The Disney Thread

[bob]

I haven't enjoyed a Pixar film for years. I hate the way they seem to focus entirely on sadness as a theme, rather than making a fun family film. They've definitely fallen pretty far in my eyes. Each of theirs used to be an unmissable hit, but they are pretty missable.

Disney Animation by contrast seem to be getting better and better, so hopefully Avatar: The Last Dragonbender is great.

[MindFreak]

10 hours ago, Julius said:

While I'm looking forward to Soul, Pixar has steadily descended from this mythical, almost untouchable studio from my childhood to a bit of a lesser one over the last half a decade or so

That's because Disney has taken all the employees from their golden ages and made them work on its own movies - basically. 

Edited October 23, 2020 by MindFreak

[Jonnas]

I'd say Pixar's been working in a lot of sequels lately, and you can tell the same passion isn't there.

But Coco and Inside Out were phenomenal (the former especially), so I'm still cool with them.

[MindFreak]

Onward has just been put on Disney+ here in Denmark so will watch that this weekend. Looking forward to it.

[Julius]

14 minutes ago, Jonnas said:

I'd say Pixar's been working in a lot of sequels lately, and you can tell the same passion isn't there.

But Coco and Inside Out were phenomenal (the former especially), so I'm still cool with them.

Yeah, the run of sequels I think is what I take issue with most, mainly because, at least in my opinion, they just weren't of the same ilk as the films they were following.

Toy Story 4 had its moments, but I'd much prefer them hanging up Woody's hat and seeing different places and toys in that world instead (also wasn't a fan of the different look for Bo Peep, basically becoming a Rey lookalike). Finding Dory was pretty average I feel. Cars 3 was better than Cars 2, but that's not saying all that much. And Incredibles 2 was pretty forgettable when compared with the first film too 

I don't know, it just really reminds me of what Disney Animation were doing in the late 90's/early 00's with their home video sequels to big properties like Aladdin, Lion King, Tarzan, etc. 

I did quite enjoy Inside Out when I saw it initially, and I also enjoyed Onward when I saw that a couple of months back, though I second your shout on Coco being especially good. Probably my favourite Pixar film since Toy Story 3? It stood out to me because my grandmother years ago and didn't properly grieve at the time, so yeah, that film meant a lot for me in that it finally helped me let go of it all a bit more. I remember I stopped myself from crying "to be strong" for my family, but yeah, this film had it all rushing back. Always very special when a film can do that! 

19 minutes ago, MindFreak said:

Onward has just been put on Disney+ here in Denmark so will watch that this weekend. Looking forward to it.

Hope you like it! I had a good time with it, though being the older brother, yeah...watching it on my little brother's birthday was always going to mean someone was cutting onions somewhere 

[Ronnie]

Watched Coco for the first time a couple days ago. 

WOW.

Just incredible. 

Edited October 23, 2020 by Ronnie

[MindFreak]

11 hours ago, Julius said:

Hope you like it! I had a good time with it, though being the older brother, yeah...watching it on my little brother's birthday was always going to mean someone was cutting onions somewhere 

Haha, yeah, the ending was quite touching. I enjoyed it, it was a fine movie. It was a fun take on fairy tales but as a movie fairly straightonwardforward. 

[Beast]

I understand what everyone means with Pixar but I still enjoy their movies just as much (but Toy Story 4 doesn't exist so I don't know what everyone's talking about. There's only 3 of them- the perfect trilogy). 

Onward was awesome. I really enjoyed that a lot. Same with Coco, Incredibles, Inside Out, Ratatouille and Up. I liked The Good Dinosaur and The Incredibles 2 but they're sort of forgettable. The Cars series are good but they're not my go-to at all. I've watched them once and have little interest to see them again. 

[Julius]

Is it weird that I'm more excited for this new Buzz Lightyear film (based on the fictional astronaut the you is based on) than I was for Toy Story 4?

 

[bob]

My wife and I sat down to watch Mulan now that it isn't £30.


It's pretty bad. They've taken all the best bits from the original (the songs, the dragon) and replaced it with a load of weirdly misplaced Chinese martial art film stuff. Don't get me wrong, I love those old fashioned martial arts films, but it just doesn't fit here (like when Mulan kicks an arrow at a dude, killing him, wtf?).

The dialogue is ridiculous and way too serious. There's not enough comic relief for a kid's film.

The plot is almost nonsensical - the army leaders are ready to literally execute Mulan at one point, but then change their mind after a rousing speech from a random soldier, and instead make her head of the entire army!?

One positive point is that the film is beautiful; some really nice landscapes on display. That's about it though.

[Dog-amoto]

Soul was enjoyable. Certainly one of the better Pixar outings in recent years. 

[bob]

Soul was enjoyable. Certainly one of the better Pixar outings in recent years. 

Is it utterly fucking miserable like all of Pixar's films recently?

[Dog-amoto]

13 minutes ago, bob said:

36 minutes ago, Dog-amoto said:

Soul was enjoyable. Certainly one of the better Pixar outings in recent years. 

Is it utterly fucking miserable like all of Pixar's films recently?

Pretty much, yeah

[Glen-i]

Just coming in to tell you Disney Fans that I'm playing Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory and the Disney nostalgia is off the charts!

I vanquished evil demonic shadows to Bibbidy Bobbidy Boo and I never felt so badass!

[Magnus]

1 hour ago, Dog-amoto said:

Soul was enjoyable. Certainly one of the better Pixar outings in recent years. 

Onward was released earlier this year, though, and that was even better!*

*In my opinion.

[Julius]

Just finished watching Soul, and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I enjoyed Onward earlier this year as well, so hopefully this means Raya turns out well too! 

Something I do have to say about Soul, though, is I think it might be the least child friendly Pixar film so far? Deals with heavy topics like purpose and the concept of souls, and while it does have some funny parts, most of its comedy is referential (and specifically aimed at North America, a couple of times where the jokes went over my head too!). I feel like a lot of it might go over a younger viewer's head, or make them worry a bit (I know a film discussing things like this when I was younger might have distressed me a bit). 

Pretty much the opposite of a normal Pixar affair in that way, where it's normally aimed at children with a good message, and there might be some more subtle comedy for adults watching with them. Just might be something to consider for any parents who are thinking about watching it with younger children? 

Edited December 26, 2020 by Julius

[MindFreak]

17 hours ago, Julius said:

Something I do have to say about Soul, though, is I think it might be the least child friendly Pixar film so far? Deals with heavy topics like purpose and the concept of souls, and while it does have some funny parts, most of its comedy is referential (and specifically aimed at North America, a couple of times where the jokes went over my head too!). I feel like a lot of it might go over a younger viewer's head, or make them worry a bit (I know a film discussing things like this when I was younger might have distressed me a bit). 

My 3 year old liked watching it. It had a lot of colour and a cat. Also, it's emotionally light (even with the heavy topic of death and birth) and there is next to no sinister or sad part of it. I think children will like it. I also found the funny parts very visual all in all. 

Overall, I found it quite one-dimensional, which is unusual from a Pixar movie. It was clear from after the meeting with 22 what was going to happen and that they were looking at life in a wrong way. I think that makes me less likely to watch it again, even though I enjoyed watching it.

Edited December 27, 2020 by MindFreak

[Julius]

12 minutes ago, MindFreak said:

My 3 year old liked watching it. It had a lot of colour and a cat. Also, it's emotionally light (even with the heavy topic of death and birth) and there is next to no sinister or sad part of it. I think children will like it. I also found the funny parts very visual all in all. 

That's good to hear then!

I was coming from it more of the perspective that it has less subtle, "adult" visual humour in it (the hooker toy in Toy Story, or Lightning getting flashed in Cars comes to mind) and rather more planned bits clearly aimed at adults (which still might even fall flat for some; I know I was looking up Andrew Jackson afterwards) and more evident, physical comedy, which as you said, is lighter in tone. 

And yeah, I guess it depends on the age of the child to some degree too. If I watched this at 3 I probably would've enjoyed it, because like you said, it's colourful and has a lot of physical comedy. But if it came at 5 or 6, after I'd had my first existential crisis? Probably not 

Do agree that the plot was fairly predictable, though I still had a good time with it in the end. Don't think it's one I'll be in a rush to return to, though, and even though I enjoyed Onward earlier in the year, it's the same with that for me too. Don't know if it's just me getting older and not being at the age where falling in love with one film in particular happened a whole lot, or if Pixar films just aren't as strong as pulling the audience back in for further viewings? 

[MindFreak]

I think it's a case of Pixar not being outstanding anymore - meant literally, animation movies over the past two decades have really risen in quality and Pixar started that trend. I think that somewhat flattens the impact of Pixar movies themselves. 

That Rabbit hole short movie was fun, though.

[Jonnas]

I watched Soul with my family (we literally collectively bought 1 month of Disney+ to see it), and I liked it a lot. I can easily put it on the "great ones" Pixar bin.

I do agree it might not be the best children's film, though. It's not the existentialism of it (I think children can handle concepts of death, life, and afterlife fairly easy if you're open about it early on), it's that the concepts it explores are so meta-physical and otherworldly (unborn souls sharing the same space of the afterlife, mentored by manifestations of the universe. They also apparently share this space with the minds of athletes and depressed office workers), it can be hard to wrap your head around it and get on the film's wavelength. Furthermore, this film is about an adult person with adult worries, which can be hard for children to relate to (at one point, someone talks about financial stability and the importance of a steady salary). Finally, the amount of references to historical figures will go over their heads (the reference to George Orwell had me in stitches, but it's definitely an adult thing. Same could be said of jokes that hinge on knowing who Ghandi or Madre Teresa are).

All of that said, I hear my 7-year old cousin liked it, so maybe I'm just overthinking it.

[Julius]

Watched Luca last night as part of a belated Father's Day get-together (my dad hasn't had a great time of it following his first or second COVID vaccine jabs, but he's soldiered on). 

Really enjoyed it. The colours popped, it had a great sense of humour, and a whole lot of heart. I loved a lot of the character designs, in particular just how exaggerated some of the faces were -- it felt like a very clear throwback to a time before Pixar (I've never really been a fan of their human faces, to be honest), you could definitely feel the Ghibli influence throughout (and a very obvious nod to them too!). There is a scene where they are very direct about hitting you emotionally, and I think they handled it well, even if it was a bit predictable. 

They also did a great job of scaling things back, it feels like it very purposefully takes place in a very small and focused space, whereas I think quite a few Pixar films over the last decade have been guilty of trying to do too much in too many places, so this allowed for a much greater emphasis on the characters and their growth, rather than a journey over the course of the film to a particular physical place (again, something a lot of their films have done over the last decade). 

Only real knock I have against it is that the music is great in the moment but pretty forgettable after the film, but to be fair, again, that's comparing it to some of the most memorable soundtracks in western animation when it comes to other Pixar films, which is a very high bar to set it against. 

I think Pixar is in a tough spot, and has had a bit of an identity crisis since Toy Story 3, flip-flopping back and forth between unnecessary sequels and some good to great original films in the last decade, but perhaps nowhere near as consistent in my eyes as they were at their peak. Between this and what we got last year - Onward and Soul - it feels like Pixar continue to find their feet and take steps on the right direction, even if they're a bit predictable at times.

I'm hopeful that Enrico Casarosa will get another chance to direct in the future, as this was a very strong feature film directorial debut for him, and I feel like he has made himself a solid foundation to build from now having his first feature out the door. Well worth checking out his short film, La Luna, too, which is also on Disney+, I found it to be quite charming.

Next up from Pixar is Turning Red, releasing next year, which will serve as the feature film directorial debut for Domee Shi who directed the Pixar short Bao, so I'm very excited for that one, but I'm admittedly a bit nervous about Lightyear (fingers crossed, though!). 

[Julius]

First trailer for Lightyear and...I'm not a fan of his face. Or his haircut. 

Still, that aside, I'm very excited for this. Crazy how far animation has come since the first Toy Story, this really looks like Pixar going for it in terms of visual prowess. It's probably the most intriguing movie they have coming up, so fingers crossed it's good!

Really hoping for some Buzz Lightyear of Star Command nods, and there's a lot of red-eyed robots around looking like the ones from Toy Story 2, so hopefully with this being like the Star Wars of the universe in Toy Story (a lot of references clearly, the planet he lands on definitely having a Dagobah vibe to it), that box opening at the end is Zurg. 

Also pour one out for Chris Evans, poor guy keeps getting cut off and–

Edited October 27, 2021 by Julius

[Ronnie]

Lightyear looks great, I actually really like what they've done with his face/hair

[MindFreak]

Haha, that's awesome. Didn't expect it to land next year, thought it was more ... beyond next year?

Looks like one to watch with my son when it comes out.

[Beast]

NEWS OF THE YEAR: HOCUS POCUS 2 IS COMING OUT AUTUMN 2022! THIS ISN'T A DRILL!