When I first saw the preview for Monsters, Inc., I thought to myself, “ooookay, cute, but probably not going to rock my cinematic world.” How wrong I was. I absolutely loved the film.
The preview for Finding Nemo just looked dull. I didn’t recognize the voices and thought that the short-term memory gag would run thin after five minutes. Again, I was wrong. I consider it to be the best animated film ever made, bar none.
I found the preview for The Incredibles annoying, since it amounted to nothing more than a two minute “fat” joke. Once again, though, the movie turned out to be fantastic.
So the record remains unbroken. Pixar’s previews (and mind I’m talking about the teasers here) consistently set me up for disappointment, but the finished products are mindblowingly good.
Now consider their upcoming release Cars. As I sat through the teaser, I wondered to myself how even the mighty Pixar could possibly make this one interesting – it just looked so, I don’t know, devoid of potential.
I agreed and stated so in the Incredibles thread here. It looks like a plug for NASCAR, not much more, and the scenes of the cars racing just look like that - yep, those’re cars racing.
Having said that, a poster after me commented that their understanding of the film is that it focuses on the relationship between the pickup truck and the race car - kind of a city slicker stranded in the back water who learns more about themselves…
Again - looked pretty bad, but it is Pixar and even more, it is John Lasseter, the driving force behind Pixar’s story-and-character-focused appeal.
I am certainly inclined to give it the benefit of the doubt. Even though I am not a NASCAR follower…
Not to hijack your thread, but why? I had never seen it, but after seeing The Incredibles last week I figured I finally ought to. It was good. I enjoyed it. It was warm and funny and amusing, but it was a far cry from " the best animated film ever made, bar none.". Hell, The Incredibles is 10 times better, and so are both Toy Stories(staying in the Pixar universe). I’ve heard this “best film” mantra more than a couple of times, and now that I’ve seen the movie, I wonder why. Can someone enlighten me?
The most notable (storytelling) thing about Finding Nemo is that it takes the conventional “lost child” narrative and turns it on its head – it’s the father who has the adventures, who grows emotionally, who Learns A Lesson™; the bits with Nemo in the aquarium are there mostly so the audience will know he’s okay.
Finding Nemo is, IMO, a movie that speaks at the heart of parenthood – you’re torn between wanting to enjoy time with your child and having to spend your time protecting him from the dangers out there. But as Marlin learns in the movie, you can’t protect your kids from everything, and you can’t let that effort ruin what time you do have with your kids.
“How do you know something terrible won’t happen?!”
“I don’t!”
As for the Cars trailer, it was a bit more action-oriented (and less comedy-oriented) that the other Pixar trailers. But hey, the studio has enough credibility with me that I’m willing to wait for the movie to actually come out before I declare it to be less-than-perfect. According to some Pixar insiders who’ve seen Cars in development, the NASCAR-racing bit is just a small portion of the entire film…
Wow glad to know that I wasn’t the only one completely turned off by the Cars preview. All I could think about was all the promotional Mc-Happy meal crap they are going to have tied in with it’s release.
On a different note I’m excited about Chicken Little after the preview.
[Disclaimer]
Long experience has taught me the truth of the expression de gustibus non disputandum est – one may not dispute matters of taste. If you saw Finding Nemo and weren’t impressed, nothing I say is going to change your mind.
[/Disclaimer]
However, if you are interested in learning why I thought it was such a good movie, here are a few of my reasons (in no particular order).
The animation was jawdroppingly beautiful. In the DVD Special Features you see that the animators were given videos that had been shot underwater, and instructed to develop programs that would recreate the motion, lighting, etc. They created images so real that nobody could tell which was the original and which was the computer animation. The entire animation team was also required to go scuba diving in order to see the undersea world first hand. All of this shows in the finished picture.
I found the characters appealing and sympathetic. Marlin is an overprotective father, but it’s due to grief, fear of loss, and love, not because he’s a religious zealot or stern control freak. Nemo is a fairly normal kid who just wants a chance to escape the leash for a while, and to be treated normally – not like a “special needs” child. These are characters I can identify with, see both sides, understand where they’re coming from. Even Dory, who starts out being merely annoying, grows on Marlin and the audience.
Finally! A story about parental love and devotion that centers on the father! As a divorced father with full custody of a pre-school age daughter, I can tell you that my niche is widely overlooked by the entertainment, information, and advertising industries. The barrage of “mommy is the wise one and daddy is an incompetent doofus” movies and shows gets very tiring. And there are precious few movies and shows out there about single dads.
I thought the movie was hilarious. Some of the humor was subtle – calling the Australian great white shark “Bruce” was a brilliant double reference to Jaws and Monty Python. But Pixar’s people have the capability of elevating even the bodily humor to something more witty and less crass.
The voice talent was top notch. I’ve never been a fan of Albert Brooks or Ellen DeGeneres, but I thought they were both outstanding, as was…well, pretty much everyone else.
I could go on and on. In short, I thought Finding Nemo had a good story, appealing characters, an innovative setting, a positive message, and was beautifully filmed and acted.
No, I wanted your take on it, thank you very much. I saw all of those themes in the movie, they didn’t resonate with me the way they do with you, but that’s strictly an individual taste matter.
As to the first, I’m sure Gil wil figure out something.
As to the second, Finding Nemo was released as a two disk set, wide screen on one, and full screen on the other, with different features. The short, Knick Knack (1989) was on the full screen disk. If you rented Nemo you may have had the wrong disk.
As for Cars, I’ve heard that the plot is roughly similar to that of Doc Hollywood – slick urban yuppie gets stranded in the sticks for a spell, meets the locals, and learns something about Life™ in the process.
