Animated features used to be special. But as this summer’s crop shows, they seem to have become assembly-line products.
Is Pixar in a bit of a slump? I remember a time when a release from this animation studio was an event – now, it’s just a movie. When the first Toy Story film came out in 1995, it blew our minds because it was so different from the animated features we were used to seeing, the ones from Disney about beauties and beasts and sad little mermaids. There was a snap to the visuals here, something young, hip, irreverent. But more than the technology, it was the storytelling that pulled us in. This was hardly the classical narrative we were used to, which we had to imagine occurred “once upon a time,” but one that was unfolding around us, now, in the rooms of children everywhere. The conceit that toys had a life, a life as much their own as it was tied to their owners, was pure genius. In the traditional animated feature, the human figures provided the emotion and drove the story. The talking teacups and candlesticks – the things – were just around for comic relief. But here, the things were the protagonist, the humans the sidekicks. As I said, genius.
I don’t remember enough of A Bug’s Life, which came next, but I recall being quite entertained. And then came two flat-out masterpieces. Toy Story 2 and Monsters, Inc., followed by the disappointing Finding Nemo. (People love it, I know.) And then, the incredible The Incredibles, which, instead of saying that we should blend in with the rest of the world, exhorted us to celebrate our weirdness – a truly subversive message for a family-friendly entertainer. I love this film. The characters are so inventively written, the situations so affectionately pulled from superhero myths, it’s impossible not to fall in love with it each time you see it. At least for me, The Incredibles was the Pixar high point for a while. The next few films – Cars, Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up – had their moments, but some sort of blandness had crept into the Pixar formula. And with the exception of the great Toy Story 3, that blandness has remained – with Cars 2, with Brave, and now, with Monsters University.
Watching this last film, I wondered what the problem was. The characters, Mike and Sulley, were the same, but where the earlier film seemed miraculously organic, there’s a sense of thinking by committee here. A few nice moments. Some laughs. Nothing more. And that could be said of Arthur Christmas, Hotel Transylvania, the Kung Fu Panda movies as well. Even the legendary Pixar short that preceded Monsters University – something called The Blue Umbrella – seemed, well, manufactured, as if it tumbled off an assembly line. Could the frequency of these films be the problem? Earlier, when we used to get one (or maybe two) animated features every year, it was something special. Now, with a dozen such films crowding the theatres, have our standards become higher? Now that we see them all the time, have we begun to demand more than just bright and shiny entertainment that kids are guaranteed to love, with the odd pop-culture joke to keep us from nodding off?
It could also be that the genre, if you want to call it that, has become overfamiliar. The wisecracking anthropomorphism. The heart-warming messages. The set pieces intended to set the pulse racing. Maybe these have become as codified as the must-haves in our hero-oriented masala movies, and unless someone comes up with something really clever, we sit through these films neither thoroughly entertained, nor thoroughly bored. And it takes a movie like Turbo to show us what things should be like. This is very much a Pixar-mould story – a snail dreams of becoming a race car driver (in Monsters University, Mike and Sulley dream of making it to the scare team) – and this preposterous premise is brought off with a flourish. After a really long time, I found myself rooting for a character in an animated film, which is just another way of saying how invested I was in that final race between this snail and actual race cars.
And yet, if I were in the movie-recommending business, I wouldn’t know what I’d do with Turbo. It’s better than Monsters University, but is that really something to go by? The animated sequel that broke my heart this summer was Despicable Me 2. I loved the first film and it was sad to see something fresh become a formula. The yellow minions that were such a riot in the earlier film are now allowed to run amuck, and what was cute then becomes cloying here. With the protagonist Gru, too, we no longer have the arc of a bad guy turning good. He’s now so neutered that he dresses up as a fairy princess, in blonde curls and a pink dress, for a kiddie birthday party. With live-action films, we know that sequels are just another way to make money, and we’ve gotten used to this fact. But when the same motive drives animated films – which somehow seem purer, more devoted to providing unadulterated joys to our inner children – it can seem quite… despicable.
Lights, Camera, Conversation… is a weekly dose of cud-chewing over what Satyajit Ray called Our Films Their Films. An edited version of this piece can be found here.
Copyright ©2013 The Hindu. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
Avik
July 26, 2013
Maybe this is the root of all evil:
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2013/07/hollywood_and_blake_snyder_s_screenwriting_book_save_the_cat.single.html
Or maybe not… But interesting nonetheless…
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Mambazha Manidhan 2.0
July 26, 2013
One of the reasons it could be is because it’s not Pixar anymore. It’s Disney-Pixar. And, Disney-Pixar has patented Pixar’s formula and is using it to produce assembly-line blockbusters and build franchises.
The main reason is they make movies only for Kids and not Adults anymore. That was the USP of Pixar and that phase is over. Despicable Me 2 is the animation blockbuster of the year. And, the kids bring their parents in with them anyway, right?
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sara
July 26, 2013
Isn’t that where Dreamworks animation differs from Pixar though? I’m surprised you didn’t mention them by name. Unlike Pixar, I’ve found that they don’t focus on the “message”. They aren’t condescending to the audience & just throw jokes & references of all levels, not seeming to care whether the jokes get home. They’ve always been irreverent which is always nice to see in animation.
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KayKay
July 27, 2013
You DIDN’T like Finding Nemo????
You and the 5 other people on the planet who feel the same way should form a club 🙂
Elsewhere, your points are all valid. Like action movies, rom coms and horror/slasher flicks, animated movies are now dime a dozen, so like any other over saturated genre, there needs to be an extra something in one that distinguishes it from a crowded field.
For me it’s the writing that’s gotten incredibly lazy, creating stock characters, rote situations compounded by Hollywood’s never ending fascination with parental issues. It’s what made Brave so generic for a Pixar flick ( although Cars got there first), Hotel Transylvania a certified bore and even the first Despicable Me average at best. Is it any wonder the minions stole the show and got far more screen time for the sequel when Gru himself is so underwritten? Which looked at another way could also be what the writers had in mind. Realizing just how flat out uninteresting the central character is, they create these scene stealing secondary ones to cover up the fact that you won’t be getting too many bums on seats on the strength of your leads alone.
I mean, seriously, would the Madagascar movies gross half as much without the weirdly flamboyant King Julian and the sociopathic penguins? Or the increasingly mediocre Ice Age movies without the acorn-obsessed Scrat?
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KayKay
July 27, 2013
The best animated flicks need to be a little subversive as you say to punch above their weight . Which is why I loved The Incredibles and Ratatouille, both a pair in it’s celebration of excellence as opposed to Kung Fu Panda an ode to mediocrity.
Finding Nemo used the oft utilized theme of parents needing to let go but it did it with class and wit. WALL-E and UP showed how you can coast on sentimentality while still delivering a richly layered story.
For my money, check out Wreck It Ralph, a delightful celebration of video arcade games and a far better example of how to do the “Conflicted Villain” arc far more effectively than Despicable Me.
Oh, and speaking of Despicable Me 2, if you found the Minions irritating this time around, I suggest you give the upcoming Minions movie a wide berth 🙂
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elfstone
July 27, 2013
Are you my 7-yr old cousin?She and you have almost the same opinions, except her dislikes are expressed with eye rolls and blowing raspberries (highly effective, though).
The entire watered down genre is targeted at children, and adult audiences are simply caught in the splash damage. Have you looked into Cartoon Network/Disney/Nick’s programming lately?Despicable or not, formulaic manufacturing brings in the monies. In case Disney-Pixar studio output makes you react the same way as she does, I would suggest you also look into anime.
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Mambazha Manidhan 2.0
July 27, 2013
Turbo had a ridiculous premise. A fast snail ? Cool. But, Snails racing Cars? And, I was not a fan of the trailer at all and the movie was as generic as expected. But boy did it have its moments.
The villain, never giving up pushing his totaled race car with the punctured wheel making a hideous grinding noise was the heights!
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Madan
July 27, 2013
Very interesting link there, Avik. Thanks for sharing. I don’t want to draw a causation between that and my personal preferences but I have noticed lately that while I do enjoy lots of more recent English language films – Sherlock Holmes, King’s Speech, Moneyball, Tinker Tailor – I don’t enjoy out and out commercial Hollywood films that much anymore and I used to, a lot. But as I said earlier, it could simply be me feeling jaded after watching so many films. After I saw the original Alec Guinness series, I suddenly didn’t like the Tinker Tailor as much as before ‘in my head’.
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Aurora Vampiris
July 27, 2013
I guess I’m going to have to disagree here completely and entirely. While I understand the sentiment – that an animated film is “for the kids” and that if the driving force behind it is cynically raking in the money, then it’s all wrong.
I think that’s a weird point to make. When have animated films NOT been driven by money? Disney churned them out a dime a dozen before the formation of Pixar and Dreamworks. Hell, I doubt even Studio Ghibli is in it purely for altruistic motives. The point is, the artists at these studios DO care. A lot.
However, also consider this – we LOVE going back to sequels. We love going back to a rich mythical world for seconds. We absolutely do. Which is WHY sequels make more money. Don’t you think artists and animators feel the same way? Why does Stephen King keep going back to Castle Rock? I think boiling it down to “sequels are cynical because cheaper advertising costs because the audience is already familiar with the world” is a tad ingenuous.
And personally, I do not think animated films have become stale. Pixar had its excellent run in the last decade. (On that note, I can’t believe you just dismissed Wall-E and Up – in my personal opinion, along with the Toy Story trilogy, those are Pixar’s masterpieces). It’s quite natural for a studio to peter out after a single decade, especially in an idea-driven industry, unless it establishes an absolutely monopoly (which Pixar hasn’t – cue Dreamworks).
In my opinion, Dreamworks has suddenly emerged on top. I don’t think Kung Fu Panda and How To Train Your Dragon are cynical in any way – I’d place them just below Wall-E/Up in terms of sheer quality. But Dreamworks has created two absolutely wonderful universes with these films. And they’ve done extremely well.
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MP
July 27, 2013
No word on Ship Of Theseus?
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oneWithTheH
July 28, 2013
Despicable Me 2, what a disappointment. I say this despite having missed a good 20-25 minutes of the movie when I dozed off. Just to fill up the screen with minions and have them speak gibberish for the sake of laughter smacked of lazy writing. The first installment was a delightful watch.
Wreck It Ralph as someone mentioned above was the only recent animation after which I went – “wow! that was novel!”. And I watched that one in an overseas flight on a shared overhead monitor!!
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brangan
July 28, 2013
Avik: That’s actually a pretty scary link. Gives a whole new dimension to the term “formula film.”
Mambazha Manidhan 2.0: Neenga oru padamum vidamaatteengala? At least I have an excuse; job description. What’s yours? 🙂
KayKay: Oh, I loved “Wreck It Ralph.” I even mentioned it in a review somewhere.
Madan: But as I said earlier, it could simply be me feeling jaded after watching so many films.
I don’t think that’s the case. People usually tell me that the reason I didn’t respond well to some film is because I watch so many films and am “jaded.” But yu do perk up when there’s something good on screen. It’s just that your tolerance for the so-so goes down, and so something that others may find “timepass” doesn’t do it for you any more.
Aurora Vampiris: When have animated films NOT been driven by money?
That’s not the point. Nobody is in the movie business for, as you put it, altruistic motives. But there’s an increasing sense these days of these films becoming a “product.” They need to be out in summer, when the kids are out of school, and that date has to be met, even if the story/screenplay isn’t up to the mark.
“Tangled” was a huge hit, but it never once gave the feeling of being “manufactured.” It was magical. And I am not saying sequels in general are cynical (I did mention the “Toy Story” films) — just that these films IMO have taken the lazy way out.
I am not a fan of the “Kung Fu Panda” movies.
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Madan
July 28, 2013
But yu do perk up when there’s something good on screen. It’s just that your tolerance for the so-so goes down, and so something that others may find “timepass” doesn’t do it for you any more.
– Yes, that’s exactly what I had in mind. You’ve put it very well.
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Kaushik Frankenstein
July 28, 2013
only one article this week. come on dude.
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Mambazha Manidhan 2.0
July 28, 2013
haha.. I expected this response. Oh, I do have a job description now. And, watching a film or two a week is a totally justifiable past-time in a place like Chennai, especially if it plays in evening slots that make it perfect to catch after work.
But, I ll have a better excuse one day. Film critic for a Rival Newspaper. Then you shall see 😛
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brangan
July 28, 2013
Mambazha Manidhan 2.0: OMG, yet another longtime reader of this blog becoming critic at rival newspaper? I better watch out.
BTW, what’s 2.0?
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Mambazha Manidhan 2.0
July 28, 2013
Barely. I was joking. Film criticism is very hard. Don’t know how you do it. Transferring your gut reaction to a film into words that too in an elegant manner is hard. The temptation of saying ‘this rocked’ or ‘that sucked’ is too much. A film Column or riffing on an idea or trend in Film is more up my alley. It would be a dream gig though.
2.0 is nothing. A take on Chitti 2.0. That inane Blaaze rap.
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venkatesh
July 28, 2013
Avik: Thats a fantastic link , thank you.
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venkatesh
July 28, 2013
BR : Whats happened with the fonts on this blog ?
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prasunbanerjee
July 30, 2013
Not sure why but I never liked Pixar ( mayb coz i dont like Apple and Steve Jobs ???) … actually my favourite Pixar movies are the Pixar shorts
My all time favourite animated film has to be Lion King … i guess it was a combination of many things … some very personal …
After Lion King , the next ones on the list are KungFu Panda (both parts) , Madagascar, How to train your dragon , Ice Age … (definite Dreamworks bias !!!) … Dreamworks seemed to be the little guy worth rooting for against Pixar … Steven Spielberg vs Steve Jobs … its not even a contest !!!
But my favourite animated sequence has to be the 1st chase sequence in Bolt ending with Superbark !!! that was something !!!
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Sakkaravarthi Kaliannan
July 31, 2013
Perhaps you should try leaning towards anime a bit. “Akira”,” 5 Centimeters Per Second”, “Princess Mononoke”. And lets not forget “Persepolis” or “Waltz With Bashir” !!
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venkatesh
July 31, 2013
Interestingly the high-point of “The Incredibles” was reached by an outside director who came in for that specific project.
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Alpesh Patel
August 1, 2013
I would say Pixar’s high water mark was the first 15 minutes of Up, which was only matched by Toy Story 3.
I do love The Incredibles, I will always watch it whenever its on tv, even if its the last 10 minutes.
I do not believe over familiarity is the problem, i think it is the story/narrative of the films not being good enough being the issue.
Cars, i think, has a weak story and just lacks any spark or wit in the narrative
Ratatouille was one that I liked, a basic story but did have a spark about it
I do not believe that the “must have” is responsible and I would point to a masala film like Dabangg where the must haves were present but it was still a very good film
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rohitsathishnair
June 17, 2016
Sir, will you be watching Finding Dory?
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rohitsathishnair
June 19, 2016
Sir, is it that you found Finding Nemo to be disappointing, ’cause it didn’t have an out-of-the-box concept at its You found it to be ordinary even at a visual level?
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