Category: Pixar

Onward - Review

2/29/2020

Released: March 6, 2020

A Delight

Pixar seemed to be a studio whose best days were behind them. Their latest films have been good, but it's just tough to compete with those first ten pictures. They have been banking on nostalgia, pumping out sequels and prequels, while occasionally trying something new. With Incredibles 2, I thought I had witnessed their return to form; instead, I didn't realize how much nostalgia I had for the original. One could hope that the studio returns to its former glory as the animation field has become quite competitive. With Onward, that day might be just around the corner.

Onward does more than pretend to have a heart. Its soul is bared for all to see as it has more in common with those first ten pictures than the new stuff. It has a message as all Pixar films do, but this one achieves and fulfills that emotional promise. By being heartfelt and true, it transcends manipulation and feels earned. It does have some stiffer moments that can come across a little heavy-handed, though it gets away with it in light of what it delivers.

While the narrative does ultimately work, there are quite a few speed bumps along the way. The opening and ending of the movie don't belong as they utilize uninspired tropes that make you feel like your watching a completely different thing. Then there are two separate moments where the score is overbearing and ruins some genuine heart to hearts or dispirits the final act. These problems all play into a bigger issue that goes beyond Pixar films. The act of cutting off emotional resonance with a joke or music cue is used to relieve the audience of brunting any emotional work. It's a modern problem that gives viewers a pass as filmmakers only want people to cry at the very end. I wish those moments could be given room to breathe.

Pixar has always seemed more interested in telling stories than chasing digital superiority. Unlike recent Disney Animation movies, there was never an instance where I thought I was looking at something real. The more stylized approach works here as the fantasy setting ends up validating itself by the end. Even though photorealism isn't achieved here, the animation technology on display is no slouch. The hair on characters melds the abundant strands with a course look that makes it the best hair I've seen in animation. Magical effects are wonderfully rendered and realized.

Onward is the best thing from Pixar since Up. It has the heart, it looks great, and my entire theater clapped... twice. It's a safe bet to take the whole family to when it comes out on March 6, and everyone will have a good time. Children and adults laughed, awed, and the adults teared up. I hope this is a sign that Pixar will go back to making moving animated stories that hit the mark. Not only would audiences finally be going to movies that are worth their time, but the whole industry would benefit too.

8/10
I hope this isn't an Incredibles 2 moment where I really like it then realize its not that good

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Toy Story 4 - Review

6/27/2019

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Release Date: June 21, 2019

Smaller Than You Think

The animated features coming from Disney have been pretty complacent for a while now. Even though the films have been less than stellar, that drop in quality was not reflected in the box office. Solidifying themselves as a family-friendly brand while cashing in on nostalgia allows for the conglomerate to keep pumping out content that doesn't push any storytelling boundaries. This lack of innovation allowed for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse to swoop in and win Best Animated Feature at the Oscars this year, something that Disney did not see coming. So how does the once great Pixar fair with their latest entry, and hopefully conclusion, to their most successful brand, Toy Story?

No one could have seen this coming. After the large and extravagant adventures, Toy Story decides to end the series with the smallest story possible. This choice honestly caught me off guard as the climatic ending didn't involve an incinerator or fighting at an airport. Instead, the plot trades the multitude of locations for something more intimate. Distilled down to its core

values, Toy Story 4 takes a page from the first movie and centers on Woody. Most of the pretense of being a toy is ripped away as a story about moving on and deciding when it's right to focus on yourself takes center stage.

The change of pace was the main factor of enjoyment for me. Cutting out the beloved cast and pushing new characters into the spotlight broke the series from its holding pattern. Nothing is lost with the absence of favorites though as keeping an emotional center grounds the experience. Not having to divide screen time across a large cast allows for more time with Woody, cementing his hold on the franchise.

With all of that praise out of the way, I can tell you that this is not a perfect film. It lacks a strong sense of energy to propel the plot forward. For a movie so reliant on its ability to stir emotions, this is counter-intuitive to making you feel them. Instead of developing strong relationships between characters, it leans heavily on the soundtrack to get a rise out of the audience. The constant battle to keep you entertained is sabotaged with a slower pace, stagnating the overall feeling of the film.

Toy Story 4 relies heavily on the viewer to fill in blanks, hoping they had seen the three previous entries. In its attempt to tell a smaller story, it discovers something new but doesn't have the juice to make it compelling. Too reliant on old tricks and the use of too many crutches, it stumbles and ends up being an average movie. Sure, Disney is the only studio able to afford the amazing rendering technology to make features look this good, but the loss to Spider-Man speaks volumes. All of that doesn't matter though as movie-goers will come out in droves to see it. Toy Story 4 is not for kids, its made for the adults who have grown with the property, and tells a story for them. Hilariously, it's still one of the best movies in theaters, so you don't have to wait for it on streaming.

6/10
Please, no more Toy Story movies

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Incredibles 2 - review

6/15/2018

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Release Date: June 15, 2018

I Can't Believe It

If you told me that a movie from 14 years ago was going to get a sequel, and it was going to be good, I would laugh very hard. With the movie landscape littered with reboots and sequels all varying in quality, how could you have faith? Incredibles 2 is a miracle. A sequel that not only delivers on the anticipation but blew my low expectations out of the water, it was a sight to behold. I can't thank this movie enough for being a shining light in a bad movie year it has been so far. Yes, Incredibles 2 is a great sequel, but more than that, it's a great movie.

Let's get talking about The Incredibles out of the way (Its weird that the first movie is titled "The Incredibles" and the second is "Incredibles 2"). Syndrome is a better villain than the Screen Slaver from a motivation perspective. His anger with Mr. Incredible is easily understandable and makes sense. The Screen Slaver is a little bit harder to wrap your head around. Personally, I think that the Screen Slaver's ideology is good but not backed up enough. For some people, this will be a big sticking point, not for me.

But this movie is a treasure trove of goodies. From amazing action sequences to an interesting story, this movie has it all. Most people remember The Incredibles incorrectly. Some call it a Superhero movie depicting a family or a family of superheroes, this is wrong. The Incredibles had more in common with spy movies than superhero ones. Incredibles 2 isn't really a superhero movie either. It actually becomes that family movie with tons of action. It drops a lot of the espionage in place of telling a more character-driven story.

Another thing about the movie I enjoyed was the styling. The music is loud with high intensity to try and make everything more epic. There are one or two scenes where it is not needed but its less egregious than when other movies do it because the music is part of the movie's style. On the visual front, this is probably the most stylized movie Pixar has put out. It doesn't dazzle you with photorealistic animation but improves on the smoothness and the 60's modern clash of design.

I have so many things to say about the movie, but I can't fit them all here. If I were to sum up, Incredibles 2, it would be this. This movie has the action, the heart, and fun that all movies wished they had. I enjoyed seeing it on a big screen and actively want to see it again. It does have minor problems but I thoroughly enjoyed my time watching this movie. I can't recommend it enough, even without seeing the first movie.

7/10
Brad Bird got kicked out of live action so he was like, "What's a guaranteed hit?"

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Coco - Review

11/24/2017

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Release Date: November 24, 2017

Pixar's Roots

Pixar is known for a couple of things that define the kind of movies that they release. The amazing quality of animation and attention to detail which is unprecedented and leagues ahead of any other animation studio. The compelling storytelling, though recently criticized for making it obvious that the movies wanted to make you cry. These two things, coupled together have made Pixar a household name and with Coco, they do their job.

Coco will tide you over for the next Pixar movie which is the sequel to The Incredibles, please don't mess that up. Coco is a nice movie, but unless you connect with it in some way, you probably won't remember it very well as time goes on. It's not that the movie is bad, it's just not that different. I have seen many Day of the Dead movies and they all feel a little the same. So lucky for you if you have never seen something centered around that culture. Its a movie about remembering family, chasing your dreams, and never giving up. These three themes are found in more classic Pixar movies rather than more recent ones.

The step back actually shows in the movie because the emotional manipulation is more hidden than in recent Pixar fare. In movies like Inside Out and Finding Dory, the telegraphing of the movie trying to make you cry was blatantly obvious. In Coco, it does a fantastic job keeping you occupied to forget that it wants to make you cry if you do at all. It really does feel like a better story than some of Pixar's more recent movies.

The nice things about this movie come from the animation quality, which truly is unrivaled and anyone who says differently is living in a dream world. The music is also pretty great with nice songs in the moment, but probably unmemorable in the long term. And the overall payoff at the end of the movie was satisfying.

That being said, this movie is not without faults. The story is pretty slow at the beginning of the movie. It sets up its world and the characters fine, but it didn't allude to the main conflict of the film until 2/3 into the movie. This is a problem because the movie feels much longer than it actually is. The movie is under 2 hours long but feels almost like 3. This can probably be attributed to the Frozen short in front of the movie. That short clocks in at about 20 minutes and is tonally inconsistent to Coco itself.

The Frozen short is filled with truly unmemorable songs, that are not very good. The substance of the short makes me very scared for Frozen 2 because they won't be able to move on from the story of the first Frozen. I don't need to see Else lock herself up in a room again. Tonally it just didn't fit the whole persona of Frozen, except for Olaf because he's Olaf.

Overall, the whole Coco experience is a little hard to recommend because of the Frozen short. But other than that, it is actually a pretty good movie that you won't really remember. I would say that it will probably be a great streaming movie once it comes to iTunes and Google Play. It's worth a watch without the Frozen short.

7.5/10
Colorful, beautiful, and kinda charming

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Finding Dory - Review

6/19/2016

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Release Date: June 17, 2016

Worth the 13 Year Wait?

Finding Dory is the sequel to the critically acclaimed movie Finding Nemo, but it is not the rehashing that some feared it to be. This movie took on its own story and used new story telling devices rather than retracing the first movie's steps. This is a strength and a weakness for the film that overall hinders it slightly.

When Finding Nemo came out in 2003, it was a force to be reckoned with. Not only did it have a beautifully crafted story, but it looked amazing. Not only did it raise the bar for story telling and animation, but continued Pixar's trend to the top as the best animation studio in the movie business. Finding Dory continues the trend for amazing visuals, but forgets what its like to tell a deep and rich story. This argument can be made for most of the recent Pixar films.

Finding Dory is a good film in its own right, but its predecessor cast such a large shadow it seems almost impossible to escape from it. There were many moments where I laughed a good laugh and was invested, but it didn't have the same hook that the first one did. The emotional scenes were not as powerful and the story seemed to go by so quick. The movies are only three minutes apart in running time, but it didn't spend its time well. We get introduced to new characters and new places which contributed greatly to the overall experience leaving only one culprit.

Now before I'm burned at the stake for suggesting what I am about to say, hear me out. Marlin and Nemo should have sit this one out. The movie is about Dory finding her parents and crossing the ocean to get there. During the movie Dory gets separated from Nemo and Marlin for a period of time, and whenever the movie cuts to catch the audience up on what they are doing, you miss out on more adventures with Dory and the new characters. It doesn't seem like Nemo and his dad were needed. I can tell you that they were used once which contributed to a little part in the movie, but that was it. They were along for the ride, but did not contribute anything to the story. You would expect Dory and Marlin to maintain their chemistry from the first film to be brought back here, but it is one of the new characters that takes Marlin's place.

Dory ends up meeting an octopus when she arrives to the movie's main location. It is this duo's chemistry that really drives the film. Along the way they meet a couple of more sea creatures that act as the new supporting cast for the movie. It are these characters what make this movie watchable and enjoyable. There is no doubt that pretty much everyone will like this movie because there is so much in it to like, but it has the unfortunate task of overcoming the nostalgia of Finding Nemo.

Last thing I want to touch on is the animation short that comes before this movie. Pixar usually has an animated short before their films and this one is no exception. The short animation is called Piper and it follows the short adventure of a little bird. The cuteness that radiates off the screen for this, is probably too much for people to handle. The visuals were spectacular and were comparable to the landscape shots in The Good Dinosaur. I have just read that the animators took three years to make this small short and had to create new technology to simulate the feathers on the birds' bodies. This seems reminiscent of how Frozen was made when they created technology to properly render hair. That might not seem impressive, but but Elsa's head had 400,000 individual CG rendered hairs. It seems the program they created was used for Zootopia as well and allowed one animal to have nine million individual hairs on their body. Now think of how many animals where in that movie, that is a lot of hair. Back to Piper though, Pixar had created a new program to render individual fibers on the feathers amassing four to seven million fibers to be on the bird's body. I would say that the photo realistic look for this short is mind blowing and the Pixar shorts just keep getting better and better.

5/10
Just Keep Swimming Is Not A Dory Original

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Movies In RevIew

Onward - Review

Toy Story 4 - Review

Incredibles 2 - review

Coco - Review

Finding Dory - Review

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