Up: It's a very good film. Ed Asner gave a very emotional performance and Christopher Plummer was very menacing as Charles Muntz. The animation and backgrounds were very colorful and lovely tribute to Mary Blair.
Cars 3: It's an improvement over
Cars 2. It has some interesting themes about getting older and passing the baton to a new generation. Mater was thankfully sidelined for this film.
Monsters University: It was a fine prequel film. It has the basic college movie tropes to support the narrative, but it's a Pixar film that's saved by the surprise ending. Most animated films these days have the theme of "follow your heart" or "follow your dreams", but in this film, Mike and Sully
are expelled from Monsters University
. Therefore, they have to work from the bottom up to achieve their dreams. It's a more honest animated film about accepting your limits and achieving your dreams in ways you don't expect. I give this film a lot of credit.
The Good Dinosaur: I wasn't too pleased with this film, but it was acceptable. The backgrounds were really good although they clash with the more cartoonishly designed dinosaurs. It's a weird world where the dinosaurs are not killed off by a meteorite but evolve to be farmers and ranchers. It's quite derivative with tropes taken from better Pixar films, but overall, it doesn't come together in a cohesive whole. It still has its moments, though.
Finding Dory: I liked it quite well the first time, but my appreciation has waned since then. It's not as emotional as
Finding Nemo. However, Hank the "septopus" (voiced by Ed O'Neill) was a delightful new character. The animation is still gorgeous to look with the underwater world.
Coco: It's one of my favorite Pixar films of recent memory. Watching it for the first time, I thought the story would be cliched with the family banning music. Then, the movie began to grow on me with how well they captured the culture of Mexico, the great voice acting, the cinematography, and the twists and turns of the story. I'll admit I cried during when Miguel sang "Remember Me" to his great-grandmother Coco.
Onward: It was a fine road trip film. I don't think the world was unique enough since it's basically our world but instead of humans, it's populated with mythical creatures that you find in
Dungeons & Dragons. It's another Pixar film that's basically saved by the ending, which is quite emotional for those who lost their father (or parent) at a young age.
Soul: This is another Pixar masterpiece from director Pete Docter. It was refreshing to see a black man as the lead character for a Pixar film for a change, although he's mostly out of body and then swaps souls with a cat for two-thirds of the film. It had some great themes about life is not always about chasing success and appreciating the little things in life. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's musical score was a highlight with some really nice jazz compositions from Jon Baptiste. Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey matched quite well together.
Luca: This was a really likeable Pixar film. It's more in line with the Studio Ghibli films that usually have low stakes and are adventurous. The character animation was unique in itself.
Lightyear: It wasn't as good as it should have been. For a film that's supposed to be a 1995 film, it sure didn't feel like it. Science fiction films during that time that were targeted at children were cheesy but enjoyable. This film takes a more serious approach. The Buzz Lightyear TV show was more in line with the universe the toy is meant to derive from. Chris Evans was alright as Buzz though I wish they went with Tim Allen. The IMAX sequences where Buzz does his test flights were visually spectacular. I thought the supporting characters were nice but forgettable. The film does have a twist about Zurg that actually conflicts with what we know about him before. It didn't ruin the film, though a
post-credits scene implies he's still alive after being seemingly killed off
.
