Pixar - Running on Fumes?

Pixar - Running on Fumes?

I came across this blog entree by a professional CG animator named Staloren.

"Cars was an incredible bit of lighting, textures, shading, and animation. Too bad the story was boring and putting people asleep. For the first time in a Pixar film, I heard kids paying attention to everything but the movie. Standing up, walking around, talking, totally not into the film. My wife was shuffling as well with her head propped up against her hand in boredom. I even caught myself daydreaming.

The lighting and realism was pretty breathtaking. But I ask myself, 'Is this really what I want out of an animated movie?' It was different and technically impressive. Everything else left me uninspired.

Watching animated cars for two hours was too much. Maybe I needed to be a car fanatic to watch this thing. But, I couldn't care about about any of the characters.

Everything felt forced. This was Pixar's first crapper, if you were to ask me."

---------Staloren_ June 19, 2006

Here are my comments about the boringness of the film (not the greatest response per-se, but my thoughts nonetheless):

"I think that some people couldn't relate to the story's concept or setting. Personally, I liked Cars because I could relate with it on all levels. I grew up in the country, went to a couple professional car races, my family drove on vacations rather than flew (I got to see a lot of spectacular highway scenery that way), and I have a basic enough knowledge about my own car to relate to the film's automotive terms and jokes.

Regarding the fact that the film didn't hold some children’s interest. When I first saw the film, I did notice a few kids who paid intermittent attention to the movie. However, the vast majority of children I saw were glued to the screen. I believe the former situation was the result of the unusual amount of complex concepts and dialogue, which kids younger than 6 may have a hard time understanding: For example, why sponsors are so important in auto racing (a large motivational factor in the story), and we can't leave out Doc's long conversation with Lightning McQueen about why he couldn't race again after he recovered from his crash (see, it's complicated). Despite all this, kids still want to see the movie again, and their parents keep taking them.

Overall, I have to say that Cars is doing pretty well so far, and it obviously resounds with audiences on some level or another. Hey, it's still in the weekly top 2.

----------Jonathan Grimm_June 29, 2006

What a Difference Color and Creativity Can Make!


Every time that I put a drawing up, I'm tempted to just leave it black and white and just post it. I'm noticing more and more that, when I take the time to add color, the drawing seems to come alive. Yet, some drawings, like the one above, sometimes look better as plain ol' line art.

Oh, yeah! I saw Pixar's Cars today, and I have to say, it's definitely one of the best films of the entire animation industry this year.

The previews before the movie got me thinking about the state of the 3D animation industry and the things that have been bothering me about the industry. I've noticed a huge jump in the amount of 3D animated films being produced--which is a great thing for 3D animators like myself--, but the industry seems to still be suffering from a huge case of greed. Many film executives seem to be more interested in pushing a product than making great films. This fact is demonstrated through the re-hashing of old concepts and premises--a complete lack of imagination and creativity. An excellent example is The Wild by Walt Disney Pictures (2006). The film’s premise is a ragtag group of animals who break out of the zoo and roam through the big city and eventually the jungle in search of a character’s son—prompting a series of ridiculous gages along the way. The Wild seems to be a combination of the animal motley crew found in Dreamwork’s Madagascar and the quest for the lost son in Pixar’s Finding Nemo. Although their concepts may not be entirely original, Pixar and Dreamworks were tremendously more creative with the ideas than Disney was (an article in the Boston Globe goes further to describe the film’s short commings).

Other films that I’m concerned about and soon to be released are (issues included): The Ant Bully (Ants and James and the Giant Peach), Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (one of the thousands of “Prince and the Pauper” storylines), Barnyard (I could write an entire blog on how poor this film may turn out to be, but I think you should watch the trailer), and Open Season (so far, appears to be a very loose story held together by a series of situational gages and one-liners). Ty Burr of the Boston Globe reveals the problem I’ve seen in the 3D animation industry the past few years, “In the end, the issue here isn't originality of story but the larger creative bankruptcy in Hollywood family entertainment that the CGI revolution has brought about.”

On the other hand I see that some potentially great animated films are on the horizon: Flushed Away (the story appears interesting, but I am sad that this, Aardman Studios’ newest film, was done in CG instead of their trademark claymation), The Simpsons Movie (I think this movie, if done well and if the humor is kept reasonably clean, could be side-bustingly hilarious), and Ratatouille (Pixar is producing it, so the film had better blow our socks off again!).

Anyway, at least I’m ending this sketchblog/rant on a positive note: The 3D animation feature film industry is in a creative famine, and only true innovators will survive and succeed. The big question each of us as animation filmmakers need to ask ourselves is:
What will I decide to be? An innovator or an imitator?

Animators' Sketchbook ...sort of.


One night I was thinking about how cool it would be if I could animate anywhere, any time--like an animation sketchbook. Then I had an epiphany. Flipbooks are great for animation practice on the go! Now if I can only figure out how to do tweening with such small pieces of paper. . .

Anyway, I'm almost done with my 5 week worldviews philosophy class--which I am, like, totally stoked about. Just think I'm starting another summer class in a week or so. Yeah.