A-List: Pixar
By Josh Spiegel
June 17, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
I know what you’re thinking, reader. If you’re an avid enough reader of Box Office Prophets, you’re wondering how the hell it’s possible that the A-List has never talked specifically about Pixar, and Pixar alone. As shocking as it is (and believe you me, I’m the first one to be shocked about it), no, the A-List has never dealt with Pixar by itself. You’ve probably read me wax on and on about the movies on this list (well, maybe not one of them), but there’s no reason not to revisit these classics, as we do. So far, the reviews for Toy Story 3 are all glowing - and though I’m cautiously optimistic, how could they not be? - which means that Pixar may well have done what no one else could do: make a satisfying trilogy of films. My fingers are crossed, as should yours be. Here, then, is this week’s A-List, about the best Pixar has ever offered us.
Toy Story
So we start at the beginning, and why not? Granted, this is going to cover both Toy Story films from the late 1990s, so the second film isn’t being shortchanged. While Pixar made itself fully known to the movie-going public in 1995 with Toy Story, it became a force that was truly to be reckoned with in 1999, with Toy Story 2. What is it about the Toy Story franchise that gets it favorably compared to the original Star Wars trilogy and the Godfather trilogy? Aliens to mobsters to…toys? Unlike most big-budget blockbusters, the Toy Story films aren’t really about quests or action or adventure. They’re about friendship. Sure, the friends are plastic toys who only talk when no humans are looking, but they’re as human as anyone we know. Woody the cowboy and Buzz Lightyear are so well developed in the first two films that, amidst all the calamity, we care about them.
Another strength of the Toy Story franchise is that the movies aren’t just about Woody and Buzz. Yes, these are the main characters, but what is a memorable story without a fully realized world? From Andy, the human owner of the toys, to playthings like Rex the dinosaur, Hamm the piggy bank, Slinky the dog, and the Potato Heads, John Lasseter (who directed the first two films) and the rest of the geniuses at Pixar gave everyone not just traits and personalities, but character arcs. Some of the best entertainments are able to provide payoffs in so many ways, and one of my favorites in the Toy Story films comes in the second, with the complete, if short, arc of Rex, who’s obsessed throughout with defeating Buzz’s video game nemesis, the evil Emperor Zurg. There’s no reason for us to go past the initial joke, but the filmmakers gave Rex plenty of time to resolve his Zurg problems. Who knows how the toys will grow in the third film, but here’s hoping it’s just as great as its predecessors.
Ratatouille
I’ve mentioned before that Ratatouille is my favorite Pixar film. Picking my favorite Pixar film is, admittedly, pretty hard. Maybe the word to use is “best”: this is, in my opinion, the best Pixar film. My favorite, depending on the day, could be Toy Story, or WALL-E, or Ratatouille, but the best and most mature of the Pixar films to date remains Ratatouille, which begins with an outlandish concept (a rat wants to be a chef in Paris) and brings it to life with about as much realism as is possible, and provides a lead character who’s endearing and standoffish, almost at the same time. In no small way, Ratatouille is something akin to a fictional biography, as we see how Remy the rat came from the lowest and smallest of backgrounds to get his own restaurant, as unlikely and ridiculous as it may sound.
The film’s climactic scene is capped off by the reading of a review by the most evil and picky food critic out there, Anton Ego, but what makes the story that comes before that review work so well is Remy, as voiced by brilliant stand-up comedian Patton Oswalt. Oswalt’s performance is able to convey the excitement of discovering new food, the urge to make a difference in the world, and the frustration of having to do it with a human helper who becomes too arrogant to realize that the only reason he’s getting praise is because of the rodent pulling on his hair. Remy may not be as instantly lovable as Woody the cowboy or Mike Wazowski, but it’s that quality, his selfish nature, that makes him more human than most of the people working in his kitchen. Ratatouille may not be the movie your kids love (or it may well be), but it’s the most adult film Pixar’s ever made.
Finding Nemo
In many ways, the cheerfully prickly nature of Remy the rat can be seen in previous Pixar classic as Toy Story, but it’s in the 2003 underwater adventure Finding Nemo that we’re presented with a lead character who could so easily become the most obnoxious fish in the ocean. Marlin the clownfish, as voiced by comedian Albert Brooks, is a sad sack from the very beginning, and for good reason. In the film’s opening scene, Marlin’s wife and all but one of his babies are murdered by a hungry barracuda. From that point on, Marlin becomes fiercely overprotective of his son, Nemo, to his and his son’s detriment. Nemo tries to show his dad that he’s a grown fish, but ends up caught in a diver’s net, which leads Marlin on a desperate journey to save his son from the human world.
Of course, since it’s a Pixar movie, you and I both know how the movie is going to end. Much as the ship always sinks at the end of Titanic, Marlin finds Nemo at the end of the movie. What makes Finding Nemo such a great film isn’t just the father-son relationship, always a bit frayed but still filled with love. It’s the characterization of Marlin, who’s a good person, but so damaged from his past that he’s not able to loosen up; and then there’s Dory, the forgetful fish who ends up helping Marlin find his son, but in the most roundabout and least helpful way possible. As voiced by Ellen DeGeneres (who should probably thank Pixar once a week for rejuvenating her career, along with an HBO special around the same time), Dory is at once charming and maddening. Marlin and Dory are both frustrating yet charismatic leads, and it’s their friendship that makes Finding Nemo so unique and special.
Presto
One of the many amazing things about Pixar Animation Studios is their love of animation in every form, long or short. The short film isn’t something we see very often, yet the majority of Pixar releases have been accompanied by animated shorts. Toy Story 3 is being preceded by Night and Day; whether or not it will match that of the best Pixar short attached to one of their films is yet to be seen, but it’s hard to imagine. That short is Presto, from 2008. Appearing in front of WALL-E, Presto has a simple plot: a rabbit wants a carrot. Why can’t he get the carrot? Well, he’s part of a famous magic act, and the magician (who has a truly magic hat) is too busy trying to perform in front of another adoring audience to feed his sidekick. So, the rabbit goes about manipulating the magic hat to get what he wants, even if it means the magician gets beat up in the process.
What makes Presto stand out among its fellow short films, including Boundin’, Lifted, and Partly Cloudy, is its speed. Evoking Looney Tunes or Tom and Jerry, Presto, directed by Doug Sweetland, runs for about five minutes, but feels like a sprint of about one minute. Every single shot of the film was created with care, but the entire short feels like it was shot out of a cannon. This isn’t to say that the other Pixar shorts are badly paced, but Presto has such an appropriately fast pace that it’s not hard not to feel out of breath by the time the credits roll. Of course, as with the majority of Pixar’s films, the main characters both get happy endings (even if the magician gets electrocuted along the way), but it’s the audience, barely able to clap as they laugh until their eyes water, that wins here and with every other great Pixar short film.
The Incredibles
This week, we’re getting a third film in the Toy Story franchise. Next year, Cars will add to its franchise with a second film. Earlier this year, it was announced that in a few years, we’ll all be visiting Monstropolis again, as Monsters, Inc. is given a sequel. There are some people who worry that Pixar is just making sequels now to make money and because they’re out of good ideas. Seeing as Cars is my least favorite Pixar film (not a bad movie, per se, just not their best work), I do wonder a bit about Cars 2, but in general, the rule should be this: if you’ve got a good story and characters, do as many sequels as you like. Just make them necessary. To me, though, the obvious choice for a movie that ought to get a sequel is staring everyone in the face. It’s the 2004 superhero epic The Incredibles. Why wouldn’t a movie about superheroes get sequels, threequels, and everything afterwards?
It helps, of course, that The Incredibles mixed fast-paced and exciting action (the scene in which Dash outruns Syndrome’s guards is the best scene in a film full of great sequences) with a believable family drama. Granted, the family drama played out amidst costumes, explosions, and superpowers, but all the same, writer-director Brad Bird is able to balance the to-the-death fighting with the family bickering. Sure, if the caliber of villain in the second Incredibles film is going to be somewhere near the first film’s final bad guy, the Underminer, then maybe we ought to avoid a new adventure with Mr. and Mrs. Incredible. I’m guessing, however, that the braintrust at Pixar (hopefully including Bird, even if he’s about to direct the fourth Mission: Impossible film) can come up with a brilliant and exciting chapter.