Pixar is going downhill.
The animation studio that we thought could do absolutely no wrong is suddenly seeing the competitors matching them punch for punch. The Lego Movie, Frozen, The Adventures of Tintin, Wreck-It Ralph, Rango are all animated movies released in the past four years that have equaled or surpassed the Pixar movies of this current decade. After four straight years of winning the Best Animated Feature Oscar, they have had only one film even nominated in the category in the past three years.
We are seeing a sudden added emphasis on sequels/prequels as opposed to attempting original ideas. In the 2010s we saw Toy Story 3, Cars 2, Monster’s University, with Finding Dory coming up and potentially a Toy Story 4 down the road. The creativity levels has diminished a bit and we are seeing more and more production delays than ever as the studio seems to be struggling in figuring out how to deliver a great movie.
The best way to describe what has happened is this: Pixar lost its bravery.
Remember the epic 2007-2010 run that gave us multiple Best Picture Nominees as well as multiple Best Animated Feature winners? Those movies were all unique in their own sort of way and created some beautiful moments on screen.
2007 gave us Ratatouille, an animated movie with a heavy amount of indie flair. It was the male Cinderella story as we see an unexpected source become the best chef in France. This movie was extremely tough to market and appeal to kids originally but through word-of-mouth it eventually become a phenomenal hit. Ratatouille up to that point was arguably the most unique computer-animated movie ever released.
2008 gave us Wall-E, the first animated movie since Beauty and the Beast to truly have a legitimate shot at winning Best Picture overall because of the overwhelming support. And it was its exclusion from the main prize and the critical aftermath that led to the Academy increasing the amount of Best Picture nominees to at least 8. It was a love story that was a mix of Charlie Chaplain and 2001: A Space Odyssey—one of the most unique love stories in the history of cinema.
2009 gave us Up, which featured one of the most popular and heartfelt deaths in an animated movie since Bambi. And they delivered it immediately 5 minutes into the movie, and without a single word. It is risky to pull off such a sad movie for the kids, but the parents were just as much in love with Up and it led to a box office bonanza, and a Best Picture nomination, the first since Beauty and the Beast back in 1991.
And of course, we have the most successful animated movie of all-time with Toy Story 3. Fourth highest-attended movie of all-time, highest-grossing animated film in history, and currently over 1 billion made in the box office. It is also the highest-grossing animated film in the history of the U.K. cinema as well as a few other nations. This movie became a great representation of the last 15 years of Pixar animation: stellar animation, incredible voice work, beautiful writing, and a great blend of drama and comedy. This could have easily been Pixar’s swan song with the final shot of Toy Story 3 being all the characters we had grown up with looking up at the clouds. Toy Story 3 was the best film of 2010 and should have won Best Picture for its success, acclaim, and impact on moviegoers everywhere.
Look at that run: Ratatouille, Wall-E, Up, and Toy Story 3—four movies that could easily fit in any film fan’s list of best animated movies ever made. But somewhere along the lines the staff at Pixar got lost in all the success and perhaps got a little lazy. The next film would be Cars 2, and it totally distanced itself from everything that had made Pixar a household name.
Cars 2 was just a plain big mess, with an uninspiring plot, an environment that was more confusing than clever, forgettable characters, and just an overall dissatisfying aura of nonsense. It wasn’t even as detailed as previous works. The sequel never had to happen either, as the original Cars ended nicely. Then the sequel ruined the theme of the original about taking life slow and remembering what is truly important in your world. Cars 2 featured a pointless race that occurred just because another vehicle was talking smack.
Brave was a decent movie, but very jumbled and also was a step back from the usual Pixar fare. They took a very good character and butchered her by having her come off as more of a brat and self-centered even though the intentions were anything but. Brave felt like two different movies pieced together at the last minute. It had the right idea about an active princess that wasn’t going to let a man bring her down, but you didn’t get to see her actually…do much. The talent was there clearly, but we never saw her use her archery to get out of any scenario.
Monster’s University was the third continuation of a previous Pixar movie in four years, and now serious moviegoers were beginning to take notice. Yes it made its money, but it will not have the lasting impact as the original Monster’s Inc. because it was purely lazy. The animation didn’t really take a step forward, the storytelling went in predictable directions, the humor was lacking, and it was just full of cute characters and cute scene to keep the tykes entertained. $700 million never sounds like a disappointment, but to gain no Oscar nominations and no Golden Globe nominations and only winning editorial and storyboarding at the Annie Awards has got to tell you something.
But the downhill slope of Pixar isn’t just the doing of Pixar, it’s that the competitors are stepping up and delivering much better work. Dreamworks, despite its major lazy streaks, can still crank out a very good animated movie once in a while. How to Train Your Dragon came out around the same time as Toy Story 3, and it could have easily swept the major Best Animated Feature awards and potentially even got a Best Picture nomination if it had not been for Toy Story 3’s existence. The Croods was another slightly daring movie about cavemen that was released in March and survived a slow start thanks to strong word-of-mouth to gain an Oscar nod for Best Animated Feature.
Nickelodeon also stepped up to the plate and in a much bigger way than people give them credit for. Rango was an extremely daring, slightly controversial animated movie that featured all the smoking, violence, and innuendo that you would expect from an adult Western. This became Nick’s coming out party as the studio set out to prove that they aren’t just aiming for the little kids anymore. Then they follow it up with the equally adult The Adventures of Tintin, which features some of the best animated sequences you’ll ever see. The American crowd may not have embraced it, but it deserves your attention.
Even the original Walt Disney Animation Studio has stepped up, and has even outshone Pixar this previous year with Frozen being the most talked about movie this entire year, and not just in animation. Frozen has struck a nerve, and the breakout song Let It Go is arguably the most popular song in the United States in the past nine months. It was probably inches from even a Best Picture nomination, although we can blame the lack of Disney marketing for that snuff. But before Frozen, we saw strong female characters in Wreck-it Ralph, Princess and the Frog, and in Tangled. Before Frozen we saw a great delightful nod to old-school Disney with Winnie the Pooh. Walt Disney Animation can officially be declared back to quality after its ho-hum run from 2001-2008.
Last but not least, we have Laika, a small animation studio in the Northwest. They gave us Coraline and Paranorman, two animated movies with an extreme amount of detail, indie flair, and an inability to trot down the normal path of animated films. The Boxtrolls is their next movie, and it’s looking to be another critical success. Final note, Warner Brothers Animation has just completed an extremely successful comeback with The Lego Movie receiving outstanding reviews and acclaim.
Pixar during its earlier days and during its peak quality days had very little competition to have to defeat. Now, we have Universal Animation, Warner Brothers, Dreamworks, Laika, Nickelodeon, and even the studio working next door to them providing wholesome, successful, and quality-filled works that are starting to rise up to Pixar quality. Pixar, your success was no secret; all it took was for the other studios to stop being lazy and start providing more effort. And moviegoers are beginning to also notice this, as other animation studios are getting the same box office numbers as Pixar. The market share of Pixar in the box office is dwindling quite a bit---and they can't just simply make an animated movie and depend on its brand name to deliver the money and fame. Not anymore.
Step up your game Pixar. Everyone else is catching up.
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