The case made for Pixar’s worst movies
While they endear cinema-goers for their profound and metaphoric narrative structures, most Pixar films adopt a somewhat formulaic approach – an overarching societal statement weaved into a hero arc accessible for all ages. Sometimes flimsy – Elemental, Onward and Luca – but mostly heartfelt, some of Pixar’s iconic lines have been etched into the mantra of modern living. In the dystopic reality we live in now, it won’t be long until ‘Just Keep Swimming’ is embroidered onto the caps of someone’s presidential campaign.
With what many consider their opus, Pixar’s Toy Story showcased how animated films could universally emote its audience, combining a compelling narrative with sermons on the importance of friendship. While the motif propelled the movie forward at every turn, its success proved that for an animated film to deliver its message, the narrative simply had to be compelling. It was a classic storyline with a three-act structure with damnation, redemption and everything in between, making it somewhat untouchable at the top of the Pixar tree.
Not the same can be said for every Pixar film, however. While many of the sequels delivered by Pixar have failed to live up to their respective originals, they’ve all in some way continued the legacy left by their predecessors. Of the bunch, Cars 2 arguably flew a little bit too close to the sun for its overly complicated storylines. Still, the continuation of already-established beloved characters dragged it over the finish line.
But with respect to Pixar’s biggest failing, it’s hard to look past The Good Dinosaur. They took what should have been an open goal – animated dinosaurs – and blasted it over the crossbar with a film that oddly placed too much emphasis on striking landscape shots, which left hollow characters in their wake. And it’s fairly cutting criticism when Pixar, whose bread and butter is to follow rudimentary narrative signposts to appeal to youngsters, were accused of deriving a simplistic plotline.
Widely branded as an embellished boy-and-his-dog plotline, The Good Dinosaur follows a young Apatosaurus named Arlo who, upon being separated from his family in a storm, seeks to reunite with them with the help of a feral child named Spot. A relatively classic structure of abandonment and reunion would seemingly give Pixar space to deliver cutting moral lessons or, more excitingly, explore a reality where Dinosaurs and humans could coexist.
Unfortunately for The Good Dinosaur, the warm embrace Arlo felt at the film’s end wasn’t mirrored in real life. Critics panned the Pixar film, and it flopped at the box office, reportedly losing a whopping $85million.
So, when did Disney buy Pixar?
Pixar was founded in 1979 by Star Wars creator George Lucas, who sold it to tech visionary and Apple founder Steve Jobs in 1986. This marked the genesis of Pixar’s venture into animation, as Pixar and Disney developed the Computer Animation Production System, which would revolutionise the creation of traditional animated films.
In the early 2000s, Disney’s success slumped somewhat, and the adjacent success of Pixar, the collaborators/competitors, with blockbuster hits Toy Story, Monsters Inc, and Finding Nemo, forced then-Disney CEO Bob Iger to force an acquisition.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Iger revealed: “I thought the fastest way to accomplish that, albeit at the riskiest and the most expensive, was to buy Pixar,” Iger said. “When the notion of buying Pixar came to me, I called [Jobs] up. I was actually quite nervous.”
He continued, “I said, ‘I’ve got a crazy idea, and I come up and talk to you about it?’ Anyone that knew Steve would know that if you said to Steve, ‘I have a crazy idea,’ he would have to hear right away.” So immediately, Iger had Job’s attention, and when he told him his “crazy” idea, Jobs’ response was simply, “Well, it’s not that crazy.”
What followed was a surprisingly smooth, albeit expensive, negotiation process that resulted in a win-win situation for Jobs. Disney bought Pixar in 2006 for £7.6billion, and Jobs became a member of the Disney board and largest shareholder in the company.
What was Pixar’s first movie to win an Oscar?
During Pixar’s early 2000s domination of Disney, when Bob Iger was forced to pivot strategically was when Pixar bagged its first Oscar. In what would have undoubtedly felt like the first nail in the coffin for Disney, Finding Nemo bagged an Oscar in 2003 for ‘Best Animated Feature‘.
At that point, it was Pixar’s fifth animated feature, and it won critical acclaim for its stunning visual composition combined with deeply emotive storytelling. With a deeply flawed protagonist, it shirked the misconceptions that Pixar films had an unrealistically sunny disposition and instead became a compelling take on perseverance in the face of adversity.
Pixar almost bagged the award two years prior, when Monsters Inc was nominated in the very first year for that category within the Academy Awards. Now, Pixar has 23 Academy Awards, with The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Up and Toy Story 3 being just some of the films to have picked up Best Animated Feature.
