What is it?
Pixar is a CGI animated film studio started in 1979 as the Graphics Group, creator of films like Finding Nemo, the Toy Story trilogy and, our personal favourite, The Incredibles.
What do we think?
Having recently watched the third installment of Toy Story, we remain amazed at and impressed by the consistently exceptional quality of Pixar’s films. Toy Story 3 is just as good as Toy Story 2, which is just as good as Toy Story, the original. True, they are based around a recognisable structure, but one cannot say that they are formulaic. Each one delights, surprises and exceeds expectations.
Animated films from other studios are sometimes of equal quality to the Pixar offerings (Kung Fu Panda and the first Shrek film for instance), but more commonly they pander to their audiences and leave us feeling disappointed.
Pixar’s films are beautiful to look at, draw us into fresh and exciting worlds, and incorporate strong character development and believable relationships. But perhaps what’s so consistently engaging is how they masterfully combine multiple strata of humour, each aimed at a different age group, but none exclusively so. As experienced film-watching adults, we can appreciate the complexities of marital life in The Incredibles or the genius of a vast warehouse of doors in Monsters Inc., but we still get a giggle out of a dancing Spanish Buzz Lightyear.
Pixar deserves every accolade they receive – they are clearly a studio dedicated to creativity, originality and, dare we say it, the pursuit of fine art.