What was the last movie you've seen?

[dsheinem]

Cars 2 (2011), Brave (2012), MU (2013) = Pixar's sharp decline. I never thought it would get to a point where I enjoy non-Pixar CGI films more than those by the team that made Up and Wall-E, but over the past few years, this has been increasingly true. I am afraid at this point that Finding Dory (or whatever they call it) will be just another nail in their coffin. They'll make a mint, sure, but at this point they are coasting on their pedigree and animation talent - no longer on their storytelling and film making talents. The fact that they've basically become a sequel-house should clue everyone in to that...

Any thoughts that this might be Disney's doing? Cars came out right around the time Disney acquired them in 2006, and Cars 2 was announced in 2008. Also, budgets for Pixar films fluctuated a fair bit before the Disney acquisition (topping out around $120 million for A Bug's Life and then later around that for Cars), but have steadily grown since then to $200 million for Toy Story 3 and then Cars 2.

Probably. Like other film sequels, sequels of blockbuster animated hits in this day and age are usually a safe, if boring, bet. I miss the days where MU, Planes, Cars 2, etc. would likely have been straight to video productions. The Toy Story films are actually the ONLY animated films I can think of where the sequels were as good as the original and thus well worth seeing. It's really a very rare exception, even in the age of sequel overload.

[Luke]

not a troll post, really:

Monsters Inc. was better than Monsters U, and I thought (previously) Monsters Inc. was the worst Pixar film I'd seen by a pretty wide margin. Monsters U now holds that distinction.

it is a great comedy and supplies the laughs.

Me and ALL THE PEOPLE in the movie theater I saw the film in INCLUDING MANY KIDS would largely disagree with you. I don't think there was a single scene to garner more than a few chuckles from the audience, and I heard lots more of "do we have more popcorn?" and "can I go the bathroom?" and side conversations than I heard people enjoying/responding to the film. I get that it's a comedy, I guess - but jokes should be funny and (ideally) multi-layered so that they work with wide audiences. There were so, so few of these in here and the ones that were there usually seemed obvious, forced, and fell flat.

Cars 2 (2011), Brave (2012), MU (2013) = Pixar's sharp decline. I never thought it would get to a point where I enjoy non-Pixar CGI films more than those by the team that made Up and Wall-E, but over the past few years, this has been increasingly true. I am afraid at this point that Finding Dory (or whatever they call it) will be just another nail in their coffin. They'll make a mint, sure, but at this point they are coasting on their pedigree and animation talent - no longer on their storytelling and film making talents. The fact that they've basically become a sequel-house should clue everyone in to that...

Going to write this as if you were my boss:

I agree with everything you just said that I don't disagree with.

CARS 2 is under MU for me.

Agree that the story telling aspect has kept taking a turn for the worse.

PIXAR is sitting pretty and can ride the Merchandise Wheel for the rest of their lives.

Dreamworks has been killing them in every aspect for the past few years.

I stand by my statement that MU was one of the better PIXAR films to have been recently released.

The white paper on moving out of house will be sent before 3pm, 6/26.

Kind Regards,

Luke

[Luke]

...even in the age of sequel overload.

You do know the next PIXAR film is a FINDING NEMO spin off, right?

[dsheinem]

...even in the age of sequel overload.

You do know the next PIXAR film is a FINDING NEMO spin off, right?

You did read my full post, yes?

[Stark]

Oh my God, do they use a Wii U in Monsters University? Missed opportunity if not.

[Luke]

...even in the age of sequel overload.

You do know the next PIXAR film is a FINDING NEMO spin off, right?

You did read my full post, yes?

Apparently all of it but the Finding Dory part.

The shorts they come out with are amazing, so I can't count out PIXAR even if they aren't what they used to be.

[dsheinem]

The shorts they come out with are amazing, so I can't count out PIXAR even if they aren't what they used to be.

I even thought the short before MU was one of the worst I've seen from them. We've seen short film love stories with personified objects done much better before - especially by Pixar.

Everything looked really nice, though.

[MrPopo]

The shorts they come out with are amazing, so I can't count out PIXAR even if they aren't what they used to be.

I even thought the short before MU was one of the worst I've seen from them. We've seen short film love stories with personified objects done much better before - especially by Pixar.

Everything looked really nice, though.

You clearly are a soulless, joyless man.

[dsheinem]

The shorts they come out with are amazing, so I can't count out PIXAR even if they aren't what they used to be.

I even thought the short before MU was one of the worst I've seen from them. We've seen short film love stories with personified objects done much better before - especially by Pixar.

Everything looked really nice, though.

You clearly are a soulless, joyless man.

Not true. I take much joy in pointing out the grievous faults in things people mistakenly love.

[Ack]

You clearly are a soulless, joyless man.

Not true. I take much joy in pointing out the grievous faults in things people mistakenly love.

Tune in next week when dsheinem rips apart ice cream, puppy dogs, and that thing you like. Yes, you!