Before you start bitching about what could be construed as an anti-Pixar post, let me say one thing: I love Pixar movies. With the exceptions of "Cars" and "A Bug's Life", I have found all of Pixar's movies to be spectacular in all their own rites, and deserve at least most of the accolades that they have received.
That being said, let me warn you of this:
Though I usually take a very anti-spoiler stance on my posts and pages, to illustrate my point of this post, I will be revealing plot points and even endings to many Pixar movies (NOT TOY STORY 3!!!! I haven't seen it yet). So, if you haven't seen any of their movies in their entirety, and don't wish to have the endings spoiled, do NOT read this blog entry further.
THAT being said, on with the show...
Since the original "Toy Story", Pixar has given their audience new experiences through cinema that no other animation company has really done -- both through visual effects and storyline combined. Though fierce competition has appeared in Dreamworks Animation, Pixar always finds a way to up the ante, and come up on top.
This we can all agree on, I'm sure.
However, I feel that there is a new trend with Pixar that needs to stop, if not now, very soon. The trend? Intentionally making their audiences (specifically their adult audiences) depressed -- often to the point of tears. Yes I am speaking from personal experience, but I know I am not the only one who has noticed this.
I first noticed it with "Toy Story 2", specifically with the Jessie flashback sequence where you see her getting left behind by her college-bound owner. Is this life? Yes. As adults, we know the time to grow up means often abandoning things we loved as kids simply because we can't keep everything. But, come on Pixar. Do you have to make us feel guilty over it? Is it our fault that we can't take everything with us when we move out? Do you really have to remind us about all the great memories we had as kids playing with our favorite toys, only to be faced with the heartbreak of having to give them away at some point in our adult lives? It was heart-breaking the first time. It's agonizing to watch it again.
For the longest time after, this theme didn't reappear. Sure, "Monsters Inc" had its moments between Sully and Boo towards the end that was a little tear-inducing but nothing serious. Not like, say, "Finding Nemo". Here's where the trend really becomes prevalent. What appeared, on the surface, to be a wonderful tale of a man looking for his missing son in the vast world around him became something darker in the first moments of the film.
Here we see Marlin and his wife, in love in their newly acquired home with their 50 or so eggs ready to be spawned. In comes Mister Barracuda. Mister Barracuda is a blood-thirsty asshole who wants to eat the eggs. And, of course, being a mother, Marlin's wife dashes for the eggs, getting (presumably) devoured along with all but one of the eggs. Marlin, after being rendered unconscious during the attack, finds the last egg after all his other children and wife were killed, and begins to cry. How the hell are we not supposed to cry with him? Now Marlin's agoraphobia has justification, and we're just supposed to find this shit funny for the remaining 2 hours? Really?
The real embodiment of this new trend is recent Oscar winner (or, in my opinion, robber) "Up". What the hell, people? Sure, we know that Carl Fredrickson is a widower going into the film. But do we really need to see all the reasons why he is? How he and his wife keep postponing the trip they yearned to take together because life keeps getting in the way? How he and his wife couldn't have kids of their own? How his wife died before they could take the trip together? How he needs to make his house into a giant hot air balloon to escape getting put into a nursing home? And how his ticket to living his life instead of mourning it was at his fingertips the entire fucking time? And do we REALLY need to add in the storyline of poor Russell not having a father in his life to all this other heart ache? We're really supposed to endure all this and call it entertainment in the end? This is REALLY better than "Coraline" and "9"? I think not.
Okay. I know fantasy seems to be better when tempered with reality. I get it. It's what made "Wall-E", "The Incredibles", and "Ratatouille", not to mention current surprise box office sensation "How To Train Your Dragon", so endearing and wondrous. But the other thing that connects all these movies together is that they didn't go out of their way to make their audiences cry. Not like "Up" or "Finding Nemo". Those who know me know full well I cried at the end of "Wall-E". Hard. So hard I was shaking for close to an hour after the movie was over, even while waiting for "Wanted" to start up, trying to "man up" before anyone saw me crying before it started.
If I'm hesitant to see "Toy Story 3" for any reason, it's because they're revisiting the whole going off to college bit again we saw in "Toy Story 2" eleven years prior. And, no, I haven't seen the movie yet, but here's something that may be covered in the film just by watching the trailer. Andy, as a college-bound adult, says (I may not have the exact quote here, so don't shoot me) "I can't leave without Woody and Buzz! They're classic!" Well that's great, Andy. You can't live without the two stars of the movie. What about the rest of the gang? Are they so forgettable? Just because you have a checking account doesn't mean you can't play with Hammy anymore. And what about Rex and Slinky-Dog? They're just meat to you now that you're older? If you haven't seen the movie yet, be prepared with a box of tissues and have your therapist on speed dial, because I can almost guarantee this issue may have to be addressed. Not to mention the other "misfit toys" that are left to rot in Lord of the Flies daycare hell they're relegated to when being abandoned by their owners.
If Pixar wants to stay relevant in the years to come with all audiences and not just salty old critics, they need to ditch the idea that making audiences cry and/or feel like shit is the mark of good film-making and stick to what has worked with all their other films, and what Dreamworks is already starting to realize: making their audiences cry unintentionally is so much more powerful than going out of their way to do it. Less Lifetime Original, more timeless classic.
But once again, I am only one man, and this is my opinion.
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