4) Everybody else loves Pixar...It's no surprise that Pixar's latest release, WALL-E, has garnered breathless praise from most mainstream critics. With a Metacritic score of 93 and a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 97% fresh, the film carries on the tradition of Pixar's critic proof productions.
Some typical quotations from the suffocatingly positive reviews:
"The best American film of the year to date." - Ty Burr, Boston Globe
"Mixing Chaplinesque delicacy with the architectural grandeur of a Stanley Kubrick film..." - Liam Lacey, Globe & Mail
"WALL-E is a classic..." - David Denby, The New Yorker
"You leave WALL-E with a feeling of the rarest kind: that you've just enjoyed a close encounter with an enduring classic." - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Of Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, and Ratatouille, only Cars received less than glowing reviews from the critic herd.
And it's not just movie critics either, I dare you to tell anyone that you're not a fan of Pixar films and you'll bound to be the subject of a dirty look or even dirtier words. And since I tend to be suspicious of things that are almost unanimously loved, all this Pixar love drives me a little batty. I never really liked Michael Jordan or U2 either.
And no, I haven't seen WALL-E yet, and it might be a great piece of film, but I if it follows the pattern of Pixar movies, it likely is less than what it is praised to be, and more than what it pretends to be.
3) Pixar loves themselves too much...
The self-congratulatory attitude that runs through much of Pixar's films and marketing produces more smug than George Clooney in his electric car. For an example, check out this teaser promo for WALL-E:
Look at us, we're creative geniuses. We come up with multiple enduring classics over lunch (organic burgers, of course).
Notice as they pat themselves on the back they leave out the NASCAR/Mattel feature length advertisement Cars, or Ratatouille for that matter, which came from the mind of Jan Pinkava who was taken off the project half-way through the film in favor of favourite son Brad Bird.
According to NPR's Bill Wyman, it seems like WALL-E lets Pixar's smugness congeal even more, as its second half unfurls a diatribe on the ills of our consumerist society. Not that I think that that sort of criticism is unfounded, but it's quite another thing to bury that aspect of the film. It's typical of a production house that thinks the world of itself to call a film a "robot love story" when it's also an elitist dystopic save-the-earth parable.
2) Pixar doesn't love kids...
I'm being too harsh, right? They're just a bunch of big ol' kids who do it for the kids, for the kids goddamit. WRONG-E. Fat guys in Hawaiian shirts or not, these Pixar dudes don't love kids, or at least their movies don't.
This might be the most fundamental confusion about Pixar movies. These are not kids movies that parents can sit through. Pixar makes grown-up movies that parents don't feel guilty about letting their kids watch.
You can see the difference in the marketing, in the sly humor, and in the films financial successes. For there'd be no way these films would be as popular and ubiquitous as they are if it wasn't for the undying allegiances they promote in adults.
Another big clue as to the Pixar point of view, is the unfortunate fact that they routinely cast children as villains in their films. Take for example Sid Phillips wanton destruction of toys in Toy Story or the obnoxious Buddy Pine's transformation into the malevolent Syndrome in The Incredibles.
This point was brought to my attention by my film professor, who makes the important point that it's pretty irresponsible to make purportedly kid-friendly entertainment that vilifies some of the children it represents.
1) I don't love Pixar movies...
Probably the most immediate reason I hate Pixar is the fact that I find their films generally tedious and underwhelming. The Incredibles was a solid, if a bit hollow, superhero movie and I didn't mind Ratatouille despite its snobbery, but that was pretty much because I was hungry. Other than that, I have either walked out of or turned off all of their other films.
Maybe I'm going to love WALL-E when I check it out (which I most likely will), but I'll have to wade through a sea of this Pixar baggage to get to a point where I'll be comfortable with tagging any Pixar film as "classic".
Wall-E totally looks like the robot from "Short Circuit"... minus the cheesy 80's style of course
ReplyDeleteThe Incredibles is one of the worst, and that's the one you could tolerate?
ReplyDeletei like superhero movies, okay? and you're right, incredibles is probably one of the worst pixar movies.
ReplyDeletei still have yet to see wall-e though. have you? how would you rate that one?
Yes. I have the same point of view as you do, completely. Pixar movies are very far from being classics. And very far from being for kids. Where are that old passion? These movies seems to have no heart. They teach us to have malice, to see everything not beautifully, but comically, ironically and negative. Kids need magic, afterall, childhood overs so quickly, and that's why humans are civilized.
ReplyDeleteCOME BACK OLD DISNEY. Please.
Wall-E is worst than Incredibles, and I thought Incredibles was the worst.
wall-e could've been such a great movie.
ReplyDeleteinstead, it's overwhelmingly cynical. infused with that same attitude you mention. irony is not for kids. and as an adult film goer, i don't really enjoy sermons wrapped in robot clothing.
You're all cynics. Lighten up.
ReplyDeleteyeah it's just kids stuff. totally not worth scrutinizing.
ReplyDeleteOk, I happen to be an animator. And this is by far the most offensive thing ever to me. Not because you hate Pixar, I don't mind that, you have your reasons. Its just the mindset people have that all animated films and cartoons are for kids. ITS AN ART FORM. Animation can be for adults as well as kids. I hate it when people say "why are you watching a kids movie/tv show?" I want to smack them.
ReplyDeletethat irks me as well. when you suggest an animated film to someone, and they gasp, "oh no, i don't want to watch a cartoon."
ReplyDeletei think that attitude is gradually changing though with long term successes like the simpsons and movies that do different things with the medium - like triplets of belleville or waltz with bashir (not to mention the comic book's rise to mainstream popularity).
but whether the target audience is children, or adults, or both, i think it is supremely important not to let a film off easy because it's a "cartoon". like all cultural products, their impact is worth our consideration.
Thought i was the only one who hated pixar movies.
ReplyDeleteThis post is a subversive miracle.
ReplyDeleteHow about WallE, a film about unnecessary landfill, waste, insipid mass consumerism, being funded by THE DISNEY CORPORATION?
This is beyond cynical, and the rattled disorientation I'm subjected to whenever I point this out to Pixar fans is really grating, then chilling.
Pixar movies are low on atmosphere and real drama. None of the experimentation, mood, spookiness or genuine love of children that you might find in The Secret of Nimh.
Incredibles was their best in my opinion, despite a dull third act and intrusive in-jokes to other animators...
Nice, I thought I was the only one that had at least a mild indifference. I thought Ratatouille was insipid, and hypocritical considering how impossible it is to get hired at Pixar unless you are juiced in, and how they screwed Jan Pinkava over for Pixar crony Brad Bird. They also rob ideas too often even for a Hollywood studio; The Incredibles steals from an army of classic comic book stories and characters while whomever designed Johnny 5 from Short Circuit should've sued the hell out the WALL-E animators.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I did a google search on Hate Pixar, because I swore that I was the only one. Hate is a bit strong, generally I just find most of their work dull and plot scattered, where they try to throw way too much in to the movie and make it a bit ADD.
ReplyDeleteI have a degree in tradtional animation and LOVE animated films, but the only Pixar film I sort of liked was Toy Story 2. But if you tell other animators that they look at you like your crazy!
Now when I hear the Pixar iz GodZ ranting I just roll my eyes.
... you are a perfect example of an Internet Troll...
ReplyDeleteThere are reasons to dislike Pixar and none of those reasons you gave are even close to being valid.
Really? You hate them because everyone likes it? I could understand if the attention was undeserving, but hating them just for the sake of hating them is stupid.
Get a life.
"Get a life"... really? That's not very nice. Seems like something an Internet Troll would say.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry, I'll forgive you and engage with you anyhow.
I agree that my reasons definitely aren't ironclad or anything. But that's not the point. This isn't an academic essay or complete statement by any means. The point is to take some shots at a cultural establishment (in a fun way hopefully) that seems somehow immune to criticism - your reaction being evidence of that.
So this is not me hating Pixar just for the sake of hating Pixar. It's me being suspicious of a group of movies that I have some real problems with - both textual and peripheral. From positioning kids as villains to some sneaky marketing techniques, I think Pixar is worth looking at critically (and they can definitely take it).
And I'd love to hear your reasons to dislike Pixar. Or for that matter, some reasons I should love Pixar.
ps. I just got my hands on a copy of Up and have checked out Wall-E since the writing of this entry, so I think it's time for a follow-up piece. Stay tuned.
I don't comment on blogs much, but I felt that I also needed to vent about this issue. The funny thing is that I also did a google search on "I hate Pixar" just like masked_fragments to see that I'm not alone.
ReplyDeleteI have a real love/hate relationship with Pixar that's gained more and more hate each day -- and I don't even like to "hate" that much.
My reason is very much like reason #4 in this post: Everyone loves them. To me, they're just too "perfect". Much like you, anything that perfect raises suspicion with me. Some may call it jealousy, but I'm going with my gut that something fishy is about.
That and they make every other animation company look bad -- even regular Disney! And Pixar works for them! For instance, Disney did a phenomenal job retuning to hand-drawn animation with The Princess and the Frog, yet people still give Pixar all the attention and awards to Up, which is really just the "same old, same old" CG stuff. When Up was nomminated for "Best Picture," I nearly lost it. Beauty and the Beast was the only other animated movie to be in that catagory and I strongly disagree that Up (while it was pretty good) is on par with it. Again, it might be seen as jealousy, but my views are not budging. I do believe that hand-drawn and CG can live together peacefully side-by-side, but really. Disney animation has yet to win an Oscar without Pixar's help and they are really overdue for one. My only hope is that Tangled (formerly Rapunzel) beats Toy Story 3 next year somehow. Like a "threequel" could really beat something original...
In closing, I'm with you in saying that Pixar is way too well-liked and overrated. It drives me nuts that there is a stereotypical "I hate Disney!" opinion, but Pixar is left untouched -- which is also partly why I prefer actual Disney over them, both out of sympathy and the "too perfect" issue.
It's nice to know that I'm not alone in all of this, so bravo. Way to not hop on the Pixar bandwagon.
P.S.: I think it's funny that Pixar's John Lasseter helped bring hand-drawn animation back to Disney, even when he was the one who started the whole CG wave to begin with! That's like bombing a country to bits and then paying them money for their reconstruction.
As a professional animator myself, it's genuinely comforting to see individuals who agree with me on the whole Pixar situation.
ReplyDeleteI had set up one of my blogs with a post addressing this precise issue (http://yourcartoonsucks.blogspot.com) simply because I had grown so weary of being attacked just because I personally don't care for Pixar.
If you'd like to see some of my own point of view, then please feel free to check out my blog I listed so I can be spared the exhaustion of retyping it all, lol. I hadn't been able to update it or correct typos for the longest time due to needing to get new computer equipment, but that should hopefully change in a month or so, so please excuse the typos when you read it.
Oh I love you.
ReplyDeleteI just get so irked over Pixar being treated like the best damn thing since sliced bread when really there just average.
And what's with winning the Oscar every single year? I'd like another film to be given a chance. It's like if it has the Pixar label slapped on it, it wins praise and awards by default.
Thanks for the laugh. I definitely needed this. :)
ReplyDeleteHi. This is the first time I've commented on a blog. I think you have great points, and Pixar make very formulaic and mediocre films with the most expensive technology available and the elite of animators (probably). Film critics who are used to busting their loads over films like the English Patient, but when it comes to animation really don't know much, I think they praise Pixar so much because they're pleased that an animated film can hold their attention. This seems similar to the way Hayao Miyazaki gets such praise from Western critics, his unthreatening films being anime that is actually easy for them to follow, as opposed to more challenging stuff like Tekkonkinkreet and Akira. Though Miyazaki has a genuine affection for children, and often (with the exception of Princess Mononoke) these are films aimed at children that adults can enjoy too. These films have a genuine sense of wonder as well, which Pixar definitely doesn't. I actually did like Wall-E, mostly because for once the 'enemy' was a computer and not a misfit. Pixar can't do 'bad guys' it seems, I felt sorry for the misfit in The Incredibles (an extremely tedious film), and why did he have to die? I think this is a very cutthroat message to give to children. Same with the lousy bad guy from Up. That film had a beautiful opening, but the second half was boring and really, did he deserve death? As for my other fellow animators getting angry about people assuming animation is a medium for children? This subject is now completely stale and has been since the rise of animated 'sitcoms' in the 90's. The difference being that Pixar market themselves as purveyors of kids' entertainment when they are not, just as Fox sell themselves as a neutral TV station when they are in actuality rabidly rightwing. Anyway, I'm sick of writing, that's my 2 pence worth. You're right, always be suspicious of stuff that is overly popular and seemingly 'critic-proof'. Remember, 'everyone else' voted for Hitler.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of this!! Pixar SUCKS.
ReplyDeleteSorry... I really liked WALL.E
ReplyDeleteTo me, Pixar films just lack everything that makes classic Disney so magical and appealing. Thats the main reason I really despise Pixar (except Toy Story 1 and 2). I think the main issue lies in the stories, and what the main point and focus of the films actually are. The great disney films emphasized the STORY and used the characters as support. Pixar emphasizes the CHARACTERS and uses the story as support, which leads to the excessive cynical wit and "dumb humor" (as I like to call it) to be the highlight and main focus of the movie. This is a big turn off to me. Add to that old disney's superior music, stronger messages of love, care, and concern for others, and superb hand-drawn animation, all of which lead me far from pixar and back to old disney. In the end it all comes back to the kids. I would much rather have my own kids someday learning positive life lessons and instilling in them a sense of love rather than watching mindless, corrosive humor that will make them less concerned about what really matters in life. BTW It's good to see some people actually don't like the movies, i'm not alone after all.
ReplyDeleteI hate Pixar too! I'm mostly angry that Disney is feeding off of them for new "animated" movies. In my opinion, 3D animation is lazy. Creating the characters and environment is hard, but after that animating is a cinch. 2D takes talent, and because of freaking Princess and the Frog, Disney isn't even going to try doing animation the classic way for a long time.
ReplyDeleteRotten Tomatos; where the internet trolls go to vote. I usually find that their ratings vary greatly from IMDB & Amazon & that if you disagree with the rating, RT users will send you death threats & wish cancer upon your grandmother. Sometimes I wonder if it wasn;t established by 4Chan, being the Encyclopedia Dramatica of ratings sites & all.
ReplyDeleteSeeing WALL-E was just as bad a seeing The Iron Giant, but HEARING wall-e was it's own splendid form of torture. I've actually forbidden my uncle to watch it without headphones.
For me, Pixar's sence of humor is retarded & unfunny. Not suprising, as I grew up watching more adult cartoons emphasising grossness, violence, & macabre masomasochism like Duckman, Ren & Stimpy, Beavis & Butthead, Daria, Rocko's Modern Life, Ren & Stimpy, Tales from the Cryptkeeper, The Addams Family, Beetlejuice, Celebrity Death Match, Liquid Television, Aeon Flux, X-Men, Batman TAS, Wild CATS, & 80s anime.
Pixar is preposterously overrated. The end of Up was nothing short of a joke! But the critics agreed to praise Pixar and the mindless masses will follow like brainwashed sheep.
ReplyDeletePersonally, i have nothing but contempt for that studio and its many supporters.
@likalaruku..... you obviously don't even know how RT works. "where the internet trolls go to vote"? Uh, nobody VOTES on RT. The Tomatometer scores are determined by professional movie critics and their own individual ratings, not by RT members. And when have you EVER received a death threat from ANYONE on Rotten Tomatoes. Don't make me laugh, you overly dramatic cretin. The reason their ratings vary from IMDb and Amazon is BECAUSE their scored by professional, paid movie critics, not random anonymous internet users hiding behind their keyboards. Of course theres going to be number differences between the two completely different parties.
ReplyDeleteNow that being said, I'm sorry, but none of the points any of you people have made for hating Pixar make any sense to me. I'm not really their biggest fan but I do appreciate the effort and hard work that goes into creating their beautiful works of art. If you even try to deny that their films or any animated films for that matter aren't beautiful works of art you are spewing nonsense and hating just for the sake of hating. I can take it if you say you hate the films themselves, but don't hate on how much hard work went into creating something so visually stunning, like somebody earlier said the 3d animation is lazy or some nonsense. Clearly they have never animated in 3d before. Jesus. And in about 90% of the comments here all I can see is endless streams of "I hate pixar I hate Pixar I hate Pixar they suck I hate them their movies suck but I have no specific examples to defend my position so just leave it at I hate pixar". Have some respect, please. I'm so sick of these ungrateful moviegoers taking the hard work that goes into just about every film be it live action or animated for granted. Nobody even tries to understand how difficult it is to make a film, how much time goes into it, and how much people slave for hours on end to make it. Respectful critique is perfectly fine and if thats what you all were doing I wouldnt be posting right now. But no, what you people are doing is just bashing for bashings sake. Try spending three years making a film that you worked so hard on and then hearing a group of internet trolls flaming it with absolutely no real reason except for thinly veiled jealousy, as evident when you people say "I'm suspicious of things everybody likes" which, when reading between the lines, can be read as "I'm jealous of popular things and like to hate them just to be different". Whatever. Don't bother responding as I'm never returning to this blog to see whatever flaming you people still need to get out of your systems.
I like Pixar. I'm not a die hard fan of theirs and I don't like all of their films; I thought Up was mostly crappy despite the old guy's touching backstory. But by and large I think they actually care about the films they make, and do a good job of making them clever enough to appeal to most adults and fun enough to appeal to most kids, without leaning on all the cheap crutches I got tired of seeing years ago (hackneyed gags and excessive slapstick for kids, "mature" gross-out rubbish and excessive pop culture references for adults). They usually have interesting stories and strong characters, which most kids' films that get shoveled out of this or that studio lack. And they're usually touching and have worthwhile morals to them, without leaving you feeling like you got bludgeoned over the head.
ReplyDeleteI liked a lot of old classic Disney cartoons as well. But I don't understand why liking old Disney and liking Pixar are mutually exclusive, and I sure don't get whatever point most of the folks here were trying to make. I don't see how anyone can say Pixar only produce snide, ascerbic films when they all have optimistic endings. You say they don't have mood or story, love for children or a sense of wonder or etc? I dunno, I find the ones I like have all of those things. I guess most other people do, as well, hence the studio's popularity, and the irrational Pixar fanatics you guys are railing against are in the minority... but this is no different from anything else.
If you hate pixar, YOU HAVE NO LIFE. GO IN A CORNER AND CRY! NOBODY LIKES 'yOU.
ReplyDeleteWow. Thanks so much for all the comments.
ReplyDeleteSorry I haven't been able to respond to them all, but I'm working on a follow-up post that will attempt to interact with a lot of the great points that were brought up here.
Before that though, I'm gonna watch and re-watch some more Pixar movies.
Wish me luck!
Incredibles is the best Pixar film. It just takes a while for you to see the brilliance. Anyone who has kids and has seen it many times knows this. They are adult stories with kid friendly characters. I'll admit they're not magical like old Disney, but they are very good!
ReplyDeleteYour comment hit the nail on the head totally:
ReplyDelete"This might be the most fundamental confusion about Pixar movies. These are not kids movies that parents can sit through. Pixar makes grown-up movies that parents don't feel guilty about letting their kids watch.
You can see the difference in the marketing, in the sly humor, and in the films financial successes. For there'd be no way these films would be as popular and ubiquitous as they are if it wasn't for the undying allegiances they promote in adults.
The first half is why I really hate them; the second half is just as true. And anyone who tells me to "Get over it, this is kid's stuff" when it comes to raising my children in this crazy, messed up world can just piss off.
Unfortunately the old Disney movies are just as bad. Even more overt in their drug references (Alice in Wonderland) and other violent themes. Somehow we come through our childhoods and say, "I watched all that stuff and look how well I turned out!" Eh, I'm not so sure anymore ...
Thanks for a great article!
Could not agree more. The old Disney movies are just as bad. Think of the storm in Up, it looks like you have seen it 50 times before. There is nothing new, all same boring stuff, so conventional, and so postmodern. Hate the "system", but do nothing to change it, just run away to a Victorian pastoralist future, in the Jungle this time. Gimme a break.
DeleteUp is tacky, shallow, boring, conventional...I hated it, and I hated the local newspaper commentary that convinced me to watch it.
To purge my sin, I just ordered a copy of Ralph Baksh's "Heavy Traffic", that wonderfully surrealistic 1973 animated classic where a nymphomaniac transvestite is beaten to death as a sampler of inner city life. I plan to watch it secretly with my 1.5 yr old grand daughter in the hope of poisoning her little soul enough to make sure she hates Disney from the bottom of her little heart for the rest of her life.
I'll gladly concede that any and every fandom has members which will blindly defend their favorite franchise/group/team etc without reason, but I'm finding most of the criticisms being offered here rather shallow in and of themselves.
ReplyDeleteIf I was in business, and I had a track record of popularity for my previous work, you better bet I'm going to use that in my future advertisement, and considering this criticism has nothing to do with the product itself, but rather an impression imparted to the creators of the product, it's safe to describe it as weak.
Similarly, hating something because so many others love it is as irrational as loving something to fit it with the majority. Yes those people exist, and they are silly, so why not differentiate yourself from them by formulating criticisms with substance about the films themselves?
Hating for the sake of popularity is at least as silly as loving it for the same, no?
As for the critics, it seems Pixar's latest, "Cars 2" hasn't charmed them in the least. Does that mean they've "come to their senses", so to speak? Or is it not more likely that for the most part they just really liked what they did before, but not this particular entry?
If Pixar films consistently made children the villains in all their films I could see this being an issue, but we've seen numerous kids portrayed with the utmost sympathy (Boo from Monster's Inc., Dash and Violet, Russell from 'Up', Andy from the Toy Story films) and they outnumber the two examples provided here (and Syndrome is a reach to boot considering it's his adult version which becomes the villain) to such a degree, that this point seems to be stretching for substance.
Your number one reason is the most cogent of them all, as it actually addresses your feelings towards the films themselves, and while I disagree with your conclusion, I'm perfectly at peace with the knowledge that someone doesn't like something I do.
If anyone wants to respond to what I'm saying, you can call me JerseyCajun
I have hated Pixar since Toy Story. The movie ripped off Jim Hensons A Christmas Toy and for years no one noticed, or cared.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the writer 100%. I hate Pixar and their plots and characters. What ever happened to 2-D animation? This crap gives me a head ache!
ReplyDeleteJB from North Dakota