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Has Pixar lost its "style"?

Shai-Tan

Banned
i’ve been watching all pixar movies in 3d blu-ray (on a vr headset) recently and theres a variability in style e.g. The Good Dinosaur has a bit of weird discordance between environments (realistic but still cartoonish) and characters (very cartoonish). I didn’t like that movie much but it did look good in 3d.
 

Billbofet

Member
It's about puberty but isn't raunchy or too much for kids to understand. I mean, the toons we watched as kids and teens (animaniacs, Looney Tunes, etc) had FAR MORE adult jokes and situations than any Pixar movie. Turning Red was really good... Yes, it's about a girl becoming a teen but it's stuff many teens (yes, straight boys too) go through. 5 yr olds won't get some things but the physical comedy is top notch and they'll laugh. It really is a great movie.
Serious question: do you and Sol work for Disney? You both defend pretty much all Disney ip with very corporate-sounding talking points. The posts from you two read like the back covers of DVD/BR.
 

Doom85

Member
Serious question: do you and Sol work for Disney? You both defend pretty much all Disney ip with very corporate-sounding talking points. The posts from you two read like the back covers of DVD/BR.

By this thought process, everyone who loves all of From Software’s games are secretly From employees in disguise. Like, come on.

People enjoy different things. In terms of myself as I‘m not part of the “hate on modern Disney” club that’s so popular here on Gaf, yes, I love a lot of Disney films. Hell, since I know this will be a hot take: I even enjoyed a few of their modern live-action remakes/prequels. The Jungle Book I actually prefer over the animated film, Cruella was solid, and the Cinderella and Aladdin remakes were pretty good. On the other hand, the Maleficent movie pissed me off, the Mulan remake was a trainwreck save for some good action cinematography, and The Lion King remake just might be the most soulless piece of shit I’ve ever seen.

For the record, in terms of recent Pixar, I thought Onward was merely good and Luca was just okay. I loved Toy Story 4 and thought Soul was great. Haven’t watched Turning Red yet, and you’d have to pay me to watch Cars 3 or any of the Cars films.

I mean, Deaf was just correcting what they felt was an incorrect assessment. I’ve not seen Turning Red yet, but I don’t see why some discussion regarding puberty (within reason) can’t be allowed. Mature topics and moments are hardly new to Pixar and Disney. For gods‘ sake, Hunchback of Notre Dame had a scene of sexual harassment, a song about lust, attempted baby murder, innocent people burning alive (offscreen) in their homes, and the villain falls into Hell itself. And the movie was rated G. I’m going to take a wild guess and say Turning Red is rated PG which does stand for Parental Guidance. And honestly, a few lines of dialogue about puberty sounds mild compared to some other PG animated films even today. Studio Laika‘s films such as Coraline, Paranorman, and Kubo and the Two Strings have such mature themes and scary imagery that make puberty talk sound wholesome in comparison. Hell, look at this poster for Coraline:

Q8g0vKo.jpg


Fucking awesome! And hey, if some parents don’t want their kids watching something like that, that’s their call but the film should still be allowed to exist. And honestly, shielding your kids too much from mature topics and imagery has some drawbacks, I can attest to that from personal experience.
 

sol_bad

Member
Serious question: do you and Sol work for Disney? You both defend pretty much all Disney ip with very corporate-sounding talking points. The posts from you two read like the back covers of DVD/BR.

Serious question, do you really think we work for Disney? Just because we have positive mind sets and don't rag on everything in Hollywood? I find it pointless to dwell in negativity.

But if listing some Disney movies that I didn't like will make you happy.

Alice in Wonderland live remake - terrible and horrible.
Prince of Persia - bland action film, I can't remember any of it's story anymore.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice - boring and didn't finish it.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - did not like it and can't remember the plot.
Cars 2 - dreadful film that focused on Mater who is an extremely annoying character.
Oz: The Great and Powerful - very average film.
Tomorrowland - disappointing and boring film, some nice visuals.
The Good Dinosaur - another average film, far from terrible though.
Alice: Through the Looking Glass - absolutely excruciating to watch, couldn't wait for it to end.
The BFG - I found this to be very boring, will need to watch again one day though.
Pete's Dragon remake - very average film, something I need to watch again.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales - I never thought a pirates movie could get any worse, then this released.
A Wrinkle in Time - pathetically bad film, wife and I ended up fast forwarding through it.
Dumbo remake - fucking horrid film with nice visuals.
The Lion King remake - boring and lifeless.
Lady and the Tramp remake - not as good as the original.
Artemis Fowl - what the fuck was this shit?
Mulan remake - boring and no where near as good as the original, some nice visuals.
 

NeverYouMind

Gold Member
For a moment after catching a glimpse of the title I became concerned. Then I remembered that I always mix Pixar up with DreamWorks. Sigh of relief. I am happy it's not a problem within DreamWorks. Never really cared for Pixar intellectual properties.
 

DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
Serious question: do you and Sol work for Disney? You both defend pretty much all Disney ip with very corporate-sounding talking points. The posts from you two read like the back covers of DVD/BR.
Serious answer. If I like something, I'll share why I liked it... If it's attacked, I'll defend it if it's something that meant a lot to me or if I think it's a great story. Whether that's a book, a food, a song, etc. I've defended The Snyder Cut, The Batman, and a whole host of other movies and shows that aren't owned by Disney. You've been on those threads so your charge of being a shill for Disney is moot.
 

Mossybrew

Member
Pixar has always been up and down. Also, I'm not a huge fan of some of people's favorites, I thought both Up and Inside Out were mediocre. Their latest best run was Coco-Incredibles2-ToyStory4 which were all good. Then there's middle of the road stuff like Onward, Soul, Luca that are an entertaining enough way to spend an hour and a half but nothing special. Then there's bottom tier flicks like Finding Dory or Turning Red, both of which I watched for about 20 minutes then turned off because I was just not into it. I will not even speak of Cars.
 
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EruditeHobo

Member
Sure, Good Dinosaur, Brave, Luca and Turning Red are fine and all, but these don't feel like "Pixar" movies. These feel typical animated kids movies with the Pixar named slapped on to boost ticket sales and streaming views. Year after year, it felt like Pixar was slowly becoming Disney Animation Studios 2. A secondary outlet for movies Disney's main studio didn't want to deal with, so they got Pixar to make them instead.

You've got this backwards... they feel more like what everyone else is doing because everyone has been ripping them off for 20 years now. That's where we've moved, western animated movies have been shaped by Pixar and as a result "Pixar" feels more like everyone else.

I feel like Pixar has kind of lost that distinct style that gave them such broad appeal to people of all ages, and instead became... just another animated movie studio. Maybe I'm just crazy though.

Turning Red is literally their most stylized movie, probably their most distinct movie visually-speaking. It's always been up and down, the real nadir was years ago with the likes of Cars 2, Monsters University, etc. Even in the early days though they didn't have always great stuff, A Bug's Life and Cars are two of their "worst" movies.

Luca, Soul, Turning Red, Coco was pretty recent, Lightyear looks pretty cool... I dunno, I feel like they are still doing a pretty good job.

But everyone will struggle to match their peak... will they ever put together a run as good as Ratatouille / Wall-E / Up / Toy Story 3 again? I mean, who knows. Probably not. Is Tarantino every going to make something as groundbreaking as Pulp FIction, no. Is Disney in general going to release a string of movies like Little Mermaid / Beauty / Aladdin / Lion King... also no.
 
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The_hunter

Member
Luca was really good, lots of style in the character design and animation, probably due to the director. Pixar can be hit or miss for me recently, mostly it misses.
 

iorek21

Member
Pixar died after TS3, had a spasm with Inside Out and has been completely dead ever since.

Their movies still amaze in the technology department, but that’s it, they’re pretty.
Some are good Sunday films to watch with kids/family, but nothing as creative or memorable as their work in the 90s and 00s.

Pixar was always about introducing interesting stories and situations to irrational/otherworldly/inanimate objects such as toys, insects, monsters, fish, cars, rats, emotions etc.

But now most are like Brave, Up! (which I don’t really like), and other stuff.

That’s also why I really liked Zootopia, I think it captured a little of that Pixar spirit, despite being from a totally different studio.
 
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EruditeHobo

Member
Coco is legit man! How dare you slander Coco. Incredibles 2 was also pretty recent and damn strong.

Zootopia is a solid movie though. Funny as hell, good characters... but there is some really weird stuff about someone imprisoned by a thoroughly institutionalized mindset... Very odd first time I watched it. Need to give it another gander, this is probably addressed by the arc of the main character by the end however, I don't really remember.
 

Rran

Member
It's about puberty but isn't raunchy or too much for kids to understand. I mean, the toons we watched as kids and teens (animaniacs, Looney Tunes, etc) had FAR MORE adult jokes and situations than any Pixar movie.
Eh, this isn't really true. I know everyone always brings up the "Fingerprints" joke but that's become so ingrained in the zeitgeist that people are starting to assume Animaniacs was under the radar constantly. But nearly all the time, Animaniacs was simply being about the Warners driving people crazy or Brain smacking Pinky with a large object. Turning Red has kids making sexy drawings, open talk about periods, grindy dancing, mild swearing, comments about stripper music, and a muddled message about "being yourself" and following id-based desires rather than listening to your parents. It's a lot more overt than anything from Animaniacs and I'd much rather my young kids watch 90 minutes of Warner cartoons than Turning Red.

Don't get me wrong, Pixar can make whatever they want and the PG rating is there for a reason (when lately for animated films, it's basically just meant "it's G, but someone farts"). I just thought the movie was kind of a mess.

Coco was a masterpiece though, one of the best animated films I've ever seen.
 
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mxbison

Member
I feel like they've lost their creativity and humor.

Now it feels like every Pixar movie is about the meaning of life.
 

Salz01

Member
Coco is legit man! How dare you slander Coco. Incredibles 2 was also pretty recent and damn strong.

Zootopia is a solid movie though. Funny as hell, good characters... but there is some really weird stuff about someone imprisoned by a thoroughly institutionalized mindset... Very odd first time I watched it. Need to give it another gander, this is probably addressed by the arc of the main character by the end however, I don't really remember.
Zootopia isn’t Pixar, it’s Disney Animation Studio. Just as an fyi.
 

SafeOrAlone

Banned
i’ve been watching all pixar movies in 3d blu-ray (on a vr headset) recently and theres a variability in style e.g. The Good Dinosaur has a bit of weird discordance between environments (realistic but still cartoonish) and characters (very cartoonish). I didn’t like that movie much but it did look good in 3d.
3d blu-ray on a VR headset sounds pretty interesting. How's that been overall?
 

Shai-Tan

Banned
3d blu-ray on a VR headset sounds pretty interesting. How's that been overall?
looks better than 3d at the movie theater. unfortunately there are only 1080p 3d blu ray (no 4k) and they've pretty much stopped making them because they were all made for 3d tv which don't exist anymore. maybe it will come back in the future when Apple or whomever mainstream vr for 3d media. also current mainstream (cheap) VR headsets like Quest 2 are too low res to actually see 4k at normal screen distance

and if you want to to watch 3d blu-ray it's DIY because there is no native Quest 2 player -> have to either transcode into TB or SBS 3d or watch on virtual desktop with a PC via Stereoscopic player (iso or mkv because it has to be decrypted first). BigScreen has some 3d movies but their selection is terrible
 
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Heimdall_Xtreme

Jim Ryan Fanclub's #1 Member
Personally, PIXAR movies are already beginning to be very repetitive in terms of the script sequence.

The main one says or pretends that it is the best.... then it fails and has moments of depression or low confidence, then it arrives a comic relief character to do many situations that change the narrative, in the end he makes use of situations and the protagonist gains confidence or gives moral situations.

I think it's time for PIXAR to really stop having this repetitive sequence and make movies with different approaches.

Because always at PIXAR, if you analyze it, it's almost the same movie... and Toy Story is the same, someone gets lost and they go looking for their friend.

Ultimately, they're boring.
 

BossLackey

Gold Member
Saying that I'll be watching Turning Red ASAP since it has a better visual style that their last few releases.
I absolutely adore Turning Red's style. I'm far from the target demo, but the movie has a ton of visual (and verbal) charm. Especially in the first 20 minutes or so. It has a style unique to the movie and we're finally starting to see that with other animated movies like "The Bad Guys".

I really really want a fully CG movie for adults like "Love Death + Robots". Only a handful have ever been made, but I think the stage is finally set for something like that to really succeed.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
They used to release one movie every 2 years or so. Then it was one a year. Now it is roughly 3 movies every two years.
So not only is their output likely to be less polished, it's also less likely to be 'special' because you probably just watched a Pixar movie.
 

Davey Cakes

Member
They used to release one movie every 2 years or so. Then it was one a year. Now it is roughly 3 movies every two years.
So not only is their output likely to be less polished, it's also less likely to be 'special' because you probably just watched a Pixar movie.
It definitely feels like Pixar movies come out more often. They used to be "event" films. Now they're just more products for Disney to crap out.
 
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Durien

Member
One of my favorite quotes comes from The Incredibles. "When everyone is special, no one is." Everyone gets a trophy...
 

RCU005

Member
I don't like that both Disney and Pixar have the same style of 3D characters. They should try different art styles, techinques, etc.

I personally enjoy Disney much more than Pixar. Disney is more fun while Pixar is more emotional in general. I like how some Pixar movies make you cry, but it's getting tiresome to always expect something emotional in the movie.

However, both Disney and Pixar could be one studio. In fact, I believe they are both run by the same person, so that's why they should try different things, different styles, different stories. Disney should not be afraid to go 2D again for some projects. There's much more they can do.

To me, as I said before, Disney has been better than Pixar for the past few years.
 

JayK47

Member
They really have dropped in quality. Wall-E and the first Incredibles are some of the best movies ever made by anybody. They just crap out content now.
 

sol_bad

Member
They really have dropped in quality. Wall-E and the first Incredibles are some of the best movies ever made by anybody. They just crap out content now.

I don't see how you can say they just shit out content when the themes for Coco, Toy Story 4, Onward, Soul, Luca and Turning Red are so strong. You can tell a lot of love and passion have gone into these stories and characters.
 
I don't see how you can say they just shit out content when the themes for Coco, Toy Story 4, Onward, Soul, Luca and Turning Red are so strong. You can tell a lot of love and passion have gone into these stories and characters.
Out of all of those you mentioned Coco, Soul and Luca are great, the rest suck lol
 

JayK47

Member
I have seen those and did not care for them. They were not bad, just not interesting to me. I enjoyed Up and Incredibles 2 was nice just to see the characters again.
 
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