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Is Pixar on a downward spiral?

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Ratatouille and Wall-E were back to back perfection for me personally. I loved the opening to Up, but then it introduced annoying characters. I appreciate Toy Story 3 and understand that it's an animated masterpiece, but I just haven't been swept away with whimsy by anything Pixar has done since that lonely robot found someone to love a whole life long. 4 years.

Monsters University looks like it's going to taint a classic that I love. Here's hoping Brave is good! My opinion on current Pixar might change in a few hours!
 
They went into a flat spin after The Incredibles, really.
Brave looks like the part where Goose hits the canopy.
 
Having seen Brave, it's mid-tier Pixar--not as manic or high-concept or brilliant as Pixar's best, but more focused, more intimate, more feminist. It's a really good movie, nowhere near as bad as Pixar's failures (Cars, Cars 2, A Bug's Life). Definitely worth seeing.

What is wrong with A Bug's Life ? It's a great movie. It's one of Pixar's greatests.

That will be my first thread "What's wrong with A Bug's Life, Gaf ?". I don't understand GAF hate about this movie.
 
yeah

the rest of the world has finally grown up and started worrying about who the target audience for the movies they watch are

because judging movies based on what your peers will think about you if they find out you watched this movie

that's true maturity

i'm not saying adults can't enjoy animated movies, i'm saying the movies have got a disproportionate amount of praise relative to their quality. feels like people are eager to show how "free thinking and open minded" they are by rallying behind children's films when they never watch any other children's films. is pixar really better than dreamworks, or do they just have more film buff credibility for whatever reason?
 
A Bug's Life

And as a lesson I LOVED this as a kid.
Pixar has some brilliant films and some not so brilliant - whats new?

Critics rave about Toy Story 3 but its basically Toy Story 2 without the charisma and theres a lack of moments for kids imo. Certainly not the masterpiece some claimed - its decent but is my least favourite Toy Story film and I feel it tries to steal some of the brilliance of 2; we had all that story before and the emotional heart of the film was done so much better and heartbreaking here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px0j1EHF8Y0

Yet some will think differently. Welcome to life kids.
 
A Bug's Life isn't bad, it just looks worse compared to most of Pixar's canon. It's got a great cast of likable characters with perfect voice acting, the bug's eye view of the world gets mined for plenty of clever set pieces and sight gags, and it's backed by a strong, witty screenplay. Just compared to other Pixar movies, the animation is a bit simplistic, and a lot of it's themes are better executed in later films.

Now keep in mind I haven't seen this movie since like, 2007 or some shit so I could be talking out my ass.
 
The end of Toy Story 3 was unintentionally hilarious, but it was definitely the least shitty of their last few.
 
What is wrong with A Bug's Life ? It's a great movie. It's one of Pixar's greatests.

That will be my first thread "What's wrong with A Bug's Life, Gaf ?". I don't understand GAF hate about this movie.

I don't know what people's problem with A Bug's Life is either. It's better than Nemo.
 
A Bug's Life isn't bad, it just looks worse compared to most of Pixar's canon. It's got a great cast of likable characters with perfect voice acting, the bug's eye view of the world gets mined for plenty of clever set pieces and sight gags, and it's backed by a strong, witty screenplay. Just compared to other Pixar movies, the animation is a bit simplistic, and a lot of it's themes are better executed in later films.

Now keep in mind I haven't seen this movie since like, 2007 or some shit so I could be talking out my ass.

I totally agree with the qualities you mention. But I think this movie's better than all the post-Finding Nemo Pixar movies. The animation was great for that time.
 
Up was like finding out there's no Santa Claus. I know that pile has its fans, but it's easily worse than Cars 2. It's like half the cast was Mater instead of just one.
 
i'm not saying adults can't enjoy animated movies, i'm saying the movies have got a disproportionate amount of praise relative to their quality. feels like people are eager to show how "free thinking and open minded" they are by rallying behind children's films when they never watch any other children's films. is pixar really better than dreamworks, or do they just have more film buff credibility for whatever reason?

or maybe pixar just tends to make more good movies

and maybe dreamworks just tends to make more bad movies

maybe that's why people call pixar on it when they make a cars 2, and give dreamworks props when they make a how to train your dragon
 
The end of Toy Story 3 was unintentionally hilarious, but it was definitely the least shitty of their last few.
The hell? Toy Story 3 was terrific, and which of their movies is "shitty"? Maybe Cars 2 (I haven't seen it yet). What does last few imply?
 
What does last few imply?

Up, Toy Story 3, Cars 2, and I'm assuming Brave. (76% for a Pixar movie is like a 50% for anything else)
 
Cars 2 was just a blatant merchandising cash grab. Brave seems like an entirely different issue.

This. Disney only demanded Cars 2 because of the amount of merchandise they sold from the first movie. And conveniently, Cars 2 is global with more international characters for even more merchandise..

Brave looks boring, but I'll probably watch it..
 
toy story 3's ending felt like pixar trying to bait man children in to thinking their movie was insightful & profound.

Just like the beginning of Up.
 
Every movie they make can't be an instant classic.

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Still John Lassenter's best movie
 
Also to "pour fuel on the fire", a french hipster/hater magazine about society & culture, "Technikart", ranked Cars 2 in its 2011 Movies Top 10 saying that
Once you understand this movie is the complete opposite of the first one (hectic, centrifuge and travelling), its spy-flick coolness and its visual genius take the cake.

http://www.technikart.com/technikart-live/top-10-annee-2011/top-10-films-2011

I think it was worth mentioning.
Sorry for my bad french-english translation, I hope it's understandable
 
Up, Toy Story 3, Cars 2, and I'm assuming Brave. (76% for a Pixar movie is like a 50% for anything else)
I mean it's your opinion, sure. Up and Toy Story 3 are both fantastic animated movies. If you don't think they are great, it is hard to call them "bad" that's for damn sure. They are well made throughout. Emotional, funny, and have moments that are brave (no pun) for an animated film.
 
I mean it's your opinion, sure. Up and Toy Story 3 are both fantastic animated movies. If you don't think they are great, it is hard to call them "bad" that's for damn sure. They are well made throughout. Emotional, funny, and have moments that are brave (no pun) for an animated film.

I like Toy Story 3. All I said is that it falls apart at the end.
Up is trash, though.
 
Ratatouille and Wall-E were back to back perfection for me personally. I loved the opening to Up, but then it introduced annoying characters. I appreciate Toy Story 3 and understand that it's an animated masterpiece, but I just haven't been swept away with whimsy by anything Pixar has done since that lonely robot found someone to love a whole life long. 4 years.

Monsters University looks like it's going to taint a classic that I love.

I feel exactly the same. I didn't like Toy Story 3, it was decent but that's all. Wall-E was the last time I loved a Pixar movie, even with the third act issues.
 
Having seen Brave, it's mid-tier Pixar--not as manic or high-concept or brilliant as Pixar's best, but more focused, more intimate, more feminist. It's a really good movie, nowhere near as bad as Pixar's failures (Cars, Cars 2, A Bug's Life). Definitely worth seeing.

As long as my 4 year old daughter will enjoy it, thats all I care about.
 
Brave has had a weird marketing campaign, they seem to be pushing it as some kind of female How to Train Your Dragon. Not that HTTYD is a bad movie, just that Brave seems really derivative based on the marketing. Plus there seems to be this disconnect between goofiness and some mystical aspect, it's just an odd campaign.

Anyway, the loss of Bird and Stanton is definitely painful, as Incredibles and Finding Nemo (especially Incredibles) are just classic, I can watch them over and over in a loop and still enjoy them.
 
Pixar is in a downward spiral until they release another 90%+ RT rated film and everyone says they're back before actually seeing it.
 
Pixar is in a downward spiral until they release another 90%+ RT rated film and everyone says they're back before actually seeing it.

I don't need RT averages to validate my opinions. I like what I like. Besides, does anyone really think Ghost Protocol deserved a 94%?
And I'm with the people who think that Wall-E is underrated among internet nerds.
 
I don't need RT averages to validate my opinions. I like what I like.
And I'm with the people who think that Wall-E is underrated among internet nerds.

I'm more referring to the OP who used RT to make his point. I haven't seen Brave so I can't say if it's amazing, OK, or bad. I would hope that the OP would watch the film and form his own opinion instead assuming it's bad because others said so.
 
And I'm with the people who think that Wall-E is underrated among internet nerds.
Isn't Wall-E revered among the "internet nerds"? It certainly is around GAF from my experience. I've always found that Finding Nemo (Stanton's better movie) seems underappreciated by comparison.

Of course the most overrated Pixar movie by a mile is Ratatouille, which is a 1 hour story with nearly an hour of boring filler *runs*
 
Isn't Wall-E revered among the "internet nerds"? It certainly is around GAF from my experience.

It's pretty much universally adored by well-adjusted people. (not that I'm one of those) A lot of forum-types think that humans completely ruin it.
 
I have no interest in seeing brave.

The story presented in the trailers make it sound like a cliched movie I've already seen a dozen times.
 
Time Magazine named Wall-E the best movie of the 2000's.
They also had a woman breastfeeding her three year old on the front cover. It's called pandering or we are a dying industry and will say/do anything to get the general population to like us. Wall-E was a good film, but no where near the best of the decade.
 
It's pretty much universally adored by well-adjusted people. (not that I'm one of those) A lot of forum-types think that humans completely ruin it.

They do. First half is absolutely amazing then te second half is when things go down the drain.
 
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