Their name is synonymous with computer animation. They’ve tackled everything from
toys to superheroes. They’re guaranteed to tug on your heartstrings. Who else could be the subject
of today’s video other than Pixar? Over the years, the animation studio has put out some of the most
beloved and successful animated movies of all time. Just like Disney, they’ve managed to make
movies that have spanned generations, with adults loving their work just as much as kids. With such
a huge audience of fans, it should come as no surprise that people have a lot of opinions
when it comes to Pixar. And we mean, a lot! Some are relatively common to hear, others are a bit
more unpopular, but of them all, which ones do we love, and which can we just not stand?
I’m Brad with WickedBinge, and this is Pixar Opinions We Love and Hate!
Starting us off is what has got to be one of the more popular Pixar opinions of recent years,
that being that Toy Story 4 was unnecessary. Many have argued that the third film in the
beloved series ended things perfectly and that Toy Story four felt like more of the
same. Some have described it as feeling more like a direct-to-video sequel than a theatrical one,
while others have shared the more extreme opinion that its ending ruins Woody’s character arc.
For our money though, we have mixed feelings about the film and its place in the Toy Story franchise.
There’s a lot in the movie that makes it feel like a story that needed to be told,
but there are also elements that we weren’t as happy about. We enjoyed how the movie brought Bo
Peep back into the fold after she was confusingly absent in the third movie. The centerpiece of the
movie, a character study on Woody, was also solid. It felt like the most he’s changed as a character
since the first movie, and the farewell with Buzz felt like a truly appropriate end to the series,
seeing how their rivalry is what started it. On the other side of things, the movie spends so
much time on Woody that pretty much every other returning character has nothing to do. Rex, the
Potato Heads, Jessie, and even Buzz himself feel like an afterthought in the movie, rather than
pivotal players. The movie also lacks the scope of the major setpieces in the original trilogy. It
doesn’t have its version of the moving van chase from the first movie, or the garbage incinerator
scene in three, which gives it a much smaller feel than the prior entries. In conclusion,
we aren’t totally on board with everything that Toy Story 4 had to offer, but with a
great character arc and the return of Bo Peep, we’re not ready to write it off anytime soon.
Second up, another opinion you’ve all likely heard over the years is that Pixar makes better movies
than Disney. For some, musicals based on fairy tales and princesses just aren’t their cup of tea.
There are plenty who find Pixar’s approach to storytelling, focusing on character and
high-concept ideas, to be much more interesting. We’re going to say that we absolutely love this
opinion. That’s not to say we don’t enjoy Disney animated movies, but if given the choice between
the two, we have to go with Pixar. Their library of films is just more interesting and varied,
despite having been around for only a third of the time Disney has. While both studios have recurring
talent and trademarks that you see in their movies, Pixar has done a better job of keeping
things fresh. When you go to see the newest Disney movie, you kinda know what you’re in for. There
are going to be songs, maybe a princess, and it is likely to have been inspired by a preexisting
story. With Pixar, unless it’s a sequel, you never totally know what you’re getting.
This is partly due to the fact their movies aren’t based on existing works,
but it’s also because Pixar just has less of a legitimate formula they are expected
to adhere to. Overall, when stacking Pixar up against Disney, we have to pick Pixar,
on account of their originality and unyielding commitment to surprising their audience.
It’s not uncommon to hear somebody say they like Pixar movies. However, one take you
may hear from time to time is that Pixar has made only good movies. For plenty of viewers,
they’ve enjoyed every Pixar movie. From Toy Story to Lightyear and everything in between,
they have loved it all. Our thoughts? We have to respectfully disagree. While we love Pixar
and do agree that the majority of their movies have been good, we can’t bring ourselves to
say they have all been of the same quality. Pixar has made great movies, alright ones,
some pretty forgettable stuff, and even some we’re probably not likely to come back to anytime soon.
But, realistically, is there anything wrong with that? Pixar has been making movies for
nearly thirty years at this point! They can’t make everything on the same level as Toy Story
or The Incredibles. Quite frankly, it’s rather impressive how consistent the movies have mostly
been. The fact that it’s not uncommon to hear somebody say they’ve enjoyed all their movies
is a testament to their consistency. When was the last time you heard this sentiment said
about literally any other film studio? Pixar might have made a few duds in our eyes, but
there’s nothing wrong with having a few misses when your batting average is as good as theirs.
Remember when we discussed how many viewed Toy Story 4 as unnecessary? Well, what if we
told you that that same viewpoint is also held regarding most of the other Pixar sequels? Yes,
for a lot of Pixar fans, they argue that Pixar has relied too heavily on sequels throughout the
last decade. They do have a point. Of the fourteen movies the studio has put out in the last decade,
six of those have been new entries in established franchises. In the eyes of many fans,
most of these did little to deepen the story or mythology of their respective series.
The Incredibles 2 and Finding Dory are usually picked out as examples of that flaw. So where
do we stand on the matter? This is another one we’re going to say we’re mixed about. While we
prefer Pixar when they dream big and think outside the box, we also understand the reasoning behind
making these sequels. Pixar is a company and, at the end of the day, they go where the money is.
If they think there’s money to be made with an Incredibles or Finding Nemo follow-up, then
they will of course make those movies. Pixar's creative staff have even admitted that sequels
are something of a necessity for the studio. Because they are almost guaranteed to be hits,
they keep them afloat and allow them the means to pursue more creative projects. However,
we cannot deny that many of these sequels haven’t been the strongest parts of Pixar’s more recent
output. You can definitely get that feeling from some that they were made more out of obligation,
rather than inspiration. Still, there’s nothing inherently wrong with returning to an old story
and characters. The Toy Story films have proven that Pixar is more than capable of putting out
strong sequels, and there are a few non-Toy Story continuations that we do enjoy. Really,
it all comes down to having the right blend of creative talent. Lots of projects can sound bad
on paper, especially if they’re continuing a story that seemed to have a perfect end. But if
you have the right team at the helm, you can make anything mundane into something truly special.
We talked a lot about The Incredibles 2 just now, so why don’t we discuss the most heard
take regarding it? For a lot of fans who had been feverously anticipating the film since 2004, The
Incredibles 2 felt unoriginal. The plot was pretty similar to the first film, just with Helen being
thrown into Bob’s storyline. Even the new elements introduced in the movie, such as the superheroes
and the villain, felt bland and uninspired. In the eyes of many, it was a far cry from how original
the first movie was. As much as it pains us to say this, we agree on this one. The Incredibles 2 is
a perfectly average movie, but it lacks a lot of the creativity and boldness that was present
in the original movie. So much of the film just leaves you wishing you were watching the first
one instead. What makes it worse is that the film throws potential new ideas to the side so they
could retread older concepts. While the ending of the first movie teased a follow-up that would
focus on the family as a team fighting together, they are again split up here. Just like the first,
one of the parents is on their journey, and there’s a whole sequence of Dash and Violet trying
to make it on their own. We want to stress again that there’s a big difference between something
being unoriginal and something being bad, so don’t think that we dislike this movie. But as
a follow-up to one of Pixar’s best, we were left wanting more. Maybe the second time’s the charm?
While Pixar fans have plenty of problems with The Incredibles 2, they seem to have warmed up
to another Pixar sequel. Or should we say prequel? While it didn’t have the greatest reception upon
its 2013 release, many have gone on to argue that Monsters University is one of Pixar’s most
underrated movies. Most seem to enjoy how different the movie is from the original,
which serves as a stark contrast to how similar a lot of Pixar’s sequels are to the first movie.
This is another opinion we are in love with! Monsters University isn’t quite as entertaining
as the original movie, but it’s enjoyable all the same. Its major strength is how it
really takes advantage of the fact that it is a prequel. This movie could have very easily been
nothing more than a mere checklist of showing us things that were mentioned in the first movie,
the route many prequels go, but that is not the case here. While Mike and Sully are the
best of friends in the original, they spend the majority of this one at each other's throats.
Randall was the villain of the first, but here, he’s a lot nicer and more friendly. The college
setting is also unique and practically unheard of in an animated movie, especially one that’s
still marketed for kids. With the college setting also comes the fact that most of the
movie focuses on the struggles of college life and figuring out what to do with your future,
which makes the movie just as accessible to older audiences as it is for children. Overall,
while Monsters University isn’t likely to crack any “Top 10 Prequels” lists anytime soon,
it’s a fun time nonetheless, and one of Pixar’s best continuations. If you
disliked this one on your first watch, then it might just be time to revisit it!
As common as it is to hear people revisit older pieces of media and claim they were overrated,
it’s even more common to hear things being deemed as overrated. Such is the case of one Pixar movie
about a certain robot. Yes, for a lot of viewers, WALL-E is overrated. The common arguments against
the movie are that the lack of dialogue makes it boring, while others will go so far as to label
it as pretentious. Oddly enough, others who say the film is overhyped say the exact opposite. They
say the movie is strong up until characters with speaking lines are introduced, for that is when it
falls apart. We have to say that we disagree with this take, for WALL-E is one of Pixar’s
most unique and exciting films in their whole catalog. We love the lack of dialogue, as it feels
incredibly risky. So much animation that is aimed at kids is obsessed with having people talking
and yelling every second, as if any moment of silence will cause kids to get bored. This portion
of WALL-E is anything but that. It’s just as compelling as any other Pixar movie, if not more.
Pixar was able to get us invested in WALL-E’s story through just the visuals, and that’s not
an easy feat. The period of the film on the ship, where we finally start to hear characters talk,
is also enjoyable. It serves as a nice contrast to how quiet and empty Earth felt, and that is likely
what the filmmakers intended. It’s certainly the most energetic part of the movie, and it feels
like a natural climax that the story has built up to. Don’t get us wrong, we completely understand
why someone would not like WALL-E, but in our eyes, it’s one of Pixar’s strongest films to date.
We’re staying in the stars for the next take we’re looking at, as it concerns everyone’s
favorite space ranger. Lightyear, the newest Pixar movie, has arrived to a somewhat mixed audience
reaction. One point of contention is how the film depicts the origins of Buzz, and the universe
he interacts with. For a lot of fans who likely grew up in the 2000s, the Buzz Lightyear of Star
Command series was more faithful to the original films. The storylines and overall vibe of the
short-lived Disney animated series felt more like what Andy would’ve grown up watching, with many
fans believing the 2022 film strays too far from the idea of being the film the Buzz Lightyear toy
originated from. This is another opinion we agree with. While we don’t completely dislike the way
Lightyear approached his universe, we definitely think the Star Command cartoon was more in line
with the vibe of the toy. Just compare Buzz’s suit to the worlds of the cartoon and the film.
In the series, it looks totally in line with how colorful and campy everything else looks.
In Lightyear, however, everything looks so serious and played straight that it sticks out like a sore
thumb. When you look back at what little of Buzz’s mythology was described in the Toy Story films,
we also think Buzz Lightyear of Star Command honored those aspects better. The films painted an
image of a universe that was very much a parody of sci-fi classics like Flash Gordon and Star Wars.
Star Command doubles down on those aspects, and really does embrace the pulpy sci-fi nature of
the character. Lightyear feels more akin to the many generic science-fiction blockbusters of
the last decade, especially when compared to the cartoon. While we have no problem with Lightyear
choosing to reimagine the space ranger’s story, when we have to choose which version
was more faithful to the Toy Story movies, we’re going with Star Command every time!
Out of all of Pixar’s various franchises, the one people seem split on the most is
definitely the Cars series. Some people like the movies, others can’t stand
any of them. But one common thing you hear from their critics is that the Cars movies are only
made to sell toys. Fans who hold this opinion tend to point to the fact that all of the Cars movies
are among some of Pixar’s least profitable ones. If they aren’t all that successful,
then why do they keep getting made? Clearly, it’s because of how well the toys sell, right?
Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that, which is why we’re saying we have mixed thoughts
in regards to this opinion. While it is true that the toys are a big part of Cars’ longevity,
there’s a far bigger reason the series has become such a prominent member of the Pixar family.
It all has to do with Pixar’s former creative officer,
John Lasseter. During his tenure at Pixar, he was heavily involved in many of their projects,
but Cars was his baby. He was the driving force behind the creation of all three films,
and even the spin-off project Planes. It wouldn’t be disingenuous to say that Cars’
prominence is just as much a product of John Lasseter's love of the series
as it is the success of merchandise. There’s definitely a nugget of truth to this opinion,
but since there is more to the subject than that, we can’t totally agree with it.
The next hot take we’ll be taking a look at concerns Up, and is one that seems to
become more and more stated as time goes on. For some, Up isn’t merely overrated. In their eyes,
only the first ten minutes of Up are truly great. Everything after the montage between Carl and
Ellie fails to measure up to how emotional the opening of the film is. This is a take we strongly
dislike, because we feel it boils the film down to only its emotional segments. We definitely think
there’s something to be said about how much the opening overshadows the conversation regarding
the rest of the movie, but to say it’s the only great part? No, we protest! Part of why Up is so
great in our eyes is because of how seamlessly it jumps from one setpiece to another. Just like any
good adventure, the movie moves quickly from destination to destination, yet it never feels
poorly paced or slapped together. This is a movie that features a highly emotional opening, a house
that floats with the use of balloons, a comic relief bird named Kevin, and a literal dogfight,
but nothing feels out of place. Yet, many people overlook all those wonderful elements in favor
of the film’s opening. Don't get us wrong, it’s one of the strongest starts to any Pixar film,
but there’s so much more to the movie than just the story of an old man who falls into depression.
Up might be one of Pixar’s most emotional films, but it’s also an adventure movie featuring talking
dogs and a fight to the death between two old men. Come on, how can you not love that?
Going from one of Pixar’s older films to something a bit more recent, a lot of audiences still don’t
seem to know what to make of 2020’s Onward. Released right before the COVID pandemic,
the movie had a very truncated theatrical run before being thrown onto Disney+. As a result,
the film seems to have flown under the radar of a lot of would-be viewers. In the eyes of most,
however, it is far from Pixar’s best. We felt user TheOfficialWasteland made an interesting
point in a Reddit thread, stating that Onward didn’t feel like a Pixar movie. On this point,
we have to agree. Onward isn’t a horrible movie, but it definitely feels like an outcast among
Pixar’s films, especially the more recent ones. While Pixar films have frequently dabbled into
the realm of fantasy and sci-fi, something about Onward’s approach feels off. Even when Pixar made
films about non-human entities, they were still something that exists in our world, be it bugs,
robots, cars, or pandas. Even emotions felt normal for them! Onward’s fantasy world of elves and
orcs feels kind of random and out of place when compared to every other movie they’ve done. The
film is also far too formulaic, unlike most Pixar films, which at least try to throw in one or two
turns along the journey. Once you know what the journey is here, you pretty much immediately know
what’s going to happen by the end of it. Quite frankly, it feels more like a Dreamworks movie
than Pixar, due to its more formulaic nature and fantasy setting. Not that we have a problem with
Dreamworks, but when we sit down and watch a Pixar movie, we kind of want something that feels like
Pixar! Onward falls short in that regard, and as such, this is a take we have to agree with.
The second-to-last take we’ll be looking at focuses on Pixar’s animation style.
In a Reddit thread put together by user Cut Unique, the opinion is shared that Pixar’s style
is ugly! The user argues that Pixar’s focus on using CG animation to look cartoony and stylized
is a poor way of doing things, and that it would be far better to focus on realism above all else.
With all due respect to the user who stated this, we really disagree with this line of thought. We
enjoy Pixar’s animation style greatly, and in general, we find CG animation to be at
its best when it tries to be stylized. While they aren’t Pixar, films like Into the Spider-Verse,
The Bad Guys, and Hotel Transylvania have proven that you can make computer animation as
exaggerated as you want it to be, and the results can be nothing short of fantastic. If anything,
we think it's realistic computer animation that has more of a tendency to look ugly.
We can’t help but conjure up images of films like Mars Needs Moms or A Christmas Carol,
which strived for realism before stylization. While the animation was undoubtedly revolutionary,
these films prompted the million-dollar question:
Why make animated movies look as real as possible when you could just shoot a film with actors and
sets? Honestly, we think Pixar should push to make their movies even more exaggerated, not less. And
let’s be real for a second. Does anybody want a hyper-realistic Toy Story movie? We thought so!
The last opinion we’ll be looking at is one regarding the much-discussed Pixar Theory.
Since its inception, fans have wondered how much of it holds real weight. While many are
on the theory’s side, others think the Pixar Theory is complete nonsense. Most detractors
of the theory believe it gets too crazy, and makes too many assumptions about the movies,
rather than connecting them by what is shown in the films themselves. For this last opinion,
we have to agree. While we’ll admit that the theory is very creative and thought out,
we don’t think it’s at all what was intended by the creatives at Pixar.
We also agree that it makes a lot of bold claims. Like, does Cars truly take place in the future?
Are the toys in Toy Story alive really because of Syndrome’s technological innovations? We
don’t think it’s too crazy to believe that all of Pixar’s movies are in one shared universe,
but we think this theory goes about it the wrong way. The movies don’t have to be a part of some
sort of Marvel-styled universe, where the events of one film directly impact another. Instead, it’s
way more likely that they’re just small stories in one larger world. After all, they almost all share
the Pizza Planet truck! So while we disagree with the Pixar theory, we think there’s a lot
of potential for someone to crack a version of the theory that’s more faithful to the films.
But let us know in the comment section if you agree or disagree with these
opinions. And tell us what we should cover next. Remember to hit that notification
bell and binge more of our videos. But most importantly, stay wicked.