to come to an end. And they did it with a bunch of talking toys. There is such a sense of mortality in the Pixar recognition of maturity. It's how they make movies as appealing to children as grown-ups: there is something in it for everyone.

With Cars, it seemed like they skipped over the middle population and went right for the kids or the elderly. I'd say most people 20-60 wouldn't have any sort of nostalgia for "the way things were." We're the internet generation. My Dad (in that age range) couldn't live without his BlackBerry. I get hives when I'm away from the internet too long. We all decompress, but that doesn't mean we have some need to indulge in retro. The message is off in Cars, and as a result, the rather predictable story is less enjoyable. (It really doesn't help to have Owen Wilson as the protagonist either.)

And then there's Up. I should say first that I didn't dislike it. In fact, it follows really nicely in the maturity fable begun with Finding Nemo and continued in The Incredibles. Someone (forgive me, I forget who) pointed out that it's a story about the grieving process--that everything that happens is supposed to work towards the catharsis for the main character. That's an accurate and insightful reading. (Wish I'd thought of it.) Part of growing up is being able to let go--being able to recognize that everything fades and that clinging on all the harder will not change this fact.

So I liked Up. But it was so hard to watch. I don't know if I could sit through it twice without a lot of help. I was moved by it, but it was really damned hard to enjoy it with the same abandon as I did most of the other Pixar movies. I definitely appreciate it and think that Up was brilliant. But it was tough. That's good. We live in the era of the empty-headed franchise film, and here is this little animated movie that dares to force the audience to examine themselves, their priorities, their little hypocrises, their fears, and so much more.

I still don't think I could watch it again without just crying through the whole thing. So it goes in the middling area of my favorites. For all that recognize its profundity, yeah, I think I need to nurse my affection for it slowly.

Comments

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

But I don't think that role for her, given what else we saw about her character and her life, was in any way anti-feminist.

While some have been picking at this particular bone, you'll note that I have not. I didn't pick on this to be ornery about women being excluded from the story. (Again. Ahem.) What I meant was that, while I understand how Ellie's loss is what motivates Carl, and while I do get that she had lived a life she loved, I still feel a sense of incompleteness that she died without ever realizing her dream. It has nothing to do with her being "fridged," just my sincere regret that a character who was so remarkably personalized in such a short time was deprived of that founding adventure. It's very sad. It's a non-issue about her being a woman; for me, it's just said that that person dreamt her whole life and never got to realize that dream. Really, that's pretty an amazing feat that Pixar accomplished.