movies/tv Does anyone feel that Pixar is extremely overrated?

[TheAnimatorOfficial 567]

Don't get me wrong, they've made a lot of great films, but I feel like their last one that wowed me was Up. Toy Story 3 was basically the second except with a different ending, Cars 2 and Brave were unbearable, MU was a cliched mess except for the last 20 minutes, Inside Out was executed well but the plot was pretty standard, and the Good Dinosaur was a complete waste of time.

 

I'd even go as far as to say MLP has more complex storytelling then the past few Pixar films.

 

Not only that, but films like a Bug's Life and Cars get WAY too much praise for having a carbon cutout plot.

 

Their future lineup is not very promising with basically sequels that nobody asked for except the obvious one and a Book of Life rehash.

Edited February 5, 2016 by TheAnimatorOfficial

[ShadOBabe 19,068]

I am actually one of the few people in the world that loved Cars 2.

I had so much fun. Brave DID bore me though. Pretty much the only Pixar film I don't enjoy that much.

But it's certainly not BAD. It's super pretty at the very least.

 

They're certainly not overrated. They're amazing.

But they have ups and downs like everything else in existence.

Edited February 5, 2016 by ShadOBabe

[PiratePony 8,499]

I wouldn't say overrated, but I get what you're saying about the recent ones.

 

I love Toy Story 1 & 2, Finding Nemo, Up, Ratatouille. Cars is fun. I didn't care for Wall-E *ducks from the impending rotten fruit throwing*

 

Cars 2, Brave, TS3...eh...didn't see Good Dinosaur. I liked Inside Out but didn't think it was best movie evar either. Hopefully Finding Dory will be great.

 

The last 3 Disney movies: Tangled, Wreck It Ralph and Frozen were A+ and Zootopia looks great. I know Joh. Lassater rules all, so maybe that's influenced Dis' s new animation renaissance.

 

Tl;dr it's a great studio, but not the "pixar can't make a bad movie" that it once was.

[Guest]

I'll be the divergent and say that I do not believe Pixar is overrated. I think they get the amount of praise they deserve (and criticism depending on the film) and why I feel that way is because Pixar usually sets the standard of what we expect out of CGI. I mean no one really stacks up in terms of animation in terms of them even if companies like Dreamworks try. I mean with just Brave alone, Pixar actually had to make a whole program just to do the protagonist's hair. In terms of animation, Pixar is the highest quality due to their insane budget and the fact they are co-owned by Apple computers who can supply them with the latest and greatest in tech.

[TheAnimatorOfficial 567]

I wouldn't say overrated, but I get what you're saying about the recent ones.

 

I love Toy Story 1 & 2, Finding Nemo, Up, Ratatouille. Cars is fun. I didn't care for Wall-E *ducks from the impending rotten fruit throwing*

 

Cars 2, Brave, TS3...eh...didn't see Good Dinosaur. I liked Inside Out but didn't think it was best movie evar either. Hopefully Finding Dory will be great.

 

The last 3 Disney movies: Tangled, Wreck It Ralph and Frozen were A+ and Zootopia looks great. I know Joh. Lassater rules all, so maybe that's influenced Dis' s new animation renaissance.

 

Tl;dr it's a great studio, but not the "pixar can't make a bad movie" that it once was.

Pixar hasn't been "can't make a bad movie" since that garbage that was Cars. But that's my opinion.

 

I'm just so sick of them getting praise when other animation studios like WDAS, Ghibli, Laika, Ardman, and even upcoming ones are actually taking risks.

I'll be the divergent and say that I do not believe Pixar is overrated. I think they get the amount of praise they deserve (and criticism depending on the film) and why I feel that way is because Pixar usually sets the standard of what we expect out of CGI. I mean no one really stacks up in terms of animation in terms of them even if companies like Dreamworks try. I mean with just Brave alone, Pixar actually had to make a whole program just to do the protagonist's hair. In terms of animation, Pixar is the highest quality due to their insane budget and the fact they are co-owned by Apple computers who can supply them with the latest and greatest in tech.

I highly disagree. They've shown in films like Monsters University and The Good Dinosaur that they can get lazy with their animation. Rango looks a million times better animated than any Pixar film since WALL-E.

[Guest]

 

 

I highly disagree. They've shown in films like Monsters University and The Good Dinosaur that they can get lazy with their animation. Rango looks a million times better animated than any Pixar film since WALL-E.

 

That's all opinion. I mean if you look at Frozen, Brave and such you realize that they set the bar with their big name films. I mean we could argue all day, but I do think they get just the right amount of praise. I mean Dreamworks also releases a lot of poorly animated crap too.

 

 

 

Ghibli

 

They're owned by the same company. 

[Soundwave 28,559]

I believe Pixar's reputation is well deserved. Their earliest films are some of the best of all time in both cinema and animation. And even if there recent films aren't as up to snuff with their earlier works, you can still tell there's a ton of heart and care put into them. To this day I still feel they only put out one bad movie, Cars 2, which is the only film I feel didn't have that Pixar magic(well, Brave too, though that just had a different kind of Magic)

 

Also Brave is one of the most underappreciated films ever imo

Edited February 5, 2016 by Megas

[Mesme Rize 15,692]

I wouldn't say that their movies are overrated, because i love most of their movies. What i do not like though, are some of the other pixar fanboys that like to shit on everything that came before Pixar, just because it is not Pixar.

 

It's okay if you don't like some of Disneys animated movies for whatever reason. But don't think that they are objectively inferior to Pixar. Besides, without Disney, Pixar wouldn't exist and i think we also wouldn't be here having this debate right now.

[cmarston1 5,965]

While I do really enjoy the movies that Pixar puts out I do feel that the sort of backlash or whatever the company got during the time period between the release of Cars 2, Brave and Monsters University before Inside Out was sort of inevitable.

When their works were treated really really really highly and put on a gigantic pedestal after releasing a long period of good movies, the inability to meet with some of the expectations even if justified (like the problems people have with Cars 2) or not is an end result of that.  This company is considered one of the greatest animation companies in the world in a relatively quick period of time compared to how long companies, so it makes sense for their movies to have large expectations placed upon them, whether or not it is taken to the extreme or not.  Every company goes through at least one rough patch in it's life and by the time Pixar reached it's rough period, it was already considered one of the greatest animation companies of all time.  So it makes sense for something like that to happen.

I personally enjoy WDAS more than Pixar, but that doesn't mean I won't watch a Pixar movie if it interests me.

Edited February 5, 2016 by cmarston1

[TailsIsNotAlone 3,697]

No, not at all. The Cars movies were beneath them; that's part of the general consensus and I agree with it. But it is hard to understand what a revolution Pixar created in entertainment  unless, like me, you're old enough to remember Toy Story at the time it came out. Disney was getting too ambitious after their late 80's-early 90's classics and starting to overreach themselves; Don Bluth (Secret of NIMH, Land Before Time, All Dogs Go to Heaven) was running out of gas and started to put out schlock like Thumbelina. Then along comes Pixar with this amazing project that is the most technically ambitious children's movie we've ever seen, and yet possesses a heart and soul beneath all the CGI. That was unheard of. People of all ages could, and did, enjoy that movie. My dad loved it as much as I did.

 

Pixar went on to prove it wasn't a fluke with Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc (beautiful despite a poor script), Finding Nemo (sensational), and The Incredibles. Their recent output is not as consistently excellent because they're starting to repeat themselves and fall victim to sequel-itis, but they can still put out classics now; Inside Out was my favorite movie they've ever done. Is it possible to "overrate" a studio that produced a movie that changed your life?   IMO, they deserve all the plaudits they've received.

[PacificGreen 1,165]

I'm not sure if I'd go as far as to say that MLP has more complex storytelling. Maybe the season finale was pretty deep, but honestly, storytelling and moral-wise, MLP is kinda standard fare for kids' entertainment these days, as much as we like to tell ourselves otherwise.

 

I think most of Pixar's films are pretty great, Apparently Cars 2 to Monsters University was kinda their slump period (I myself liked MU, not sure why other people were so critical of it). But I also think it's kinda hard to compare MLP to Pixar, as most of Pixar's films are single storylines (save for the ones with sequels and prequels), whereas MLP has several ongoing plots and storylines and lots of mythology within the show, comics, and previous generations to build upon.

[Jest (Inactive) 875]

Don' like pixar films at all to be honest, the old ones like the monster films were okay but don't like any others so yeh pretty overrated! 

[Mesme Rize 15,692]

I'm not sure if I'd go as far as to say that MLP has more complex storytelling. Maybe the season finale was pretty deep, but honestly, storytelling and moral-wise, MLP is kinda standard fare for kids' entertainment these days, as much as we like to tell ourselves otherwise.

 

I think most of Pixar's films are pretty great, Apparently Cars 2 to Monsters University was kinda their slump period (I myself liked MU, not sure why other people were so critical of it). But I also think it's kinda hard to compare MLP to Pixar, as most of Pixar's films are single storylines (save for the ones with sequels and prequels), whereas MLP has several ongoing plots and storylines and lots of mythology within the show, comics, and previous generations to build upon.

 

I always liked to compare MLP to Disney. Most of Pixars movie have really down to earth story, that can be incredibly emotional and tug on your heartstrings.

 

Most disney movies, are more fantasy and character based and almost all of them, have songs in them, which is why they are very similar to MLP, because we have alot fantasy, the story is mostly character driven and we get songs from time to time.

 

Like i said, this dosen't make Disney inferior to Pixar. It's just how they tell their stories and like that, because i love fantasy stuff in general.

[Shou 100]

I love Pixar but some of their movies are overhyped so much that I feel disappointed after watching some of them.

[Concerned Bystander 2,907]

They're owned by the same company. 

 

Disney do not own Studio Ghibli, they merely act as their distributor in the west.

 

 

But to answer the question, I don't think Pixar are overrated, on balance the majority of their output has been pretty good, far better than what Disney was punting out before they contracted Pixar to make films for them.

 

They've had a few misses of course, most film companies will.  But the weakest Pixar films have generally been (in my humble opinion) those which have been aimed squarely at the younger audience, whereas many of their best films have been pitched at multiple levels to appeal to both children and adults alike.

Edited February 5, 2016 by Concerned Bystander

[Odyssey 5,721]

No, not at all. Just because their most recent movies weren't the greatest doesn't necessarily mean that they're downright bad or even "overrated". Although I certainly agree that some of their most recent movies weren't amazing and do think that they should take their time with creating them instead of pumping a new movie out each year, the reason this company is still loved by many is because of how it breaks the boundaries of many things, whether it be the animation or the stories. Like Inside Out, for example. The story may be one you see in other forms of fiction, but it is still a brilliant movie as it handles the themes of depression and growing up realistically.

 

And that's another reason why people love Pixar -- they know how to appeal to a large demographic. Children can appreciate the lighthearted humour and the gorgeous animation, while the adults will appreciate the interesting morals and subtle messages thrown within the movie. Not every Pixar film has a mature moral of course, but certainly morals like in Ratatouille or Inside Out. When you appeal to a large demographic, you're doing something very right.

 

Perhaps I'm being biased here because I adore Pixar's work, but I do believe that they're not overrated even though their work hasn't been the greatest lately. People are allowed to like any Pixar movie they want to, anyway.

Edited February 6, 2016 by Pearl

[cider float 2,539]

Every success becomes mainstream and becomes droll over time.

 

I do wonder when animation will go further than just light hearted 3D animation though. Video games have brief cinematic cutscenes and have gone so far in their animation that one would think animation would start reaching towards that more realistic kind no doubt there already being plenty.

Edited February 6, 2016 by cider float

[Mesme Rize 15,692]

Every success becomes mainstream and becomes droll over time.

 

I do wonder when animation will go further than just light hearted 3D animation though. Video games have brief cinematic cutscenes and have gone so far in their animation that one would think animation would start reaching towards that more realistic kind no doubt there already being plenty.

 

The problem is, there are still alot of people out there, who see animated movies as a kiddy thing, something that you can put your kids infront of for 2 hours.

 

There have been quite some mature animated movies over the years, that where geared towards people 16 and even 18+. The problem is, most of these movies weren't really successful and where only watched by the really die hard fans, who love animation, while the general audience is just left in the dust.

 

So aslong as that stereotype exists, mature animated movies will never be huge successes with movie going crowd.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 42,208]

Personally I think Pixar is not quite at the level they once were, but they are still quite incredible. Inside Out while some may see it as overrated, I feel like that film was brilliant in most aspects, the animation especially. It was absolutely stunning. I haven't seen Brave even though I want to and I don't like the Cars films, I also think that TS3 is very overrated, but it is all a matter of opinion. 

 

Even with a moving marketing scheme like Cars, we still cannot deny their animation prowess. They have that stuff on lock and key. 

[honk friend 1,991]

https://youtu.be/hhAJV5D353w?t=24m42s

I'll leave totalbiscuit to this one

Edited February 7, 2016 by Kitty~

[Jokuc 8,176]

Yes, I think they are overrated.

 

I think that Finding Nemo, Ratatouille and Wall-E are alright films. Up could have been so much better, they kind of lost me at the second half with the talking dog and all that bs. The rest of their films are just boring, generic or way too stupid and/or silly to me. When it comes to animation quality, I think that dreamworks animations look a bit... plain? I'm not sure how to explain it but in their newer films I kind of miss some texture in the characters and objects. I got to admit that I'm not a big fan of 3D-animation in general though.

[cider float 2,539]

To be honest their films are still good. I just don't watch movies a lot these days so can't really say much on that.

[Stormlight 1,371]

Not that I would say Pixar has become overrated, but by taking a look at their previous and latest works I could say that the praise they receive is a little too much. Their films are at an "OK" rating for me.

[powerpuff-tsubasa 448]

i wouldnt say that. pixar did a good job producing many CG movies (esp. inside out)

[Luminance 2,188]

I for one think that Pixar is great at making animated films. Toy Story still haunts me to this day and that's something I'll never forget.