I heard dogs can’t see up, either.
I think it’s a really lovely move, and I find it hard to get cynical about it when it’s fairly obvious that Pixar’s done nothing to promote it. Not only did they not leak the story to the press themselves, but they even refused to comment on it, and wouldn’t name the person involved.
I’m sure that, at some point, someone in the decision-making process thought “Y’know, if this gets out, it’d be good publicity.” Maybe they even used that to sell a producer on it, so they could get the DVD. But I’m a little confused as to how that lessens the act. Would it have been better if they’d said “Yeah, this would be really sweet to do, but you know what? It would get us good publicity, and that might be cynical, so we won’t.” I don’t imagine that there’s a huge crowd of little cancer children calling Pixar with requests to see their movies for free, and they only took this one request for PR purposes.
Of course, now that it’s such a popular story, I’m sure there will be lots more petitions like that, since people know it works. And if Pixar wants to make those kids’ final moments better, as well, I say more power to 'em.
Ba-dump ching.
Or maybe the top dogs at Pixar are genuinely nice people who maybe have children themselves and maybe don’t need an ounce of additional help promoting their films due to the fact that they hit it out of the park with such regularity that you might set your watch by it.
That’s class. True charity doesn’t involve trumpeting your generosity.
Word.
I know this movie thing wasn’t a religious act. But I’m reminded of the words Jesus spoke during his Sermon on the Mount. It’s Matthew 6:2-3. He speak of people practising their charity in front of others, so that they will recieve praise. I always liked to imagine a sarcastic tone in His voice when he added “Truly, I tell you they will have their reward.” Instead he advises folks to practise charity in private, to not let the right hand know what the left is doing.
I really respect the Pixar people for what they’ve done, and feel sad for those who look at it as a cynical act.
I think it’s a touching story, but you know what jumped out at me? The comment about asking hospice, the week before, for a wheelchair so they could take her to the movie…they waited all weekend and the wheelchair never arrived…and within days she was too ill to be moved. I know it’s not hospice’s job to get kids to movies, but seems like they could have communicated that better.
I thought you were Canadian, yet you think that’s about dogs and not deer?
Three people arrive at the Golden Gates at the same time, one a philosopher, another a physicist, and the third a Canadian. St Peter engages the first in a discussion of Logical Positivism.
He talks with the second about String Theory.
He asks the third, “Got your buck yet?”
Okay, around here the third guy is from Wisconsin, but same difference.
Cool of Pixar to do this , after watching FanBoys* , I would have thought that something like that would only remain in the movies.
*its not the same thing exactly , the movie plot was signifigantly different, but the ending would have most people agreeing with me i think.
Declan
This is such a sad, sweet story. I didn’t cry when I read it, but only because I knew if I started I wouldn’t be stopping for a while.
Is this a slightly mangled Simon Pegg and Nick Frost reference, or am I up too late and too much addicted to the aforementioned actors?
I read this about 5 hours ago. I well up with tears every time I think about it, especially this…
Little angel.
I prefer to think of it as adapted to local conditions.
Of course, as my brother points out, what would have made the story funny was if after that, she turned out not to like the movie.
Every Pixar film (I believe) has a long list at the end of “Production Babies”, the children born to the folks who created the film. I get the impression that many people at Pixar have children of their own, and the empathy to see themselves in the same position if their own child was terminally ill. I’ve met a number of people from Pixar at SIGGRAPH, and all of them struck me as bright, talented and decent (OK, I knew one egotistical jerk who went to work for Pixar, but he didn’t last long.)