So the latest Pixar offering Onward is already getting mediocre reviews. Even the positive articles about this film seem to pit it up against other Pixar works, deeming the film good, but not quite up to Pixar’s standards. Considering the amount of CGI animated works being pumped out by many studios, Pixar’s track record, and the last ten years of Pixar’s canon (which was considerably lacklustre compared to the previous ten), can we all agree to maybe expect less from the iconic studio? That isn’t to say that Pixar is going down the drain, but there are definitely new factors in play now that weren’t present before. This will obviously change how the studio operates.

Firstly, Pixar and Disney used to collaborate. Now, Disney flat out owns Pixar. That doesn’t seem like it would make a major difference, but the evidence is as clear as ever. The worst Pixar film in the first phase of the studio (Cars) was the most marketable, and thus the sequels that came after just had to happen, creating the worst films in Pixar history. Then, there’s the atrocious Planes, which is basically another part of the Cars series, but released entirely under Disney’s umbrella and not Pixar (possibly to not sour the studio’s name even more). The 2010’s also had a number of Pixar sequels that were fun but not entirely necessary: Monster’s University, Finding Dory, and The Incredibles 2 (the latter being the best of the bunch, and the most debatably needed). Outside of the Toy Story franchise continuing to dominate (especially with the third film), the 2010’s had Inside Out and Coco, which are brilliant in their own right, but have many films to compete with the previous ten years. There’s also the outlier films Brave and The Good Dinosaur, which seemed to be the firsts of their kind: decent one-off Pixar film that won’t break any ground (outside of their animation, perhaps). Onward seems to be joining this new category of Pixar works.

Consider how many fantastic films Pixar has given us. My own personal favourites are the Toy Story series, Ratatouille, Wall-E, and Inside Out. This doesn’t include other greats like Up, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and et cetera. There was a time when Pixar was flawless. Cars happened, and we tried to shrug it off. Then Cars 2 happened, and that was too far. We are many years after that point in the Pixar canon. It’s obvious that the Disney-Pixar connection has blurred the lines between the animated works of both companies (for instance, a year where a weaker Pixar film comes out, Disney’s animated studios may have a stronger work like Zootopia, or vice versa). Can’t we admit that Pixar isn’t only pumping out perfection anymore? With that in mind, can’t we just have some fun with these less masterful works? We don’t have to pretend they’re brilliant, but maybe we’re judging them a little too hard.

If other animation studios can have films that are similarly just meant to be lighter, more fun, or less challenging, why can’t Pixar? Just because they started their career pushing their limits after each and every film (fo the most part)? Besides, it seems like Pixar can balance itself out, either with a Disney animated film that comes out the same year, or by another Pixar film. The Good Dinosaur came out the same year as Inside Out. In 2020, Onward drops before another Pixar film: Soul (the Pete Docter connection is coincidental).

It’s not as though we have given up on Pixar. We’re just admitting that not every film will be perfect, and we can find merit in the works that are less thought provoking. Not every film has to be Wall-E. Wall-E is Wall-E enough. Plus, Pixar is forever trying new things, and isn’t that nice enough? So what if every single experiment doesn’t work out well? For me, Pixar is kind of like the career of Robert DeNiro. It’s in the phase where it wants to enjoy the medium it’s a part of, since it has done enough to change the game and be the figurehead of excellence. The difference is that I can deal with the worst of Pixar much better than the worst of DeNiro’s filmography. Of course, we need to review every single film as a stand alone, without the influence of previous works. But that’s exactly my point. Are we being too hard on the safer Pixar films because they are Pixar? These films are just okay (outside of the annoying Cars series, it doesn’t matter who made those films), but I honestly feel like we may be too critical of films like Brave, The Good Dinosaur, and potentially Onward because of who made them.

Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.

Do We Expect Too Much From Pixar?