The Pixar Story

The documentary of the history of Pixar Animation Studios. Pixar is absolutely a fabulous success story. It has been often spoken of as an overnight success, but as Steve Jobs says in the film, most overnight successes takes years of hard work.

It was interesting to see the evolution of animation and the kind of dedication and vision that goes behind something that is - in hindsight - a no-brainer decision.

For me, I was surprised to see the fat Steve Jobs in here. The images of slim Steve Jobs with his penetrating eyes was so strongly embedded in my mind that every time Steve spoke, I hardly heard what he was saying over the sound of how chubby he looked. :D

Also, I found out Pixar's original foundation, Lucasfilm, had to regretfully let go due to lack of funds. It was once again a surprise for me that George Lucas, the creator of the 'Holy Trilogy', had a cash problem.

It was also surprising that even after an unsurpassed, unimaginable success with it's first feature release, creating a whole new genre, raking in cash, accolades and awards, Pixar still had bureaucratic challenges for almost all of its releases. I guess I don't understand Hollywood executives or production houses. But that's OK - I understand the movies, and Pixar is pure magic.

It is basically about how pixar came to be through its hardships and successes. It is a very interesting and informative documentary. It taught me a lot about the history of computer animated movies that i had not known before seeing it. Im not usually a big fan of documentaries but something about this just kept me watching the whole way through. I definitely would recommend this.

An informative, inspiring, and important film, spanning Pixar's story, and the story of technological advancement through 3-D animation. The documentary walks us through the pre-Pixar era, covering the rudimentary computer graphics in development through the 1970s and 1980s, when Star Wars and Star Trek's special effects ignited a new era in filmmaking . Then, the film describes the early day of Pixar's early founders (e.g., John Lasseter) in venturing through Disney's territory of 2-D animations in general, and his happenstance with Steve Jobs. Some immersive footage and reports are featured in the film all along, transporting the viewer back to the days covered. Further, the viewer will also become familiar with both the early technological challenges and later psychological roadblocks that appeared from a small company that became, in essence, an overnight success (thanks to films like Toy Story). The company's challenges with Disney were also described, and the recreation of the Pixar's leadership and offerings, featuring films from a number of talented and creative director, are also covered. The Pixar Story, therefore, brings inthe contextual and personal factors that have made Pixar the company it then was in 2007, and the company it has now become. This is a must-see for the curious mind on Pixar and for those interested in the computer graphics and animation revolution that Pixar helped launch.

Like almost every child of my generation, I grew up on Pixar and in particular Toy Story. Some of my fondest and most memorable cinematic memories were going to see Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles (where afterwards I thought "I can't wait for the sequel"). I remember that one of my first dream jobs in film was to write stories for Pixar and explore all the imaginative possibilities. Now that I've gotten more into film, I've gained a deeper respect for their storytelling and their technology and how hard it is. The Pixar Story tracks the origin of Pixar from when John Lasseter was first inspired to pursue animation to around 2007, before Ratatouille hit the screens. It's an informative look into how the company came to be and of all the struggles. It's very interesting as I would like to get into the industry as well. The biggest chunk is the struggle to create Toy Story - not just to get it commissioned but also to find the story. This is also a trouble with Monsters Inc. where they had the concept but almost too many possibilities to explore. Narrowing down those possibilities is a incredibly difficult job and is something I'm aspiring to achieve at this very moment so it was especially fascinating to watch.

It's always great fun to have a look into their offices with their scooters and arcades. However, perhaps this documentary has come too soon, they talk about fears of being too factory-line, setting a standard they can no longer top and as this comes before one of their most successful strands of films with Wall-E, Up (a film that I didn't like at first but it's grown on me) and Toy Story 3 and then perhaps the beginning of a very boring strand with Cars 2, Brave and Monsters University, I want to know whether they think they're topping themselves or have sunken into a comfort zone. A short reflection on their fears would be very interesting. The doc focuses on the followup chaos after the Toy Story section, with second project syndrome lingering over the Pixar team. A Bug's Life was considered a success at the time and although in hindsight, many disagree, the documentary put me in the mood to rewatch and while the first act is perhaps a bit too childish, it grows and grows and is exceptional storytelling in the end. I hope Pixar haven't peaked with the closure of Toy Story 3 and they can continue making films that get to me. The documentary also makes great use of graphics and animation which is pretty appropriate for this topic. Very entertaining and informative.

8/10

I'd heard this was remarkable, but it seems like a lot of that was hype. Pixar seems like an unbelievably cool place to work, and I loved the message of "quirky small company refuses to give up their personality for financial stability" but there were only a small handful of moments that really felt like big deals. It's amazing how many huge names they wrangled up for the interviews, though, (seriously, you got Steve Jobs and Bob Iger to sit down for a good length of time? That's pretty impressive) and those little chats are the most revealing, interesting moments of the entire documentary. Once the subject of Toy Story comes up, it becomes a tale of "and here's how we made our next big, huge, runaway success." It's also overproduced to the point of distraction. Good but not great.