Reviews - Pixar Round Up Part Two

Finding Nemo – Pixar's next film moved away from the more grown up themes and dark side that Monsters Inc provided and is more of a straight forward kids movie. Luckily it's a kid films with plenty of charm and warmth, although it makes fewer concessions to adult audience members then previous movies. This entertaining tale of a clownfish desperately trying to find his son who has gone missing is filled with memorable characters and scenes, including a great turn from Ellen DeGeneres. It stands out as one of Pixar's best looking movies – the Australian coast is brought to vivid, lush life, but overall it feels aimed more for the younger audience.

The Incredibles – Pixar had a go at mixing in more dramatic and action elements along with their usual comedic elements in this enjoyable effort. Filmed in widescreen the film is a stunner from the Metropolis city landscapes to dense jungle scenery. The Incredibles was the first Pixar film to star an all human cast, and rather than going for realism the cartoony look of the cast pays off handsomely. The story and writing, about a family of superheroes who must work together to fight a new threat trying to take over a world where superheroes are outlawed, is great. Writer and director Brad Bird handles both the over the top action and the more personal family scenes well. The film doesn't have as much humour as previous Pixar efforts but this is still a very enjoyable romp from a studio now very comfortable with their craft.

Cars – After watching Cars I was left with a feeling I seldom have after watching a Pixar movie -disappointment. Cars is a film that unfortunately just doesn't deliver – the laughs are few, the drama falls flat, and while the film looks good (again filmed in widescreen) the scenery is a little uninspired. The characters are fun but at just under two hours Cars is far too long for it's slight story about a racing car lost and damaged in the backwater town of Radiator Springs, and his journey back to the racetrack for the race of his life. What may have been a entertaining eighty minutes is dragged out and it long outstays its welcome. The film made an absolute fortune in merchandise so a sequel is on the way. Hopefully Pixar will inject more humour and shorten the running time to make an enjoyable movie.

Ratatouille – Cars may have been a bit of a dud but Pixar pulled out all the stops for Ratatouille, a funny, charming winner of a film that ranks as my favourite Pixar movie. A simple story about a French mouse who dreams of being a chef, and gets to live that dream via an unwilling human volunteer, the combination of witty writing, assured direction and superb animation lift this film up high. Any evidence of its troubled production (the original director was replaced during production) is not evident on screen. All the characters are fantastic and well voiced, but special mention goes to Peter O'Toole who puts in a memorable performance as a sour faced restaurant critic. An absolute delight.

Wall-E – A film set in a post-apocalyptic Earth starring a lonely, rubbish collecting robot who is seemingly the only inhabitant of Earth left doesn't exactly sound like a heartwarming family feature but somehow Pixar pull it off. Wall-E may not have the best jokes or the strongest plot but it has bags and bags of charm. The first half of the film features precious little dialogue but it doesn't need it, everything that needs to be said is animated in silent perfection. After this brave first half the film falls into more generic territory for the second half involving a space marooned colony of humans, but it's still highly enjoyable and very imaginative. Wall-E himself is a delight of a character and it's a pleasure spending time with him. A great, touching film.

That rounds up my thoughts on the Pixar stable of films. As you can probably tell I have a lot of love for these movies (except for Cars.) But when a collection of films contain as much humour, warmth, excitement and good old fashioned story telling as these do, it's hard not to be entranced by them. It's also been fun watching Pixar's writing, directing and technical prowess improve with each film. I'm looking forward to 2010 and beyond where we'll get to see Toy Story 3, The Bear and The Bow and Newt, which has the sort of simple story Pixar handle very well. And of course there's also Cars 2 which will hopefully be a big improvement on the first film.