Saw The Incredibles today, a wonderful achievement from the dependable gang at PIXAR, who always produce a truly great movie for all the family.
That phrase, incidentally, has got to be one of the most misused in history. For years, ‘for the family’ meant nothing of the sort, it was dragging parents to increasingly painful Disney movies to buy more merchandise. But with PIXAR, each film is virtually guaranteed to be a winner, movies that everyone really looks forward to seeing.
The hilarious thing is watching the downfall of Disney in all of this. Coupled with the success of DreamWorks’s Shrek (don’t get me wrong, that’s also a great film) they seem to think that CGI is the reason for PIXAR’s success, rather than great characters and story. As a result, Disney abandons 2D movies apart from lame straight-to-video sequels. The slow rotting of an empire. The great news is that PIXAR only has one more film to do, Cars, before they are finally free of Disney, which leaves the company pretty stuffed as far as I can see. Take a look at Freeview’s ABC1 channel to see why.
There’s only one wholly-Disney film which I actually love, The Emperor’s New Groove. It’s witty and un-hyped, with not a The Emperor’s New Groove II in sight. But even I can appreciate that up to the early 1990s, Disney did make great 2D animations, climaxing in universally-praised The Lion King. Is there a way back for the Magic Kingdom? I hope not. It’s always fun to watch giant media companies crash and burn.
