Next batch of Pixar films after the Monsters Inc. prequel

i enjoyed this movie a lot when i watched it but djp’s critiques and others’ (and now this) have made me look at this film differently

Looks lovely -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYfJxlgR2jw

The look of these things freaks me out now. I thought soul looked almost like a real life new york with 3d cartoon characters walking around in it.

Luca is visually lovely, but slight, and a bit of a cheat: it sets up a queer metaphor that it is not quite willing to go all in on. Still, it is inspiring some great review titles; I can't decide if I prefer Calimari By Your Name (AO Scott) or Call Me By Your Nemo (someone on letterboxd).

Only just caught up with Onward which was better than I was expecting. Not top tier but solid, and did get the waterworks going a bit.

Luca felt like it was on Onward's level, but with a much more visually appealing setting

ums otm, that's about where I'd land. quality wise they felt pretty similar, but the visual charm of Luca pushed it over the edge.

Yeah, I'd rate Onward and Luca about equally. Definitely liked both better than Soul.

Soul was aiming higher than Onward but didn't always get there.

chap otm - Onward had more modest ambitions but really hit its marks. Soul may have had the higher highs but the arc and consistency were a bit more of a mess. also find it weird that 2 of their recent-ish films both revolve around music and the afterlife (though Soul and Coco are very different from each other to be sure)

Will watch Luca with the kids this weekend.

my son has already watched luca 5 times

LS otm, Soul did have some incredibly beautiful moments but it didn't hold together nearly as well as a whole.

Luca really felt like a pre-2010 sequel era Pixar film, but even better to look at.

in general my daughter seems to be more entertained by the "lesser" Pixar movies in recent years

makes sense - the "lesser" movies have entertaining kids as their prime directive, whereas the big important statement ones have to try to do more to meet expectations of audiences of all ages

This seems almost like a parody, but ... Buzz Lightyear prequel?

To infinity and … 🚀 Experience the origin story of a Space Ranger in Disney and Pixar’s #Lightyear, in theaters Summer 2022. 💫 pic.twitter.com/B8kRwSDYSO

— Pixar (@Pixar) October 27, 2021

Finally we will learn how Buzz Lightyear became Buzz Lightyear.

But more seriously, isn't the whole appeal of these Toy Story characters how they interact with the real world?

Part of the appeal is that yes

Part of it is Pixar hasn't really done much with outer space and kids love space shit

We got the whole woody backstory in 2, makes sense to do buzz

Finally, and I admit slightly reluctantly, got round to Luca - and I loved it! Comfortably preferred it to Onward and Soul, so charming and bright and stylish, and refreshingly low key.

Admittedly spending some time in fantasy 50s Italy is an easy sell when you're isolating with covid in the English winter.

It's the most Ghibli-esque of the Pixars.

Except for Soul, the last Pixar I saw was Monsters University eight years ago (!). What are the good ones? Now have covid-enforced time to catchup

You've already seen Soul, which is one of the best recent one imho. After that I would say Coco, and Toy Story 4 of course. The others I could take or leave.

hearing only positive things about turning red

Turning Red is great. Watched it with my family and we all loved it.

One of my daughters watched it with her friend and said it was not bad but it was "weird" and didn't like it. We've been trying to watch it with the other one, but she refuses to watch it at all. Dunno what to make of any of that, given the positive response from critics.

I am extremely excited to see my old Toronto Chinatown neighbourhood in that movie, so definitely going to watch that one

Toy Story 4 is fine and people should see it, but I honestly think Toy Story 3 wrapped up the series better and the extra film is like a long epilogue.

Coco and Inside Out both get better every time I rewatch them and are now among my favorite Pixar films.

otoh I was surprised by how much I liked Onward the first time I saw it, but that didn't sustain over follow up viewings.

Turning Red was very good but I was left slightly underwhelmed after all the gushing reviews.

Inside Out, Coco and Soul were the best in that time frame. Toy Story 4 was a huge disappointment, a lot worse than the first three films imo, but I guess watchable

Luca is somewhat underrated. I watched it while restricted to a single room because of you know what, and it offered an irresistible sun-kissed escape. Light but lovingly crafted.

hearing only positive things about turning red

Haven't seen it yet, but my first reaction to the trailer was, how do you take one of the 5 cutest things on the planet (red pandas) and make it so much less cute?

Computers, iirc.

Turning Red was good, best pixar in a while I thought (I didn't like Soul as much as most people I think). Kind of weird to see a "period piece" (no pun intended) set in 2002, I guess this is just one of those movies where cell phones would have ruined the whole plot.

Toronto setting was a novelty but 2002 setting was a bit strange, particularly as the 'markers' of it being set in a different time didn't really work...? Like, tamagochis weren't a thing beyond what, 1998? Hadn't boy bands pretty much died out by then? Would a bunch of junior high kids really all have flip phones in 2002? (I was in high school then and most kids didn't have phones, but maybe Toronto was more ahead of the curve than Alberta)

Anyway thought Turning Red was.. fine, I guess? It's no Coco.

I have yet to see Turning Red, but I have had a lot of the same similar thoughts about the various anachronisms that I am aware of, especially the whole boy band thing. Like boy bands were still kind of a thing in 2002, but a lot of the major ones went on hiatus that year, with various members pursuing solo projects and those that did exist did not really sound like the ones from a few years before. Max Martin wasn't really dominating the charts, and wouldn't really come back till 2004 with Since U Been Gone. Most pop was either going in full on R&B direction, what with the Neptunes working with everyone, or in a more rock/pop-punk direction. The main boy bands I remember at the time was stuff like B2K or Diddy's takeover of Making the Band, which were firmly in the R&B territory. You had groups like Busted, but they were in that "We got Guitars!" cateogry and only ever had a tiny following here in North America, to the point that a bunch of their songs could just be recycled a few years later by The Jonas Brothers. I mostly associate that fall with the most popular group amongst young girls at the time probably being Good Charlotte, as well as an abundance of kids wearing ties ala Avril Lavigne. Maybe life was just different for people in Alberta? I too don't remember many kids having phones at the time either, but I was also living in small town and not a big urban center.

Except for Soul, the last Pixar I saw was Monsters University eight years ago (!). What are the good ones? Now have covid-enforced time to catchup

Must see: Inside Out, Coco, Toy Story 4 (I may be alone in liking it better than 3)

Decent: Finding Dory, Incredibles 2, Onward, Luca

Meh: The Good Dinosaur, Soul

I'm assuming Cars 3 is crap because the first two were crap, and I haven't watched the new one yet.

The original Cars was OK. The second and third ones were, indeed, crap.

I thought Toy Story 4 was surplusage, but then again, I thought Toy Story 3 was too. Ducky and Bunny were about the only real saving grace of 4.

Soul was pretty good. It tried for the emotional punch of Up but didn't quite connect.

I didn't understand the world of Cars at all. Is this supposed to be a world where humans don't exist, and automobiles exist in their place? Why are the horseflies little trucks? Pixar is typically very good at presenting a thought-out logic to the relationships between objects (toys) or just non-humans (rats) and human world, but Cars didn't have any of that. Also, the plot was basically Doc Hollywood. I don't remember why I watched Cars 2, but it seemed to just double down on the Larry the Cable Guy character's bumbling idiocy, which I didn't find charming the first time around. Also, one of the worst end-credits songs in cinematic history.

I liked the antique-store setting of Toy Story 4 and I thought the film displayed more visual inventiveness than I would have expected from the series at this point. I totally get why people might think this series has run its course, though.

The rules of the afterlife in Soul were far too complicated--a peeve of mine likely acquired from having watched a lot of similarly convoluted afterlife-fantasies like Made in Heaven,Chances Are, and Heart and Souls when I was younger. It looked and sounded great, though; I appreciated that it took some visual inspiration (at least) from A Matter of Life and Death.

Read upthread for all of the stuff that pissed me off about Soul

I think saying boy bands weren’t cool anymore and about to split up may be missing the point of what a 13 year old girl likes or cares about in this fictional band who haven’t yet split to get sexy with the neptunes. Not everything has to be more music historian nerds. Same goes with the idea that a kid may play with a toy beyond its initial year of being massive.

Turning Red was great. It was hilarious and it’s really refreshing to see a take on becoming a teenager where the character stayed true to her spirit. Not the best Pixar movie but still has so much to enjoy.

I've only just seen Onwards. My 8yo was loving it but clearly felt the end was frustrating (a while afterwards I found him crying and he said it was a stupid film that they never should've made). Would be interested in other kids' reactions... I enjoyed it more than I expected, but can see how the "promise" dangled throughout the whole movie being whipped away might be clever but didn't really land with my kid.

(Plus I feel slight >:( that Ian realised he had someone for all that stuff all along... and the mother gets zero credit for bringing up two kids solo while grieving but it looks like I'm the only person who thinks that's worth mentioning....)

ONWARD, not Onwards!

Pixar should focus on making actual good movies for the children instead of focusing on proselytism

stop posting

look i know we’re all transfixed by barbenheimermania but not nearly enough people are talking about the fact that elemental features two shots showcasing unambiguous visual references to goatse

that's because you're the only person who saw Elemental

and now i can’t unsee it