Pixar, the fun-loving company that brought us such movies as
Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Cars and Up, are constantly coming up with imaginative
ways to entertain the public. It is with
great imagination and storytelling that
they give us hints into what life would be like as a bug or as a car or as a
toy. Viewpoints that would not even be
thought of, really, in most cases, though a car as a character in a movie or
cartoon has been around for a long time (see Knight Rider, My Mom the Car,
Speed Buggy and the Herbie movies).
This is not to say that Pixar can’t come up with great ideas. Their talent seems to be taking ideas or plots that have been done millions of times and coming up with a new twist. Whether it’s the buddy comedy / road trip movie, or the good versus evil movie or just a plain comedy that doesn’t make sense. For Pixar, all of their movies make sense and have an underlying theme to them.
With Up, it was about not giving up on dreams even in the face of extreme circumstances. With Wall-E, it was about discovering that love is there when you need it the most. With Toy Story, it’s the fact that the toys don’t like it when you try to destroy them. And with Toy Story 3, it’s all about ultimate friendship and sacrifice. With The Incredibles, it's about the importance of family.
That’s what is so incredible about Pixar and what they do. Every story means something and has meaning to everyone that watches it. Even children are still getting some lesson out of it. And yet, with news of two of the current “in development” movies at Pixar, I wonder just how amazing they are still going to be.
The first film that is just finishing development is Brave. A movie that is set in the highlands of Scotland a long time ago. It’s a grand movie with action and adventure and magic. Oh, and a female protagonist. That’s right, for the first time, Pixar is making a girl the main character. Let me be clear: there is nothing wrong with a female protagonist. Look at Disney, they’ve made their living on female protagonists (however, if you look at their most recent movie, Tangled – which is reviewed earlier on this blog – you’ll see there was also a male lead. This was because some producers at Disney felt that they needed to increase the male population attending their animated films as well as have more male related toys for the parents to purchase).
So why is Pixar creating a movie with a female lead? Because they can. But this leads to the question – will it work? All of their movies to this point have had male leads with female characters running alongside them. Pixar is taking a risk with a female leading the story (AGAIN, there is nothing wrong with this concept). Of course, it’s only a risk until the movie comes out. If it comes out and the movie makes $200 million, it wasn’t a risk at all. But if it only makes $150 million, that might be saying something to Pixar and Disney in general. Not that Disney and Pixar should change their movie making strategies, but at least to think about them a little more.
The second movie that Pixar has in the works “takes place inside of a girl’s mind” (quoted from this article). Again, it’s another risk to have a female that is technically in the lead (though, at the moment, it seems unclear exactly what the focus of the movie will be). But Pixar seems to be able to toss fairy dust on paper and it turns into a magical movie experience. I plan on seeing Brave for a lot of reasons, most of which are because I think the story is very original, but also because I am a fan of Pixar itself.
With these two movies, Pixar is taking a leap of hope and faith that their audience will remain loyal regardless of the film’s characters, setting or plot. For Pixar, the most important things are the characters and how they fit with each story being told. For me, I think that they will continue to tell great stories with great characters.
This is not to say that Pixar can’t come up with great ideas. Their talent seems to be taking ideas or plots that have been done millions of times and coming up with a new twist. Whether it’s the buddy comedy / road trip movie, or the good versus evil movie or just a plain comedy that doesn’t make sense. For Pixar, all of their movies make sense and have an underlying theme to them.
With Up, it was about not giving up on dreams even in the face of extreme circumstances. With Wall-E, it was about discovering that love is there when you need it the most. With Toy Story, it’s the fact that the toys don’t like it when you try to destroy them. And with Toy Story 3, it’s all about ultimate friendship and sacrifice. With The Incredibles, it's about the importance of family.
That’s what is so incredible about Pixar and what they do. Every story means something and has meaning to everyone that watches it. Even children are still getting some lesson out of it. And yet, with news of two of the current “in development” movies at Pixar, I wonder just how amazing they are still going to be.
The first film that is just finishing development is Brave. A movie that is set in the highlands of Scotland a long time ago. It’s a grand movie with action and adventure and magic. Oh, and a female protagonist. That’s right, for the first time, Pixar is making a girl the main character. Let me be clear: there is nothing wrong with a female protagonist. Look at Disney, they’ve made their living on female protagonists (however, if you look at their most recent movie, Tangled – which is reviewed earlier on this blog – you’ll see there was also a male lead. This was because some producers at Disney felt that they needed to increase the male population attending their animated films as well as have more male related toys for the parents to purchase).
So why is Pixar creating a movie with a female lead? Because they can. But this leads to the question – will it work? All of their movies to this point have had male leads with female characters running alongside them. Pixar is taking a risk with a female leading the story (AGAIN, there is nothing wrong with this concept). Of course, it’s only a risk until the movie comes out. If it comes out and the movie makes $200 million, it wasn’t a risk at all. But if it only makes $150 million, that might be saying something to Pixar and Disney in general. Not that Disney and Pixar should change their movie making strategies, but at least to think about them a little more.
The second movie that Pixar has in the works “takes place inside of a girl’s mind” (quoted from this article). Again, it’s another risk to have a female that is technically in the lead (though, at the moment, it seems unclear exactly what the focus of the movie will be). But Pixar seems to be able to toss fairy dust on paper and it turns into a magical movie experience. I plan on seeing Brave for a lot of reasons, most of which are because I think the story is very original, but also because I am a fan of Pixar itself.
With these two movies, Pixar is taking a leap of hope and faith that their audience will remain loyal regardless of the film’s characters, setting or plot. For Pixar, the most important things are the characters and how they fit with each story being told. For me, I think that they will continue to tell great stories with great characters.
Until next time.
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