Film Yap: Pixar Talk - WALL-E

Every week Austin is going to have a chat with Victoria Disque about a Pixar film. This is all leading up to a speech Austin will be giving about Pixar at the E.B. and Bertha C. Ball Center in Muncie on December 9^th. Victoria is a producer of The Reel Deal and is currently majoring in telecommunications at Ball State University.

Austin: So for the second week in a row you watched a Pixar film for the very first time. What are your initial thoughts for “WALL-E”?

Victoria: I definitely liked “Ratatouille” more, but “WALL-E” was the first Pixar film I’ve seen that was just gorgeous. The animation is great for all of them, but that was the only word I could think of.

Austin: Which is so odd considering it’s a world devastated by trash.

Victoria: Exactly! I found it very ironic too.

Austin: I really was caught off guard because the level of detail for the robots is so good, I would honestly believed it was miniatures. That they just made a little robot WALL-E and filmed it on a little set. The other films had great texture and details to their fur and skin, but the machinery here looked insane.

I think so much of the believability came from the audio as well. Every little creak of the machines and them moving around on the dirt. Especially when you have the two main characters who only communicate through simple audio cues.

Victoria: I noticed the audio throughout and even though people were talking near the end, it still felt like an old silent film. It really reminded me of Charlie Chaplin because WALL-E seems like The Tramp and Eve is the beautiful younger woman who makes him super clumsy.

Austin: It’s clumsy, but he always pops back up with a smile. He’s wonderfully cartoonish and happy even when all of the shopping carts fall on him. They made it so you love the character so much, but you still want to see the carts hit him.

The character of WALL-E is so insanely adorable. The first half hour is just him looking at stuff, being entertained by small things.

Victoria: And I was entertained. I loved him looking through his little storage area. He has a space for lighters, he found a Rubix’s Cube, and he carries it all in a cooler. I would watch an entire based on what he finds.

Austin: I just love the very realized perspective he has. He finds a ring, but that has no value to him. He just loves the box and the little hinge it has.

Victoria: I laughed aloud at that part. He found a ring, but immediately tosses it aside.

Austin: It’s always about what entertains him. It’s so pure in that regard. Then there are the things he doesn’t like. I love him interacting with things he doesn’t like. I loved him playing with the fire extinguisher the first time where he keeps falling down. He hates it so he throws it far away.

I don’t know if I want a sequel to this, but I want a new short of this every year. Make it like Curious George where it’s like “WALL-E Goes to the Jungle” or “WALL-E Goes to Wherever”. I want to see a new place through his eyes.

Victoria: I was impressed like how we talked about with “Cars” how they weren’t animated the best way. You’d think that a robot would be even harder to feel for that character. It’s amazing how expressive they made his eyes, but they still so you can tell when he was sad. I love how when he was scared, he would shake. He seemed like such a person.

Austin: The story is that Andrew Stanton was at a baseball game with his son and they had binoculars to watch the game. At one point, Stanton stopped watching the game and started playing with the binoculars to see how he could make emotions from it. That was the start of the design.

Unlike “Cars” as well, their design has to be practical. This robot was built to pick up trash so it doesn’t need to look like a person because that’s not practical. It needs to be a walking trash compactor. It needs to look both ways so it’s a hero to us but a logical tool as well. Then there’s Eve who is a newer model and looks like an Apple product. I love how his goal is so insanely tragic. This is one of the most ambitious concepts for a kid’s movie. The world is destroyed by trash and one robot, for whatever reason, still is around to pick it up, alone on the planet. It’s such a depressing concept, but you smile the whole time because you have this scrappy machine who has possibly been there for hundreds of years as the guide.

It’s such a wonderful film. It’s my favorite Pixar and also one of the best films I’ve seen in years. It’s up there was one of the best of the last decade for me. Utterly charming.

Victoria: The only part I didn’t get was why the Autopilot didn’t want them to go back to Earth. Is it because he would be out of a job?

Austin: I think it’s a little bit of that. He was assigned to stay the course. It’s functioning on the rational decisions of “Earth isn’t safe. You’re not going to Earth.” All of the people have regressed to this childlike form. The Autopilot needs to take care of them and by doing that none of them can take care of themselves. Until WALL-E shows up, that’s when they have the inspiration to move forward.

He’s such a great catalyst to make everyone lives change. Even MOE the cleaner follows a very rigid path of the line of the floor. Then WALL-E shows up and MOE is able to get off the line. There are so many people who get off their “line” once WALL-E serves as a muse for them.

People think this film is very political and I feel that I’m the only one that’s arguing that it’s not.

Victoria: I don’t think that’s what they were getting at, but I can see where people would think that. It just shows that we’re all going to be fat one day if we keep eating the way we do. They show how we are polluting the Earth because it all becomes trash. They don’t make it seem like anything big happened like a meteor, it’s just that we screwed the world up so we had to leave. I got that, but I don’t think that’s what the movie was about though.

Austin: No, I see it more as a humanities thing than a politics thing. To me, politics should have at least two different sides for each ideology. There is no one “for” pollution. There is no one “for” obesity. The politics are formed about what should be done about that. This film is more about asking you to recognize what you’re doing, don’t just go for what’s easy and convenient. Always try to push yourself more.

Victoria: When they all get off their chairs, it was a such a great scene. Especially when the captain fights the Autopilot.

Austin: And that was their one direct pop culture reference, again, it’s the music from “2001”. The Autopilot already has the red eye of HAL. As the captain is walking, it’s like the evolution of man. Bum, bum, bum bum! Very fun.

Something I focused on this time was all of the other WALL-E models that broke down. You can tell at the end, they didn’t have the personality he did. They only picked up the trash. Our WALL-E had a personality and was looking around. They were only focused on their jobs. The human on the Axium is only on vacation, all the time. It means nothing because they are always relaxing. WALL-E is the middleman as he’s the really strong worker but will stop to play with the car keys. That was the push that had him help Eve. Don’t just focus on getting the plant, recognize why that’s an important thing. That drive helped the people to learn the value of working towards something. It could have ended with the Captain seeing that Earth is a dump, but he was inspired to fight and make it his own.

It’s amazing how they accomplished all of that while still being funny from beginning to end.

Victoria: I was surprised to realize how much I laughed during it because I heard going in that there is no speaking for the first half. I could see myself falling asleep, but there was so much cute humor that it always kept my attention. This is perfect for little kids. They can have so much fun with WALL-E.

Austin: People are always surprised how much they enjoy the silent portion. It’s not really silent because he says his few words and such. But it reminded me of Looney Tunes. Tom and Jerry is silent, but those are really easy to watch. They know good storytelling to keep you entertained through different ways. That’s what silent directors knew so well to entertain without using dialog. This did it so well that critics didn’t like it when they went up into the spaceship because they liked it so much.

Victoria: I definitely perfered the first half to the second half. It’s still good, but the first half is so much fun.

Austin: I think the second half makes for a richer film, but I can easily watch a three hour silent film of WALL-E just walking around the planet.

Victoria: If there was no spaceship, you wouldn’t get any sort of message or story. People would be upset about that.

Austin: They get some of that humor back when they just focus on WALL-E and Eve. Like the escape pod sequence is great because I like how expressive they are. He gets out of the pod and stubbornly sits down. Eve sighs thinking “Oh WALL-E” and puts him back. Then he gets out and she becomes frustrated.

Then there’s the dance sequence. He gets out of the pod before it blows up, he has the plant, they have a little robot kiss and then they dance around space. Just beautiful.

Victoria: I really like the scene when he first gets into space and he’s moving his hand through the dust. That was where it sealed it for me. It’s such a gorgeous movie.

Austin: He’s so adaptable; then again he’s not. He focused on helping Eve however he can but he can enjoy what’s around him. Even when he’s utterly destroyed, he’s still trying to help her or properly introduce himself to MOE.

You know so much of the film is about loneliness for him, but he doesn’t take loneliness as “woe is me.” It’s a guide for him to keep moving on and befriend a cockroach. He’s very grateful for the things around him as he tries to find someone to be with and hold his hand. One of my favorite scenes is when that’s incorporated by WALL-E showing Eve his home. It’s very much like a kid wanting to show your friend your room.

Victoria: I loved that scene. It reminded me of “The Little Mermaid” because Ariel is a hoarder and they both collect all of these little trinkets.

Austin: Exactly. He even has a collection of forks, but then it’s a great visual joke where he doesn’t know where to put the spork. Then Eve comes in with a new perspective to all of his things, like being able to make the light bulb turn on. Then his fascination is renewed. Then his perspective inspires her as she enjoys the bubble wrap.

Just talking about this now makes me want to watch this again and I just watched it yesterday. I love this movie.

Victoria: I agree with you, I hope they make more shorts. They did it with “Toy Story” and that worked well without ruining any of their main story.

http://www.thefilmyap.com/2011/11/17/pixar-talk-wall-e/

Film Yap: Pixar Talk - Ratatouille

Every week Austin is going to have a chat with Victoria Disque about a Pixar film. This is all leading up to a speech Austin will be giving about Pixar at the E.B. and Bertha C. Ball Center in Muncie on December 9^th. Victoria is a producer of The Reel Deal and is currently majoring in telecommunications at Ball State University.

Austin: So you just finished “Ratatouille” for the first time, minutes ago. What are your first reactions?

Victoria: I loved it. Within the first half hour, I knew I was really going to like this movie. It never disappointed me.

Austin: This was Brad Bird, who directed this one and “The Incredibles” and “The Iron Giant.”

Victoria: I decided I really like him. I mean, I like them all like John Lasseter but I really like Brad Bird.

Austin: And he’s moving onto live action with “Mission Impossible 4” this winter. Every Pixar film goes through so many changes throughout its production. This one, Brad Bird was called in a little bit late on the process. This was Pixar’s first film after the legal debaccal of Pixar breaking away from Disney and all that madness. So this is their first thing on their own again. Yet it feels like a complete movie. It’s so smooth and a wonderful story.

Victoria: I almost almost thought, there was too much going on. Like I said, I loved this movie. There is the film critic to deal with it, there is the bitter ex-chef to work with, Remy tries to break away from his family, Linguini being Gusteau’s son. There was just a lot to take in. It all felt smooth, but it did feel complete.

Austin: There is a lot of plot, but I think one of the reasons why it worked was that they didn’t save it all for the end. Linguini gets the restaurant earlier than anyone expects. There’s even a montage where people think the movie could end. You see this more in French films, so it’s fitting that it’s set in Paris.

Victoria: Also Linguini gets with the girl earlier in the movie. Something else you’d expect to save for the very end.

Austin: That’s where you see what is the true point of the story. All of the Linguini stuff is secondary to Remy’s journey of finding his own place as a chef. I think they did a really good job of structuring that.

There are so many movies about “art”. There are so many movies about making movies or the romanticism of writing or painting. I like that Pixar decided to not do the obvious one and talked about the art of food. It’s probably one of the best food movies I have ever seen.

Victoria: This is probably really lame but I watch the Food Network all the time. There is something really relaxing about watching other people to make food. I didn’t expect that from an animated food. I loved the montage where Remy had to figure out exactly how to pull the hair to make the spaghetti. Even when he was making food as himself, I was surprised how much I was enjoying watching a gutter rat make food.

Austin: That’s the power of animation. Obviously we can’t smell or taste anything they’re cooking. It has to be entirely visual, basically. One way they did that was to create a great aroma of the kitchen, where he smells the soup. What I really loved were the sequences when he closes his eyes and we see the colors around his head mixing together as the tastes blends. It explains something very personal and difficult to convey. Really the best person to display that geeky enthusiasm is Patton Oswalt.

Victoria: I loved his voice. When the rat first started talking my mind went to him, but then it disappeared. Just like all the other Pixar movies, I never think of it again.

Austin: If I had to make an arbitrary list of the best casting from Pixar, I think the top two are in this film. Patton Oswalt is so brilliant. I’ve been a big fan of his stand up for years. Whenever he is enthusiastic about loving or hating a film, it’s always the greatest thing because he gets so passionate. So this character is an extension of him. Instead of yelling about “Star Wars”, he’s amazed about the taste of the food. It’s so genuine and perfect job casting.

Victoria: Who’s the other one then?

Austin: Peter O’Toole as Anton Ego.

Victoria: Oh yeah. That was a surprise for me. I never thought someone as legendary as Peter O’Toole would do an animated movie, but if you’re going to do it you better do Pixar.

Austin: He brought such gravitas to it. I love Peter O’Toole but he hasn’t had the best roles lately. He was pretty good in the “Casanova” miniseries and “Venus” was okay. But he was so good in this! Just look at the most talked about scene from the movie where he takes a bite of the ratatouille. That was pulled off because of what O’Toole had brought to the role before that. Such brilliant filmmaking.

Victoria: I was a bit emotional at that scene. I was a bit choked up during that part because they added so many layers to this critic who up into that part was just…a big meanie. You still don’t know why he is that way at the end, but he grew a heart at that moment. It was like the Grinch!

Austin: And his flashback is so brief. You immediately know what is going on at that moment.

Victoria: They are really good at stuff like that. They give you enough story without milking it.

Austin: Then the scene to accompany that was the review.

Victoria: I don’t know if kids understood a word of that but I loved it.

Austin: I first saw this in theatres and before every Pixar film I’m nervous. Kids are talking before it starts and I almost want to announce, “When the movie starts, you shut up.” But every time, my audience has been great. Everyone’s behaved because they love Pixar just as much as I do. During that scene, everyone knew how to respond. Even if you don’t know every word he’s saying, but they knew the Grinch grew a heart and it’s a good review.

So often you have films or storytellers talking about critics. More often than not, it’s negative towards them. Everyone’s had a bad review in their life, that’s what happens when you put something out there. They could have easily turned that into a speech against criticism. But it wasn’t that. It was looking at the emotions behind it. Earlier in the film there is a moment when someone says that he hates food, but he says that he loves food and that’s why he’s so harsh on it. In this scene he sees the potential and joy in food again. Sure he ends up losing his job because he was discredited when the restaurant was filled with rats. I think if that didn’t happen he would have stayed on as a critic and enjoyed the food more.

Victoria: Pixar never fails to surprise me. Any other animation company would go with the easy ending, the really really happy ending. There were two parts that surprised me in this. The first was when Linguini was telling all of the chefs that Remy was cooking. You’d expect them to stay and deal with it, but they all leave. Then all the rats help out, which I didn’t see coming.

Then I didn’t see the ending. I thought it would be happily ever after, but then the restaurant closes down. Then they have the smaller restaurant which is probably less stressful and the rats can eat there. So it seems like a sadder ending, but it works more for the characters.

Pixar is fantastic at taking something so unrealistic and then making it as realistic in that concept.

Austin: I think this is the most unrealistic of them all with having Remy pull Linguini’s hair and he movies. For that is impossible…and insane. So they should walk out because what he is describing is madness. I would stay to see it all play out because that would be entertaining. That is the most fantastical element of any Pixar films aside from talking animals and inanimate objects.

However it does it so well. It takes the metaphor of the puppeteer and makes it literal. Even though it’s incredibly unrealistic, it works out best for both of them. You don’t really get the vibe that Linguini wants to be a chef, but wants to be in the kitchen.

Victoria: It seems that he wants to be part of something. His mom is gone. His father he never knew is gone. He doesn’t have anywhere to really call his own. The one question I had in the whole movie is when he first gets the job, why does he add stuff to the soup when nobody was looking?

Austin: Oh, because he’s an idiot.

Victoria: You’re just taking random things and putting them in a pot!

Austin: I think he wanted to contribute more than just taking out the trash. Looking at what you’re saying, I think he wants to be part of a group. The kitchen is like a family. Aside from the crazy French Ian Holm villain, the kitchen is a very warming place for him. (TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: THAT WAS AN UNINTENTIONAL PUN.) He finds the love of his life, there are quirky other characters that support him, he has rat friends. It does work well as a community. I think he was just trying to get to that point.

I do like this film quite a bit, but I guess the only part I don’t like is Remy’s family storyline. Watching it this time, I really got the metaphor of rats are like criminals. Linguini always thinks that Remy is going to steal all the food and run out on him. Then there are the old “You can’t escape your past” and the “Mobster who wants to go straight” tropes that operate with this family. They are thieves, but in a more respectful light, they are animals. I know it was necessary for the plot, but when they opposed his lifestyle it seems awkward. It did pay off when it they came together, though.

Victoria: You know I saw this thing on my friend’s Tumblr that really sums up the differences between Pixar and Dreamworks. Pixar puts so much work into their stories where even if it doesn’t pay off, they’re trying really hard to make something special.

Austin: That is so awesome. You know, there really isn’t anything like “Ratatouille”. It has elements that are familiar, but it all blends together to be a completely unique movie. It’s really great.

Victoria: Loved it!

http://www.thefilmyap.com/2011/11/03/pixar-talk-ratatouille/

Film Yap: Pixar Talk - Cars

Every week Austin is going to have a chat with Victoria Disque about a Pixar film. This is all leading up to a speech Austin will be giving about Pixar at the E.B. and Bertha C. Ball Center in Muncie on December 9^th. Victoria is a producer of The Reel Deal and is currently majoring in telecommunications at Ball State University.

Austin: We’ve hinted at it for weeks and weeks for my hatred of “Cars”. Do you have a hatred of “Cars”?

Victoria: No, I don’t have a hatred. It’s definitely not one of my favorites. I just think it’s ‘all right’, not terrible.

Austin: This is my first time watching it since the theatres. There were moments when I was thinking that I’ve been too hard on the movie. Then a second later, it reversed again. Like the movie starts off with Lightening talking with a black screen. He has this good voice over where he’s saying, “Speed…speed…” to pump himself up for the race. This is relatable and good. Then you realize he’s in a truck whose only design is to hold other cars and then I became immediately distracted trying to figure out that existence.

The movie is a weird balancing act. Every other Pixar film you get the world through their exposition scenes. I’m now two films in and I still don’t get this world and that’s weird.

Victoria: I don’t even think about that. I just focus on the characters. I don’t try to put together things like “If their wheels are hands, how do they build anything?”

Austin: Who builds the cars!?!?

Victoria: This is a kids’ movie. The others were aimed a bit more towards adults, but this is purely for the kids. My nephew totally buys the world.

Austin: Maybe I just missed the age when—nah, I was even a snarky kid. It’s odd. We’ve had inanimate objects from “Toy Story” and they’ve established Fisher Price makes the toys. Once they assemble, they exist and we get that.

In “Cars”, I question it when the movie addresses it. It’s not just me going, “How do their eyes make any sense?” But then again, their eyes don’t make any sense! They have characters who are romantically interested in each other. In “Toy Story” they were more looking for love and companions. Here Lightning and Sally try to kiss each other. And whenever Mater tows somebody, there is the shot of the car feeling violated like it’s a probing joke. It’s weird.

Victoria: Right. I don’t care about that. Now we’ve talked in the past about how Pixar has found the perfect actors for each character. With this one, it feels like they knew who they wanted already and then built a character around the actor. Like Mater, they had to figure they were already thinking of Larry the Cable Guy. From there it seems like they decided the rusty bucked-tooth car would fit him.

Austin: Yeah, it almost feels like they thought of a personality for the car and then the actor and then the character. What would fit for this car?

Victoria: In this, the lead voice is Owen Wilson. In the past, I recognized a lead voice and then moved back on to the story. Here, I only heard Owen Wilson. He doesn’t have the most distinct voice but I still only heard him.

Austin: So did I, the whole time. It’s odd because his major competitor in the racing world is voiced by Michael Keaton. I love Michael Keaton! He had such a natural voice, but right now I’m thinking Michael Keaton could have been the lead. Keaton could easily be the villain or the likable lovable Mr. Mom hero.

Victoria: I think Owen Wilson brought a younger voice to the character. As if he was in the early 20s.

Austin: That’s true. You need the age difference between him and Paul Newman.

Victoria: Paul Newman. It’s too bad this was his last movie. At least he ended on a Pixar film, but it’s sad this is the Pixar movie he ended on.

This is my nephew’s favorite movie. So I get a kick out of the parts he laughs at. He really loves the two Italian cars, Luigi and Guido. He also really loves the old car, the old Model T. She’s the one not right in the head. I love the supporting cars. Then there is the VW Bug that is selling their equivalent of weed? That’s just weird.

Austin: You know there was one bit of casting I thought was really easy. They cast Jeremy Piven as the agent who is always on the phone. It’s just the same character from “Entourage”. Come on Pixar! You can think of a cleverer pick than that.

Victoria: That was easy.

Austin: I think the weirdest character thing in this movie is that, unlike all other Pixar films, their heroes have flaws but the film doesn’t judge them for it. Woody is insecure, Flik is too eccentric, Marlin can’t let go, etc. But the characters aren’t constantly telling them those flaws. “Cars” was only that. The first half of the movie is everyone telling Lightning what was wrong with his life. His lifestyle is wrong. You’ll be fine by the end of the film, but now you’re wrong. That’s limiting because now you know where the movie is going because it’ll only be about fixing that lifestyle.

I really didn’t like that. It was lazier storytelling than we’ve come to expect from Pixar.

Victoria: I think that’s just it. This one seemed lazy in comparison of the other. Perhaps, they were just burnt out. This is still decent, but it’s not Pixar level.

Austin: Yeah, I’ll give it a C. It’s just an uneven movie. Also I might as well make this rant now. It’s the plot of “Doc Hollywood”. Which is not a great movie. Have you seen it?

Victoria: Nah.

Austin: The plot of “Doc Hollywood” is that Michael J. Fox is a plastic surgeon, but everyone judges him that he needs to be a proper doctor. One day on his way to Los Angeles to become a bigger plastic surgeon, he crashes his car into a small town and breaks their fence and other stuff. He’s not allowed to leave the small town until he fixes the fence and that’s where he learns how to be a true doctor.

Victoria: That sounds ridiculous. Maybe they were…inspired by “Doc Hollywood”?

Austin: I think they have carefully avoided talking about “Doc Hollywood” in every interview. Like how the cast of “Disturbia” weren’t supposed to talk about “Rear Window” during that press.

I was 16 when this came out. So I’m just outside the target audience, but even I’m in the theatre going, “Hey I have a public library. I’ve seen ‘Doc Hollywood’!” Having “A Bug’s Life” do their take on “The Seven Samurai”, considered one of the greatest films of all time, makes a bit of sense. Doing a take on “Doc Hollywood” is…how many takes can you do on that?

Hell, they should have just gotten Michael J. Fox for the voice of the lead! That would have been great!

Victoria: That would have been really good. He still sounds young enough.

Austin: Also he has the charisma to be selfish and still likable. Then again, this would make it too much like “Doc Hollywood” which is why they didn’t do it.

Victoria: Which would you say is better: “Doc Hollywood” or “Cars”?

Austin: “Doc Hollywood” because it has people in it so I understood it! Switching gears—eh!—what did you think of the racing scenes?

Victoria: I thought they were okay. Nothing really great, but I don’t find actual racing exciting. Yet I guess this isn’t like real racing. This is more like a foot race since they are cars. Lightning is the Usan Bolt of the car world. So if you look at it that way, then it makes sense the cars can jump over other cars that have crashed.

Austin: I think the weird thing here—and it’s worse in “Cars 2”—it’s difficult to see how hard they’re going. When you watch “Chariots of Fire” they are sweating and struggling. In this, whenever a car passes another it seems casual.

Victoria: They just say, “Oh man, they passed me.” Just go faster! But I guess it’s about how much horse power they have. How they were built. It’s not like they were working hard to go faster.

Austin: It’s like the metachlorians.

Victoria: (Blank look)

Austin: The readers will get that. So it’s better in this one, but in the big race here he’s down by an entire lap. It’s hard to figure out how much he needs to work to catch up. Then he goes to the pitstop to talk to Doc without getting anything changed. You have a headset! Just talk to him! You’re in a race!

Victoria: I did like the ending, though. The King crashes and he’ll be exactly like Doc if he doesn’t go across the finish line. So Lightning goes back and gets him after he grows a heart and forfeits the race. Classic Pixar.

Austin: I thought it was okay. It’s just really convenient. It’s just like Doc and it’s a moment to define yourself. It’s not as much as a sacrifice because everyone knows he won. It’s not like it’s a close race. Everyone has declared him the winner. History will remember him as the “real winner” because he made a noble effort. It just made him look really good. You need the moment, but it was the easy moment.

Victoria: I just don’t what else they would do there.

Austin: Neither did they! That’s why it’s in there. Anywho, do you find Mater funny?

Victoria: I guess so. He’s grown on me like the rest of the movie. Back when I was a Freshman in high school, he didn’t work. I don’t like Larry the Cable Guy’s comedy, but this character is endearing. He’s not just a stupid hillbilly. He’s more of a manchild.

Austin: The way Mater interacts with the town reminds me of Nick Frost from “Hot Fuzz”. He’s a bigger guy, bit dumb, but his heart in the right place. Mater is louder and more obnoxious than Nick Frost in “Hot Fuzz”, but I still like the character. He works as a supporting character.

Victoria: I didn’t hate “Cars 2” like everyone else did—

Austin: Just wait a few more weeks!

Victoria: But that was a mistake to make him the lead in that movie and Lightning the supporting. Mater works better as a supporting.

Austin: There is only so much you can tolerate with that dumb energy. He works as a cheerleader, of sorts, to Lightning. I’m not a big fan of the cow-tipping scene, but it is a nice moment to slow the plot down and the let the characters bond with each other. The film does that well quite a few times.

Victoria: You know, I don’t have a problem with the world as much as you. What does bug me is what are the odds that this small town that isn’t on the map ends up having two world class race cars in it? Lightning just happens to get lost in the town that has a car similar to him who won the Piston Cup. I know the whole world is a stretch, but that is also a stretch.

Like we said, it just seems very lazy. I still think it’s decent. If I see a line of Pixar movie, it’s probably the last I’ll watch but it’s still watchable.

http://www.thefilmyap.com/2011/10/21/pixar-talk-cars/

Film Yap: Pixar Talk - The Incredibles

Every week Austin is going to have a chat with Victoria Disque about a Pixar film. This is all leading up to a speech Austin will be giving about Pixar at the E.B. and Bertha C. Ball Center in Muncie on December 9^th. Victoria is a producer of The Reel Deal and is currently majoring in telecommunications at Ball State University.

Austin: So for the first time in our Pixar set we have a different writer/director, someone who hasn’t worked on any of the previous films. Could you tell a difference between “The Incredibles” and the other ones so far?

Victoria: I think so, especially with the subject matter. The storyline was more about the adults. I felt the biggest story was about their marriage and being superheroes came second, which was the best way to go.

Austin: That doesn’t sound too much different from “Finding Nemo” but it sure felt different. “Nemo” had Marlin loving his son so much and trying to get him back. This film dealt with having a day job, going to seminars, dealing with parent-teacher conferences. It’s more of a family relationship we recognize more than aquatic life.

I was really impressed by this movie. I always liked “The Iron Giant”, Brad Bird’s first film, but this was more complex in its story. It starts off with those great interviews.

Victoria: I love how they made those look so old.

Austin: It was a great way to introduce the world while still being funny. Also it was a break in formula. It doesn’t feel like the same sort of Pixar story especially with a long flashback scene that jumps ahead 15 years later. It feels like a different type of movie, but still within the Pixar brand.

Victoria: I like how they catch us up without overdoing what happened in those 15 years. It was very easy to understand.

Austin: It felt really organic. They didn’t’ have a cheesy shot going through all the picture frames to show they had kids. They just show the kids. We can put the pieces together that the married couple ended up having kids.

I also really like the subject matter of depressed superheroes, which isn’t played for humor.

Victoria: It’s not exactly depression but how a lot of marriages play out. They grow old and bored while dealing with monotony all the time. You can definitely tell it took its toll on Bob. I think it affects males more. I like how they showed Helen was still “with it”. It takes awhile for the woman to reach that really really depressed point.

Austin: “Cartoonishly depressed” isn’t the right phrase, but it’s also the most literal phrase. His face just looks dead for a good part of the movie, when he’s at the table not responding.

Victoria: When he’s at his job…

Austin: Absolutely. It’s the grayest place in the world. The cubicles never seem to end.

Victoria: His boss is gray.

Austin: Exactly. They have so much fun with size in this movie. Bob is such a giant man while his boss is so tiny.

Victoria: His boss is like a fourth of him.

Austin: Yes, but has the authority over him. I like how his wife is shorter than Bob—because everyone is shorter than him—but since she’s elastic, she often rises up to his eyeline. That’s such a great visual touch.

Victoria: I like how you can tell how much fun coming up with the powers. Some aren’t the most original like how Mr. Incredible is the strongest guy ever. That said, I want to be Elastigirl. She can make herself a parachute! She can make herself into a speed boat! That was my favorite scene. The baby was full of powers. I didn’t like it when he turned into a little devil. I thought it was funny when he burst into flames or pure metal, but when he became the spawn of Satan I was put off.

Austin: I think you just had the same arc as the babysitter. “Oh this is entertaining…oh this is no longer entertaining.” People often compare the family to the Fantastic Four, which they should. Yet unlike the Fantastic Four films, this is good. It really did use their powers in a fun visual way, but it does subtly speak towards the characters as well. Bob wants to keep the house safe and together. The mom has to do everything at once so she can grab kids from other rooms.

Victoria: The daughter turning invisible is so emo with the hair across the eye. Dash is completely cocky and ADD so he can take off.

Austin: Then there’s their friend played by Samuel L. Jackson who is the coolest guy in the room so that was also fitting.

Victoria: Once again, all the voices are perfect. I can’t believe Pixar knows how to match them up so perfectly. Craig T. Nelson was amazing in this. I love his voice. I didn’t realize how much I loved his voice until he wasn’t on screen.

Austin: I really liked him as well too. Sometimes he’s not the most energetic actor, which isn’t easy for an animated performance. He fits it so well with his sincerity. Especially during the jungle sequences and he thinks his family is dead, really strong work.

What did you think of the villain?

Victoria: I’m not really sure. I thought he was entertaining. I felt that he was both funny and not a threat to the characters, but then he would do something that made me think he was too tough as a villain for a kid’s movie. He’s totally okay with his assistant being broken in half by Mr. Incredible. He’s capturing the kids with his lasers. Other than that, I never thought he was a threat especially against a family of superheroes.

Austin: I’m right there with you. That’s my only big problem with the film, which I have liked more and more with every viewing. I love the idea of someone who doesn’t have any powers, but he always seems petty. He’s just repeating the same point over and over again. Like we knew where Hopper was coming from and he didn’t have to remind us his position.

Victoria: He just kept repeating how Mr. Incredible wasn’t there for him and how he wants to be a superhero.

Austin: Every line! It’s a lot of interesting themes, but they didn’t gel as a character. It’s too bad because he’s voiced by Jason Lee who is a great underused actor. He’s so talented and funny while still pulling off the drama. He plays up the menacing factor at times, but he’s let down by the rest of the character. He always feels like the kid from the beginning of the film.

You know, this is a really good film, not just a good superhero film. We’re in this ageo of a superhero film every other month. They all become very familiar. I think this one is up there in the same recognition of “The Dark Knight” where it is a really good story first that happens to have superhero characters in it.

Victoria: There were a lot of times when I was reminded of other superhero movies. When Bob gets the call and goes on his early missions, it felt very James Bond and Mission Impossible. The robots reminded me a lot of “War of the Worlds”. When he does find out it’s a trap, the computer reminded me of “X-Men”. When the robots turned into balls, that was like Indiana Jones.

Austin: I think those are homages. Much like the Tarantino method of blending all the things you love to make something original. The basic concept of the government going against superheroes was a lot like “Watchmen”. Some critics thought it was too much like “Watchmen”, but I liked it because they explored it in a new way. Instead of treating the heroes like sociopaths, they saw them as “normal” people. So sure the bad guy’s lair reminded me a lot of “Dr. No” but they never directly referenced anything I don’t think. I’m probably missing something…

You know, this movie makes the argument that superhero films should only be animated. I was thinking during the past couple of X-Men films that they should be using their powers all the time. Every little mundane task should have your powers because that’s how their life works. Yet that costs millions of dollars in CGI to do that. In an animated film—I know I’m simplifying—it’s up to their imagination of what they can do. In a small scene Mr. Incredible can lift the couch while ElastiGirl extends her arm with the vacuum cleaner. You miss those moments in superhero films because the powers have to be saved for the action scenes.

Victoria: Also it was a relief they skipped over the idea of the kids not knowing and all of that annoying drama. I get tired of the kids being clueless of all the weird things happening around them.

Austin: That was really nice. It was a bit annoying when the daughter kept repeating “But you said we can’t use our powers!” when their plane was being attacked. If they said it once it would have been fine, but three or four times when there are MISSILES around you seemed a bit much.

Victoria: That was a bit dumb. Yet it’s made up for how creative the rest of the movie was. Every time, Pixar takes it one step forward. I loved when Dash is about to be attacked and Violet makes a forcefield and he runs within it to make a boulder. That was awesome.

Austin: Exactly. And it makes it feel like it was lived in. It’s a great mixture of what they can do.

Victoria: Again, the speedboat thing is really impressive.

Austin: I love ElasiGirl’s spy scene where she keeps getting caught in the doors. So much fun. You know, this is the first PG Pixar film. I realized during the movie that a lot of those nameless, faceless goons die during the movie. In fact, a lot of people die in the movie including the villain.

Victoria: Also in that cape montage, all of those heroes die.

Austin: That’s such a great scene. It’s darkly funny. I always love it when you have something like “Scream” or “Behind the Mask” when they are taking criticizing the genre in a very loving way. There were two major things here: the “No-Capes” scene and the word “monloguing.” That’s such a great idea.

Victoria: The creators of this really pay attention to any sort of genre. We all do it where we point out the clichés, but they go the step forward by putting a twist on it.

Austin: Okay we have to talk about Edna Mode, the one who stole the whole show. She’s the one everybody loves. It’s her voice, it’s her size. It’s the voice of Brad Bird, who just has too much talent that he decided to do some voice work as well.

Victoria: Also it’s her stubbornness and not hearing no for answer. She won’t just do a patchwork.

Austin: I love that scene where she’s showing the new suits and the mom is horrified—as she should be. They have this symbol of her baby BURNING and being shot at. It’s clearly not the baby, but that’s what the character is imagining. Same for when it’s her suit and the suit is being twisted and shot at. Absolutely hilarious. Also they are watching the whole process on a set designed for Edna. So the chairs and table are really low to the ground on this platform that races across the room.

Victoria: I especially liked when she had to scan to get into her building, all of the steps. Then a gun pops out and points at the mom so Edna has to clarify “And guest.” Then the gun disappears.

Austin: Everybody complains nowadays about too many sequels. This is on the short list of a movie people actually want a sequel to.

Victoria: I want a sequel because I know it’ll be in good hands. There are too many films like “The Hangover” that didn’t need a sequel and then they made one and it was terrible. Pixar has a good track record for sequels.

Austin: Aside from “Cars 2”! We’ll get to that in a few weeks… Back to this, there is an excitement with superhero films sequels. “Batman Begins” set up the world and then they were able to have a proper adventure with “The Dark Knight”. No more origin stories. Superhero characters have been around for thousands of issues; they aren’t just origin stories. Give me a new scenario to challenge these characters.

Victoria: I did like “X-Men: First Class”.

Austin: Me too! But it was still an origin story. The best one in that series is “X2” which is where they can all be together for a really tight story and didn’t have to introduce everyone. I’m tired of “I just want a normal life!” and “What are these new powers I have?!?!”. These guys are all together now and I want another story. If only to see what they will explore next in the family dynamic.

Victoria: This one is definitely in my top three Pixar films.

Austin: I think you’ve said that every week so far.

Victoria: No I haven’t! It’s Toy Story, Monsters Inc, and then The Incredibles. Finding Nemo used to be up there, but dropped recently.

Austin: Since the last time we’ve done this there have been three Pixar announcements. Finding Nemo is finally coming to Blu-Ray. I’m going to say because of our article.

Victoria: Safe to say.

Austin: Thanks to the giant success of “The Lion King 3D”, Disney realized they can make even more money. So they are going to rerelease “Beauty and the Beast”, “Finding Nemo”, “Monsters Inc”, and “The Little Mermaid” in the next two years in 3D. Of those, just see the Pixar films in 3D if you have to go. They are all great films but 2D animation looks very awkward in 3D.

Victoria: I’m not a fan of 3D in general. I get a really bad headache when I have to watch it for 90 minutes. I’m probably not going to see any of them. I almost saw “The Lion King” in 2D then I realized…I know people who own it.

Austin: Then finally, Steve Jobs died this week. He’s an incredibly impressive man for so many ways. He contributed so much to Pixar. Not just for the basic design layout for half of “WALL-E”, but for the first several years he gave them so much money. Pixar was around for many years before “Toy Story” as they were developing the technology and making shorts. For years, Jobs lost a ton of money by investing in Pixar before knowing how much it would pay off. He knew when there was talent, he let them do their thing and he gave them helpful advice along the way. Steve Jobs was one of the most important men of Pixar and he’ll be missed.

Previous Pixar Talks

Finding Nemo

Monsters Inc

Toy Story 2

A Bug’s Life

Toy Story

http://www.thefilmyap.com/2011/10/08/pixar-talk-the-incredibles/

Film Yap: Pixar Talk - Finding Nemo

Every week Austin is going to have a chat with Victoria Disque about a Pixar film. This is all leading up to a speech Austin will be giving about Pixar at the E.B. and Bertha C. Ball Center in Muncie on December 9^th. Victoria is a producer of The Reel Deal and is currently majoring in telecommunications at Ball State University.

Austin: It seems like when “Finding Nemo” came out, it was more of a critical hit than all of the other Pixar movies. The others got good reviews, but this was something special. Do you see it that way?

Victoria: Yeah because that’s what I felt when I first saw it. There has been so many more after it that have been better. So it may have fallen in the rankings but it’s still special. Maybe it was just because I was in a mood today, that it didn’t work as well for me today. Like the character of Dori; when you’re in a mood she can be a bit much.

Austin: That explains all of Marlin’s behavior since he’s in a mood the whole movie.

Victoria: I was irritated with her in some scenes, which is weird because this was my first time I felt that. I always ranked her as one of the best Pixar characters, but I guess not when you’re in a mood.

Austin: I didn’t laugh as much at her, but I was impressed by the performance. When I think of the character I think of this manic person who always talks. When I imagine Ellen DeGeneres in the studio, I imagine her very flat-footed. She’s not bouncing off the walls. It’s not as loud as I remember it.

Victoria: It’s weird to say it, but this is probably DeGeneres’ best performance. Especially the scene when she tells Marlin not to leave her because she remembers things with him. Her voice is getting choked up and I can’t imagine the Ellen we know getting choked up.

Austin: You just didn’t see it from “EDTV”. That scene, though. It’s weird since the whole movie is the struggle for the father to get his kid back, the most emotional scene is that one. Nemo is not even in it. How tragic it is. Her monlogue is brilliant, but it’s his capper to the monologue of him saying he doesn’t want to remember.

Victoria: I think them trying to find Nemo is such a small plotline compared to Marlin not becoming a wuss. That’s actually the big story. It’s about him not being overly cautious.

Austin: The movie does bother to show us the dark and depressing scene of why he’s a bit more cautious where the woman he loves and hundreds of his kids die in one scene. That’s going to mess up someone. It’s good they show that because we have the sympathy for him. I never found him annoying now or then. You get where he’s coming from.

The movie is more fast-paced than I remember it. They are in danger every given second. They rarely have time to pause and talk before a new sea creature attacks them. Every time that happens, you see a clear step of his emotional journey. ‘He made the mistake of not trusting Dori, now he’s going to trust a little more.’ It’s the small steps that make the movie really satisfying.

It is a typical road trip movie. Two people who find each other annoying band together to X and every five minutes there will be a very random stranger. Yet it never feels like a traditional road trip movie. With the high stakes, it’s more like a chase scene despite the road trip structure. Even down to the early scene where Nemo is asking Marlin questions on the way to school that ends up being the whole journey.

Victoria: Then there is the other half of the movie which is like a prison break plotline with Nemo in the dentist’s office. Usually in a prison break movie, most of the prisoners who deserve to be there with the exception of the one or two that were wrongfully accused. These poor fish were bought on eBay who don’t want to be here.

Austin: I love that the isolation has caused mental issues for them. Like Flo and the guy obsessed with the bubbles.

Victoria: Who is the guy from “Office Space”. The stapler guy?

Austin: Yeah, Stephen Root. Love that guy. I still didn’t recognize half of the cast until the credits when I exclaim “Duh that’s Allison Janney.”

Victoria: I know about a few of them, but I always forget about Willem Dafoe.

Austin: I always notice him, but I never remember Geoffrey Rush.

Victoria: That one shocked me. Also Eric Bana is one of the sharks?

Austin: That makes sense. He’s very Australian. You know, Albert Brooks is so brilliant in this. One of my favorite performances by him.

Victoria: That was a voice I instantly recognized even when I was 13.

Austin: Well we’ve all seen “Taxi Driver” by then. Also he doesn’t change his voice that much from film to film. Even in “Drive” he could sound gruffer, but he’s still just Albert Brooks.

One thing I really noticed this time around is how beautiful the world is. The others looked great even when they went into the darker parts of that world. This was something more.

Victoria: They really liked playing with colors in this one. All of the shades of blue, for one thing. It looked like jeweled tones, which everyone likes. I’m sure a lot of people would be disappointed to go into the ocean now because it’s not that pretty.

Austin: Also the fish don’t talk.

Victoria: It’s pretty, but it’s not Pixar pretty.

Austin: Even during “WALL-E”, it’s the apocalypse but it’s still a pretty apocalypse. I’ve been fortunate to watch most of these on Blu-Ray, but I don’t think this one is on Blu-Ray yet. I was almost begging for it because throughout the movie I know the colors could have been crisper and sharper. This is really going to look amazing on high definition. They even know how beautiful this movie is because it opens with Marlin saying “Wow” as he looks into the world. It could be too meta and self-congratulating, but it pays off.

I also loved the introduction the school with the bright colors and the great designs of all the fish.

Victoria: It was that scene where I really liked the humor. There are so many one-liners that work. It’s the humor that stands out when looking at the storyline, which is a very adult story. Kids love all the little characters like the Bubbles guy and the little fish saying “I’m H2O intolerant” and “I’m obnoxious!”

Austin: There wasn’t as much physical humor this time, but they played up on the word play that kids would understand. Calling the boat a butt is one of the most effective jokes for all ages because some adults still laugh at the word “butt”.

Then on the other end, there is an AA group for sharks not eating fish with their own recovery program. Having Dori join that group was hysterical.

Victoria: I thought that scene also taught kids a lot of things too.

Austin: About addition?

Victoria: No, like how Dori was hit with the goggles and starting bleeding. That teaches kids what sharks are attracted to. Also the balloons things cracked me up which I guess is teaching kids about mines. Dori happy about the balloons was another thing I loved.

Austin: Dori’s tangents were my favorite part. I love fast dialog and that’s harder to do in animation because you’re rarely in the room with the other actors. “Archer” pulls it off brilliantly right now. The way Dori is able to do those quick lines amidst the speed of the plot is really great. Also I love her never getting Nemo’s name right.

Victoria: Ellen keeps bringing up on her show how she wants a “Finding Nemo 2” which I hope they never do. I don’t know exactly what they would do. The whole story is Marlin becoming okay with the world around him. Would they have him go back to being scared?

Austin: I was really impressed with that arc because he goes from thinking the world is too dangerous and then the movie says, “It’s still dangerous, but it’s not as bad as you think. You may be attacked by sharks, but you may get out of it.”

I tend to like Andrew Stanton’s movies the most at Pixar. This is the first time he was the lead director on the film. He had screenwriting credits for all the previous ones. The other film Stanton has directed by himself is “WALL-E”, my favorite.

Victoria: Also he was the voice of Crush! Oh and Brad Bird’s son was Squirt.

http://www.thefilmyap.com/2011/10/01/pixar-talk-finding-nemo/

Film Yap: Pixar Talk - Monsters Inc.

Every week Austin is going to have a chat with Victoria Disque about a Pixar film. This is all leading up to a speech Austin will be giving about Pixar at the E.B. and Bertha C. Ball Center in Muncie on December 9^th. Victoria is a producer of The Reel Deal and is currently majoring in telecommunications at Ball State University.

Austin: I have no originality. When was the last time you saw “Monster’s Inc”?

Victoria: A couple of years ago.

Austin: And does this one rank highly?

Victoria: Oh yeah. This is probably in my Top Three Pixar movies.

Austin: It’s a lot funnier than I remembered. It’s a straight on comedy, unlike the others

Victoria: Not as many pop culture references in comparisons to the previous three.

Austin: There was one I caught for the first time on this viewing, which was the restaurant they go to is—

Victoria: Harryhausen’s!

Austin: Yes! I thought that a blast. Most of the humor comes from their creativity. They had toys existing in our world and bugs existing in our world, essentially. This one is an entire new world and they are gleefully having fun with that. They show you every monster imaginable.

Victoria: Like the one who sneezes fire. The one with 100 eyeballs. One that is just a blob of jelly.

Austin: Then they use each one to connect it to their world. He doesn’t just sneeze fire, he burns his newspaper. It’s so much fun. It’s incredibly original. I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s a clever premise to have monsters scaring children to power a city, which is dark—our overused word.

Victoria: They are really good about having those dark elements, but never making it too dark. It’s a great balance.

Austin: One way they pulled that off was by having Boo, who might be the cutest thing ever.

Victoria: Ever! Seriously, she is one of the cutest kids I have ever seen and she’s animated.

Austin: She only speaks borderline gibberish. Except for “kitty” and “Mike Wasaskoski”

Victoria: And “Uh oh!”

Austin: And yet we completely understand her. We see the fun she’s having, when she’s afraid, when she isn’t afraid. There’s that great moment in the film where she watches Sully be scary and it’s heartbreaking to see her in fear. I’m glad they hired an actual kid to play Boo because having an adult voice her would feel fake.

I think it’s because of Boo, no kid can be scared of this movie. They have this organization built around frightening children. In the organization, they all freak out about the child thinking it can contaminate everything. Yet the child really is like the viewers of the movie. So even the littlest kid knows what is “true” because they know Boo isn’t harmful. It’s a way for the younger viewers to know when the monsters are wrong and that’s a very hard thing to pull off.

How about the main monsters? Do you like them a lot?

Victoria: I really do. Even Mike who ranges from being very funny and a bit obnoxious. I still love him, though, especially how he looks. He’s just a ball with legs, arms, and one eye.

Austin: I love how easily he can be picked up by Sully.

Victoria: Yeah, like a basketball.

Austin: I love Billy Crystal, even when I was a kid. I saw City Slickers a ton back then. Weird movie to watch as a kid, a flick about middle age men having a midlife crisis but still—It had cowboys.

Victoria: He’s clearly having way too much fun doing the voice. He’s not doing much of a variation of himself, but you can picture him having a blast in the studio.

Austin: John Goodman isn’t doing much his voice either. He slows it down a little bit. He’s playing a giant character, but he makes it like he’s the smallest in the room sometimes. He mostly just focuses on his job until Boo comes along. We actually rarely see him do his job. We stay on the other side of the door while he scares the kids. The only time we see him as scary is when he scares Boo.

Victoria: It makes that scene even the more emotional because of that wait. It’s hard to even imagine him as scary since he’s like a big teddy bear. Also you look at our John Ratzenberger cameo of the Abdominal Snowman. He’s not scary at all, unlike his usual demonic depiction. He’s just a big snowman…obviously. The only one who really is scary is Randal. What a great villain he is. He’s not even the biggest villain, but he’s so slimy. We haven’t had a villain like that.

Austin: We talked last week about how Buster the Dog’s hair wasn’t that good. This was a 180. Sully looks incredible. It’s always naturally moving. The animation keeps getting better and better. This level of quality fit their new world because they had to invent everything. Every creature had its own original texture to them.

Victoria: I like how they didn’t get over the top with the new world. They didn’t have a ton of new words. It was very human and relatable.

Austin: It’s so clever and fun. There’s only one problem I have with the movie. The story always feels small. I know on paper, the company is at stake and their entire world is at stake. Yet it doesn’t feel as important of a story as the past three movies. We know Boo is not dangerous and we know the company is ethically wrong so it’s hard to be worried that it’s falling apart. It feels like a pilot episode of a TV show; it never feels like they are in any real danger.

Victoria: I didn’t really feel that.

Austin: Fair enough. One thing I did like was how they handled exposition, again. They had more to cover than the other films. It almost felt like too much information at the beginning but at least it all tied together well with the return to the test simulator. It wasn’t like “Green Lantern” when it’s just an impossible monologue where you feel you have to be taking notes.

Victoria: I really liked how they teach you what’s going on without ever feeling like they’re talking to the audience. Showing the information was what the new employee is doing wrong worked out well.

Austin: It’s called “Monster’s Inc” for a reason. It’s all about the business. So they have training seminars, quotas, and other things that should be boring for a kid. Yet if you have a silly job with silly things happening, then it’s all worthwhile. Those quarantine guys is such a great running joke.

Victoria: Oh George. I felt so bad for him. I hated his little partner.

Austin: Ha. Exactly! I mean, paperwork is a running joke. Why would a single kid care about that?

Victoria: What did you think about the ending? I thought it was amazing how they tied everything together with their new solution of laughter being more powerful than screams. It makes you excited to have a monster in the closet.

Austin: Oh yeah. I loved how all the partners were reversed. If Sully wasn’t the nicest guy in the world, there could a power struggle but it all works.

Victoria: Now that I have nieces and nephews, I find myself more emotional when Sully opens the door to see Boo at the very end. It kills me. I do love it when he leaves her for the first time and she’s showing him all of the toys, including Nemo—which hadn’t even come out yet.

Austin: It’s fun because Pixar always has a clue for their next movie coming out. Like in “Up” there’s a Lotso bear.

Victoria: It makes me so mad though that we don’t get to see Boo at the very end. I want to see how much time has past and how much older she is.

Austin: She sounds a tad bit earlier. I am fine without seeing her because I love the last shot because of how happy he is. That’s not John Goodman, that’s just pure animation.

You know what really works though? It’s one of my favorite Pixar scenes ever: the door chase. It’s the coolest and most imaginative thing in the world. They have to climb up doors…

Victoria: It was so cool when she laughed and all the red lights turned on.

Austin: They’re falling to their deaths and trying to open a door as they fall. They fall sideways through one and that’s confusing. It’s one of the coolest chase scenes ever. Despite having all the doors accessible to the whole world, there are moments of claustrophobia as the doors pile in on them at the warehouse.

Not every one of their films need to have these deep meditations on life, death, and the afterlife. They can just have a really fun comedy that works.

Victoria: I just love this movie.

http://www.thefilmyap.com/2011/09/24/pixar-talk-monsters-inc/

Film Yap: Pixar Talk - Toy Story 2

Every week Austin is going to have a chat with Victoria Disque about a Pixar film. This is all leading up to a speech Austin will be giving about Pixar at the E.B. and Bertha C. Ball Center in Muncie on December 9^th. Victoria is a producer of The Reel Deal and is currently majoring in telecommunications at Ball State University.

Austin: I’m going to switch up the first question just to be rebellious: what movie did you like more, “Toy Story” or “Toy Story 2”?

Victoria: “Toy Story”.

Austin: No question?

Victoria: Nooo. I think it’s sentimental reasons. Not any of the Pixar movies can compare, not just the Toy Story films. Like I said before, “Toy Story” is one of my favorite movies in general. “Toy Story 2” not so much.

Austin: Do you not like this one?

Victoria: No, I do but it’s just no “Toy Story”.

Austin: You know in the age when every movie gets a sequel and the fact they made this movie on such a small timeline—They usually take four years and this took 8 months to make—it’s a really great sequel. One of the really worth sequels.

Victoria: I’d agree with that. I hate sequels. I think there’s no need for them, but as far as sequels go this is a really good one.

Austin: It’s funny because I watched it a ton as a kid, but now I really see it as a companion to the original movie. It’s almost a mirror image of the first one where Buzz went from completely oblivious to irrational where Woody goes through the opposite of rational to this fame obsessed setting. Then there’s plenty of other parallels like instead of driving RC car through the streets, it’s Buzz riding a horse.

Victoria: I love all the space/cowboy things.

Austin: We talked about how dark the first one was. This might be darker.

Victoria: Yeah!

Austin: Within the first 10 minutes—I know it’s a video game sequence—they obliterate Buzz. You don’t know it’s fake. Then Woody is mangled again because everyone in Toy Story will lose an arm at one point, weird motif to have. He has a dream sequence when he’s abandoned by Andy, thrown into a trash can, and attacked by an arm monster.

Victoria: Jesse’s Song…

Austin: Oh yeah. That’s a powerful scene.

Victoria: That kills me every single time.

Austin: The song, I know to prepare for. It’s the most emotional part of the movie. It’s right after when Woody has nothing to say that always seems rougher. Speaking of Jesse, how great are the new characters? That’s a thing that sequels usually mess up.

Victoria: Joan Cusack is one of my favorite actresses. Even then, I don’t think of her “as” Jesse. I can only hear Jesse’s voice. Such a great person to pick.

Austin: She always has a certain amount of neurotic energy in her films, but never this amount of energy. I can’t picture her in the studio either; it’s just Jesse. We also have Stinky Pete, played so evilly by Kelsey Grammer.

Victoria: He starts off so charming. I remember seeing this in theatres and finding out that he is evil. That was a twist to me. I know I was nine years old at the time, but that really worked for me. If I saw it for the first time today, I don’t think I would see it coming. You’re led to believe that the villain of this movie is Al. You don’t expect one of the toys to be the villain also.

Austin: In many ways, Al is the new Sid. He was like the new Sid. Aside from stealing Woody at the beginning, he doesn’t know how much harm he’s actually doing. Much like Sid he gets his. Oddly by recording a commercial while he’s crying which he then puts on TV at the end. “No we don’t need a second take! Let’s just cry on air.” He was good, though. Wayne Knight was over the top.

Victoria: He was another one that was great voice.

Austin: I think Al is even less approachable than Newman from “Seinfeld”. I really don’t want to hang out with that guy. Ever. Especially the Cheetos sequence. Even as a kid, I thought this was gross. The burping and the Cheetos landmine.

Victoria: I thought from an animation point of view, that was a really good scene. With all the Cheetos spread across, it looked so huge. It looks like he has to cross a desert to get to this guy.

Austin: Then you have Bullseye who has four legs, who needs to do the same thing. You know, just like RC, he doesn’t have a voice. He’s like a pet. Did you see “Tangled”?

Victoria: Oh yeah.

Austin: The horse in that movie is a dog. He responding like a dog and it’s fun. When people look at the whole trilogy, they often forget that Jesse and Bullseye weren’t in it from the beginning.

Victoria: I feel they decided to create her character because the first one was so male driver. You have Bo, but she’s very much in the background. She hardly has any scenes. With this one, you have Jesse and Mrs. Potato Head. I just love Jesse.

Austin: We also have the ultimate girl toy of Barbie. Another funny sequence.

Victoria: Wasn’t the voice of her, Ariel?

Austin: Yep, Jodie Benson. Going back to voice actors. I think she did a number of Disney films, but Ariel is the main one.

Victoria: She was in “Enchanted” as a person. They would even play “The Little Mermaid” songs in the background.

Austin: Disney loves their inside jokes. I found a lot of Pixar in-jokes in this movie. Like when Hamm is rapidly flipping through the channels, half of the things he’s flipping through are their old shorts.

Victoria: Wow. That’s impressive. That’s one of those blinks and you miss it and I missed it. One of my favorite cameos in a film ever is Geri from “Geri’s Game”. The old man playing chess fixes up Woody. I recognized him the first time I saw it. That is my favorite Pixar short.

Austin: That is mine as well. Again, he’s not really a villain. He’s just a professional going against the main character’s plot. He is creepier in this one. He has all these shadows on his face and he covers up the word “Andy” on his boot.

Victoria: What an a**…

Austin: I do believe that the biggest Pixar nerds work for Pixar. Again, looking at the parallels of the two films. My favorite one is when Buzz is trying to get a new belt and when he looks up it’s the exact same shot as when Woody saw Buzz for the first time.

Victoria: I loved that! I thought that was brilliant.

Austin: You watch “Toy Story” and it seems like they went through every single toy concept. With this one it took it a step further and brought in: storage, abandonment, toy stores, garage sales.

Victoria: I loved how there were more pop culture references in this one. Obviously the “Star Wars” reference. At one point, there was a reference to Forrest Gump where Slinky Dog says “I’m not a smart dog, but I know what road kill is.”

Austin: I was watching this with my roommate earlier and she asked me while I was laughing when Buzz was jumping on the steps to get to Zurg and it was because it was the music to “2001” “Dun, dun, dun, DUN DUN.” Then he falls. I often criticize DreamWorks for too many pop culture references but aside from the “Star Wars” one which is so obvious, they are still subtle enough that no kid is going to feel left out for not getting it. Well, for the “Star Wars” one, they are probably going to get it. I had seen “Star Wars” before this.

Victoria: They also had a lot of good humor that was their own. I like how Zurg’s power was a levitating battery. I crack up when they try to get into Al’s Toy Barn and they have to jump to get the door to open.

Austin: Also, I love Rex’s view on the world. He’s saying that the sign says closed, but then one of the managers go in, then he shouts “But it’s closed!”

Victoria: I’m really glad that with all the new characters they brought in they didn’t lose any of the favorites.

Austin: We did lose RC.

Victoria: True. For the rest, they didn’t lose any of their personalities. They didn’t look at it by saying “We have Jesse now so she’s over the top and therefore everyone else should be more logical.” Everyone felt the same, like Rex and Hamm.

Austin: I guess the one person who change between the films was Mr. Potato Head because he’s a married man now. He can’t be that much of a jerk anymore.

Victoria: I love when he leaves her to go on their journey, his moustache comes back on. He goes back to the way he was before.

Austin: Guys’ weekend.

Victoria: The part that bugs me is when they are crossing the street under the traffic cones and his shoe gets stuck. Mr. Potato Head’s shoes are always stuck together.

Austin: You’re not upset about the giant traffic jam, all the damage to the cars, people freaking out…

Victoria: Well, that’s believable.

Austin: (Laughs) People have to see the cones moving! Not a single car thinks about hitting the cone.

Victoria: Well that’s another mirror to the first one with Scud causing a traffic accident.

Austin: Also it’s more of the little carriages at the airport, but it reminds me also when Woody and Buzz were in the trash trying to get into Pizza Planet. Once again, we have a jump up in the animation. They are able to portray more adults which can then factor into the story. They can have scenes with Al, very close up.. Too close up. Except for one thing which I didn’t think looked that good and that was Buster the dog. All of its hair never moved.

Victoria: Yeah I agree. I thought he looked better than Scud, but that could just be because I think he’s a cuter dog.

Austin: I started to realize that the animation was too good. “Toy Story” reminded me of some of the older Disney films I watched like, “The Rescuers”, where the characters would have these go-to expressions that were ridiculous. So in “Toy Story” they would have their typical face and then ridiculous face when they scream something like “Buzz watch out!” In “Toy Story 2” they were subtler, which is weird to complain that it was too nuanced and good.

Victoria: You know aside from the toys coming to life it’s believable. This one is pushing it a little bit. Maybe more than a little bit. The traffic cones and all of the giant locations they are running around. An airport! How many people are there to see them?

Austin: There was one moment when rewatching this, I thought was just too unbelievable. I’m sorry but Bullseye running as fast as a plane is insane! Whereas Rex was tired from walking down the street. Bullseye is bionic.

Victoria: If Woody’s an original doll how does he not remember the show?

Austin: It seems that only the Buzz Lightyears are so oblivious that they think they are from the show. I don’t know if Woody was from a box like that, maybe he never saw the box. Only Buzz has the entire backstory from his TV show immediately once he wakes up from the box. Then again…I don’t know because I’m getting really confused about this mythology. This is me watching too much “LOST” and being able to come up with answers that make sense.

Whatever. Any final thoughts on “Toy Story 2?”

Victoria: It’s not one of my favorites, but it’s one of the best sequels I have ever seen.

Austin: I’d agree with that.

http://www.thefilmyap.com/2011/09/10/pixar-talk-toy-story-2/