Turning Red and the Pixar slump
Was there really a slump?
Whenever a new Pixar movie gets great reviews, we often hear or read some refrain of “Pixar’s best since (insert title here).” A lot of people seem to think that Pixar has been in some kind of slump in recent years, with a great film being perceived as some kind of rare gem.
As with so many things, talk of a Pixar slump is overstated. Not every film of theirs is a home run, but the studio still maintains a remarkably high batting average, with the studio’s latest movie, Turning Red, indeed being one of their best. Never mind about best since such-a-film. It’s great no matter what the context, and no matter what the rather ridiculous discourse around the movie would have you believe.
Why is there talk of a slump at all? Because from 1995 to 2010, over 15 years, the studio seemed to do no wrong, with Toy Story, a bug’s life, Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up and Toy Story 3.
Yes, a bug’s life isn’t so fondly remembered now, but it made my 10 best list for 1998 and I stand by that. Yes, Cars is the weakest of the lot, but I’d put the “Our Town” sequence as one of Pixar’s very best tear-jerkers. Point being that in those first 15 years, if there were any missteps, they were minor.
Then came Cars 2, and that’s where many people think the wheels started to come off. But I have two rather unpopular opinions - that Cars 2 is good, actually (this Bond fan liked the spy action) - and that the studio hasn’t truly missed yet. They haven’t made a movie I can’t recommend at all, but this is the time when the stumbles became more frequent. Or, to put it more dramatically, not every movie they made was an all-timer. Taking them one by one:
Brave: This was a troubled production because the original director, Brenda Chapman, was replaced, so Pixar’s first movie to be directed by a woman suddenly became an asterisk. It’s a gorgeous looking movie with a great central character, but the story beats are ill considered, and the film feels like what it was: a salvage job that didn’t completely take.
Monsters University: This felt like a major disappointment in 2013 - the kind of movie that might have gone direct to home viewing, at a time when that was a major demerit. I watched it again last week, and happily, it was better than I remembered. Too much of the humor is lame and obvious, but the core relationship between Mike and Sully is still strong, and the message is really kind of subversive. Maybe college isn’t for everyone?
Inside Out: A return to form, and one of my top five favorite Pixar movies.
The Good Dinosaur: The Pixar movie no that time rather quickly forgot. It works better than you might have heard , but this was another film that had a troubled development, and the tone is all over the map. Disney’s studios just don’t seem to have much luck with animated CG dinosaurs. How well do you remember Dinosaur from 2000?
Finding Dory: One of the reasons that people perceive a slump in this period is because the sequels started becoming more common, with six. This one works pretty well as I watch it, but doesn’t linger in the memory very long. Maybe it put me inside Dory’s head TOO well.
Cars 3: The closest the studio has had to an out and out misfire. There is some warmth here, but it’s never more than blandly pleasant. The photorealistic animation of the backgrounds doesn’t mesh well with the cartoony characters.
Coco: Another return to form, with straight-up dazzling design.
Incredibles 2: I remember this mainly for it being the setting for my niece’s birthday party, but as much fun as I had, like Finding Dory, this movie hasn’t stayed with me. As well done as it is, it hits its high points more out of obligation than inspiration.
Toy Story 4: Now THIS is more like it all the way around. Another sequel seemed ill-advised after the beautiful ending of the third film, but Pixar, against all odds, made it work. And this time, the photorealistic animation of the outside world actually works, making it seem huge and intimidating.
Onward: The Pixar movie that never got a fair shake. It came out just before Covid upended the world, and it was considered a disappointment even before that. Yes, the storytelling is a little wobbly, but I’ll be darned if the ending still didn’t have my eyes watering. Far from one of their great movies, but it’s better than its reputation.
Soul: And here, for all its strengths, is a film that is less than its reputation. It looks and particularly sounds great, both in sound design and in music. Thematically, it may be the most ambitious story Pixar has ever attempted, with some big ideas at play. And yet in the end, it feels small because the story is reduced to the well-worn theme of “stop and smell the roses.” On some days, you might even persuade me that Onward is better.
Luca: Rather like Onward, this movie seems to get lost in the shuffle. And like Onward, it deserves better. Some reviewers faulted the movie for being slight, but I found its low-key charms a feature and not a bug. I particularly appreciated its portrayal of youthful friends who think every idea they have is grand when most of them are really rather foolish. Give this one another look.
So that brings us to Turning Red, which, next to Inside Out, is my favorite post 2010 Pixar. Directed by Domee Shi, who made the lovely and startling short Bao, the movie brilliantly walks the line being being intimate and personal, while also being brash and universal at the same time.
Even more so than Luca, this movie is an ode to friendship. Not for nothing are Mei’s friends the key influence that allows her to control her panda. And, like many of Pixar’s best works, it’s wisely observant about parenting and how the best of intentions can quickly get out of hand when parent and child don’t hear each other but don’t listen to each other.
I loved the look of the movie, too, with the character designs of the kids reminding me a bit of the Aardman style, while parts of the movie very obviously borrow from anime, both in the facial expressions and the final climax. In look and feel,Turning Red takes disparate influences and turns them into a unique stew. The darn movie even had me bopping to the Billie Eilish/Fineas-penned boy band tunes. And this is from a guy who listens mostly to music made before he was born.
So is there a Pixar slump? I suppose post 2010 they’ve had more good/very good films than top-of-the-line ones. But is it really and truly fair to expect every movie from one studio to Change Our Lives - especially when that studio has been making features for 27 years now? Heck, Walt Disney’s animators weren’t working for for 10 years before they started turning out those highly variable omnibus features after World War II.
In our fractured and fractious world, instead of worrying about slumps and metaphors for puberty, we should be thankful a studio has turned out so many consistently good movies - with more than a few great ones like their latest.
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