Pixar has actually been making great movies that just haven’t done as well at the box office as Disney. “Rise of the Guardians” was family friendly and respectful of religion. “Legend of the Guardians” had excellent analogies of standing up to evil but powerful people who push you to go along.
And “Big Hero 6” actually breaks the “evil capitalist” stereotype in an interesting twist. In short, you think the capitalist is evil, but he isn’t the villain. And it affirms doing good without the increasingly “good guy is just less bad than the bad guys” Marvel portrays.
Pixar was the undisputed master of the trade. Not just in their graphics, but in the way they told their stories.
“Up” was the last Pixar production I enjoyed. Before that, “WALL-E” was...meh.
Then, everything after that was terrible. “Brave” sucked, the rest were forgettable.
Sigh. I think Dreamworks produces far better stuff now. I miss the Pixar that gave us “The Incredibles”.
Then its movies seemed to have lost their vitality. Quite disappointed by Ratatouille and despised WALL-E. Should just have titled both PC.
Maybe they recovered their spark. Will check out the movies you cited.