Pixar

This past weekend I went to the movies to watch Ratatouille, the new cartoon by Pixar. I, as most people, have gotten used to expecting a lot from Pixar. These guys have made no mistakes so far, it's unbelievable. So, for the sake of nostalgia I decided to do a quick tour back through the great releases they've given us these past 12 years. First thing to notice, they released 8 full-length movies in 12 years. Apparently it takes them about 3 years to write/produce/release one of their cartoons. So, at any given time they must be seriously working on at least two of them, likely more. And at the beginning they could not afford to be wrong and release flops, 'cause it would take them up to two years to release something again and they'd have serious problems surviving that far (now that they're owned by Disney and have accumulated so much cash from past releases, I don't think that poses a threat anymore). Just an interesting fact: Pixar was founded by Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO in the mid-80's after he had gotten "fired" from his own company. They did a lot of short-length cartoons and R&D until they finally released Toy Story in 1995 and made history. Please, if you haven't watched that, go rent it right now!!! It's a classic!! They've released so far:

• 1995 - Toy Story
  
• 1998 - A Bug's Life
• 1999 - Toy Story 2
• 2001 - Monsters Inc.
• 2003 - Finding Nemo
• 2004 - The Incredibles
• 2006 - Cars
• 2007 - Ratatouille

It's a pretty impressive lineup. None of those raked in less than 150 million dollars in the US alone. To form the Top-10-cartoons-since-Pixar-came-along list, I'd only add Shrek (1 & 2, never the third!!!) and Ice Age (yeah, I know that makes 11 cartoons, but bear with me...)

The only one that I don't think is that good is Cars, which is only so-so. I'd say Ratatouille is better than Cars, maybe as good as A Bug's Life. Well, that's saying a lot since apparently the only guys who matched Pixar at their best are doing stuff like Shrek the Third now... yeah, I really didn't like Shrek the Third... it's a waste of a great franchise!!!!

So, why are they so successful? Is it the eye-popping animation?? Certainly it helps a lot, Ratatouille is so far beyond anything else I've seen from other production companies that its embarrassing (they actually showed the trailers for a couple of other computer-generated cartoons when I went to Ratatouille. It is literally embarrassing.). But I guess it's the storytelling that really makes the difference. The main character of the movie is a freakin' rat that wants to become a chef in Paris!!!! Have you ever heard anything more absurd than that?!?!!?!! But if you have the least bit of fantasy in you, they find a way of taking you through this crazy journey up to the point where you catch yourself wondering if it's actually possible for a rat with a super-heightened sense of taste to become a chef at a French restaurant. And that alone is worthwhile... :-)

Just for nostalgia's sake, here's one version of their best shorts... I guess you can't post the original on YouTube, so people apparently change the soundtrack and do it anyways!!