PIXAR SHORT FILMS COLLECTION VOLUME 2

PIXAR SHORT FILMS VOLUME TWO

It is a wonder to me why Pixar just cannot get a break at the Academy Awards. Sure, their feature length films pick up nods, and often wins, in the animated category almost every year (sorry, CARS 2), but for some inexplicable reason, their short films only periodically pick up the nomination. They haven’t actually won in the Animated Short category since 2002’s FOR THE BIRDS. After sifting through their latest anthology, PIXAR SHORT FILMS COLLECTION VOLUME 2, you too will surely be scratching your head and wondering the same thing.

This second collection of Pixar shorts features 12 films that run about 75 minutes in total. There is filmmaker commentary on each film and the disc also features a few rare shorts from Pixar gurus, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Pete Doctor. The most notable difference between the fare in this compilation compared to their last, is the abundance of films featuring characters from their features. Some of these films, including YOUR FRIEND THE RAT (a good natured history lesson about why rats are not the worst, featuring Remy from RATATOUILLE) or HAWAIIAN VACATION (a faux Hawaiian romp, featuring the folks from TOY STORY) stand strong on their own. Others, most notably the CARS and UP inspired shorts, seem more like after thoughts than stand alone ideas.

And then, there are four of the most endearing and wonderful animated shorts I’ve ever seen. Sure, most of the animated shorts I see are from Pixar, but that in no way takes away from how amazing these particular films are. PRESTO is a brilliant homage to Bugs Bunny, which features one hungry, little bunny forced to participate in a magic act in order to get his carrot dinner. Having had enough with playing for his pay, he decides to have a little fun with the magician’s act. PARTLY CLOUDY is a hilarious little piece about an unlucky stork who has to deliver all babies no one else wants to, like the electric eels and the baby crocs. LA LUNA, the latest Pixar short which screened before BRAVE in theatres this summer, is an absolutely gorgeous piece about a young boy finding his own path, reminiscent of “The Little Prince”. And DAY AND NIGHT, a wildly imaginative piece about the wonders that are particular to both periods of time, is by far my favorite of the bunch. Its genius is that while you delight in the spectacle, you are suddenly and subtly reminded that you should not fear what you do not know. How this particular film didn’t take home the Oscar, I will never understand.

The short film is an obscure art form. So much hard work goes into them and yet, rarely do audiences ever get to see them. Fortunately, Pixar not only continues to keep them alive in the eyes of the public, but they also continue to make great examples that will endure much longer than a lot of the disposable features out there today.

FINDING NEMO 3D

FINDING NEMO 3D

Written by Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson and David Reynolds

Directed by Andrew Stanton

Voices by Albert Brookes, Ellen Degeneres and Alexander Gould

Dory: Well, you can’t never let anything happen to him because then nothing would ever happen to him.

There is something about being submerged in the ocean that is inherently magical. The scenery is brilliantly colorful and altogether breathtaking; the tone itself set by the constant rocking back and forth of the currents. Save for the occasional shark attack, every moment literally just goes with the flow, without any real idea where you’ll end up. It is an incredibly intricate yet subtly delicate balance that only a greater power could have created. Well, a greater power and the great creativity of Pixar anyway.

FINDING NEMO is both an underwater adventure and a contemplation at the same time. Marlin (Albert Brookes) is an overprotective father, not to mention also a clown fish, to little Nemo (Alexander Gould). It’s just been the two of them since Nemo was born and Marlin’s fear of life is starting to infringe on Nemo’s development. Fortunately for Nemo, his dad’s fear is eclipsed only by his love for his son, because when Nemo is taken by divers one day, his dad stops at nothing to get him back.

Andrew Stanton’s direction is so unexpected and alive. With every turn Marlin’s pursuit takes, Stanton takes us somewhere we never would have dreamed. Whether that’s fending off sharks who are trying to swear off eating other fish or surfing a current on the back of a 150-year-old sea turtle that speaks like a beach bum (incidentally voiced by Stanton himself), FINDING NEMO keeps the viewer in a constant state of awe and amazement. And when Marlin is joined by a blue tang with short term memory issues named Dory (Ellen Degeneres), the fun only gets funnier from there.

FINDING NEMO, now in the kind of sprawling 3D one wants to get lost in, is a perfect film for both parents and kids. This father and son tale gives kids the chance to see everything parents do for them while they are inspired to face their own fears. Meanwhile, parents learn that they don’t get to choose when their little ones are ready to leave the reef, that all you can do is make sure they know how to swim as best they can for when that day comes. Perhaps most importantly though, anyone who sees is learns that all any of us can ever do is just keep swimming, just keep swimming.

My Top 5 Pixar Films

This month, Pixar Animation Studios will release its 13th feature film, BRAVE. To mark the occasion, I give you my Top 5 favourite Pixar films. Aside from the CARS films, I'm a big fan of all the Pixar pictures, so it was tricky to narrow it down to five but when it came down to it, I knew these were my Top 5 all along.

In alphabetical order, they are ...

FINDING NEMO (2003)

Pixar's first Academy Award winner for Best Animated Feature was also their first bonafide worldwide smash. Sure, they had success with all four of their previous releases but not compared to the staggering heights FINDING NEMO just kept swimming toward. I have been dying to watch it again for some time now but I am waiting for the 3D rerelease expected later this year to dive into this ocean one more time. Once you find yourself immersed in these uncertain, and breathtaking waters, the magic of Pixar, and director, Andrew Stanton, takes over. Waves of laughter, suspense, heartbreak and immense joy crash over you throughout the experience. In fact, it's so good, you kinda almost wish Nemo would stay lost just a little longer so you could stay under water that much for a few more minutes.

THE INCREDIBLES (2004)

I will freely admit that the first time I saw THE INCREDIBLES, from Pixar genius, Brad Bird, I missed large chunks of it because I was on a date and reasonably distracted. In all fairness, I was torn. Through the corners of my eyes, I could see that this was one, well, incredible piece of filmmaking. What I love about this film, aside from the phenomenal animation work, which goes without saying practically for all Pixar features, is how it skates so perfectly between the spy genre and a family film. It is as intense as any James Bond picture, with action sequences that put some big budget live action films to great shame, but it still has that unmistakable Pixar heart that makes it unforgettable. The only thing I don't get about it, is why we have not yet seen Mr. Incredible and family get the sequel they so rightfully deserve.

RATATOUILLE (2007) 

They said Pixar was crazy for putting rats in a kitchen and expecting people to show up in droves but they were wrong! Well, mostly anyway. RATATOUILLE had a hard time hitting the same success as some previous Pixar outings but like fine dining, this dish is just not for all. Those who love it though, and there are certainly many, know that this is one of Bird's finest works. The unlikely friendship between Remy, the rat, and Linguini, the chef, shows us that we should always dream and that sometimes, we need others to help make the loftiest of our dreams come true. The visual style of this Paris-set masterpiece is exhilarating and intensely well orchestrated; it demonstrates at all times just how much care Pixar puts into every frame. Like the critic in the film, feasting on this dish always makes me feel like a child again.

THE TOY STORY TRILOGY (1995, 1999, 2010)

By now, we can all acknowledge that Pixar redefined the notion of family film when they released their first feature, TOY STORY, in 1995. Not only did they give the world the first fully computer animated feature but they also reworked the genre so that the films that came after it would play, or at least attempt to play, to both parents and kids alike. And as audiences flocked to the experience, they quickly realized that this new style of animation was actually amazing to behold, and not clunky or limited as some believed it would be. The first sequel would break records around the world and by the time they got to the third film, by far the most accomplished and surprising in the series, Pixar had also shown the world that sequels, even the ones we don't think are necessary, can and should have great purpose. 

WALL-E (2008)

My heart melts every time I see WALL-E. Firstly, he is by far my favourite Pixar character. By the sheer nature of his being a robot, he is limited in his capacity to feel and show emotion but somehow, he exudes more love than most of the human beings I know or see on screen. His courtship with the beautiful EVE was so simple - all he wanted was to hold her hand really - and yet it was also so incredibly moving. In fact, it got me feeling things I forgot I knew how to feel. It also had me in total awe for the first half of the film, which is essentially silent. It was such a bold move to remove almost every trace of dialogue from a family film that it could only have been made and pulled off by Pixar. Some argue that the film loses focus once talking is reintroduced into the film but I would argue that those people just wish they feel as purely and as honestly as WALL-E does.

What's your favourite Pixar movie? Vote in the Black Sheep poll! (Top right corner of the page)

Also, click here to order any of the Pixar posters in this article.

JOHN CARTER

JOHN CARTER
Written by Andrew Stanton, Mark Andrews and Michael Chabon
Directed by Andrew Stanton
Starring Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Willem Dafoe and Mark Strong


Introduction: Mars - So you name it and think you know it.

In all honesty, there are only two reasons I wanted to see JOHN CARTER. The first was to see the live-action debut from Andrew Stanton, a director who has given me two of my favorite films, FINDING NEMO and WALL-E, and who has established himself as one of the great contemporary animated filmmakers. The second reason I wanted to see JOHN CARTER was so that I could finally make sense of what was happening in the trailers for the film. Every time I would see them, my head would hurt trying to figure out what exactly it was I was looking at. Sadly, making sense of the images, did nothing to make them any more interesting to me. It’s passable but I doubt it will ever be memorable.

For those of you who are still in the dark about JOHN CARTER, allow me to break it down for you. A young marksman by the name of John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) is evading the army in 1881, New York City. He struggles with a weird bald guy wearing a robe in a cave and suddenly he is on Mars, otherwise known to the people of Mars as Barsoom. Here he is dropped into the middle of planetary unrest and civil war and he can’t even understand how to get his footing on the ground. He encounters a species known as the  Tarks and they take him into their barbaric society, which leads to his eventual meeting with Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins), the princess of one of the planet’s last remaining ruling cities. And like most princesses I know, she needs saving. Civilizations are crashing all over Barsoom but yet the fate of the planet hangs in the balance of whether the princess decides to marry the mean man or not. Different planet, same old contrived plot problem.

I readily admit that fantasy films are not my thing but I have no problems getting lost in the imaginings of another man’s mind as long as there seems to be adequate reason to be there. JOHN CARTER is plenty pretty from a visual standpoint and contains many a well executed thrill sequence but it never reaches the heights its grandness needs to sustain itself. Albeit based on a much loved and thought to be heavily influential Edgar Rice Burroughs (the author who created “Tarzan”) series, JOHN CARTER the movie bears very little weight or depth, which leaves the viewer wondering what all the fuss is about. If this is truly one of the greatest untold film stories, then why does it feel like a somewhat tenuous cornerstone of a film franchise that may never live to see its first sequel?

First Image of Pixar's "Brave"

The first image of Pixar's Brave has shown up over at Pixar Times.  Looks cool, huh?  And I should say, isn't this quite the brave move by Pixar?  From what I understand, Brave is going to be Pixar's first female-led animated film.  I'm not trying to create some feminist debate here, but Buzz, Woody, WALL-E, Remy, Carl, Marlin, Mike Wazowski, etc. were all men and all the stars of some of Pixar's biggest hits.  The closest the studio ever came to giving a female co-lead billing was Mrs. Incredible, who (by the good graces of Holly Hunter) carries the film.  But seriously...look at her awesome hair.

But nevermind that.  I'm very excited for this film.  Pixar hasn't released much information regarding this 2012 film, but what we do know is that it's being directed by another new-to-helming director, Mark Andrews.  Andrews was Oscar-nominated for the animated short One Man Band, and marks Pixar's third newbie director since the trifecta of Andrew Stanton, Brad Bird, and John Lasseter helmed most of their 00s films.  But on board for the first time are two female scribes, in the duo of Emmy-nominee Irene Mecchi and Brenda Chapman, who became the first American female to direct an animated picture back in 1998 with The Prince of Egypt. 

As a rule, Pixar never let's me down at the movies.  I don't expect them to start here. Looking  good.  What do you think?


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