The Pixar Paradox

If my childhood can be summed up in one word, I think that word would be Disney. We had all the classics on tape, both official releases and a few bootleg copies my dad recorded from TV. Every movie back then was wonderful to me, immersing my mind in a world of color, music, and fantasy that is unmatched by any other today. The ones that stand out more than the rest, however, all carried the same name.

Pixar.

I was the perfect age when Toy Story came out. Even then, I was blown away by what I saw: toys - as real looking as my own - coming to life when their owner stopped playing with them. From that point on, I never looked at my own toys the same. Rewatching it through the years as I grew up also grew my appreciation for the film. Toy Story wasn't just a kids' movie; it had depth, fully-fleshed out characters, and a style of animation that was literally cutting edge for its time.

Other films that followed in its footsteps carried that same creative love and spark: A Bug's Life, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Cars. Well into my teens and early adulthood, I still enjoyed Pixar's finest work as they introduced me to the worlds of Ratatouille, Wall-E, Up, Brave, Inside Out, and Coco. These films weren't flawless, but they had metric tons of heart, and were excellently written. Beyond that, the art styles of these films are nothing short of breathtaking. The characters were memorable and the stories very enjoyable, to the point that I still put them on every now and again.

But then... something happened.

The first real Pixar flop for me was Luca. Don't get me wrong: the story was cute and the characters were fine, if a little flat. It was the first of many Pixar movies that I haven't immediately wanted to see again, however, and I can't quite put my finger on why. Maybe the timing was just off, as it was one of the few films produced during the Pandemic. Or perhaps it was because we watched it on Disney+ instead of in the theater, because no one in their right mind went to the movies in 2021. Luca was good overall... but it wasn't great.

Then, Turning Red came out. I am in the minority - I think - when it comes to this movie, because I actually liked it. A lot. Same story with Onward and Elio. Again, these weren't super successes like some of their predecessors, but the stories were heartfelt and the characters were fun. Even if I don't really remember all their names, the characters themselves are memorable. Then came Elemental. A Film that was once again fine. Just fine. There wasn't anything special about it; no characters that really stood out or plot lines that made you sit and think.

Elemental was beautiful... but safe. Too safe. Very few risks were taken as far as storytelling, and I found myself having a difficult time connecting with the characters. To make a story work, you have to care about the people in it; empathizing with their physical struggles, cheering them on while they overcome their personal demons, and of course celebrating their successes. If you don't care, none of that matters.

With Lightyear, I didn't care. I couldn't make myself care. The way most of its characters were written was just so flat and unlikable. And whatever actions they took in the story whether good or bad, they reaped no consequences from. Even the so-called "twist" in the third act was painfully predictable, which I won't spoil just in case. I appreciate that Pixar was trying to be more inclusive with LGBTQ+ representation in their films, and that's a good thing. It's probably the only good thing about this movie. It's just a shame the other ninety-five percent of the film had to be so inexcusably bad.

That leads us to Disney-Pixar's most recent flop: Hoppers. When I saw the trailer, I was immediately intrigued. The concept wasn't exactly unique - they even make fun of it directly in the trailer, saying, "it's not like Avatar!", when it totally is - but I thought I'd give it a go anyway. Again, I watched it through Disney+ because I didn't want to waste money on movie tickets just in case.

Let me just say, I'm glad I didn't go see it in theaters.

The film was just chaotic, in a very, very bad way. Every character was so bouncy and annoying, I could hardly keep up with what was happening at any given time. When they introduce Mabel's grandmother within the first few minutes of the film, I found myself immediately rolling my eyes because I knew they were going to axe her. Sure enough, they did... a whopping forty-five seconds later.

This character as a concept is just so badly done. I don't even think they gave her a name, or if she had one we weren't given the privilege of knowing it. The whole purpose of her existence is to be killed off, and Pixar doesn't even bother disguising that fact. More importantly, they dispatch Granny so quickly we're not allowed to learn who she was as a person or how much she really meant to Mabel. Why her influence was so critical to the development of the main character's personality. They try to make up for it later with flashbacks, but at that point it feels like a slap in the face. Why try to make us care for a character you clearly don't care about?

On the subject of other wasted characters, let's talk about Mabel's mother. Pixar doesn't even give her the courtesy of appearing on screen, limiting her to just a voice. The actress does well with her line delivery, to her credit, but once again the limited time and access we're given to this character is pretty much pointless. You could omit her solid minute of dialogue from the film and not miss anything. Which is a complete shame. Those few lines we're given have so much to unpack. The writers could've delved deeper by addressing Mabel's obviously strained relationship with her mother, adding sympathy to her plight and much-needed dimension to her character. But they don't. Those interactions slip past so quickly, you forget they even happen by the fifteen-minute mark.

Then again, maybe Pixar had no choice but to eliminate these characters early on. Hoppers has so many characters, it's impossible to remember them all. You have Dr. Sam the scientist, who invented the hopper mechanism that drives the plot. Why? Who cares, they don't really address it. Dr. Sam has two aides, neither of whom have anything to add to the story. Then there's the mayor - a cardboard cut-out of every straight, male Anglo-Saxon politician who ever lived - a beaver king, a sleepy beaver whose more of a sight gag than a character, a bear, a lizard, five other animal kings and queens, and a caterpillar prince who becomes a butterfly king later. All introduced in quick succession. What are their names? Couldn't tell you, because we're already onto the next scene. Try to keep up.

One would expect a movie like Hoppers, which is about an animal rights activist doing her thing to save the animals, would focus on her saving the animals. Not even halfway through the film, though, when the animals are introduced, they claim that they don't want saving. They're fine exactly as they are, thank you very much, and the humans can have the tiny piece of land Mabel is fighting to preserve for them. When she tries to convince them they should fight, that's when everything falls apart. Neither the animals or the people they happily coexisted with before are any better off. All she does is make things worse, and in the end she'd practically applauded for it.

Case in point: during the climax, Mabel almost burns the entire forest down and the town beside it. What punishment does she receive for her actions? None. Not even a slap on the wrist. The mayor, who of course isn't really as bad as he seems, even helps her clean up her mess with a smile on his face. Sure she all but destroyed his career and all their homes, but she's just a spunky kid. Spunky kids get a free pass, right?

What message is a movie like this trying to send? Mabel is for all intents and purposes an unlikable eco-terrorist, ruining every life she touches, and yet she receives no consequences at all for what she's done. What were the writers thinking? Did they care at all about the script they were writing? Or was this script even written by a person at all?

The poor pacing, nauseatingly repetitive jokes that aren't funny, and nonsensical writing all lead me to think there were no actual people involved with writing Hoppers. Frankly, it has all the earmarks of an A.I. slop shitpost. I wouldn't be surprised if ChatGPT was at the very least heavily used by the writers. As big a problem as the writing is, though, it's not the only problem.

For a Pixar movie, Hoppers is ugly. It is butt ugly. Even the nature scenes that are supposed to be beautiful and tranquil look muddy, dull, and woefully generic. As far as character design... I've seen worse, honestly. Looking over the entire cast of characters, however, a few obvious problems stand out.

Visually, none of these characters are cohesive. In Turning Red, for example, the characters all look a little strange with bug-eyes and rounded teeth, but that was a deliberate design choice. They all look like they belong in the same world. The people of Hoppers, however, do not. They don't even look like they come from the same planet. Each character has such vastly different body proportions, facial proportions, and head sizes it borders on distracting. Like the artists left their computer in the hands of a bored preschooler with unfettered access to Photoshop's liquefy tool. The animators seemed to care so much about making each character as zany and quirky as possible that they forgot the characters in question all had to share the same screen.

Hoppers is a bad movie. Hands down, full stop. What I cannot understand, however, is why so many people seem to love it. It has a ninety-four percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is absolutely insane to me. And that's from the critics. Viewers gave it a ninety-three. Ninety-three percent of people who went to see this in theaters thought, "wow, this is the best movie, and it deserves a rating this high!".

My question to them is this: "What were you on when you saw it?"

I have heard people all over the internet raving about how good this movie is, saying that it's the beginning of Pixar's new renaissance. I think they're out of their minds. This garbage does not deserve the praise it's getting. Like so many other animated movies that have come out in recent years, it lacks any heart. The writers clearly don't care. The animators obviously care less. The producers only care about what makes money, hence why so many sequels and spinoffs have been produced and/or are currently in production (Seriously, they're making an Incredibles 3. Who asked for that?). Hoppers, like almost everything else Disney has produced post-Pandemic is just another soulless cash grab. And we - the viewers - are telling them that that's okay.

Maybe I've gotten too jaded over the years, because I remember what Pixar once was. What it can still be. Not every movie back then was a hit, but they had so much love poured into them. Love for art, for storytelling, for being bold and wanting to make a difference in the world. All things that - based on what I've seen from today's Pixar - are completely lost. I just want to know where the love has gone. Why nobody seems to care anymore that an industry that used to be about spreading joy and inspiring the child in all of us has become nothing but a money mill, cranking out bland, useless slop just for the sake of it. Slop that we shove down our own throats willingly with big, dopey grins.

When did Pixar stop caring? More importantly, when did we stop caring? Because none of this is acceptable. None of it is okay. None of it is right.

Disney-Pixar might be the worst offender, but they aren't the only ones by far. Every company in the American film industry today has this problem. The sooner we all wake up, realize that, and call them out on their bullshit, the world will be a much better place.