Pixar SparkShorts

Pixar SparkShorts "Twenty Something"

Spoiler

A female character of color is the lead? Interesting. 2-D cartoony animation? Interesting, Clearly adult-skewing tone? Interesting. All outside of Pixar.

And I'll tell you why the short failed. It's because of the one thing that IS Pixar. Pixar is always Pixar, and refuses to ever shut it off. No matter what the short or subject, Pixar will give it a high-concept allegory, and more often than not it sides less on the end of confusing and more on the end of incomprehensible. Without fail. There is a sweet short buried underneath the flashy premise here that is in reality nothing but an extended dream sequence. But Pixar refuses to explore adult issues, and instead goes with the Pixar high-concept. It can't help itself. After Bao I stopped giving the company the benefit of the doubt about shorts like that (and now this). Sometimes there isn't a deep meaning to an adult feeling like three children at once. Sometimes that idea is just confusing and makes no sense. 1 1/2.

Pixar SpartShorts "Nona"

Spoiler

So that sucked. If I seem to be judging Pixar overly harshly lately it's because Pixar stubbornly refuses to do anything but underwhelm me. Hey, I liked Dug Days and Luca. But SparkShorts almost always suck.

Why is nobody allowed to talk? For international audiences? Well, having the wrestling announcer speak sort of flies against that reason, doesn't it? Instead it seems trite and Pixar cliche.

Also (and here come the letters), I didn't care for the subject matter. I hate wrestling. It takes two of my least favorite television genres and mixes them together (televised sports and soap operas). Literally the only way they could make that franchise worse is if they used Fox News pundits for the announcers. Or maybe Jerry Springer. Or the cast of Jersey Shore. Or all three. But add reality and talk shows and the news to that and you get to ALL my most hated genres at once. I seriously loathe that "sport". As such, Nona's wants and needs strike me as ridiculous.

Come and get me. 1/2.

Topic starter 10/02/2024 2:25 am

SparkShorts "Self"

Spoiler

I'm going to go off on a bit of a rant here, and it's this unfortunate, "harmless" life-affirming short that gets my ire. Tough break. It could have happened the Pixar review before this. It could have happened several reviews from now. This happened to be the moment I said, "Enough".

I think exploring social issues in animation is a wonderful idea. Which Disney and Pixar have utterly run into the ground and ruined for me. Dramatic shorts used to have SUCH an impact, and tug at the heartstrings so much because they were rare and unusual. This is literally every Pixar and Disney Studios shorts now. Almost none of them even have dialogue. If I were tackling a serious subject matter, the last thing I'd want is for the viewer to find it cliched or run into the ground. I don't want people to find anti-racist subject matter boring. But Disney has given us SO much of this "Nice Thing" it's stopped being "Nice" and turned "Dreadful".

Disney used to be The House Of Mouse. Now it is The House Of The Depressed Prozac Blob. What the hell has happened to this company? And Pixar, man? Their shorts used to be fun and dynamite! Why should I appreciate a cartoon series that does nothing but make me feel bad?

I have prejudices. I have to work on them. Kids have prejudices and need to be taught right and wrong young. This is an overcorrection here. It wouldn't be if it weren't EVERY last short. Because it is I have to speak up. I never wanted to.

Do you know what it is? Manipulative. I sure as hell didn't give Forrest Gump a pass for that crap and I won't give it to Pixar either. Can you believe the studio that sicced John Lasseter's grossness onto the world and called it childlike whimsy has the GALL to pretend it truly cares about diversity and love? It is to LAUGH. Do they give out Academy Awards for raging insincerity and hypocrisy? Pixar would dominate the field. For Your Consideration...

SparkShorts and Short Circuit were designed to supposedly give new animators license to try new and experimental things. And all they do is tell the same damn story over and over again. I'll say this: This does not fill me with hope about Disney's Next Generation. It fills me with kind of a sick dread.

Grr! I'm not that Anti-Woke Guy. I'm an Anti-Everything-Is-Always-The-Same Guy. Where is the variety we were promised? I feel robbed and at this point angry. 0.