MOVIE: Monsters, Inc. (2001)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Monsters, Inc.Year: 2001Rating: GLength: 92 minutes / 1.53 hours Early Pixar films always had a way of being grounded in our reality. The toys in Toy Story (1995) had to make sense as toys. The insects in A Bug's Life (1998) were all known insects. It wasn't until Monsters, Inc. (2001) when an entire world had to be created to explain the "monster in the closet" fear most children grow up with. And while this film is definitely another tech demo to show how good Pixar had gotten at simulating cloth and fur, the plot itself is one of the most original pieces Pixar has ever created. Coming up with dozens of different monster designs was only the first step. That Pixar created a world designed for these monsters to live and work in was the basic follow-up, but creating a whole system of door portals that could access any room in the human world was genius. And having screams power the...
Read More

MOVIE: Onward (2020)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Onward Year: 2020 Rating: PG Length: 102 minutes / 1.70 hours I always look forward to Pixar films, mostly to see how visually stunning a movie created entirely in a computer can look with each passing year of technological and programming advancements. The other reason I will always go to see a Pixar movie is their dedication to a good story. Sure, there have been some missed steps over the years (The Good Dinosaur (2015) being the latest example), but their track record has been good enough to warrant me seeing their films in the theater. While I was looking forward to this year’s offering of Onward (2020), the result felt a little lackluster overall. Choosing to explore a storyline with a deceased parent was odd in that it felt like something that had rarely been addressed in movies geared toward children while also having a strong “after school special” vibe to it. Either way, putting it in a pseudo-Monsters, Inc. (2001) fantasy world was a fun way to...
Read More

MOVIE: Finding Dory (2016)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Finding Dory Year: 2016 Rating: PG Length: 97 minutes / 1.62 hours As is the case with the rest of Hollywood right now, Pixar is cashing in on the nostalgia factor of their previous films. Just like Monsters University (2013) before it, Finding Dory (2016) brings together the same team of voice actors who brought their respective originals to life more than a decade ago. And while this sequel was more akin to the likes of Toy Story 2 (1999), the amount of time between the two films really gives Pixar the chance to show off how much the power of computers has advanced in that time. Unfortunately, while the visual style has been drastically updated, the plot has not. In its purest essence, Finding Dory is just like Finding Nemo (2003): a fish separated from its parent tries to find their way back home while the parent does everything in their power to find their child. I would have liked a bit more originality from...
Read More