Pixar Animation Studios- Franchise/Microgenre- Toy Story, Inside Out, Cars, more! #FilmFoundations

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Weird Weird. Hello everyone, andwelcome to Film Foundations, the show where

(00:46):
we take four questions and apply themto a micro genre, franchise, director,
or actor, and those four questionsare going to be answered on this
episode along with me as my dearfriend and one of the other hosts of
the show, disc can Own,Ryan Varrel. Hey, Hey, I
am stoked to talk about this.I love me some animation films and eager
to jump in. They're the onlyanimation studio, Ryan, how dare you?

(01:08):
There's nobody else? According to theAcademy Awards in what like in the
last what fifteen years, Like,anytime a Pixar movie gets nominated, it's
almost like a shoe in unless it'slike Shrek. I'm pretty sure like Pixar
movies have gathered Academy Award after AcademyAward after Academy award for good reason.
Into the Spider Verse pikes the difference. Yeah, that's the outlier. Maybe,

(01:32):
I mean, to be fair,Pixar has dominated the animation landscape.
I would say for the most part. I mean, obviously, you know
DreamWorks is in that conversation, butI'm not a Minions guy, so cause
that's like what that's what that isnow? Right? Like DreamWorks is Illumination
Studios, Yeah, minions, Yeah, cool. Illumination has turned into this

(01:55):
this butt of a lot of jokestype of studio, and they I don't
know, they don't have they don'thave a lot of what Pixar as,
but we're going to get into alot of that, I'm sure. Obviously
we are excited to be back forsomething like this, and most of the
topics we've discussed just the two ofus have been fairly small, very tight,
very you know, not a lotof options to choose from. I

(02:16):
think this is going to be areally exciting one because there's a wide array
of opinions you can have about this, and considering that this has been going
strong for multiple decades at this point, there's a lot that we're gonna be
able to talk. I mean,from nineteen ninety five with the original Toy
story to this year they will bereleasing yet another movie, inside Out too,

(02:39):
and then the other one I don'tthink is coming out this year.
I think inside Out two is theirmovie for this for twenty twenty four,
which is a sequel which also islike a weird thing and that's the thing.
Like, when I think about Pixar, I think about like a lot
of original ideas and a lot oftime in between sequels that aren't Toy Story.

(03:00):
I mean, because it was ToyStory one, then Toy Story two
came out four years later, andthen Toy Story three took like a decade,
like eleven years to come out.Like I whenever I think of Pixar,
like I think of a company thatjust kind of walks to the beat
of their own drum, with orwithout Disney, because again, there was
a time where they weren't owned byDisney, and then they are owned by

(03:23):
Disney. Again, I'm assuming iswhat's going on now, And it's weird
to me because I think, likeyou said, this is the last time
we did something with any amount wasseven or six for the Scream movies because
Edgar Wright has less movies than that. He has less than six movies,
right, are just at six moviessomewhere around there. Yeah, yeah,

(03:44):
so this is like what twenty sevendifferent things, stretching like you said,
thirty years almost at this point.Yeah, and somewhere around twenty seven to
twenty features lots of shorts too thatwe could actually talk about they've done some
groundbreaking shorts that a lot of thosehave been nominated for Oscars as well.
But the big thing is this hasbeen a very like public type of company

(04:10):
since the mid nineties, and Ithink they technically got their start before that
at doing technology based things, andthen they really became focused as an animation
studio in the nineties. But Imean, they have this history of being
associated with Steve Jobs, and hehelped them make some some savvy business decisions,
it sounds like, and then oncethe partnership with Disney came, it

(04:31):
was just, you know, headfor the hills, take all of the
money type of situation. Because theyhave been successful literally since day one.
I think through the catalog of whatthey've put out, there's really only one
or two movies that people would tendto say are I don't even think people
would say they're bad, but they'relike it was a mess sort of release,
and everything else has been knocked outthe park, really great reviews,

(04:55):
with a few of them getting likeover the top amazing reviews, perfect scores
on Rotten Tomatoes for the longest times, really high ratings on IMDb. A
lot of people that are around ourAge would say these are some of their
favorite animated films of all time,and chard to argue with these are these
are genuinely incredibly well made films withsome of them, like the newest one

(05:16):
that's been released, Elemental, Idon't remember the exact number, but they
basically came out and said they hadto launch the largest number of servers to
be able to even animate this filmbecause of how much computing power that it
took to make, which is insanityand the crazy thing. You look at
Elemental and you go, yeah,I get it, like this, this
looks beautiful. Well, and solike you mentioned, I mean, obviously

(05:39):
the names associated with Pixar, likeyou mentioned Steve Jobs already, I mean,
Pixar was technically started as part ofthe Lucasfilm Computer Division, so George
Lucas also had a hand in Pixar. I mean, the people surrounding this
company, the names are are sowell known on their own. But then,
like you mentioned, like so manypeople, I would say, our

(06:00):
Age, but then like you know, there's still things coming out now,
right, and that are I youknow, and again I know, I
know we're gonna have some things totalk about, but for me, I
think if I were to reflect onPixar broadly, it's a company who,
like you said, like they've reallychanged the conversation on animation. They're the
reason this these kinds of movies exist, and I'm talking about like we mentioned,

(06:24):
illumination studios like stuff like that hasto exist only because Pixar exists.
And I know Shrek came out,and Shrek's not a Pixar movie, but
Shrek probably doesn't come out if Pixardoesn't exist either. I mean, that's
the thing. Something would have existed, but not a company that fifteen of
their twenty seven movies are in thetop you know, you know, highest

(06:45):
grossing animated films of all time.Fifteen of the twenty seven that's more than
half. So that I mean,it's just crazy, Like you said,
I mean, it is like forpeople our age, obviously it hits.
But I think Pixar has figured outa way to trans send all of those
things because I think most of thestories are rather universal. You know,
I would agree to yourself. Youknow, it's okay to be different.

(07:09):
It's okay. I mean with likeseeing read you know, this is a
part of life, like those kindslike Pixar does a better job in having
these conversations than I think a lotof adults have with their own kids.
Like some of these things are likewe'll show you this and maybe this will
help understand, like you know withCoco, like family members passing away,
stuff like that. I mean,those, those are the things that make

(07:30):
Pixar such an important film studio forme is their ability to tackle in recent
movies, not so much in likethe original stuff, but in recent movies
they've been really tackling some deep emotionalquestions that again, like I'm not saying
other studios aren't doing it, butin indespicable me they're not. There's no
grand musing on anything like not inthe way that I feel Pixar kind of

(07:54):
gets gets that, and I thinkthat they're they are the animation studio as
far as like this kind of stufffor me, as great as DreamWorks is,
like there's also Surf's Up and SharkTale Soars, Pixar's worst movies are
not as are not as bad asyou know what I mean, Like,
Pixar's worst movies are not nearly asbad as like DreamWorks worst animated movies like

(08:16):
Pixar still brings the fire even whenthe movies just all right, and there
are plenty that I would consider tobe just alright, and even to the
point, did you even remember thishappened? So I would say the worst
of Pixar can can compete at leaston an emotional level with the best from
DreamWorks. Yeah, the titles thatwere very met upon release are are up

(08:39):
there with the ability to cover moreground, to speak more universally with people
than the best of DreamWorks. AndI think that's why Pixar is gonna have
some lasting power. The stuff thatthey've put out are going to be animation
films that are talked about for decades, you know, on par with some
of the greatest Disney films of alltime, which obviously we're gonna probably be
talking about some other companies tonight withtheir animation. And it's hard, it's

(09:03):
hard not to even just sell theway that Pixars affected the world, even
just on like a base level,because the foundation that they built is it's
led to this crazy reputation, Likeif you know a Pixar film is coming
out, you can you can beton it for the most part, and
nine times out of ten, youwould be completely accurate. That's gonna be

(09:26):
a really great film. It's gonnabe reviewed well to make way more than
its budget, and it'll be widelyremembered as a fantastic film. How many
studios can really say that? Notvery many. And like we said,
even their worst movies, which I'msure will come up, like the ones
that people don't necessarily think are asgood as the originals, or just like
the concept maybe doesn't work, likeeven those movies are still pretty good.

(09:48):
Cause again, like I know thatThe Good Dinosaur wasn't necessarily the most popular
movie, but it made a lotof money, right because it's a Pixar
movie, and my least favorite Pixarmovie made like one of the most out
of the higher studio's history. Soyeah, we'll definitely get into it tonight.
We'll answer our four questions and dosome comparisons, because there's there's a
lot of animation out there, andthere's a lot of there's a lot of

(10:11):
people that get passionate about this specificthing, so eager to hear your answer
for these, Let's get into someof these. Obviously we are around the
same age. What was like yourfirst foray into Pixar. Were you there
from day one? I was therefrom day one. I remember seeing Toy
Story when it came out, becausethat was the other thing early on,
like the movies came out at Thanksgiving, like the week of Thanksgiving. Toy

(10:33):
Story one came out November twenty second, ninety five, which is the week
of Thanksgiving. I distinctly remember seeingToy Story one in theaters. I distinctly
remember seeing Toy Story two in theatersbecause we you know, on Black Friday.
Back in the day, they didn'ttake kids on shopping trips on Black
Friday. Not just saying they shouldor shouldn't now, but they were like,

(10:54):
all right, you will go shoppingthe two, you know, my
aunt and my mom. You guystake the kids to see a movie and
then go to McDonald's afterwards. Andlike so like for me, early on,
like you like you said you couldcount on Pixar, Like you can
also count on a Pixar movie comingout essentially every November for like a good
stretch of time. So I rememberseeing the original Toy Story like and you

(11:15):
know, I watch it every nowand then and it still fucking holds up.
And it holds up because of thetwo leads. You know, I
think the problem with Toy Story is, and you know it's this is when
we start answering our questions, it'llbe like, well, it's it's more
up in the air because I asmuch as I love Toy Story, like
it it's a good movie, butwe ask our first question. Then I

(11:37):
kind of think so because like Ithink, because we have we have so
much room to travel, and frankly, like I might even almost it might
be a cheap. But I kindof almost have two answers because there's like
a point with Pixar that I feellike is kind of a point of inflection
for them that they start making differentkinds of things. And I'm not saying,
like, you know, Toy Storyis not a thing, but like

(11:58):
some of the movies, I'm definitelynot trying to do what Toy Story was
doing. Right. Well, Iwill share that I too. I was
there for Toy Story, I believein the theater from day one. I
was I think eight when it cameout. I remember those first few for
sure in the theater. I thinkthe second film was Bugs Life, right,
Yeah, Toy Story then Bugs Life, and then Toy Story two,

(12:20):
and that's we're going to get intothat. It's wild to me that they
did Toy Story, Bugs Life,Toy Story two, and then no more
sequels for eleven years. Everything afterthat was original for eleven years. That's
a big thing for them, andnow it seems super commonplace. But so,
yeah, I saw Toy Story intheaters, loved it. It was
very popular, very successful, madeway more than its budget, And yeah,

(12:41):
I would agree. I think thevoice cast is a big part of
that, and we're going to getin one of the other reasons why it
was a big part of that.But our first question, of course,
what is the best entry point forPixar. So I will let you take
this part away and share what youthink is the best part. I had
a really hard time answering this question. I feel like the list gets narrowed

(13:01):
down immediately once you take Toy Storyanything past the first one out, you
know what I mean, Like,that's three movies gone. I could not
in good conscience say Toy Story twois the best entry point because you really
have to see Toy Story one.But I don't want to give Toy Story
one is my answer, because thatfeels like the obvious choice for me at
least, like again, like ToyStory, like it's the one that started

(13:22):
at all, it's the one that'ssuper important for kind of where this genre
of films was going to end upgoing. But for me, and this
is again like I think for me, this is a very popular thing.
I don't think that this is somesort of like, oh, I don't
see this one coming For me,I think the best entry point period if

(13:43):
it's not Toy Story, which again, like I would concede, Toy Story
should theoretically be the answer to thisquestion. My answer is Ratitude. I
absolutely love RATITUDEY. I do notlike Patton Oswald in anything else, but
he's fantastic. Get Ratitude. Wow, that's a that's an interesting, interesting
best entry point. I think thatit's a fantastic movie, and I plan

(14:05):
on talking about that a little bit. Actually, it is certainly one of
my favorites from the entire catalog,and it was I probably my favorite actually
for a very long time until ita game and dethroned it. I was
very impressed with Ratitui and it.As it turns out, one of the
things about it that was so impressivewas it really captures the surroundings really well.

(14:30):
And I guess, you know,years after looking ato how they did
it is because they went into manyof these actual French kitchens and got the
brand of everything that they used,They got the design of everything they that
they used, They got whatever theycould out of the all these French kitchens
and copy them to a tea soit was just one hundred percent accurate.
There was nothing that they were youknow, cutting corners with because of budget.

(14:52):
There was nothing that they were goingto fudge with animation, which they
absolutely could have easily for something likethis, and instead they created a magical
piece of like merging animation with areally great food movie. And I being
a person that loves food, asanybody watching this on the video might be

(15:15):
able to guess, I absolutely adorereally good food movies, like I love
the movie Chef, and it reallycaptures the joy of making some of those
movies and making the food for thosemovies. And Ratituy, I think is
the only animated film that's ever capturedit like this. For me, I
mean that's why I like it becauseI am, like yourself, someone who

(15:37):
finds being in the kitchen to besomething I enjoy a lot. I don't
know if I'd ever want to doit as a job. I mean,
I've thought about it, But Ilove being in the kitchen, and I
love this idea in Ratitude of aanimal being in love with the idea of
food in a way that is offputting to the rest of his family because
he's just a mouse or rat.I guess you're just a rat. Doesn't

(16:00):
matter, But like, I lovethat idea in the movie of like,
sometimes you're not the person who's right, but sometimes you're insanely right. And
that's kind of like the story ofratitue is it's okay to be different,
and in being different, that's okaybecause look at how all the other rats
in that movie changed throughout the courseof the movie because of this one character.

(16:21):
So that's why I like it.I mean, the message about the
food is great. I absolutely loveJanine Garoffalo. I think she's really good
in Ratituey. Uh will will ourNets also in Ratituey, it's kind of
I mean, it's got Ian Holme, it's got a great cast, that's
the other thing. But I thinkfor me, you know, like I
said, the idea of it's likein a lot of ways, and this

(16:44):
is something that I can compare itto, and I wonder if you would
go with this comparison. Ratituey kindof picked up the man or not ratitude
specifically, but like Pixar picked upthe mantle from like rankin in Bass in
terms of like telling stories about it'sokay to be different, or it's okay
to you know, be a differentthat likes food and enjoys the flavor combinations.
Like most of the Pixar movies areabout someone not being the same as

(17:06):
others, and like that's that's oldschool rankin in Bass, fucking Rudolph the
Red Nose Reindeer and everything like that, you know what I mean. So
I for me, Ratituey is mybest entry point. But I can completely
understand why it might not work withsome people. But I think it has
enough of the toy story esque storytelling. But at the same time, it's

(17:27):
starting to verge on the real emotionalmovies that Pixar is going to start releasing
soon in this timeline, if nottwo movies down the line, because Up
is like, I mean, I'mnot a fan of Up the movie,
but I'm a fan of the firstten minutes of Up because it's heart wrenching.
I think every human on earth isa fan of the first ten minutes

(17:48):
of that movie. I just don'tknow what else there is in that movie
to enjoy. Like that's the problem. It's such a good opening that it's
really hard to be like, well, I want to find out the rest
of the movie about a talking dog, what kind of comes out of nowhere?
I'm just saying, what about you, though, I want to know
what your best entry point answer is, because, like you said, twenty
seven movies is a lot. Ifyou say Cars three, I'm gonna be

(18:10):
really surprised. No, I'm gonnaride off of your coat tails a little
bit because I did the exact samething. I have two titles written down
here. The first one is ToyStory with the slash next to it,
like, we have to mention ifyou're gonna make the choice and somehow you're
a human that has never seen anyof these and you want a good starting
point. This is one of therare examples where it's not a franchise,

(18:33):
but starting from the first one isnot a bad idea. It's a really
great way to see the evolution ofthe studio really great way to see how
the emotional undertones have always been there, but then eventually they become the forefront
of all of these stories. Theybecome the federal focus. Literally. Yeah,
there is an actual turning point intheir filmography where it becomes the main

(18:55):
thing. So that it is niceand you're able to see that from the
beginning Toy story. I think it'sa kind of there, Like it's kind
of there, but I feel likethey I feel like they didn't want to
go there too much because again,like n ninety five, they were making
movies for kids. Now in twentytwenty three and twenty four, they're making
movies for those adults that were kidsand their kids. Yeah, that's the

(19:18):
big thing is you got to seewho their competitors were at the time,
and that's what they thought they hada cater towards and now they've built their
own genre. Basically, they theydo not need to compete with DreamWorks because
it's a completely different event when itpicks our film gets released, Yes,
like literally even during the pandemic,it was a big deal because didn't Seoul
just get dropped on streaming during theDMIC Sol did, and so did Onward

(19:42):
right right, Oh, and sodid Luca. Actually, yeah, I
remember that, which is weird,like that kind of I'm not one of
those people that's like gotta go tothe movie theater to see movies, because
like that's just not who I am. I enjoy other things in my house
a lot more. But if yougo see Indian movies in Lincoln, Nebraska,
there's never any body. But therewill always be people there for Pixar

(20:03):
movies. I remember when we wentand saw Monsters Inc. In theaters there
were people sitting on the stairs inthe movie theater watching the movie. Like
that's how big of a deal thesemovies are in and of themselves, even
as early on as Monsters Inc.Which is four movies. I know,
it's fucking you know what. Thefifth movie was Finding fucking Nemo, like

(20:25):
they literally, I mean again,I talked about this, like, you
know, Ridley Scott not a directorI'm a super big fan of, but
you can't deny he made two amazingmovies back to back and has been chasing
that dragon ever since. It'd begood if you just made Alien. It
would be great if you just madeBlade Runner. But can you imagine making
both of them. Like I mean, it's you know, it's like it's
like John, I mean I saidthis on the Culture Cast so many times,

(20:45):
Like John Williams has the Superman themeand the Indiana Jones theme and the
theme to Star Wars. Oh yeah, and also the theme to fucking Harry
Potter that they will literally probably reusein the HBO show because it's so so
iconic, and like that's the thing. How do you how do you make
iconic movies? Picksar figured it outclearly from the jump. Yeah, and

(21:07):
to speak on the number of peoplethat saw these, Uh, Finding Nemo
almost made a billion dollars. Andwhen we look at when that was made
and how common that was, itwasn't common. Finding Nemo came out in
two thousand and three and made overnine hundred and forty million dollars. Like
that's wild. They have I believethey have four billion dollar movies and three

(21:29):
that are from like eight hundred toa billion. So they're they're on the
cusp of seven films being almost abillion dollars, which is insanity these days.
That's that is unheard of. Andto do it in two thousand and
three, that's a shit ton ofmoney for two thousand and three. Yeah,
well that's like I was saying,like, it's it's crazy to me
how much money these Pixar movies havemade, because again, like I mentioned,

(21:53):
in the top ten movies of highestgrossing animated films, it's a lot
of Pixar movies. I mean,other than in the Lion King, but
fifty highest grossing films of all time. I mean in the top ten is
literally nothing of Pixar. But inthe top twenty you have Incredibles too,
And I guess, yeah, Iguess It's what's weird is like it's not

(22:15):
against like films with actors, it'snot, but animated films. It's like
the nobody makes as much money asPixar. Period. Even the fucking Minion
movies didn't make that much. Likethe Minion movies are making a couple one
hundred million, I'm sure, butnot billion. I think they've had one
or two that across a billion.Man, those soccer moms really love their
Minions. I get yeah. Andyou know what, I don't get it

(22:37):
because like here's the thing for me, Like, are the Minions more iconic
than like anything Pixar is created.Fuck no, like not a fucking chance
in hell, like the Minions alone, maybe, but like there's an actual
human character in those movies. Doesanybody actually give a shit? Like or
is it all about the Minions?I guess it's all about that they got
their own goddamn movie, so theydo. And I believe that there's a

(23:00):
giant like minion statue or mountain orsomething decorated in La that like when you're
cresting the hill by Universal, youcan literally see a giant fucking minion just
looming in the distance. I believeit. I mean, it's one of
the it's one of the franchises thatthey based a ride on at Universal,
that god awful Despicable Me ride.Like that's the thing. But everybody just

(23:22):
feels like they're chasing Pixar, right, right, that's true, especially the
continued success. That's the biggest thing. Sure right, Sure you can dake
movie and make you know, million, hundreds of millions of dollars, But
can you do that for twenty sevento twenty eight movies? Probably not so.
Yeah. My entry of the firstthing I said was toy story.
But I really want to highlight onething about Toy Story before we drive in

(23:45):
the like, let's leave Toy Storyalone for a little while. Oh wait,
wait, is this is this agag about what you're going to be
saying next? Not at all.I'm in wink wink, I'm not gonna
be talking about cars. I probablyWow. I'm a little disappointed when you
go back in twenty twenty four andwatch Toy Story, that animation is really

(24:07):
bad compared to rough Man, Ain'tit rough? It is hard to look
at and like the characters they gotreally decent for the most part, but
the background Sid's dog is awful.The human characters are fucking abysmally animated.
Then, but at the same time, this was the first real computer animated

(24:29):
film. This was a big dealfor when it came out, so I
get it that it wasn't gonna beperfect. And even this, like this
competes with a lot of the dreamwork stuff that was computer animated years later.
This is better than a lot ofthat stuff, So it is.
It's one of those things where,like I can see to my kids,
they don't love to watch a lotof the really old Disney stuff unless it's
a story that captures them. Inthe first couple of moments because they don't

(24:52):
like that type of animation. Itjust doesn't appeal to their eyes for some
reason. Why I get it theirYouTube trained. Oh it's all about the
TikTok folks. I mean, II mean, I don't disagree. That's
the thing. You know. Iwatched all those Disney movies growing up,
but then at some point I stoppedwatching them and I watched Pixar movies.
Like I can't tell you how manytimes in middle school I saw Finding Nemo,

(25:15):
like that was such a big dealfor like two or three years that
that's like all they ever showed atlike anytime I was like, well we
have a sub today, we'll showFinding Nemo. It's like I don't want
to watch Finding Nemo ever again.You know, I've seen it that many
times. But that, to yourpoint, is like you don't get to
that point in the world if youhaven't like proliferated immensely, and Pixar had

(25:37):
by that time. But Finding Nemois another one where it's just like it
it made waves and they had alreadymade waves. Like that's crazy to me,
cause like Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc. Are the first in the first
five movies that they make, firstten that they make. Yeah, that's
insane. So my actual answer hereis not going to be Toy story.
But I think the best way todo this is to capture the classic Pixar

(26:00):
and the current iteration. And Ithink the current iteration you have to lean
on something that is emotionally focused,that has great music in it, that
has really wonderful voice acting. Butreally the last eight or nine years,
they've also started to focus on bringinglight to these underserved cultures and communities.
And so my pick here is theone that we both love and have talked

(26:21):
about slightly before. I got togo with Coco. Oh, don't do
that to me. I have to. I know, I think that this
hard movie to even think about,do you know what I mean? It's
like it's I do cry on adaily basis for like because I feel like
it's healthy. I think it is. But like Coco, I cannot watch
it, and I'm pretty emotionally intune with myself, but I can't imagine

(26:44):
rewatching Coco. I've seen it probablyeight to twelve times because of my kids,
and every time I get stuck inthis emotional rut. Of God damn.
This is a wonderful movie, andthe characters in it are so I
mean, the funny thing is they'reboth so likable and it's so hate herble.
There are certain characters in this thatyou go, fuck you are an
awful, awful person and it itdoesn't shy away from saying that either.

(27:08):
And there are a lot of moviesthat are ambiguous for that for kids,
and they keep some of this ambiguousbecause there's some things that are good about
some characters and some that are reallybad. But man, when they are
bad, they are really bad.And obviously, the animation in this is
gorgeous, some of the best ofall time. The music in this is

(27:29):
stupendous. It's a music sonar storyjust like soul, So you got that
going for it. Yeah, thisone, to me in twenty twenty four,
I think is the best way tobridge that gap from the classic to
the current iteration of Pixar. Andit's something that I almost think should be
required viewing for a lot of people. I'm not surprised. I mean,
I'm not surprised your Big Coco onlybecause we've talked about it before, but

(27:52):
I mean, yeah, it wouldhit you, I think it would hit
anybody. Yeah, so that Imean, yeah, and that's why I
have not rewatched it. I haveseen it really one time. I won't
do it again, Like I knowwhat happened when I watched it, and
like it's just it is one ofthose movies that like it knows what it's
doing and is it manipulative? Sure, but like it's a Pixar movie,
So I kind of don't care.Right. I thought we're gonna say.

(28:14):
I thought you're gonna say Wally.Like I really was, like, is
he gonna fucking say Wally? Likewhat the fuck? I mean? I
don't dislike Wally. Don't get whatI'm saying is like I did dislike Wally,
But like, whose favorite Pixar movieis Wally? That's what I want.
Sure, I'm sure there's lots ofpeople that have it as a favorite,
but it is it is certainly notme. I think that it's a
really great curio piece in the catalog, but it's for me. It's it's

(28:38):
not top five or eight even probablyno, yeah, it's but it's weird
like because that that for me wasalso one of those starting points of like
trying to have more of a messageand being emotional because like the whole thing
is about two robots finding love.Right, But I think I mean again
like I think, because I thinkyou're right in terms of when the franchise

(28:59):
or the comp but he turned,I will say, like Ratitude and Up
and for in my opinion, ToyStory three, like those three movies,
they probably belong later in their filmography, like they're they're out of place there
and you can feel it with somethinglike Up because Up doesn't commit the way
Inside Out does the way I meanso many of these late Pixar movies that

(29:21):
are all about emotion. It doesn'tgo all in on any of that.
It like has ten minutes and that'sit and it's the best part of the
movie. But literally, now fifteenyears later, they're doing that fifteen minutes
as the whole movie. Like literally, like you mentioned I you know,
I want to talk about a randomexample. But in Kanto, which is
not a Pixar movie, it's aDisney movie, I've never seen nothing happen

(29:42):
in a movie for an entire movie, nothing happens, And it was like
Pixar can do that, well Disneycan't. And I know that might sound
like sacrilege to some people about inKanto, But for me, Coco is
the better version of what in Kantohas to say, one hundred percent,
and that's because it's a fucking Pixarmovie and they're the ones who know how

(30:03):
to do this, like the theother movies I think about with Disney's like
direct influence, like who fucking what'sit called? What's the go out?
I'm blanking Frozen? Like what's themessage of Frozen? That's I mean,
it's a good question. It comesacross as a very feminist movie, which
uh, not a bad thing obviously, but the right no, I don't

(30:26):
know, right, And that's mypoint. Like the second Frozen, I
could kind of see what they weregoing for. But like Frozen and so
many of these other Disney movies,they just don't have that emotional heart that
Pixar does, cause they're trying tochase Pixar, and Pixar is part of
Disney. But you know what Imean, Like it always feels like any
of these other animated movies are tryingto chase down the ease with which Pixar

(30:48):
can just present a serious story anddo it well, and it not feels
super serious either, Like Inside Outhas a pretty interesting message, but it
like, in a lot of ways, not a fucking kid's movie at all.
Like, I mean, they're notmaking movies for kids in a lot
of ways, Like they're really not. Like kids can watch them and appreciate
them, but I think it requirestime, distance and age to really start

(31:11):
to appreciate some of their later movie. There's so many things I want to
say back to everything you just said. First, I think they are making
movies for kids through Pixar. Butthe biggest thing is I think Disney was
only making movies for kids. Rightwith Pixar, we're gonna make movies for
kids that when you watch it atage seven, you'll love it, When
you watch it at age thirteen,you'll go huh, And when you watch

(31:33):
it at age twenty three, yougo, oh shit. Right, that's
what I was watching the entire time. So they're more of a timeless story.
I know we're gonna get pushed backon the whole Disney doesn't have the
emotional core. So I will sayI clearly Disney does have an emotional core
in many of their movies. Youknow, Scar being killed, that's a
big deal. Child losing what asin the nineties, Man, I understand,

(31:55):
hold on, I think so youryour argument's valid if we're talking pre
now, Okay, So even then, like Tangled, there is all kinds
of great emotions tied up in that. In fact, I would say Tangled
is the best animated and maybe evencompeting with all live action depiction of a
true narcissistic mother child relationship, eventhough it's not technically mother but it's a

(32:20):
really great story for people that camefrom broken households. So I will say
that many of these the Disney films, they have the emotional component, but
it's so surface level. They it'slike they don't trust their audience to put
any two concepts together. It's we'regoing to give you just a touch of
it and never dig into that further. And Pixar, in almost every film

(32:40):
has been able to do that,even the ones that are pre you know,
twenty twelve or so. And honestly, you kind of just named the
movie that I think was the bigturning point. And it's funny because what
the movie's about. I think InsideOut was the emotional turning point for Pixar
is they took this movie that literallyexplains emotion in one of the best and

(33:01):
easiest to understand forms for anybody,and lays that out in a film that
you can watch and be just solike, almost emotionally manipulated by because you
are finally able to understand things.I mean, there are psychologists, and
I say this as somebody that's apsychology major, that have been like cha,

(33:23):
chasing the ability to share understanding emotionswith neurodivergent children and adults that could
not do it nearly as well asPixar did an Inside Out. It is
such a simple way to go listen, have you have a handful of emotions
that are duking it out for yourattention, and this is how they react.
How are you going to control them? And that sets the tone for

(33:45):
the next decade of what they've beendoing. And Inside Out came out in
twenty fifteen, and everything since thenthat they've released has been well other than
I think The Good Dinosaur came outin the same year. They were clearly
working on that already, But everythingelse then there's tragedy, there's loss,
there's you know, this sense ofbeing othered. There's this hyper focus on

(34:09):
very like micro communities, and youmentioned Turning Red earlier. One of the
best things about Turning Red is ifif you happen to be a female twelve
year old Asian living in Canada,Pixar literally made you, you as an
individual, a film and said,here, please watch this. How much

(34:30):
better does it get than that?Well? And that's I mean to your
point. And I was just sittinghere perusing their list, like even The
Good Dinosaur wasn't negatively reviewed, itgot like middle of the road to positive
reviews. But it's but like youmentioned, like when you have something like
Inside Out come Out the same year, and I will tell you, I
just recently saw Inside Out for thefirst time in the last month, like

(34:52):
in the literal last month, andyou know what, the emotional part is
fine, but like nothing else reallyhappens, you know what I mean.
And I'm saying like things don't happen, but in a lot of ways,
like if you're gonna make a movietackling these topics broadly, if you want
to, or more specifically, Ifeel like you kinda sorta have to.

(35:13):
And this is again just me understandthat sometimes these things can't necessarily lead to
fun action scenes, right and inKanto, is like for me, I
literally like I got done watching itwith a friend of mine and I was
like, it's not that I didn'tenjoy it, because it was fine.
It's so Lyn Manuel Miranda, itfucking hurts, But what the other thing
about it was like nothing happened,Like they're like they were just like people

(35:34):
who locked in a house the entiremovie. And it's weird because again,
like with something like inside Out,I feel like they nailed inside Out more
than they nailed in Kanto in termsof like animation, because again, I
feel like inside Out has more importantthings to say, and in Kanto kind
of doesn't have anything to say,is what it feels like, Like it's
it's trying to be like we're afamily, we're all different and that's fine.

(35:58):
Like Pixar's already done that like fivetimes over. Like it's weird to
me, is what I'm saying,because like Dixar Dixar, Disney is seemingly
competing with Pixar, but like youmentioned, even they aren't able to do
the Pixar thing. Only Pixar reallyis not even I mean again, like
even when Disney does do it withFrozen or Frozen two I just what's the

(36:19):
emotional core of those movies. Theynever confirm that Elsa Elsa is a lesbian,
which would have been a big deal, right, Like that would have
been like, Okay, well nowit's a thing. Now it has emotional
core. But like, I guaranteeyou Pixar will do a gay lead at
some point, if not Riley,the character from Inside Out being possibly non
binary in the new movie who knows. Like again, like that's another thing

(36:43):
that people have talked about. Butagain, like like you mentioned, Disney,
it's all surface level, all surfacelevel for the most part. Yeah,
and you know you keep throwing outin Conto. I think In Conto
is the clearest form of Disney tryingto be Pixar right, and it it
does not work well for them.I will say I enjoyed in Conto.
I thought the music was fun.The thing is, it's Disney needs plot,

(37:07):
and Pixar has proven time and timeagain that they don't need plot.
I mean Pixar has made It's notthe most complicated one, that's for sure.
Pixar has made a handful of moviesthat are literally art films. I
mean, Inside Out is pretty closeto an art film. Wally is one
hundred percent an art film. Thereare a few of these that are made
that. Sure, story wise,not a lot happens, but when you

(37:30):
compare it to you know, anyof their their super early Pixar films,
they are still, you know,infinitely more deep of a story. Wally
literally bridging the gap between the endof humanity and finding new life is such
a it's such a Pixar story.To do that with a full length feature

(37:52):
and then go out and sell itto so many people that it makes over
half a billion dollars. That isinsanity. Like they bottled up this art
film and sold it to society.They said, cool, we love it.
And Disney can't really do that.The only one that really was there
was Fantasia, and back in theday that was the big deal. Is
oh my god, this is animation. Everybody's singing and this is drawn and

(38:15):
we're watching a movie theater. Thisis all brand new. I mean that,
sure they could do it. Thenyou can't get away with that in
twenty twenty four. No, Andagain, like that's kind of what's so
interesting about Pixar is they can getaway with it even when their movies aren't
that good. So my question toyou is, what is your deep cut,
because we've got a lot of roomhere, twenty seven movies, inside

(38:37):
out too. I'm calling my baberuth in it right now, call my
shot. It's going to be agood movie. I mean, this is
more than zero percent chance it's agood movie. Right. So this is
probably going to be a very shortpart of the conversation. But what's funny
is my deep cut was rat ItToy. This is the one. It
was my favorite for so long thatI think it's it's the perfect way to

(39:00):
bridge people that loved other animation companiesand came into Pixar and said, I
just want a little bit more.And so it's got the talking animals,
it's got the animals that interact withhumans. It's got the storyline that you
can fall into. It's not quiteas emotional as what we're going to hit
in the mid twenty tens to therest of it, however, there is

(39:21):
still some emotion, and it's it'sdrawn really well, like this is one
of the best animated lit Like theactual animation is one of my favorites of
all time. It's it's gorgeous tolook at, so I think for me,
this is a really good deep cut. And the funny thing is the
way that they've just been able topermeate all of like the ongoing zeitgey surrounding

(39:42):
film. There's not really much ofa deep cut with Pixar, so choosing
a deep cut you have to reallythink about ones that people tend to not
see and if you're just looking attheatrically, Ratitui did very well. It
made over six hundred million dollars.It means it they made a hell of
a lot more than A Bugs Life. But times were different from when A

(40:02):
Bug's Life came out and when uh, ratit two we came out. Because
A Bug's Life came out in ninetyeight, rat two we came out I
think two thousand and seven, andyou know, A Bugs Life got a
PlayStation game. It's it's that iswild to me that there are video games
about movies like Ratitue, because likewhat I remember playing it, but I
remember it being like run away fromsomeone as a mouse, collect cheese as

(40:25):
a mouse. And it's like,you do realize that they can't do this
anymore, Like there's no way tomake a video game off of fuck soul
fuck me, yeah, soul orTurning Red or I guess onward maybe.
But like a lot of these movies, like a Coco, a video game
of Coco, Let's let's see whatthat would look like like it's to me,
it's just it's kind of nuts becauseagain, like Pixar's stuff, by

(40:49):
my approximation, really is like notserious. But at the core of it,
the people that are writing these storiesare trying to manipulate you emotionally,
but nobody complains because it's Pixar,which is fine. Do you imagine though,
a wonderfully animated next gen open worldgame for Coco on Xbox Series X
and it's beautiful. You can goanywhere that you want in this area.

(41:13):
Man, that would be press fto cry, press frys. That's the
entire game. Yeah. An interestinganswer, though, I mean, I
guess I'm sorry I stole your thunderon ironically not at all. Do you
want to know? So here's thefunny thing, though, you kind of
stole my thunder because my deep cutanswer is a bugs life. Oh nice,
I absolutely fucking I love bug Bugslife is probably you know what I'll

(41:35):
just say right here, Bugs lifeis probably my favorite Pixar movie. Interesting,
how come I don't know, LikeI've seen it so many times.
I love Dave Foley as Flick.I mean I love all the all the
voice actors are great. I meanyou literally have like a traveling troop and
it's like Madeline Kahn and David HydePeers and who else, Oh, I

(41:59):
mean Kevin Space but you know,less said about that the better, Uh,
Dennis Leary also as the Lady Buglike and then again the other characters
like a Julia Louis Dreyfuss, likeI mentioned Dave Foley, Hayden Panitier,
who less we say about her asan actress the better. She's not someone
I resonate with. But I mean, again to even mention, like Madeline
Kahn or Bonnie hunt Is in themovie, Like it has a really weird

(42:20):
cast, but it also has areally good message, which is like it's
okay to fuck up. It's okayto fuck up, and your fuck ups
do not define you, right,And like that for me is like it's
such a good message for bugs lifeand like I think for life in general,
and like just you know, donot let your failures define you,
because that's the character of flick likeand they think he's a fuck up,
because I mean he kind of is, but he saves the day in the

(42:42):
end, or that giant bird does. But I don't know. Bugs Life
has resonated with me since the firsttime I saw it in theaters. I
am one of those fucking weirdos whois really sad that you can't go on
the Bugs Life ride at Disney anymore, which was like a like a theater
show and they have like bugs droppingfrom the rafters and water being shot in
your face, Like I missed,I miss that. I genuinely love a

(43:04):
Bugs Life. I speaking of videogames, I had the Bugs Life game
on PS one. It was sodifficult. I remember the thing with the
fucking dandylion thing where you gotta crossthe canon. Yeah that, I mean,
like everything about Bugs Life is avery It hit me at the right
time. I would have been eightyears old, and I remember seeing it
in theaters and you know what,you mentioned it already and I want to
come back to it. How thefuck has there never been a sequel to

(43:25):
A Bugs Life? Right? LikeI don't get it, I get it,
but like it made like fucking threehundred and sixty million dollars. It
made back its budget and then some. But no, it's like the second
film from a studio. I knowthis isn't the crazy part. I guess
you know what it feels like.It feels like maybe John Lassiter just didn't
have any interest in working on thatstory any further, because again, this

(43:46):
is him directing it. He's oneof the riders as well, and he
worked on Toy Story one, ToyStory two, Toy Story three. He
worked on the story, but hedidn't direct it, like John last early
on was really helming the ship.I just really don't understand why we never
got Bugs Life Too. Again.Maybe there's nothing else to say, but

(44:07):
I find I find that hard tobelieve. I will say I had written
down some notes about individual films thatI wanted to drop in just so I
didn't forget what I had written downFor Bugs Life. I think, hands
down, this is their funniest filmby far. The jokes in this movie
hit and they hit hard. They'refunny for every age. They have everything
from poo poo platter jokes to likeold school circus references that are interesting to

(44:31):
the eyes and everything. I've alwaysloved this movie as well. I think
that the fact that this is theirsecond film and you follow up Toy Story
with this wild of an idea,like, hats off to them. This
was risky and really really smart atthe same time. And I would I
would have loved to have seen this, you know, expand in some sort

(44:52):
of way. I and again likewith the message of what it is like
don't let your fuck ups define you, like you're not a failure just because
you hailed, Like, tell me, that's not a message we need in
twenty twenty four, Like tell methat's not a message that more people need
to hear. Because again, likeyes, inside Out is great, but
I mean these messages have been heresince the second movie, since the first
movie. Really, but I IA lot of this is very you know

(45:15):
ASoP Fable inspired obviously, so likesome of that comes from it. But
again like you can watch this,have no idea the Aesop story and enjoy
it because again, like it's agood movie and the voice actors are great,
And I can't believe that I'm sayingA Bugs Life is a deep cut
honestly blowing my mind here, LikeBugs Life for me is really like a
seminal film like there was something aboutit, then there's something about it now

(45:38):
that I absolutely love. And theanimation in Bugs Life ain't much better than
Toy Story, Like it's just asrough. In a lot of ways,
it is pretty rough. But onething that is very interesting and probably should
point out about this is it lendsitself very well to animation because it's such
a perspective driven idea. Right whenyou're talking about literal bugs and anything that

(46:00):
you draw has to be massive comparedto them. First off, it's a
little easier to animate because a bladeof grass is suddenly half the frame,
But beyond that, it allows youto do interesting ideas that you don't have
to worry about filming something. Soit makes it more compelling to do as
an animated film. And so fora lot of us, they grew up
on Honey Shrunk the Kids that weremystified by that, you know, tiny

(46:22):
people in a large situation. Thisscratch that itch. For a lot of
us, a lot of the perspectivesthat you see here are identical to what
we saw on Honey Shrunk. TheKids Well, and that's the other thing,
you know, it's they did theToy Story thing where it's like what
are toys up to when you're notaround? And then Bugs Life is just
like that. It feels like they'reanswering the similar question, right, like

(46:43):
what are the bugs up to?What makes a bug a bug? And
like, okay for me, likethat is a question worth answering and to
have this idea of like these arebugs, but they have autonomy and they
have hopes and dreams just like humanbeings. I don't know, probably Pixar
has done more for people softening thefeelings on like animals and bugs and weird
stuff, because again, they've anthropomorphizedso many things at this point, toys

(47:07):
and bugs obviously emotions, elements.Yeah, like they've antherpromorphized so many things.
But it's I mean again it startshere with with Bugs Life and toy
story. I just can't believe I'mbeing like, oh, Bugs Life is
a deep cut, but I guessit is. Like I don't know if
you went, like, have yourkids seen Bugs Life? Uh? I
believe they have, but I maybe wrong they. I mean, like,

(47:28):
it just doesn't seem like a thingthat would play for kids today,
Like it'd be like this bory,which I would get a question because like
again, like I may even goas far as to say, not a
whole lot happens in Bugs Life either, like realistically, like Flick goes to
the city, Flick comes back thecircus, people perform. It's like there's
it's not so much happens in Frozen, do you know what I mean?
Like so much stuff is just constantlyhappening, and so much of Pixar early

(47:51):
on is like we're just gonna letit sit and do its thing for a
while. I I don't know ifI agree. I feel like Bugs Life
is very plot driven. Uh it'sjust I don't know. It's more it
feels more contained perhaps in its plot, and it's done in a way that
uh not to be you know hyperlet's analyze cinema like they did in the

(48:14):
Dogma ninety five movement or anything likethat. But it does feel very like
of the moment, just snapshot ofthis community's life for a couple of days.
And if you can pull that offwith animation, that's great. And
the fact that they can make itemotional in the process and deliver the classic,
you know, Disney sort of moralitytale at the same time fantastic then

(48:37):
we just keep getting that in areally perfectly laid out package. Well,
and I mean, who doesn't lovea movie where Kevin Spacey's the villain?
Very poetic? Yeah? Right,well, and you know what I mean.
The other thing I think this isone of because Randy Newman only comes
back for like Toy Story and Monsters, Inc. And like Cars, I
guess, but he did the storylike the music for Bugs Life, and

(49:00):
I mean again, it sounds likea Randy Newman song, which probably mentioned
Randy Newman is a pretty big partof the Pixar thing, especially. I
mean, like Toy Story. Ialways forget Toy Story has like a song
with it, you know what Imean. It's like, that's how big
of a deal Toy Story was.And a fucking song that, like everybody
knows it's part of the I thinkit's part of the part of the permanent

(49:21):
zeitgeist in a way. Yeah,there's absolutely gonna be people that will never
ever ever see this movie that we'llbe able to quote that song, right
Yeah, you like You've got afriend in Me is like that, in
my mind is the equivalent of likewhen you wish upon a star, you
know what I mean? Like andI'm not discounting the Lion King. Lion
King's great. I know everybody likesthe Lion King, but Lion King's music

(49:42):
for me is just fine, Likeit's just fine. Like there are there
are good songs, but how manytimes have I heard them in my lifetime?
You know what I mean? Likethat's the thing about Disney, Like
you really can't escape some of thesethings, like You've got a friend in
me or when you wish upon astar or right, so, I mean
so many other things under the sea, Like we could just name things that
Like I feel like most people knowthere's like seven songs just from Lion King

(50:05):
that are that popular, right,yeah, exactly, Yeah, And that's
the thing I got remembering Bugs Life, like Bugs Life does has a song
with it, but it's different,it's not it doesn't have the song that
everybody, right, That's probably whyit scotten forgotten a little bit, because
it just doesn't have the marketability.Are there songs for any of these other
films until we get to like Cocothat are memorable? I don't remember Bugs

(50:30):
Life having a memorable song, andremember Monsters Inc. Having a memorable song?
Finding Nemo Incredibles, right right,A two we even I don't remember
a memorable song for any of these, right, but like Randy Newman did
songs. I mean, the thingis the Randy Newman song in Bugs Life
is the one that they perform atthe end of the movie, the damn
your laugh but youse it will Imean, like that's that's a very pretty

(50:52):
bad Randy newmand I mean, itsounded like the beginning of the full House
theme song is a bug Dyna bugI like Bugs. That's the fucking will
Sasso Randy Newman that he does.Who wants go get tacos? I'm buying.
Let me melt down some of likefucking Emmys or Oscars or whatever.
Randy Newman has Oscars and Emmys.I'm sure. I'm sure, yeah,
yeah too, right, yeah,Well, And that's the thing, Like

(51:15):
those early movies really also benefit fromthe music, Like Toy Story has the
thing, so Bugs Life doesn't.So yeah, deep cut Bugs Life.
And that's the thing, like Iwas saying, in the nineties, they
felt they had to compete with Disney. They hadn't created this new genre that
is quote Pixar Films unquote just yetbecause now they need memorable songs, they

(51:37):
need relatable characters for children. Wasso toy Story literal toys. I mean,
what's more relatable than toys? Allkids can relate to them, and
even adults, like even adults relateto like your toys that you left behind,
like because part of that's the toyI mean, that's what makes Toy
Stories such a good movie is thatit has that cross appeal of well,

(51:58):
you're a kid, you're playing withtoys, but also but also like adults
played with toys too because they werekids. Like that, it's such a
smart way to tell the story.You can just keep talking about toy story,
just keep talking about toy Story.Well, on that note, then
I think we should probably go toour third question, which I feel like
this one to me, it wasreally obvious, but I'm very curious to

(52:19):
hear what you say. And thatone is what is Pixar's biggest impact on
pop culture? So take it away, Chris, I honestly think that Pixar's
biggest impact on pop culture is ToyStory, like and the creation. I
mean, like Toy Story is amoment in time for so many things,
for the beginning of like animated filmsfor the beginning of like CGI animated the

(52:39):
beginning of again, Like we've alreadymentioned Pixar doing this as a thing for
a full movie that's the first one, but at the same time, it's
so many other things, Like itwas just it was such a thing that
wasn't a thing, and now it'severything all the time, Like everything that
is animated like this comes from ToyStory. And so I feel like Toy

(53:00):
Story is the franchise that we keepchecking in on as fans of Pixar because
we've seen Toy Story one and two, but then took a really long time
for three, took a pretty longtime for four as well. But those
characters are so I don't know,they're so part of like buzz light,
Ear and Woody are so ubiquitous.Like I feel like it not maybe like
Jesus or Coca Cola levels, butlike I don't not think that they've only

(53:24):
done four movies of one thing,and that's Toy Story, you know.
Like the way I look at itis like it's obvious to me what the
pop culture impact is is introducing theworld to the world of Toy Story.
But like I think you could justsay broadly, it's introducing the world to
this kind of animation and doing itseriously, not just like a gag that

(53:45):
is there to entertain kids, andthe adults are just bored out of their
fucking minds. So I agree withyou, and that's I'm gonna I'm gonna
share my first thing because I didlist two things. The second one I
wanted to say as a joke,but now with what you said, it
kind of works. The first thingI want to say is my real answer
here is they impacted pop culture bysignaling the end of hand drawn animation and

(54:06):
good thing, bad thing. Idon't think it's an argument either way.
Really hand drawn animation can be great. It also is very convenient to be
able to click undo on a computerprogram, so I totally get it.
It is something that was inevitable tochange like this, and I think it
opens up our ability to make thesethings on a worldwide scale, rather than

(54:31):
a handful of old dudes sitting ina you know, some crazy studio in
Florida hammering out some film for likenine months and then coming out of it
depressed and underpaid and just awfully treatedbecause they don't get to work from wherever
they want. Basically, So handdrawn animation can be great, it can

(54:51):
be something that leaves a little bitmore to be desired. But I think
the fact that this came in andnailed the first film as a you know,
comple CGI animated film, it reallycan't be overstated how much this was
a big deal. Because it was. It's a very stark contrast to what
Disney was doing in the mid nineties. Stark contrast. Yeah, there's some

(55:13):
CGI and beauty in the base,but it's like one scene that's it,
like this this is yeah, thisreally just feels like a moment in time
where it's like this is going tobe a thing now and it has been
still is like and toy story startedthat. So what's your joke answer?
What's the joke answer? I wantto know what like the snide answer was.
I mean it it comes across asa joke, but it's actually it's

(55:36):
actually something that you could really arguethat this is the case and that is
a bad joke, then that can'tbe as the answer should be. Cars.
I mean, in all reality,Cars is a crazy worldwide phenomenon.
I don't love this franchise at all, but the fact that you know you
can you can find Cars references everywhere. There's crazy conspiracy theory videos on YouTube.

(56:00):
There's characters that you can purchase onevery single possible merchandising opportunity. There's
a Car's Land at Disneyland. Ittakes a lot, true, it takes
a lot to be able to havethat sort of an impact, and people
forget. Like when the first Carsmovie came out, it was still in
the heyday of home video. SoCars made. It made a decent amount

(56:22):
of money. It didn't make hugenumbers. The first Cars didn't even make
five hundred million, which didn't eventhat's such a funny way to say that,
but the home video market for Carswas huge. Kids that were,
you know, four to eight whenCars came out, ate that film up
on DVD for so long. Theygot immediate fans out of everybody, which

(56:44):
is why Cars two had to gointo production so quickly, and they got
that thing out, you know,a good five years later after the first
Cars, and Cars two is arguably, in my opinion, the worst movie
in the entire Pixar catalog, andyet I've never seen it. It's still
made more than the first Cars film, which is crazy. You know,
it's other than Toy Story. It'sgot the most AMMTA sequels, it's got

(57:07):
three films out there, It's gota lasting empire basically over multiple generations.
Now, I mean Cars three cameout way later than Cars one. Cars
is in two thousand and six.Cars three is twenty seventeen. And you
have you have these characters that haveturned into you know, Lightning with Queen
is everywhere, toe Materer is everywhere. You have all of these people that

(57:30):
are growing up with these films,and now references to Cars are in TV
shows and films, and it's it'sjust one of those things that it's a
franchise that somehow grabbed the world anddid not let go. It's as in
my opinion, it's I'm not sayingit's as good, but I think it
had as big of an impact asToy Story did overall. I mean,

(57:51):
there I play so I play RocketLeague on my PC and there was a
Lightning McQueen skin that you could buythat's actually him. It has a goal
celebration that says, cuchow uh thething that I bought, just because it
is really triggering when other people haveto hear it when you score a goal.
Is Rascal Flats is Life Is aHighway, which is a really roast

(58:13):
me all you want. But thatsong, like, it's such a fucking
I do not like that song.It's such a like it is in so
many ways just like saccerin nonsense.But but but again to your point,
like Cars was such a thing thatlike that was a big that's a big
deal for Rascal Flats, that songlike one, there's a big deal that
came out. That was a songthat came out with that movie, like

(58:34):
Life Is a Highway? Was Carsone? Right, yep, I haven't
seen anything past Cars one. Iheard Cars two was not great, and
then Cars three, like the trailerfor it just looked so bizarre, like
it looks so serious. I've stillnot seen Cars it supposedly was. I
mean, it's it's Pixar of theiremotional era, so I don't doubt that
it is serious. But Cars twocame out and it's this bizarre spy film

(58:55):
and you're like, we're like spoofingJames Bond with talking That seems like a
really strange choice from Pixar. MichaelKaine is in that one, right,
he is, Yeah, well,like okay, and I would like kill
to have like a Cars movie that'sset in like the James Bond universe,
because there's so many car things inthat where it's just like this is James

(59:15):
Bond's car. So I'm assuming it'sit's like a poor fac simile of that
or a poor interpretation of something thatcould be cool. You know. Yeah,
that is right. Cars does havethree and Toy Story might have five
at some point, probably will endup having six. I would have doubt
it. Yeah, yeah, that'sinteresting. I don't disagree. I again,

(59:36):
I think so much of this islike you know, digging through the
dirt, like you get different striationsof things, and like to your point,
like I think Cars is a Ithink what you were answering about with
Cars is the same thing I'm sayingwith Toy Stories, like something about these
characters imprinted on people and like youknow what I'm not saying. Finding Nemo
doesn't have that, but it doesn'tlike it doesn't Monsters Inc. Does like

(59:58):
Big Yeah, but like Nemo isso weird because in a lot of ways
it's it works in spite of itbeing like it is a very late Pixar
movie. Being made very early on, like Finding Nemo would feel a lot
more at home in like twenty ten, do you know what I mean?
Like there's no more, which iswhy they're a musical number in fucking Finding
Nemo that anybody remembers, like notreally, but it has an amazing cast.

(01:00:21):
Yeah. Uh. And what Iwas gonna say is I think that's
why Finding Dory was such a excuseme smash it, because not only was
it like nostalgia for that first onecoming out, but it was one of
those things where people went, oh, like, these characters were important to
me for a long time and Iwant to see them again. But god
damn, like it is it isthe the Finding the Finding Nemo in the

(01:00:43):
late era Pixar that could really hithard. And it's a really good movie,
And honestly, it's kind of theexact same movie is the first one
to be frank, I've seen thatmovie one time, Finding Dory. I
remember crying at the bar where shefigures out who she is or whatever.
I don't I don't remember it verywell. And that's the thing, like
the sequels to the movies, Ireally didn't go out of my way to

(01:01:04):
see like I've not seen The Incrediblestoo. I've seen the Incredibles, but
I'm not gonna you want to havea hot take. I do not like
the Incredibles. I find it tobe something. Yeah, it's not something
I really resonate with. Are youare you normally a brad Bird person?
Do you like just other stuff?That's the thing. I think he's fine
as the director. Just for me, something about The Incredibles just doesn't It's

(01:01:27):
I get what they're going for,and I think that that's an interesting conversation
to have about like superheroes in thereal world. It's just the way Pixar
implements it. For me, it'sjust I don't know it with all the
movie stuff that real live action superheromovies we get. It kind of feels
like a conversation that's been had abunch now and they're just trying to figure
out a way to insert themselves.Well. Even then, the Incredibles came

(01:01:50):
out in two thousand and four,Spy Kids came out first in two thousand
and one. It's basically the samemovie. Ooh, that's fair. Yeah,
I have no hatred for the Incredibles. It's just not that franchise is
my least favorite of the stuff Pixarhas done for sure. Interesting, Yeah,
I think Cars is that for mejust because I'm not I'm not,
I don't know, I'm not caughtup in the fervor of cars at all.

(01:02:12):
I really enjoyed The Incredibles. Thesecond one was good. It wasn't
like upper echelon for me. Butyeah, I don't think there's any other
franchises for Pixar that I, youknow, even looked down on. But
and technically there have been what fiveToy Story movies. Isn't like you're technically
a Toy Story movie. Well,not only that there, I think Toy

(01:02:32):
Story is the only one that they'vemade things that are like mid length films.
They've got the Treehouse of Terror whateverthey did, and then they've got
one more and I think they're botharound twenty to twenty five minutes, which
that the fact that they've put thatmuch into Toy Story shows how much it's
meaningful to them. Right, Yeah, I again, I cannot agree more

(01:02:54):
Like, I feel like Toy Storyis like the crown jewel in their crown,
like it is the center stone.And I genuinely don't think we're going
to go another ten years without anotherToy story, Like I'd be surprised,
as I'm as hands just got lightYear, like you just said, right,
but that was the thing, Likeno, did nobody go and see
light Year? Like again, Ithink people didn't understand what it was because

(01:03:15):
it sounded meta, like very oddlymeta, which I mean again, like
that's probably Pixar doing it. Isinteresting, but for me it's like,
I don't I don't know if Iwant to watch a movie about the real
person that the toy is based on. It wasn't that good. Yeah,
that's just weird. It's all honestly. The weirdest thing is that it's a
Pixar movie. I kind of thoughtit was a Walt Disney animation move,

(01:03:35):
but I guess if you're doing Toystory, it has to be Pixar,
right, that's true. And uh, yeah, to reiterate my point about
the animation thing, the fact thatPixar came in in ninety five and said,
look at us, we're not goingto do any hand drawn animation.
Every film that we're putting out isgoing to be computer generated. And they
did that starting in ninety five,Disney's last hand drawn animation film was two

(01:03:58):
thousand and nine, so they heldon way longer after Pixar came onto the
scene. And not that that's abad thing at all, but the fact
that they they still kept doing it. It was great for them, It
worked for them. But it justshows like Pixar grabbed a hold of this
early, and I think that wasthe thing is without Pixar forcing that,

(01:04:18):
I don't think some of these otherstudios would have went there, even like
now, I bet we'd still havea lot of hand drawn animation if Pixar
never started. I agree. Imean, yeah that, I mean,
there is no Shrek without toy story. I mean really, I mean it's
just that you could see, likeyou said, you could see the ways
that it has kind of hopped.I will say another weird thing about these
Pixar movies that again I think can'tbe overstated, is almost all of them

(01:04:43):
are certified fresh on ron Tomatoes.They have a public score on Cinema Score
up A. All of them havean A or an AM plus or an
A minus. There's nothing lower thanthat. And the worst movie so impressive,
yeah, and the worst movie onMetacritic as a fifty seven. It's
only one lower than it's two lowerthan the movie the third movie, and

(01:05:05):
it's one lower than another movie It'sCars. Two is the worst rated,
worst critically reviewed Pixar movie by likea country mile. I is a forty
percent on Rotten Tomatoes with two hundredand twenty reviews. Like that, that's
I mean, like I've never seenit for the same reason you're saying it's
not good, because it's not agood movie. Like, I don't know,
it's sad. I saw that.I remember seeing the trailers and being

(01:05:27):
like, what the fuck is this? Like what, well, that's honestly.
That's the other thing that I feellike, I don't know where we
would have this conversation, but Ifeel like you kind of broached already with
the sequel thing. I for forfor the life of me, don't really
find the sequels to be better thanjust the one offs. I think the
one offs are better like a ratituylike an inside out, Like, yeah,
Toy Story three is amazing. Ihave yet to see Toy Story four,

(01:05:51):
but Toy Story three, like,that's a great movie. I actually
think that the emotional core of thatmovie is pretty strong. But I genuinely
the movies that aren't a thing ina universe of things tend to have a
little bit more room to have aninteresting conversation like a Coco, like an
inside out, like a ratituy,even like they're not a Toy Story movie,

(01:06:13):
so they can kind of have moreinteresting things to say, not saying
Toy Story doesn't. But I didn'tsee Toy Story four because, like,
I really didn't think there was anythingleft to say after Toy Story three,
Like do you know what I mean? I felt like I was like that
that's I don't know, And that'sthe way I look at these movies in
a lot of ways, like themovies that aren't sequels are better, and
a lot of ways like I don'tthink any of the sequels have surpassed the

(01:06:34):
originals either, And that's I wouldmostly agree. I've never been I've never
been hyped that a Pixar sequel wascoming out, right, However, I
think I prefer Toy Story two andthree to the first one interesting. I
mean, I get that, likeI get it. It's not just due
to the animation. Like I genuinelythink Toy Story two is probably a perfect

(01:06:57):
film and Toy Story three. Ithink the first and the third act are
really like taught like maybe some ofthe best things Pixar has ever done.
That second act is just so,it's a slog. It's a little bit
of a why are we doing thissort of thing, like I don't need
to see buzz Lightyear just speaking Spanish, that's that's a silly, weird thing

(01:07:18):
to go on that when you're whenyou're leading up to the emotional resonance of
all of these toys, excepting theirfate of death, Like, that's a
weird lead up to that. Andso I think the second act is kind
of kind of out of place there. But it's hard for me because I
love Toy Story and even the fourthone I think was really great. Took

(01:07:39):
my entire family to see in thetheater. I think it has some of
the best animation we've ever seen.There's an opening it's either the exact opening
scene or the first like three minutes. I'm not sure it's been since that
day that I saw they they animateda rainstorm in a way that I would
have believed anybody that said this isnot anime at first interesting. It was

(01:08:01):
astonishingly well made and so that's thething. Like, I think Toy Story
is the exception that proves the rulebecause, like we've said, like there,
they take their time with the Pixar, like Pixar takes some time with
Toy Story versus everything else. SoI think Toy Story is probably the exception
that proves the rule here because likeall the other sequels have been middling,
like you said it yourself, Incrediblestoo, not necessarily great. Cars two,

(01:08:26):
I mean, I think we're oneof the word the worst Pixar movie.
I think people would agree with you. And Cars three wasn't necessarily super
well received either. So it doesseem like even then with the sequels,
Toy Story is the one that allof the time and efforts being put into.
The other one. Though I wouldsay that which we haven't mentioned yet,
Monsters University is a very very acceptablefollow up, And I think the

(01:08:47):
only reason that that is incredibly differentis because it's a prequel. It's something
that takes a completely different story turnsit on its head, which I and
I this is where I agree withyou, Like I understand that Toy Story
two and three are meaningful to me. But again, when they announced Monsters
University. I didn't cheer. Iwasn't like, yeah, they are going

(01:09:09):
back to I get to go backto this, you know universe. I
don't need a prequel for any ofthese other films. I don't need to
hear about Flick from bugs life andwhere he came from, you know,
two weeks prior. I don't needI don't need to dive more into Coco
story after he learned his lesson here, right, It like, it just

(01:09:30):
doesn't. It doesn't. Nothing thatthey've done necessitates it that. That is
the only part to me that feelslike they've they've kind of taken a page
out of Disney's books here. Yeah, what making sequels? You mean making
sequels? We don't need to godown to that. Well, if you
have the ability to write these originalstories, I kind of wish you just
would agreed. Yeah. I meanagain, it's it's not that the sequels

(01:09:54):
are bad. It's just I don'tlike you could be doing something original and
it would probably fair better because theoriginal things tend to like they're all well
well regarded as my point, butlike the there are plenty of movies later
on that are nineties and ninety five'sthat are not a toy story or a
you know, a cars movie,a side out, a good Time.

(01:10:15):
I mean, the Good Dinosaur stillhas seventy five percent, Coco Onward,
Soul, Luca Turning Red. Noneof those have anything to do with Toy
Story. You're probably going to seethem because you love Pixar because of Toy
Story, but like they're not that. Like I'm shocked we're getting an inside
out too, do you know whatI mean? Yeah, that's a weird
one. But again, like itdoes make sense now because, like you

(01:10:36):
said, if they're following the leadof the biggest entertainment company on the planet
worked for them. You know what'swild is I just realized there's I think
only one Pixar film we haven't namedat all tonight, and we really got
to shout out. I really thoughtBrave was kind of incredible, and Brave
is one that I really think thatthey could have exploited for a super long

(01:10:58):
franchise, and I'm kind of surprisethey didn't because the Brave franchise kind of
feels like it's already out there.In How to Train Your Dragon, a
lot of the same story beats andcharacter animation, types and you know,
the the universe kind of feeling isout there with How to Train Your Dragon
from a different studio. But Braveis really well done, really great female
fronted Pixar film. Really well animatedtoo. That's the thing. That movie

(01:11:23):
was gorgeous. As I haven't seenit, I've always wanted to, like,
yeah, it's just it. Ididn't necessarily keep up with Pixar after
a while, Like I just recentlysaw Inside Out. I have not seen
Toy Story four. I have notseen Luca or Soul, but I know
that they're good. Like I knowpeople that like both of those movies.

(01:11:43):
But for me, it's like again, like I don't even have to question
the quality for the most part.It's that is what you get with Pixar
that you can't really. I mean, I guess you can with Disney,
but Pixar, there's going to bea level of quality to these movies.
That's again weave with something like Brave, Like they chose not to do it.
I don't know why, but theycould have because they're good. Even
the sequels are fine. They're notamazing in some respects, but they're still

(01:12:06):
fine. And sometimes I think Iwould probably agree with you. Toy Story
three, I think is the bestToy Story movie, better than the first
one and better than the second one. I don't know if that's as far
as you would go, but forme, Toy Story three felt like the
right message at the right time forsomeone my age, and that's why I
resonated with it as hard as Idid. Yeah, Like I said,

(01:12:26):
I think Toy Story two is afull blown perfect movie, So I would
say that that is the best onein my opinion, but I think I
think Toy Story three is higher highs. Yeah, and yeah, it's a
lot more emotionally manipulative, that's forsure. Yeah. I mean again,
we don't complain about it when Pixardoes it, but it's the effective effectively,
it's the same as a fucking jumpscare. Like you're just trying to

(01:12:48):
get the audience to a point thatyou want to get them at, and
Pixar does it better than anybody else. They do it so subtly through just
smart writing, that's true, andthey nail it most of the time.
Yeah, twenty six times out oftwenty seven. All right. Then that
leads us to our final question,which I know that we've alluded to a
lot of other animation, but I'venot brought up my answer for this one

(01:13:13):
yet. So anybody that has somehowlived their entire life and never seen a
Pixar film, what would bring themsome sort of relevant relative sort of interest
in these if they were already afan of something else. So Disney,
I think is the obvious one thatpeople would go to. But I would
love to hear what you're gonna say. I mean, again, I feel

(01:13:34):
like it's kind of unfair, andwe've already kind of mentioned it, but
early DreamWorks stuff doesn't have the heartof the Pixar stuff early on or even
late Pixar stuff. But they haveso many movies that I think are amazing
on their own right, Because again, Prince of Egypt not terrible, Road

(01:13:54):
to El Dorado not terrible, Antsnot terrible, I mean a weird movie,
but not terrible. And then you'vegot all the stuff of Shrek and
Mattagascar and Wallace and Gramt and likeagain, even something like a B movie
or Kung Fu Panda. Like what'scrazy is are they a lesser of DreamWorks?
Or is Pixar lesser than DreamWorks?No? Is DreamWorks lesser than Pixar,

(01:14:16):
I guess. But at the sametime, you could see people making
the case that that's not the caseanymore because DreamWorks comes out with shit every
year like they're not waiting. ButI mean Pixar kind of doesn't either.
It's just DreamWorks does the thing moreoften than Pixar does, which is making
sequels, right, like making fullblown sequels like five Shrek movies and plus

(01:14:40):
two Puss and Boots spin off movies, three Trolls movies, Like they they
just go. They're not like worriedabout it the same way Pixar is.
So that would be my answer islike stuff from DreamWorks Animation. And if
we're talking specifically, I think thefirst Trolls movie is actually pretty good.
I'm not one of those people thathates trolls. I understand the hatred for

(01:15:00):
trolls, though. I find Riseof the Guardians to be a rather interesting
and fun Christmas movie that gets forgotten. That's the one with Chris Pine playing
Jack Fross. Is that right?Yeah? And Alec ball is Alec Baldwin
is Santa. I think that's nota great person to pick. Yeah,
it is Alec Baldwin. Yeah,stuff like that. And even a Kung

(01:15:21):
Fu Panda, Like Kung Fu Pandais kind of a Pixar movie, like
it's a very close approximation of somethingPixar could have done. And those I
think of the successful DreamWorks movies arethe ones that are like, this is
as close as you guys are gonnaget to doing a Pixar thing. So
like Shrek, Shrek in a lotof ways is the movie I think Pixar
wishes they have been would have beenable to make, which is like some

(01:15:43):
crass humor, because that's the thingwe haven't mentioned, like Pixar doesn't have
crass humor, like Pixar is veryI don't think Pixar movies are funny per
se, but they're lighthearted like Dreamworkstuff I think tries to be funny,
like genuinely funny certainly. So that'smy answer, is just like anything from
dream Works. But I mentioned somany things now that are worth checking out

(01:16:05):
that equally I've been kind of lostto the animation bin of time, like
Monsters versus Aliens not terrible, flushedaway equally not terrible. And again I
think that that Puss in Boots,the last wish is a fucking amazing movie,
better than almost anything DreamWorks has everdone. And I would go as
far as to say it's as goodas a Pixar movie, if not in

(01:16:27):
a lot of ways better than alot of the recent stuff that I've seen
Pixar make. So that's a fuckinghot take for you. You're welcome.
Wow. I would agree, forthe most part with most things that you
said there. This is not myanswer though. For me. My big
thing with Pixar is that heardy emotionalcore to all of these films, and
I don't think I've gotten that frommost of the DreamWorks films. So I'm

(01:16:50):
going to go back to a handdrawn animator that was a huge, huge
part of my life. And Ihope that we can do an episode on
this guy eventually to say, ifyou are a fan of any movie directed
by Don Bluth, you would lovestuff from Pixar. So if you're not
familiar with Don Bluth, this isthe guy that gave us the secret to
nim an American tale All Dogs Goto heaven Land Before Time. Anastasia is

(01:17:15):
probably my favorite from him, buthe also literally overlooked it on purpose,
didn't you You overlooked Rocketdoodle on purposeMonster. I was about to say,
he's also the guy that gave aStumblelina troll in Central Park and rocket Doodle
and the Pebble and the penguin,which nomes are not good. I don't,
Oh, I see what it was. I'm I'm It's not that I
wasn't gonna mention it. I'm justgonna make sure to lump it in with

(01:17:36):
all the other things that aren't great. Fair fair Don Bluth animation, first
off, is remarkable. If we'reonly going to talk about animation. There's
not a lot of Disney animated thingsthat I've sat in wonder and stared at
because I wasn't there when they firstwere made, and I wasn't used to
it, so I was there whenwe needed to raise the bar a little

(01:17:59):
bit. And Don Blues Animation doesittoscope. The rotoscoping that they use in
a lot of his films make itfeel tangible that a lot of Disney movies
just never were able to capture.And even some of the things that I
would say are like are the objectivelyprettiest Disney films from the modern era,
even like Mowana the Water done inMowanna looks amazing. It's very well animated.

(01:18:24):
The rest of the movie, I'lltake it or leave it. It's
not like astounding, but their shotsfrom Anastasia that I still go, holy
shit. They made this when andthey were able to make it look like
that. This is amazing. Soanimation wise, I think they compete with
Pixar as far as like being mystifyingfor me. But the other thing is

(01:18:45):
he was able to write characters withdepth in a way that you are emotionally
captured in these films. And thecrazy thing because he wasn't held back by
Disney. He's got like actual,you know, hot takes in some of
his films. He's got some scarythings, even Secret and Nim, the
the owl that you face and Secretand Nim is genuinely really creepy. There's

(01:19:08):
spiders that you go holy shit,like this is kind of crazy to watch,
especially if you're watching this as achild when it comes out. But
I mean he's tackling things like theway that we treat the Jewish people in
America in an American tale, theway that we are able to, you
know, discuss the afterlife in AllDogs Go to Heaven the way that people

(01:19:30):
feel othered in a handful of hismovies. Many of them are just like
that Anastasia talking about what we knownow to be a completely false historical epic.
But we are, you know,at least able to discuss, you
know, finding your true self anddiscovering family that has been lost your entire

(01:19:50):
life in a unique and interesting way. So Don Blue films, to me
are still special, still well made, still done in a way that I
think can capture audiences. And Igotta admit, my kids love a lot
of the Don Blues films, alot more than they've loved a lot of
those Disney films. I mean,I guess I could have also said,

(01:20:11):
in the same vein of what you'resaying, like to take it maybe away
from like the contemporaries of Pixar,Ralph Bakshi's stuff is similar to Don Bluth.
I mean, it's a lot rougher, it's a lot more subversive,
And I don't think Pixar could everbe that subversive because of the corner they've
kind of painted themselves into. Asmuch as they may attempt to be subversive,
and they can be from time totime, But like you mentioned,

(01:20:31):
with Don Bluth, like Ralph Bactually working outside of the system, doing
his own thing, making some againtruly bizarre things, like really bizarre movies
like Wizards or Coonskin or oh God, there's one where it's like it's like
a singer and he's performing music throughoutlike time. You know what I'm talking

(01:20:53):
about. We covered it on theshow. A very American pop. Yeah,
American pop, Like that's that's nota Disney movie, but it's being
made at the same time Disney isdoing all of their animated stuff, so
it's a contemporary of Disney, andDisney are contemporaries of Pixar as well as
being you know, the company thatowned them now. So and that's the
thing, like you mentioned with DonBluth, Don Bluth just he did his

(01:21:15):
own thing. BA actually did hisown thing. I think Don Bluth is
infinitely more successful in having mainstream appeal, but some people really like those Ralph
B. Actually the Ralph B actuallyLord of the Rings, which is pretty
good. So you know, hehas a shorter list of things I think
is the problem. But yeah,that's a good answer. That's a good
answer, Don Bluth. Yeah,it's a good one. I would agree.

(01:21:35):
I would one hundred percent agree.I love Don Bluth. I happen
to be lucky enough in twenty twentythree to be on an episode of the
Director's Club podcast and discuss his wholefilmography. It's one that I think is
right for reevaluation, and for themost part, they're still really great.
He did have a couple of dudsback to back, and I get that

(01:21:58):
he lost some fans along the waythere, but I think there's still enough
that you can come back and argueit is well worth watching every single thing
he's ever made. I mean I'veseen most of them. I've seen most
of the nineties stuff, so I'veseen The Lamb before Time. I've never
seen the original American Tale. I'veseen the sequel Fifel Goes West. But
like I was kind of chit toyou about Rocketdodle, like, I saw

(01:22:20):
that movie, so I've probably seenthat movie more than I've seen any Pixar
movie. I used to watch thatall the time movie. I love it
though, because it is so unabashedlyfucking weird, Like it is Glenn Campbell
as a singing Elvis Brewster like that. If that doesn't get you excited,
immediately I don't. And Charles NelsonRiley is in it. Fucking Chris Plumber

(01:22:44):
plays a giant speaking of terrifying andreally creepy. A massive owl is played
by Chris Plumber. And Ellen Greenis in it as well. Like it's
it's not a great movie, butit's a fucking weird movie. And Disney
would never make something like rock In, never in a million years. Well
you know what's gonna happen. Nowyou got to watch the rest of Blue's
films and we got to do anepisode on him, I guess, So,

(01:23:06):
I mean those are heavy hitters,like just look like we've mentioned,
just looking at the list of things, like Anastasia has such a big cult
following. Still, like it's amovie. I haven't seen it in a
very long time. I remember usedto scare the shit out of it because
of Chris Chris Lloyd's resputant because he'spretty so good, I know, And
it's got John Cusack in it doinglike a okay performance. Like I think

(01:23:29):
any of the male characters in these, any of those Prince characters kind of
get short shrift. But that's whyit's an Anastasia movie. But troll in
Central Park now that yeah, youbrought it up though you don't like it's
not I watched The Troll in CentralPark for the first time last year and
oh man, uh not good?No, no, no, no no.
I mean, did you think itwas gonna be good? Though?

(01:23:50):
Did you think there might be achance. The hard part here is my
wife has good taste for the mostpart, and she has raved about it
because it was her childhood. Shewas like, this is one of my
favorites from when I was younger,and I watched it, I was like,
it was yeah, well, Imean Charles Nelson Riley plays Lort.
That's troll backwards. That's troll backwards. That's like Nil Bog. Don't you

(01:24:14):
know Nil Bog? Don't you pisson my hospitality? Fucking crazy? I
always for that's a Dom Delouis becauseisn't Don Delowies Stanley the Troll? Yeah,
and he's in most of Don Blue'searly stuff, Like, I mean
Don Delaway's is fine. He ishilarious. Yeah, yeah, I done.
Yeah, we should do an episodeon Don Bluth. I only have
to watch like a couple more bartalk the Magnificent. I I've never I

(01:24:35):
well, I probably saw when Iwas younger. I do not remember that
at all. And he made thatmovie too. It's not like, yeah,
that's that's wild. That's wild.Yeah, I don Blue's a good
answer. I think I think anybodywho does animation would be a good answer,
but specifically Don Bluth, I thinkis a great answer. Yeah,
he is. He is maybe myOh maybe I shouldn't say that without thinking

(01:24:56):
about it will, but I wouldsay he's probably my favorite animation direct of
all time. I mean I cansee that some of Like I said,
some of these movies I know havea lot of quality pieces to them,
and some of them are quality throughout. So I agree. Man, this
has been a fun one. Pixarwas huge, and I really feel like
we kind of nailed it. Ithink so, I think, and I

(01:25:17):
think we in the process of thisentire episode have mentioned every single Pixar movie
literally have we we have? Right? Ye? Okay? Cool? Because
I wanted to make sure because therearen't there aren't too many to not mention
all of them. But I thinkwe have gone through the entire I think
we've gone through the entire catalog bythe end of this. Now, well,
let's throw some other things out there, maybe some you know, quick

(01:25:39):
quips about some of these for us, any that are super unsung or underrated
that you think people should check out. I haven't seen enough of the new
stuff to have an opinion on essentiallyanything from Soul Forward other than seeing like
two thirds of Turning Red. Ireally would like implore people to just go
rewatch like Bugs Life, Like it'slike really like it's one of those movies

(01:26:00):
that again like it's a it's anearly it's a really early Pixar movie,
but everything about it is still reallyreally fun. And I don't know,
I think Onward is fun. Also, I think Onward kind of got lost
in the shuffle of like the Worldin March of twenty twenty, Like what
a time for that movie to comeout, What an actual horrible time for
that movie to come out. SoI would actually say Onward might be my

(01:26:23):
answer, because I feel like notenough people have seen Onward and it's pretty
good. And Chris Pratt, ChrisPratt, Chris Pratt, Tom Holland,
Yeah, like that alone should getyou through the door. And I'm not
the biggest fan of Chris Pratt anymore. The person I hit him as an
actor. I think he kind ofcan be one note, but I know
he's very charismatic and an Onward heplays a character and this, this is

(01:26:45):
a funny story. I had bluehair at one point in twenty twenty,
and my possible niece called me Barleybecause I had blue hair, so I
am now Uncle Barley to her,un ironically, like she's just like she's
like he looks like Barley from Onwardand so like that was enough. So
probably, honestly, as much asI want to beat the drum for bugs

(01:27:08):
life like Onward, I think kindof got forgotten because of the pandemic because
it came out like the week theweekend before the pandemic happened. So yeah,
it didn't even make its money back, which is a fucking shame.
Like because again, I think Onwardis a fun interesting movie. Yeah,
it's a good take and one thatreally hasn't been super covered and a lot
of the other Pixar films really greatsibling story. You took the one,

(01:27:30):
I was going to say, surprisinglyenough, So I'll shift it to the
other pandemic movie and I'll go tobat for Luca because I think, to
be honest, I think this isThis is a borderline masterpiece film. I
think that it's animated in a reallyinteresting way. It's a unique story that
blends, you know, the bringingthese random things that you would not expect
to see animated to life, whichdoesn't exist obviously with somebody being a shape

(01:27:56):
shifter in a way. But theunderwater scenes are great. The the way
that they capture the culture of Italyreally shows the way that they are embracing
these micro genres of culture in avery fascinating way. And it's just it's
a fun story and it's so interestinglytold, and it's small. That's one
of the other big things that Ikind of love about Pixars. It's like

(01:28:20):
the opposite of the MCU problem.We had to bring it up, so
I wanted to shed light here.It's every single MCU movie fails because it
has to be the biggest stakes possible. But a lot of the Pixar movies
are just no one person's gonna havea bad day if this happens, And
so it is small in scope anddone in a way that is more relatable.

(01:28:42):
I can't relate to a planet beingruined. That doesn't change my life.
I'm not going to feel invested inthat but leaving some toys behind.
Yeah, I've faced that before,having a rocky relationship with your sibling and
then you know, finding each otheragain as you get older. Yeah,
I've literally faced that I can racethese films a level. I yeah,
I'm with you. I mean TurningI mean Turning Red is another great example

(01:29:04):
of like, yeah, that's oneof those ones that like it is a
literal microcosm of a movie, andlike, yeah, I honestly, like
I said, I think Pixar isdoing their best work when they're just doing
a thing there. And you knowwhat, in Kanto would have been a
better movie if if Pixar had madeit, I like it would it would

(01:29:24):
be the movie Like it was fine, but it was not the movie that
I was sold. Even after Iwatched it and someone told me the way
it was sold to me initially stillwasn't the way it was was like everything
plays out, and then I watchedit and I was like, you're right,
it's just way more boring. Likeit's just I don't know, Like
in Kanto feels like the kind ofmovie that if Pixar made it, while

(01:29:45):
things wouldn't be happening necessarily throughout atleast it would be a more emotionally impactful
story because again, like Pixar doesn'teven use the music to tell those emotional
stories anymore. They use the dialogue. And it's like these are movies ostensibly
for kids theoretically, but like theadults are really the ones getting more out
of it, that's the truth.Especially like people our age that are having

(01:30:08):
kids or have kids, Like youcan show your kids inside out, they'll
be like, oh, it's agreat movie, but like the adults in
the room are crying. It's like, why are mommy and daddy crying?
It's because like the emotional core ofthe movie doesn't necessarily resonate, like you've
said, until you get older.And I mean I've seen all of the
Pixar movies aside from the sequels andtheir new stuff, and yeah, I

(01:30:29):
mean I think we've really covered everythingthat anyone would have any idea to get
into with Pixar. But like youknow, the first five movies ain't a
bad place to start because it kindof covers everything in and of itself,
including a sequel. Like a sequelthat's good, if not great with toy
story so yeah, not gonna betwenty seven if we do don Blue.

(01:30:49):
It was like tang, it's like, you know, a third as much,
but that's fine. Yeah, yeah, it make makes choosing the answers
to that a little easier, eventhough his stuff is such quality and will
still be difficult, right Oh yeah, no, I'm with you. And
yeah, I think it's funny thatwe actually got through every single movie somehow,
cause again, like I think eachone of them deserves a conversation about

(01:31:11):
them because some of the new stuffis so weird and specific and esoteric that
again, you might have to sellsomeone on the idea of Turning Red.
And like I would understand if Icisgendered white man doesn't want to watch Turning
Red, but like you should becauseit's a fucking great movie. Like for
sure. Yeah, no, thishas been fun. This was a fun
episode to do, and I lookforward to when we get to talk about

(01:31:33):
more a wider expanse of things,you know what I mean, because like
we didn't have the same answers forthe most part, which I really was
I think is interesting. Absolutely well, I hope everybody enjoyed that and tunes
in for the next episode, whichI'm sure will be quite interesting for you
all to hear. If you areinterested, please give us a follow on
all the socials and yeah, whatelse should we shout out here? Chris?

(01:31:58):
Your what you work on with thisconnected what I work on with weirding
Way Media. You do a showevery Thursday. I post every Wednesday.
There you go, that's it.Weirding Way Media is going to get the
super shout out tonight. There's showsfor any type of film lover on that
network that you can find. Pleasego check it out. There's something there
for you if you were hearing thisfor the first time, something there for

(01:32:18):
your family, something there for yourfriend that is super super obsessed with Colombo.
Right, yeah, and that's thetruth. All right, thank you
for that and we'll see you onthe next one.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Medal of Honor: Stories of Courage

Dateline NBC

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Pixar Animation Studios- Franchise/Microgenre- Toy Story, Inside Out, Cars, more! #FilmFoundations

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Stuff You Should Know

Medal of Honor: Stories of Courage

Dateline NBC

All Episodes

Pixar Animation Studios- Franchise/Microgenre- Toy Story, Inside Out, Cars, more! #FilmFoundations

Stuff You Should Know