Review of The Pixar Story (2007) by Patrick S — 20 Dec 2008

This isn't a very good documentary. It's mildly interesting to put pudgy, bearded faces with the creators of the best computer animated films. The only real information being transmitted here, however, are the handful of business deals that allowed Pixar to survive to the point of it being a mainstay, which seems to be fairly early on after A Bug's Life and Toy Story 2. Since then, at least in this movie, each new project freaks out the heads guiding and directing and budgeting it, but the fact remains that people will go see Pixar movies no matter how different they start growing, i.e. Ratatouille, WALL-E, and next summer's Up. I would much rather have learned about the technical aspects of the projects, and difficulties faced therein. The only depth this goes into is to say, animating hair and stuff is really hard!

Thus, the bulk of this seems to be self-assurance and back patting on Pixar's part. It's almost like it's an introductory video shown to new hires, touting their uniquely strange work environment, or "culture." I can just see the motivational poster now...