Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
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Cinematical story
We already knew that Pixar would release Up in 2009 and Toy Story 3 in 2010, so the news here is two new movies premiering in 2011 and 2012: Newt and Cars 2, respectively. Most of us are familiar with Cars, but Newt is a new property, so here's a synopsis: Quote:
As far as Cars 2 goes, I can't say I'm excited about another sequel. Toy Story sequels I can tolerate because it was Pixar's first feature film, and because they only come out with a new Toy Story like once a decade. But Cars? I guess it should have been been obvious that Cars would be Pixar's next key franchise...you don't see toothbrushes and televisions based on Ratatouille. But still...it's one more step towards, well, Disney for Pixar, and I don't like it. They seem to be settling into a "sequel, original movie, sequel" pattern. I'm sure Toy Story 3 and Cars 2 are going to be huge successes for Pixar, but when the alternative is, um, a romantic comedy starring newts...it's not like you can blame the kids for not lapping Newt merchandise up, y'know? But the good news is, it seems, that Pixar's original movies are apparently allowed to be more experimental. Look no further than this year's Wall-E, with sparse, synthensized dialogue, a la 2001: A Space Odyssey. Or, well, a romantic comedy starring newts. I guess what I'm saying is that if sequels to established mega-franchises allow Pixar to take more risks with their other work, than I'm sort of okay with it. I really wish it wasn't an either/or scenario, though... Oh, and Disney Animation Studios announced their release schedule as well, but nobody cares about that (four Tinkerbell movies?!?). Of note on the Pixar front, Toy Story and Toy Story 2 will be re-released in 3D in the months leading up to Toy Story 3's summer 2010 release. So tell me: Am I just paranoid that my precious Pixar is passing its prime? and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong |
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Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Seaford, VA
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Just because, you, one of 6 billion people on the planet, don't care for Pixar's upcoming releases, doesn't mean that Pixar is past its prime.
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*AD SPACE FOR SALE*
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cleveland-ish, OH
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Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
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Um...where did I say I didn't care for Pixar's upcoming releases? Wall-E is practically already my favorite film of the year, and I can't wait to see more of Up. I'm just saying...Pixar's line-up has never been so sequel-heavy before, and sequels were pretty much what ruined Disney Animation Studios for many people. What's next? Direct-to-video Finding Nemo III: Christmas in the Sea?!? Available only this holiday season, before it goes back into the Pixar Vault forever? Until next year, when the special Platinum Edition with all-new sing-a-longs comes out? I'm a huge Pixar fan, so please don't put words into my mouth. It's just that their increased reliance on established franchises worries me. Original franchises are one of the things that separate Pixar from the DreamWorks of the world. But what do I know, I'm just one person out of six billion. The masses want more Shrek, so I must be in the wrong. and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong |
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Thunderbolt, fuck yeah!
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Denmark
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And that's probably why Roboman stated this thread in the first place, ctt1wbw.
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Rocket Surgeon
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: The Canadark
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If you mean "Disneyfication" just say it.....
Don't fear the mouse.... |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2004
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Sequels can be good. Look at Toy Story 2, for instance. If and when Pixar drops a steaming load of a sequel, that'll be the day to decry their lack of new material. But, you know... if that's the case, then all new characters don't exactly make up for a lack of quality in the first place. |
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Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
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I guess I'm just not super-confident that...they can be? I mean, there's a limited amount of space to explore in any given property, and sometimes you can make a sequel that's a natural, logical expansion of the previous film. But sometimes you can't, and you're forcing it. Again, Shrek is an example. I don't think the characters are strong enough to carry four movies, and the pop culture references and "anti-fairy tale" motifs are wearing thing. I'm not saying that either Toy Story or Cars are at that point yet. Hopefully, they never will be. You're right in that it wasn't just sequels that drove people from Disney, it was inferior sequels. But I would contest that A) sometimes there isn't room for a sequel in a franchise at all, and B) when you produce an inferior sequel, it affects people's perception of the original as well (see: The Matrix). Finally, I would contest that when you fall into a routine of making regular sequels (as in a sequel, original movie, sequel pattern), you're more likely to have to force a sequel into a franchise where it doesn't feel natural (ignoring A), which will likely be inferior (proving B). Again, Pixar hasn't done this yet. This is just conjecture. I'm just explaining why sequels in general bother me. More of them is rarely a good thing. I would rather Pixar explore new territory with each release, but I'm not sure how realistic that is in today's movie business. (Not everyone can be Studio Ghibli.) and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong |
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Hates the Infotainment
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
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Monsters Inc was the pinnacle. It's all down hill from there, lads. The Incredibles wasn't bad but... these movies are clearly losing their storyline. Toy Story 3? GMAB, Steve. Sequels and Tre-quels shouldn't be on the agenda for Pixar. Universally enjoyable (by all ages) stories and originality should.
...into the light of a dark black night. |
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Rocket Surgeon
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: The Canadark
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Actually, I agree with Moogs. All the sequels do is make the original graphics look crappy, while having a slightly weaker story. Which means that both the original and the sequel suffer by comparison to the other.
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Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
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Again, maybe I sounded more alarmist than I meant to be - I'm not trying to sound the death knell for Pixar, at least not yet (because Wall-E looks phenomenal). I guess the increased number of sequels just has me concerned, that's all. and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong |
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Hates the Infotainment
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
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Well, it should. It means they're being profit-driven ahead of being idea-driven which IMO was not the case originally. Once an entertainment company cares more about merchandising and branding vs. really entertaining to the highest quality, and then taking whatever merchandising gravy results, it's all over....
...into the light of a dark black night. |
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Not sayin', just sayin'
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Cars 2 concerns me a bit only because Cars wasn't so hot. It's actually on par with toy Story, but the bar had been raised so far by that point that it was a disappointment. Dare I say this, but John Lasseter might be their poorest director! That's saying quite a bit about their other directors though.
I generally agree about sequels being weaker, but Toy Story 2 clearly was a better movie than the original, and in that way was exceptional. That means nothing with regard to either Toy Story 3 or Cars 2. Just sayin'... I don't know how you can say the story or emotion of Finding Nemo and Ratatouille were absent though. The Incredibles was more satirical, hence the lack of emotional pull, but very sharp nonetheless. Wall*E is sounds like it's going to be fantastic, and Up sounds so damned... surreal yet emotionally charged, I can't wait for it either. Newt sounds just a potentially interesting, but it could fall a bit flat since it sounds like it might get compared to Wall*E given its strong boy-girl story alone. |
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Selfish Heathen
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
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The quality of this board depends on the quality of the posts. The only way to guarantee thoughtful, informative discussion is to write thoughtful, informative posts. AppleNova is not a real-time chat forum. You have time to compose messages and edit them before and after posting. |
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Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
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Personally, I prefer the first one (possibly because of the sheer "wow" factor it had in 1995), and I wouldn't say Toy Story 2 was my favorite Pixar film, much less the best film ever. Still, it's an enjoyable and worthy part of the Pixar canon, and worth a second look.
and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong |
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Dark Cat of the Sith
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Newt sounds great to me, which is funny, because Pixar seems hit-and-miss for me. i.e. I loved Monsters Inc. and The Incredibles, but I really disliked Finding Nemo. (Having it be playing on constant loop every day during the FCAT week my last 2 years of school may have contributed to that, though; it was just on the school TV channel and when those of us who didn't have to take the test were in class the teachers would turn it on and we couldn't escaaaaape...)
"A blind, deaf, comatose, lobotomy patient could feel my anger!" - Darth Baras twitter ; amateur photographer ; fanfiction writer ; roleplayer and worldbuilder |
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Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Seaford, VA
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I haven't seen a Pixar movie yet that I didn't like. I have loved all of them. They're just like the Harry Potter movies, made more for adults than kids.
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careful with axes
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Hillsborough, CA
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Unknown
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If you don't like the idea of Pixar doing romantic stuff, then you might not like Wall-E: I'm pretty sure it's a love story.
I'm not crazy about the idea of Cars 2, especially since they haven't done an Incredibles 2 yet. And I was only luke warm on Cars in the first place. The Incredibles is one of may all time favorite movies. It had such awesome and accurate character development, and a wonderful twist of storyline for a 'superhero' movie. Do you know where children get all of their energy? - They suck it right out of their parents! |
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Not sayin', just sayin'
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... in spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace!!! |
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Mr. Vieira
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
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I liked the two "Toy Story" movies a lot. Funny, clever, sweet, visually engaging, etc.
I've really only seen "The Incredibles" and "Cars" since (no rat, no fish, no monsters and just a few clips of the bug one) and I wasn't as big on those. "The Incredibles" had a great look and some nice parts. "Cars" struck me as one of those 90's formulaic Disney animated features. Just seemed a bit "by the numbers" and (no pun) like it was just coasting. At some point - and it already has for many, I would think - the visual spectacle and "ohmigosh, how did they do that?" animation dazzle will wear off, and simply become expected and commonplace. When that happens, they'd better be sure the stories, writing and characters are there. That's what has made the Pixar stuff a cut above the rest, but I'd hate to see them get lazy and complacent and revert to auto-pilot as time goes on. I don't want to see them go into "crank 'em out for the dough" mode. They start appearing yearly and something seems a bit lost or rushed to me. And hyping them 10-14 months in advance surely doesn't help because I think it sets a very high bar that most things can't match, and people can't help but be a little disappointed and let down. "Damn, that chrome grille 'Cars' logo was everywhere for nine months, and it was just a so-so movie. I was expecting something a bit...more." |
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Not sayin', just sayin'
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try the rat, fish and monster movies then, Paul.
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Senior Member
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: St. Louis, MO
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I'm all about sequels if that gets an Incredibles II on the screen.
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Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
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The good news: I was wrong about Pixar moving into a sequel, original film, sequel pattern.
The maybe-not-so-good news: That's because they've announced a second movie for 2011. Maybe Pixar's corporate overlords (or are they their own corporate overlords now?) are as nervous about the marketability of a romantic comedy starring newts as I am, because Pixar's announced a second film for 2011. It's The Bear and the Bow - Pixar's first fairy tale, and a return to a holiday release after years of summer releases (because it's in between two summer releases, natch). Reese Witherspoon stars. Three films - newt, Bear, and Cars 2 - in about a year. Hmm... What's that other major CGI studio that's committed to releasing at least two feature films per year? Oh, right - Dreamworks. (How's that for alarmist?) I'm not saying that Pixar is moving to a two-films-per-year schedule. Like my earlier (now proven false) sequel-original-sequel conjecture, it's too early to make any sort of "pattern" out of one holiday release. It could just be a fluke. (Pixar has only announced their releases through summer 2012, so they could be prepping an unannounced film for holiday 2012; that seems unlikely, however, because that's when Disney's own King of the Elves is set to be released.) But it certainly looks as though Disney as a whole is looking to pump out an animated film (from either Pixar or Disney Animation Studios) every six months or so. In fact, that's what they've been doing ever since Cars and the Pixar buyout in 2006, and per their current release schedule, that's what they'll be doing until at least 2013. And I'm not sure if I'd call the most recent film from the Disney side, last year's Meet the Robinsons, a success. Maybe Pixar will be able to handle doing two films a year (if only every once in a while) better than Dreamworks or Disney. But, again...it's hard to imagine such a move improving the quality of their output. (But maybe improving the quantity will be enough...maybe.) and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong |
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Space Pirate
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
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Click on my "PiratePalooza" link in my sig and look at today's post; it's inline video of a life-size animatronic R/C version of Wall-E they were playing with out in Los Angeles and it's cute as as BUG!!! I saw this on Digg and decided that I'd remember it best if I plugged that video onto the Palooza site so that I wouldn't forget it.
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Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
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Hopefully it goes on clearance...eventually. I can't wait for Wall-E. Seriously. It's my most anticipated movie in years. I just keep watching the trailer, over and over...I can't remember doing that for any other Pixar film, but it's just so magical. I'm already in love with the characters. Unless something goes horribly wrong, it'll probably top Ratatouille as my favorite Pixar film. Hmm. My favorite Pixar film is their most recent...and that will probably be overtaken by their next...that would seem to imply that Pixar is getting better and better, wouldn't it? Maybe they can pull off two films a year, and more sequels, and the like. Maybe. As excited as I am to see Wall-E, I'm just as excited to see the first teasers for Up. ("Up" is my third-favorite two-letter word, behind "be" and "if." Betcha didn't know that, huh? Whoo, random.) and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong |
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Hates the Infotainment
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
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I saw the preview for Wal-e on the big screen. It looked decent, if predictable.
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BANNED
I am worthless beyond hope. Join Date: Dec 2005
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Pixar isn't falling into any sort of rut or pattern, they are just growing and have a lot more resources since their purchase/merger with Disney. All the same talent and creative force is there, they are still in Emeryville and still have a lot of fun doing what they do which is why they shine. The only surprising thing is that an Incredibles 2 isn't in the making or at least until after 2012. I really feel as if that movie would have produced the most expected and easiest to impress sequel. Quote:
Ratatouille, in my opinion, is proof that Pixar will go against corporate and pure marketing pressure and take on a project that is in many ways risky and not a "sure thing." I love Toy Story, and it is what made me a major pixar enthusiast, however, I really do think that Ratatouille is their best work. It is an incredibly beautiful movie, the artistry is wonderful, the score is great, and the story is different but engaging and fun. There were certainly negatives to the movie, and I found the rough introduction and inclusion of the love interest to be unnecessary or not developed correctly but there were points of that movie that made me feel as if I was watching something produced by people at the top of their game and it was very cool. Quote:
Watch Cars or Ratatouille on a high end 1080P HDTV with Blu Ray.... it completely changes the way you think of these movies, you can see an astonishing amount of detail that really leaves you in awe of how they had the time and mind to put such small touches into their animation. It really is amazing. |
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