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[Gentleman Jack]

Good Dinosaur is such a weird movie. The aesthetic of the character designs is clearly 'baby movie' but everything else between the contemplative, photorealistic scenery shots and the man-vs-wilderness conflict are the sorts of things that would leave most kids in this era restless and bored.

I didn't hate it, I just wondered how many times they changed their idea of who it was for when making it. It felt like going back and watching really old children's programming where grown men dressed as cowboys were the main draw. An anachronistic approach to entertainment.

 

[jett]

Wreck It Ralph wasn't that bad but it was pretty forgettable.

Big Hero 6 though, I will legit fight you, fisticuffs at 20 paces, noon, behind the toilets, be there

Calling Ralph forgettable but fighting over BH6.

wut

 

[Fancyarcher]

Good Dinosaur is such a weird movie. The aesthetic of the character designs is clearly 'baby movie' but everything else between the contemplative, photorealistic scenery shots and the man-vs-wilderness conflict are the sorts of things that would leave most kids in this era restless and bored.

I didn't hate it, I just wondered how many times they changed their idea of who it was for when making it. It felt like going back and watching really old children's programming where grown men dressed as cowboys were the main draw. An anachronistic approach to entertainment.

It had a troubled production history similar to Brave & it shows a bit. Apparently Bob Peterson's original idea for the film involved of all things Amish Dinosaur farmers.

 

[nachum00]

Y'know, I still haven't seen Ratatouie. Is it as good as everyone says?

Best thing they've ever done

 

[Oblivion]

I actually don't think Pixar is that bad, at the moment.

The only legit awful movies they've made were Cars 1 and 2 (and 3 will continue the legacy, I'd imagine).

All the other movies, like Brave, Finding Dory, and the Good Dinosaur are not bad, just maybe above average. They still have plenty of heart, they're just not good enough to be considered classics.

edit: Oh and Planes! Forgot about that. That's also trash.

 

[rhino4evr]

Inside out was way above most children's films. Are we talking about box office or creativity? That film is brilliant executed, and is
Up there with their best films.

Now finding dory was bound to be a mistake, it was clearly a cash grab, but still has some memorable characters (mainly the octopus).
I always "found" dory to be annoying.

The real difference is that Disney has really stepped up their game. Obviously frozen was insanely popular, but Moana was just as great if not a better film.

 

[Fancyarcher]

I actually don't think Pixar is that bad, at the moment.

The only legit awful movies they've made were Cars 1 and 2 (and 3 will continue the legacy, I'd imagine).

All the other movies, like Brave, Finding Dory, and the Good Dinosaur are not bad, just maybe above average. They still have plenty of heart, they're just not good enough to be considered classics.

edit: Oh and Planes! Forgot about that. That's also trash.

Despite being a Cars spinoff, Planes wasn't technically Pixar (although Lasseter did help work on the story), it was Disneytoon Studios, which tends to handle most of the studios more DTV low-budget animated fare.

 

[shawnbuddy]

I cried for 45 minutes straight during Inside Out.

I wept openly like a child. If that's losing their way I hope they never find it.

 

[Omega Kirby]

What? Inside out and Finding Dory were great movies....

 

[Caddywompus]

If the half hearted sequels keeps the doors open for them to take their time on Inside Out and Coco rather than forcing a movie like Good Dinosaur (they should have just cut their loses and scrapped that project) so be it.

But let's not act like Disney Animated Studio's is anywhere near their level just because they have a string of not complete crap in recent years.

 

[shawnbuddy]

Coco also promises to be great.

 

[ZeoVGM]

Calling Ralph forgettable but fighting over BH6.

wut

I know, right? They're both great!

 

[MindCollizion]

Was not a fan of inside out. Finding dory was enjoyable.

 

[Dusk Golem]

I was going to say there was a period I wasn't big on their recent output, but I think they've been getting it back. I very much enjoyed both Inside Out and Finding Dory as well.

I haven't seen The Good Dinosaur yet.

 

[shawnbuddy]

The Good Dinosaur is not very good. Just doesn't grab you.

 

[RionaaM]

It's been less than 2 years since they made what's arguably their best movie. I also liked Finding Dory a lot, and The Good Dinosaur was good too. If this is supposed to be Pixar losing its way, I don't see it at all.

 

[.la1n]

Finding Dory is amazing if for no other reason than giving the world Gerald.

 

[Caddywompus]

It's been less than 2 years since they made what's arguably their best movie. I also liked Finding Dory a lot, and The Good Dinosaur was good too. If this is supposed to be Pixar losing its way, I don't see it at all.

Except it's been 7 years of divisive, forgetable or flat out bad movies.

Pixar's created an incredibly high standard for themselves. When they don't make universally praised films they have failed in the eyes of the public.

 

[SchrodingerC]

What? Inside out and Finding Dory were great movies....

Maybe if you haven't seen Finding Nemo, which FD basically is a rehash of.

 

[Fast Forward]

I always laugh when people say Pixar has "lost it's way." From what I can tell, Pixar has only made one bad movie in Cars 2. Rest of their movies are at least decent to excellent. That's quite the track record. One of the best track records in the entire movie industry, if not the best.

Even in regards to their recent offerings, many people, myself included, would say Inside Out is among Pixar's best.

 

[Astral Dog]

Disney just has gotten better

 

[shawnbuddy]

Except it's been 7 years of divisive, forgetable or flat out bad movies.

Pixar's created an incredibly high standard for themselves. When they don't make universally praised films they have failed in the eyes of the public.

Inside Out has a 98 on Rotten Tomatoes. Finding Dory is 94.

 

[Messofanego]

For me, it's just my standards are higher now for an animated movie than when Toy Story up to Wall-E were released. I look to other studios and directors to get more memorable and emotionally enriching animations. Studio Ghibli, Laika, Don Hertzfeldt, Mamoru Hosoda, Naoko Yamada, Makoto Shinkai, Satoshi Kon (RIP), Tomm Moore, and even some Dreamworks.

Inside Out didn't do much for me. I grew up on Pixar like many people so it's not an abject disappointment, more so I've moved on from them being my main source for animation.

 

[Cipherr]

Inside Out was fucking amazing. But then maybe a year later comes Zootopia which is even better than Inside Out (and less divisive too).

It's not that they aren't having hits here and there, its that everyone else is improving so damn fast. I didn't expect much from Zootopia after how mediocre Frozen was, but damn they smashed it out of the park.

 

[A.J.]

Any studio that dosen't want to keep Toy Story ended on 3 has definitely lost its way.

 

[Zoloft Sonic]

Disney bought Pixar- John Lasseter and the rest Pixar's top talent transferred to work at Disney Animation Studios.

Pixar is now Disney's B team. Yes they still make fine movies, but nothing compared to what they made like 10 years ago. Whereas Disney is now making hit after hit because they brought over the Pixar people.

Shhh. It's just Ed Catmull's brilliance.

 

[Man God]

Pixar has always been hit or miss with me. I think both Monsters movies and Cars 2 are unwatchably bad. Brave almost that bad.

 

[Cuburt]

Pixar isn't bad, it's just lost it's edge.

 

[GamerJM]

Inside Out was arguably my favorite movie of 2015, Finding Dory was much better than it had any right to be, and Monster's University was pretty enjoyable fare.

I hold the opinion that they're still fantastic overall but they've been a lot more inconsistent since the first Cars movie.The Good Dinosaur, Cars, and the second half of Wall-E are both badish, and Ratatouille, Cars 2, and Brave are all pretty mediocre. Everything else is varying levels of really good.

I also think a lot of modern main Disney's stuff is kinda overrated, but I still haven't seen Zootopia or Moana.

 

[7Th]

This feels like bait but I'll bite:

Tangled
Wreck-It Ralph
Frozen
Big Hero 6
Zootopia
Moana

Only two, eh?

The only ones with RT/MC scores comparable to peak Pixar are Zootopia and Moana. The other 4 are lower 80s movies.

 

[lvl99 Pixel]

Good Dinosaur was a bit of a joke
The style was really weird, and the villains speaking English while trying to eat the other characters is always really awkward. Probably never going to watch that movie again.

Oh yeah and Inside Out was kind of obnoxious with its first world problems drama. Simplifying complex emotions and disorders into annoying caricatures just doesn't work for me.
They could have done something truly meaningful for kids suffering from serious problems but they went the tamest possible route, and shes cured within a few minutes of realization. Weak.

 

[nekkid]

I cried for 45 minutes straight during Inside Out.

Really...?

 

[digdug2k]

I will never understand people's love for inside out. I didn't hate it or anything, but it's the type of movie I fall asleep watching.

But I don't get the zootopia love either. Or fucking Coraline. Laila has done some amazing shit, but Coraline.... No.

Pixaes fine. theyve been disneyed. Sometimes just good. Sometimes great. Almost always better than 99% of the shit that's out there.

 

[GCX]

Pixar can still produce great movies but they're not the powerhouse they were in the 00s. Back then it felt like each movie they made was kind of a tentpole that took animation as a medium to unexplored places.

Getting a string of movies like Ratatouille > Wall-E > Up back to back was an incredible feat.

 

[MattKeil]

Read the whole piece, I largely agree with it. After 15 years of near non-stop success, Pixar has definitely stumbled lately, Inside Out not withstanding. Stuff like Cars 2, Brave and The Good Dinosaur are way below their previous standards. And while I liked Monsters U and Finding Dory to a certain degree, I'd also group them with the other three. Is it merely a coincidence that this downward slope started just when Disney bought 'em out? Eh.

Yeah, pretty much agree with all of this. The god phase is over, but they're still damn good. Although I didn't like Finding Dory at all. Turning a character quirk into a mental illness and having your female protagonist spend half her lines apologizing is not a good look.

 

[Keri]

I still can't believe Zootopia is considered one of the greats and won best picture. It was completely forgettable and "meh" to me. Zootopia and Pets are two movies I mildly feel I wasted money on. In contrast, I loved Kubo so much I bought it, even though it's on Netflix.

 

[Quonny]

Inside Out was "we're gonna make it! ...oh look something bad happened" the movie.

 

[JinjoUnchained]

Pixar needs original content. Good original content.

You mean like live action remakes of all their classic animated films? As I understand it, Disney has nothing in the pipeline except live action remakes.

 

[Ogodei]

Disney has had worse spells before, to the point of being on the verge of shuttering more than once. But they always come back.

Animated houses almost seem guaranteed every ten or fifteen years to run out of the steam or magic that marked their golden periods. If nothing else, I knew the moment it got bought up by Disney and they announced sequels that things were about to be a bit fucked. Pixar will eventually find another stride, at least that's what I hope for.

Disney itself was not that consistent in the Walt age. Folks forget that Walt himself was disappointed in how Alice in Wonderland came out, while Sleeping Beauty and Dumbo were flops in their time. Jungle Book was well-received but was the borderline end of the Walt era, and then the rot set in and they really wandered in the desert for 20 years, but the consistency of the 90s was far brighter than the storied Golden Age. In their own time, only Cinderella, Snow White, and especially Pinocchio were real showstoppers

 

[ZeoVGM]

The only ones with RT/MC scores comparable to peak Pixar are Zootopia and Moana. The other 4 are lower 80s movies.

Are you really going to move the goalposts like this? You said they have only put out two great movies. I list more than two, you say "but RottenTomatoes."

... And then you were wrong about that anyway.

Every single one of those movies is either a high 80 or in the 90s on RottenTomatoes, other than Wreck-It Ralph, which is at 86%.

And a movie in the high 80s is certainly widely regarded as being "great."

So please, don't try to push such a crazy argument.

 

[A Link to the Past]

I think there's a point to be made that they're conflating increased competition with decreased quality by Pixar. Inside Out is perhaps not as universally loved as Up or WALL-E, but it could contend with the best of them in terms of quality and emotion. And yeah, they've made some missteps recently - Cars 2, The Good Dinosaur, and to a much, much lesser extent Monsters University and Brave (the latter which I quite liked, but understand that it has its fair share of issues), but it feels like people are kinda forgetting that Pixar was not always this perfect studio. A Bug's Life was the second movie by Pixar, and the gap in quality between it and Toy Story was so apparent that people questioned whether Pixar was something that would have continued worth down the road - and then it kept ramping up the quality - until Cars, of course. I'd say they're definitely at their weakest, but I also think they're reaching a lot.

 

[lvl99 Pixel]

I still can't believe Zootopia is considered one of the greats and won best picture. It was completely forgettable and "meh" to me. Zootopia and Pets are two movies I mildly feel I wasted money on. In contrast, I loved Kubo so much I bought it, even though it's on Netflix.

You have to look past the rather simple plot. The world building, character designs and attention to detail is so far above most movies featuring talking animals. Not liking it is fine but it shouldn't be hard to see why its a standout.
The concept art is worth checking out.

 

[Calm waterfall]

Inside out was a great concept bugged by bad writing. I still can't believe what a missed opportunity that movie was.

 

[ZeoVGM]

I still can't believe Zootopia is considered one of the greats and won best picture. It was completely forgettable and "meh" to me. Zootopia and Pets are two movies I mildly feel I wasted money on. In contrast, I loved Kubo so much I bought it, even though it's on Netflix.

It's a beautiful movie with memorable characters, a good plot and a fantastic message.

 

[99Luffy]

People saying Zootopia has a simplistic plot really? A world where animals have evolved past their baser instincts to live in harmony, a "zootopia." a crime mystery that reverses all that, all set on top a theme of fighting stereotypes. Vs. A generic journey to the west type movie.

 

[Psykoboy2]

They just need to stop cranking out sequels and get back to original concepts, which it seems like they will once they get stupid Cars 3 outta their system.

Incredibles 2 is also in the works.

And another Toy Story as well.

 

[Caddywompus]

Inside Out has a 98 on Rotten Tomatoes. Finding Dory is 94.

Yet somehow you find a number of people here disagree, hence why I said divisive.

Personally, I find Inside Out classic Pixar but Finding Dory is another forgettable sequel I'll probably never see again.

 

[ZeoVGM]

Inside out was a great concept bugged by bad writing. I still can't believe what a missed opportunity that movie was.

 

[Caddywompus]

People saying Zootopia has a simplistic plot really? A world where animals have evolved past their baser instincts to live in harmony, a "zootopia." a crime mystery that reverses all that, all set on top a theme of fighting stereotypes. Vs. A generic journey to the west type movie.

The plot was much more complex prior to making Hopps the main character. They lived in a world were carnivores were the minority and the herbivores who out number them 10 to 1 oppressed them by having them wear shock collars.

Zootopia's issue was mixing their unique social complexities with a generic story of you can be anything if you put your mind to it with Hopps. That secondary storyline took away from the greater sterotype theme, it felt forced and tossed in at last second.

The entire movie was clunky and would have greatly benefited with more time in the oven.

 

[SchrodingerC]

You mean like live action remakes of all their classic animated films? As I understand it, Disney has nothing in the pipeline except live action remakes.

I had to Google to see if Disney had any 'original' films in the works, and in the next 3 years they only have Coco and Gigantic(Again with single word titles, Disney?!).
JFC, the next 3 years is mainly disney/pixar sequels, CBMs, Star Wars and Live action remakes. 😖