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Why Pixar is #1
Townhall.com ^ | July 2, 2012 | Katie Kieffer

Posted on 07/02/2012 5:40:48 AM PDT by Kaslin

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1 posted on 07/02/2012 5:40:52 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin
As a computer programmer, and Apple/Steve Jobs fan, I remember anticipating Toy Story for the technical gee-whizzery. The first 100% animated computer-generated movie. Shading and motion, lighting and timing.

I came away having noticed NONE of that, just a good story.

2 posted on 07/02/2012 5:48:29 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: Kaslin
Instead of plopping random pop culture references and adults-only humor into medieval fairy tales, Pixar relies on clean humor and awesome technology to tell stories.

Excellent point. I particularly dislike sexual references and visuals in shows or movies directed at children. Bodily function humor, much as I detest it, is natural to children. (Take my word for it - I have six sons.) Sexual posturing and humor is NOT natural to children, but is imposed on them by adults with a personal interest in sexuality involving children, if you get what I mean.

3 posted on 07/02/2012 5:49:32 AM PDT by Tax-chick ("The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and bring me safe to His heavenly kingdom.")
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To: Tax-chick

Avoiding pop culture references would also help the story survive the test of time. 20 years from now, who is going to remember Snooki?


4 posted on 07/02/2012 5:57:40 AM PDT by jmcenanly ("The more corrupt the state, the more laws." Tacitus, Publius Cornelius)
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To: jmcenanly
20 years from now, who is going to remember Snooki?

Probably not any of the guys who had sex with her, except the one who paid the child support for 18 years.

5 posted on 07/02/2012 5:59:57 AM PDT by Tax-chick ("The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and bring me safe to His heavenly kingdom.")
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To: Kaslin

Went and Saw Brave Saturday with my wife and 3 daughters.

I really enjoyed it.

My youngest daughter is a tomboy and she really enjoyed the movie.

Pixar does great the animation is really good. The Horse looked real and so did the girls hair.

Well done Pixar.


6 posted on 07/02/2012 6:02:22 AM PDT by Rightly Biased (How do you say Arkanicide in Kenyan?)
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To: Kaslin

Pixar has more artists within its walls than the rest of Hollywood.


7 posted on 07/02/2012 6:08:21 AM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: Kaslin

I’m looking forward to going with my 11 year old granddaughter. She has very thick very curly reddish brown hair which, of course, she hates. So Tangled was good for us to watch and now Brave. Yay. At first I was, great, another anti-establishment feminist hero but from the reviews and trailers that doesn’t seem to be the case. I do love Pixar. We have the early shorts that they did pre-Toy Story. If you can find them, I recommend them highly. Monster’s Inc. is still Mr. Mercat’s favorite.


8 posted on 07/02/2012 6:09:24 AM PDT by Mercat (Necessity is the argument of tyrants. John Milton)
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To: Kaslin

“The biggest challenges at Pixar are always the stories. We want really original stories that come from the hearts and minds of our filmmakers. We take years in crafting the story and improving it and changing it; throwing things out that aren’t working and adding things that do work. All of that is just the jumping off point for the technology and how we are going to make this happen.”

The story is central. Pixar also mixes a couple of different plot types to make their movies more engaging.


9 posted on 07/02/2012 6:19:42 AM PDT by sigzero
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To: Kaslin

The “Cars” movies had the most pop culture references of the Pixar movies and were hand-down the worst of the lot.

I’m glad “Brave” is a superior film. I was bored to death by “Cars” and contemplated suicide during “Cars 2.”


10 posted on 07/02/2012 6:32:39 AM PDT by Future Snake Eater (CrossFit.com)
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To: Izzy Dunne
Disney, on the other hand, spent over a decade bleeding hundreds of millions on big-budget films like John Carter , Mars Needs Moms and Treasure Planet that tried too hard to create an edginess that would attract adults while neglecting to innovate in terms of animation.

Now, I have to admit... I liked Treasure Planet. I thought the visuals were excellent.

11 posted on 07/02/2012 6:38:10 AM PDT by Oberon (Big Brutha Be Watchin'.)
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To: Kaslin
Indeed, the Leftist approach would have been to nationalize Disney when Disney was on top, and then ban all competition.

By now, your choice in animation would be from movies about black,lesbian princesses defeating global warming, played out with the detail and dialogue of a Hanna-Barbera Scooby Doo episode. And a ticket would cost $50.

Concerning Pixar, they have about the only watchable movies out there. We rewatched The Incredibles last night.

12 posted on 07/02/2012 6:50:21 AM PDT by SampleMan (Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
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To: Kaslin
Now if only Washington, D.C. politicians would emulate these entrepreneurs.

Free markets and family values are banned subjects in Mordor.

13 posted on 07/02/2012 6:52:48 AM PDT by DTogo (High time to bring back the Sons of Liberty !!)
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To: DTogo

“But Gollum, the Evil One, crept up and slipped away with herrrr...herrrr..herrrr...yeah”

Ramble On


14 posted on 07/02/2012 6:55:00 AM PDT by wxgesr (I want to be the first person to surf on another planet.)
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To: Izzy Dunne

PIXAR films succeed because they are CHARACTER DRIVEN STORIES (well at least they were before Disney began killing the brand... CARS 2 anyone???)

Yes the technological wizardry brought people to the original films, but now computer animation is PASSE, not that PIXAR isn’t the best at it, they are, but its no longer a draw in and of itself.

Pixar has always TOLD GOOD STORIES first... period.

Brave is a good story, but not quite up to Pixar’s best works in the story department, but still better than 95% of the crap hollywood releases.


15 posted on 07/02/2012 7:01:01 AM PDT by HamiltonJay
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To: SampleMan

The Incredibles is the gold standard by which I judge movies. I can’t help it. I find myself saying, “It was good, but it wasn’t The Incredibles”.

The story is the thing. If it’s not a great story, it can’t rise to be a great movie. I don’t care how good the visuals look.

And for me, a good score is really important. I guess I’m more of an audio than a visual person.


16 posted on 07/02/2012 7:03:26 AM PDT by married21 (As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.)
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To: Kaslin
" In fact, Disney almost killed Toy Story by demanding that Pixar animators make one of the heroes, Woody, a mean and jealous character."

I wonder if that guy still works there. Heh.

17 posted on 07/02/2012 7:04:00 AM PDT by RabidBartender (No one died in Watergate...)
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To: Oberon

Treasure Planet, like nearly ever film from Disney post Lion King was largely forgettable. Yes, some of the visuals in that film were nice, but the story, the premise, the execution was thoroughly forgetable.

How the studio that made Beauty and the Beast, and then he Lion King... fell so far so fast is beyond comprehension.

Brother Bear? Atlantis? Tazan? Pocahantas? Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan, Lilo & Stitch, Home on the range? Brother Bear? Bolt?

Some were cuter than others, but NONE remotely are memorable..they were all average films at best.. not horrible, but NOT REMOTELY the calibre that Disney was in its prime.


18 posted on 07/02/2012 7:09:56 AM PDT by HamiltonJay
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To: Tax-chick
Another thing I dislike about Shrek (which I did enjoy overall) is that the whole story is based on the humorous mis-telling of classics which the audience is assumed to have internalized as canonical standards. A child unfamiliar with the source stories will miss the jokes of translation, and will internalize the mangled form as canonical instead of absurdist.

Shrek and its variations (Puss in Boots etc.) are for adults, not just because of the post-pubescent humor, but because of the literary background required for contextual appreciation.

19 posted on 07/02/2012 7:20:35 AM PDT by ctdonath2 ($1 meals: http://abuckaplate.blogspot.com)
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To: HamiltonJay
Treasure Planet, like nearly ever film from Disney post Lion King was largely forgettable. Yes, some of the visuals in that film were nice, but the story, the premise, the execution was thoroughly forgetable.

You can't very well blame the story on Disney; it was a direct adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, which was and remains a classic. If you don't like the animation, you're welcome to your opinion of course. For my part, I particularly enjoyed:

* The scenes in which the cyborg was using his mechanical appendages to help him cook.

* The opening sequence in which Jim Hawkins is riding his pseudo-windsurfing board.

* The scenes in which Captain Amelia jumps from spar to spar to personally inspect her ship's rigging (not to mention Emma Thompson's execution of the voice work).

* The entire premise of adapting the visuals of wind-powered vessels to a high-tech spacefaring universe.

Though I agree with you on the other films you list (at least, the few that I have seen), I persist in my opinion that Treasure Planet was good art.

20 posted on 07/02/2012 7:23:45 AM PDT by Oberon (Big Brutha Be Watchin'.)
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