The Acid-Laced Satire of Pixar’s Movies

Since the release of its first movie, Toy Story, in 1995, Pixar animation studios has had one of the most remarkable winning streaks in motion picture history. 

  

As of this year, they have released eleven movies—all of them international blockbusters. Combined, these pictures have grossed $6.63 billion (unadjusted) worldwide—just at the box office. God Alone knows how much Pixar has grossed through video and DVD sales; an additional $10 billion is a reasonable guess. 

  

But if Pixar’s movies had been merely successful, they wouldn’t be noteworthy. There are lots of film studios that have released extraordinarily successful pictures that no one remembers—or which no one wants to remember. 

  

What sets Pixar apart is the quality of its movies: They’ve all been good. 

  

Some were merely very good, like A Bug’s Life (1998) and Cars (2006). Several have been excellent, like Monsters, Inc. (2001), the three Toy Storys (1995, 1999, 2010), Finding Nemo (2003), Ratatouille (2007)

  

A few have transcended the medium of film altogether, and become art. I would argue (very good-naturedly) that The Incredibles (2004), Wall-E (2008), and Up (2009) all fit into the category of art. (As an aside—again, very subjectively—I would say that the most beautiful of all the Pixar movies was probably The Incredibles; it was certainly the best lit, with a painterly eye for composition and color that would have pleased Néstor Almendros or Gordon Willis.) 

  

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