Fine, Pixar's never had a flop, financially speaking, but creatively, Cars is an abortion--and it's guilty of MANY of the accusations that this short makes against Dreamworks.
I'm tired of hearing about "Pixar's undefeated streak" when one of their protagonists exclaims, "Holy Porsche!" and then makes a joke about tramp-stamps. If Shrek were about anthropomorphic vehicles instead of fairy tales, it would be Cars.
Also, this short avoids praising (the excellent) How to Train Your Dragon by predicting that Dreamworks will cheapen it with a sequel--MEANWHILE, Toy Story 3 is ONLY effective when it's resting on the laurels of its predecessors.
And the fact that Pixar got sloppy with Toy Story 3 doesn't bode well for the truck-load of sequels that they're now planning. If they couldn't put some effort into their flagship franchise, what're the odds that they'll do anything decent with Cars or Monsters Inc.?
And since I'm already being a bitch, I'll throw this out there: Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit: the Curse of the Were-Rabbit are PHENOMENAL...
...Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas out-classes every adventure movie Disney's attempted in the last twenty years...
...and if Disney or Pixar had produced the Prince of Egypt, the film would be considered a modern animation classic.
All Dreamworks Animation.
After I posted this, my friend replied:
I disagree with you entirely... but then, you're also the guy who thinks that Toy Story (Midway) Mania! is a PoS, so it's kind of expected. lol. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I do give you kudos though, because although you might not have the most popular opinions around, you at least back your views up with facts. That is something rarely seen these days.
I like how he managed to be condescending, "disagree with me entirely," AND prove that "people don't back their views up with facts these days" by not using facts to back up his views--in one short paragraph.
Update: the debate continued unremarkably (because one side is an egregious maniac, and the other side is an slack-jawed automaton)--except some dude said, "I agree with Ian's first post; he IS being a bitch."
ReplyDeleteSo I stalked him, all like, "Who the fuck are you supposed to be?"
He's an unemployed actor who moves to LA last year. He previously lived in Orlando, where, for a time HE PLAYED THE FUCKING DREAMFINDER IN FRONT OF EPCOT'S IMAGINATION PAVILION!
The Dreamfinder thinks I'm a bitch!
(Collapses.)
random lurker here to lurk.
ReplyDeletebut I agree with everything you said. Personally, I find Pixar entertaining and heartwarming and some of their movies are absolutely incredible, but I LOVE Dreamworks with a passion.
I am completely and utterly convinced that the auto-hype for every last pixar movie and the auto-hate for every last dreamworks movie is entirely due to BIAS. When people enter a theater for a Pixar movie, they're thinking "I already know this movie will rock even if it sucks but I won't notice because it's pixar." (I'm looking at you, WALL-E.) People enter a theater for a Dreamworks movie thinking "This movie is going to suck, end of discussion."
A few specific examples are WALL-E as I've already mentioned, Cars, and yes, even Toy Story 3. I'll start with WALL-E. I don't care what anyone says, that movie was just poor. The animation, as expected, was absolutely incredible, but the praise just about ends there. But for some reason its hailed as one of the "best pixar (and even animated in general) movies of all time". Bias, I'm telling you. Cars? Just not that great. But also hailed as a classic. And Toy Story 3. Oh, Toy Story 3... The most aggravating case of Pixar bias to date. Look. When I was little, I watched the first two, but didn't remember much about how I felt about it. So I knew the backstory and was familiar with all the characters, but had no previous childhood memories and heartwarming nostalgia to go off of when I saw Toy Story 3. And I'm sorry, but I just don't see why it's praised as much as it is. I honestly, completely, don't get it. And I've seen it 4 times now (Don't ask). It was good, I guess, but it just was not that great. I wasn't feeling it. But now it's up for the BEST PICTURE award at the oscars? wow. okay. That's going a little bit too far, I think.