The Pixar Story Review

I just finished watching one of the most amazing and inspiring documentaries I think I have ever seen: The Pixar Story. It tells the tale of the production company that brought us the animated hits Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Incredibles, and Wall-E. I am a fan of movies, and I am most certainly a fan of Pixar's. I thought I knew the history of this company, but after watching this, I only knew the tip of an iceberg.

Chronicling the upstart company through its very rocky beginnings with Lucasfilm, to its absorption into the Disney Family, this doc tells a fantastic story of a group of people who follow instinct and intuition to create some of the greatest stories today.

Did you know that when Toy Story was in development, they followed Disney's notes to the tee only to have Disney reject the idea wholly. Rather than shutting down and laying off workers, they slaved away to recraft the story and in two weeks, made a new presentation, causing Disney to reverse their decision to can the movie. They decided to tell the story that THEY wanted to tell, not the story someone told them to do.

It's an amazing behind the scenes story that you never knew about. When they got to the part about the death of traditional 2D animation, I was damn near in tears, cause I remember when Disney announced they were ceasing all production on traditionally animated movies. I remember thinking, "What the hell, Disney!! You are founded on this medium and to completely reject it is the most idiotic thing you could do."

But through their Disney Acquisition in 2006, John Lasseter the head of Pixar became the head of all things creative at Disney, and he wisely said they would be returning to traditional animation. (Look for the Princess and the Frog next summer)

This is a great documentary that I think everybody with an interest in films, creativity, and animation should see. Hell anybody who likes the Pixar movies should see this. It is that good.

It is found on the Wall-E Special Edition DVD and Blu-ray. So rent Wall-E and watch this Doc.

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