Today's topic is actually NOT anime. I recently rented WALL-E, which I watched for the second and third times. (only managed to catch it once in theaters because of my trip to Australia) I love all the Pixar movies, some (coughToyStorycough) more than others (coughCarscough). It has been said that Pixar is the closest American equivalent to Studio Ghibli, and I agree with that. What with Disney trying to get WALL-E a Best Picture nomination (not just best animated, Best Picture. As in that thing that went to No Country for Old Men, The Departed, Crash, Million Dollar Baby, LOTR, Chicago, A Beautiful Mind, and only has had one animated nonimee EVER) I thought it was a good time to discuss them. Personally, I think if Beauty and the Beast could get the nomination in '91, and Juno could get the nomination last year, I don't see why WALL-E can't. But that's me being horribly biased to a romance sci-fi Pixar animated silent film directed by the guy that did Finding Nemo with sound design by the guy that did sound design for the original Star Wars.
Anyway, along with being compared to Ghibli, Pixar's head honcho, John Lasseter, is good friends with Hayao Miyazaki-sensei. Lasseter oversees the dubs for every one of the Ghibli films that Disney releases. Ghibli did a short titled "Thank you, Mr. Lasster", but unfortunately I ave no idea what it's about. Both companies are related and make amazing films, so to broaden your knowledge of good animation, here's a brief rundown of Pixar.
Wikipedia Pixar Article
Pixar started off as The Graphics Group, a branch of Lucasfilm that worked with ILM to make special effects for films. Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, bought the company from Lucas and gave it the title we know now, Pixar. They then were primarily a hardware company, selling computers to the military and medical institutions. Disney became a regular patron of theirs, purchasing computers to make the animation process more efficient. To try to sell more computers, John Lasseter entered shorts the company had done at SIGGRAPH, a computer graphics convention. Pixar brought the house down at SIGGRAPH. After that, they started to animate commercials for things like Lifesavers and Listerine. Disney wound up signing a three-picture deal with them, which gave us Toy Story and A Bug's Life.
With Toy Story 2, however, a disagreement arose. Pixar had upgraded the film to a theatrical release, but it had been planned as a direct-to-video, so Disney didn't want to count it as part fo the three-picture deal. Pixar wasn't happy about that, nor were they happy about the fact that their current arrangement gave Disney the full story and sequel rights to their films. Pixar produced, but Disney marketed and distributed. Pixar tried to get them down to only distribution, which would give them their own story rights, AND they wanted the rights to the films that they had already agreed to make but were not in production yet.
The negotiations between Michael Eisner, Disney CEO, and Steve Jobs were very difficult.
Finally, in 2006, Disney bought Pixar. Jobs still held 50% of Pixar stock, which after the deal translated into 7% of Disney stock. Lasseter got upgraded to Chief Creative Officer of Disney AND Pixar, and also works on rides for the theme parks.
The result of all that is a very complicated relationship between Pixar and Disney. While Disney apparently owns distribution and marketing rights, Pixar is still a separate entity from Disney. I'm not sure exactly how everything works and who gets paid what, but I can tell you with certainty that there is a difference between Disney and Pixar films. Disney, like every other uncreative studio in the country, has jumped on the CG bandwagon and only releases computer animated movies. Meet the Robinsons is NOT Pixar. BOLT is NOT Pixar. Those are Disney movies, made at Disney studios with Disney CG software. Pixar animates at their studios in Emerville, CA, and uses, among other things, RenderMan.
Pixar has made the following feature films:
(links go to that film's entry in the library catalog so you can order them for yourself. Though you might be better off buying WALL-E for yourself because there's 730 holds, and it looks like the library copy is the one-disc, not the special edition 3-disc)
Toy Story -1995
A Bug's Life - 1998
Toy Story 2 - 1999
Monsters Inc. - 2001
Finding Nemo - 2003
The Incredibles - 2004
Cars - 2006
Ratatouille - 2007
WALL-E - 2008
And they will be releasing the following films:
Up in theatres May 29, 2009
Toy Story 3 in theatres June 18, 2010
Cars 2 in theatres 2011[1]
The Bear and the Bow in theatres around December 25, 2011[1]
Newt in theatres Summer 2012[2]
Awards
Every Pixar film starting in 2001 has been nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards, only starting with Monsters Inc. because the award didn't exist before then. Of those, only Monsters Inc. and Cars haven't won, losing to Shrek and Happy Feet, respectively Everything Pixar has ever made has won awards, but the total is far too large to completely list. See the previous link for the wikipedia article if you want to see ALL the awards. (and I mean all, everything from the Annies to Spike TV's Scream Awards) Here's just the Oscar wins and nominations:
Academy Awards
1995: Toy Story
- Best Original Score - Musical or Comedy
- Best Original Screenplay
- Best Original Song, "You've Got a Friend"
1998: A Bug's Life
- Best Original Score - Musical or Comedy
1999: Toy Story 2
- Best Original Song, "When She Loved Me"
2001: Monsters, Inc.
- Best Animated Feature
- Best Original Score
- Best Original Song, "If I Didn't Have You"
- Best Sound Editing
2003: Finding Nemo
- Best Animated Feature
- Best Original Score
- Best Original Screenplay
- Best Sound Editing
2004: The Incredibles
- Best Animated Feature
- Best Sound Editing
- Best Original Screenplay
- Best Sound Mixing
2006: Cars
- Best Animated Feature
- Best Original Song, "Our Town"
2008: Ratatouille
- Best Animated Feature
- Best Music, Original Score
- Best Sound Editing
- Best Sound Mixing
- Best Original Screenplay
If you're interested in learning more about Pixar, head to that wikipedia article, the official Pixar website, The (unofficial, but very reliable) Pixar Blog, or this book that was just published.
EDIT: WALL-E is nominated for Grammy Awards for: Best Score Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media (Thomas Newman), Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media (For the track "Down To Earth"; Peter Gabriel & Thomas Newman), and Best Instrumental Arrangement (For the track "Define Dancing"; Peter Gabriel & Thomas Newman).
EDIT: WALL-E is nominated for Grammy Awards for: Best Score Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media (Thomas Newman), Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media (For the track "Down To Earth"; Peter Gabriel & Thomas Newman), and Best Instrumental Arrangement (For the track "Define Dancing"; Peter Gabriel & Thomas Newman).
