The commercial for Wall-E serves as proof that Pixar was a truly innovative studio with fantastic ideas. Toy Story, the first Pixar movie, was the right story made at the right time. Toys called for simple animation, so the technological limitations of 1995 were not so obvious. Their next two films, A Bug’s Life and Toy Story 2 were equally genius in concept and execution. Toy Story 2 even avoided the normal sequel trappings and was a solid stand alone film. The Wall-E commercial I am referencing was a reminder of this first batch of Pixar movies, covering the three I mentioned plus Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille and finally Wall-E.
This commercial inadvertently made it seem like everything after Wall-E was just an afterthought for Pixar executives and that does show. Of the first ten Pixar movies only one was a sequel. But out of the last seven films Pixar has produced, four have been sequels (Toy Story 3, Cars 2, Monsters University and Finding Dory). I have not seen Finding Dory, but the other three sequels are hard to justify.
Okay, so even most die-hard adult Pixar fans agree that Monsters University and Cars 2 were poorly conceived. But does Toy Story 3 fall into that same category?
For me, yes it does. Because with Toy Story 3 Pixar simply remade Toy Story 2. If you don’t believe me you can skip to the 1:26 mark in the video below, or continue reading.
Both films open with an action scene that is really just a game being played by the characters.
Both then introduce the themes of change and the idea that toys don’t last forever.
The humans gather unwanted toys and some of the characters are accidentally taken with them.
The characters are taken to a new place where they meet new characters.
One of those new characters, a seemingly kind, plump character with a cane, will later be revealed to be the main antagonist. Both antagonists have the same motivation.
The plump antagonist convinces the main characters to stay with the idea that they will be loved forever and always get repairs when needed.
A factory setting Buzz Lightyear locks up some of the toys.
Flashback of new characters being abandoned.
Characters end up in a maze of conveyer belts and the antagonist is defeated.
The antagonist ends up with an owner who will not care for them.
The fact that Pixar made so many sequels after Wall-E is proof enough that the creative juices slowed. But when you notice that those sequels are carbon copies of the original movies, it becomes clear that the flow of creativity has basically stopped.
This even extends to Pixar’s original films in a post-Up world. If you want, you can continue to play the YMS Inside Out Review from around the 11:00 mark on. He does a pretty good job at showing how Inside Out is very similar to Toy Story, Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc.
This is not to say that Pixar makes terrible movies. Despite their flaws, I would not call any Pixar movie I have seen a “bad movie” and if kids were the only ones obsessing over those films it would almost go unnoticed. However, adults are the main people who continue to perpetuate the idea that Pixar is somehow immune to criticism and can do no wrong.
Sorry, but the “it’s just a kid’s movie” excuse doesn’t work anymore. Early Pixar movies had brilliance and originality on every level. Let’s get back to that. By supporting their recent business strategy focused on unoriginal content, we as audience members are allowing Pixar to warp into the sort of lazy studio that is the antithesis of what made them great in the first place.
