I had a sneak peak of a private screening of Onward the new PIXAR film!! This comes out March 6th.
My review is here buried within my rankings of all 22 PIXAR films!!!
22
CARS 2
This is the worst PIXAR film. Poorly written. It looks like a Saturday morning cartoon. Clearly a money grab.
21
THE GOOD DINOSAUR
The film came across flat. Surprisingly boring. Plus animals eating other animals as kids watch,ugh. Throw in the dinosaur and the boy are both annoying.
20
CARS
I understand it is very difficult to make a film giving Cars personality. I also understand that little boys love cars and that is the market. However watching cars fall in love by taking a ride together. Huh?
19
CARS 3
The better of the Cars films. The plot works as a new vs old theme and finding the middle ground.
But the ending? Cars switching places? Really? Kids will not care. but adults will go...ahhhh NO.
18
BRAVE
PIXAR film that blew up big time in the back end. I loved Princess Merida! She was bad ass...unlike any Disney princess ever seen. A fighter. Strong. She does not need a man to save her. Interesting relationship with her mom, pushing against old ways. Then the mom turns into a bear and the whole film blew up!!
17
MONSTERS UNIVERSITY
I still love the characters. It is fun to see them in their younger days. Wazowski was a little more annoying. The plot is basic and kind of watchable, with made up tension, we have seen the future in the first Monsters inc film, so we know they are friends in the end. This was pretty much a not needed prequel that is a money grab.
16
ONWARD
Oh Boy!!!
This is the first PIXAR film without John Lasseter's input!! Disney....we have a problem!!!!
What we have here are 2 elfish brothers who go on the quest to find the upper half of their dead father, so the younger brother Ian can finally meet his fatherwith a 24 hour clock.
Well I will start out with the positives:
-Tom Holland is wonderful as the voice of Ian the younger brother.
-The story is rough up until the end, it recovers a bit in the last ten minutes when we realize that the quest is not about the younger brother.
-The town and area is odd but it looks...PIXAR colorful.
Negatives?.......
-The story is creepy...with finding the other half of dad. It is just too over the top. I cannot believe this got the greenlight from Disney. I would not let Dan Scanlon write or direct another Disney film
-Chris Pratt is dreadful as older brother Barley. He seems to be doing a really bad Jack Black imitation and he fails miserably. Maybe they were not able to get Jack Black.
-Humor every , I mean every, attempt at humor falls flat. I heard no laughs in my screening.
-Continuity!! They are carrying a magical staff. Sometimes they are not...sometimes they are...it just keeps appearing when they need it. However they are walking, so it is not hidden!!! The dad or dad bottom, again creepy and bothersome, is sometimes walking with them and sometimes it looks like they forgot to add him into the animation!! This is an animation sin that would have never happened under Lasseter.
-The story is suppose to be like a Lord Of The Rings, mixed with Harry Potter magic but all in all the few kids in my theater were rammy and not getting this film. Then in an embarrassing move at the end they stole a move from Back To The Future. Just lazy writing, stealing ideas. PIXAR used to not steal ideas they created fresh ideas (Inside Out).
Thankfully Hollands Charachter and the last 10 minutes helps save this to 2 stars out of 5 (2 may be generous). I would skip this and wait for home viewing if you really want to see this. Wait and hope the PIXAR's Soul coming later in the Spring will save PIXAR.
15
FINDING DORY
Love the story line. There is a sadness about Dory being confused. A nice story of friendship. Again like Nemo, just beautiful to look at. However when there is sea creatures driving vehicles the film blew up.
14
TOY STORY 2
I understand there is an over riding theme of friendship and loyalty. The down side of greed. Kinda scary..maybe too scary for kids. I just never attached to this film. I think it was separating Woody from others...it made the film lose its rhythm.
13
INCREDIBLES 2
I am at the point where there is not much bad to say.
A very good Pixar film.
Good story, and fun. Looks great.
I found the focus on Jack kind of...takes away from the story...and not as funny as they thought.
Before I forget the score is awesome.
12
TOY STORY 4
I thought this was just a money grab, I was wrong, there was a story to tell here. Expanding your horizons. Finding your worth. Yes the dolls are creepy. Yes I missed Buzz in this film. All in all it works. I still do not understand the love for Bo.
11
A BUGS LIFE
I still think the most underrated PIXAR film. A story about standing up to Bullies. A wink at show business. A love story. An underdog story. All this wrapped up with a little bit of humor.
10
COCO
Coco has grown on me over time. It is just gorgeous, The music is wonderful. It is about the bridge between generations and also misunderstandings. Still it hard to get past...THE PEOPLE ARE DEAD!!!!!!!
9
RATATOUILLE
I know this is many PIXAR fans favorites. I really like the look. The under dog story. I still have problems after all these years...THERE ARE RATS IN THE KITCHEN AND VIEWERS DO NOT CARE!!
8
MONSTERS INC.
What a clever idea by writers Peter Doctor and Jill Culton. I mean a film about kids fear of monsters under your bed and in the closet??!! A cartoon? Humor? It worked because of the writing. Throw in the umbrella of love. Monsters Inc is just clever.
7
UP
Yes it was difficult to reach the level of the perfect first 10 minutes. Still it was strong with wonderful characters like Russell; Carl (Ed Asner); Dug; and lets not forget Ellie. Throw in an adventure crossing generations. UP is wonderful.
6
THE INCREDIBLES
A PIXAR superhero film!!! Fun and exciting. I cannot believe it took 14 years to make another one.
5
TOY STORY 3
Yes the odd story of the day care being creepy is very odd. But it all reached to the perfect ending of Andy growing up and passing on the toys to some one else to play with. Perfect ending.
4
Wall-E
Pretty much an old fashion silent film. Yet somehow it has heart, we care about Wall-E. It is also a strange love story. The movie looks fantastic and writers peter Doctor and Andrew Stanton even throw in a lesson of what we could become. A beautiful film that grew on me over time, after my first viewing in the theater , I though it was just okay. After many views I got to understand the sub plots intricacies.
3
TOY STORY
It started with a ball and a lamp in a short film. Then came Toy Story. Woody and Buzz. If this film did not work nothing would follow. It had nostalgia. It had heart. A lesson of understanding. Yes it could have been higher up..but sadly go back and look at it, it looks so...computerized animation generic. Watching Toy Story now a days you see how choppy it looks compared to what PIXAR films look like today. Still Toy Story may look like generic animation but the story still holds.
2
INSIDE OUT
A lesson for our time. Parents who over shield their children, afraid they will be sad or hurt. Inside Out say you cannot have happiness without a little sadness, it help children cope. Writers peter Doctor (Again!!!) and Ronnie Del Carmen pull this off without lecturing. They throw in a lot of humor, often laughing at ourselves and our thoughts. Yes it gets a bit wacky at the end...but it still works. Great voice work by Phyllis Smith as Sadness; Amy Poehler as Joy; and Richard Kind as the wonderful...tears..Bing Bong. The PIXAR animation is also very good with memory being full of color. It all works. Thanks San Francisco You Ruined Pizza!!!!!!!!
1
FINDING NEMO
What a beautiful looking film!!! A fantastic story touching on the difficulty of letting your kids swim alone. Funny, touching, action, clever...with great unforgettable characters...MINE MINE MINE!!!!
