Cars 2, 2011. An international spy movie. This world of vehicles is so confusing.I have so many questions. Do they reproduce, or do they build each other? Lemon cars mention how “they stop manufacturing us”. Fuel is made from dinosaurs- but are they dinosaur cars or actual dinosaurs? Mater accidentally gets pulled into the spy mission, and is complemented on how well he plays an idiot, to the point where it actually occurs to him he is one. It’s like a drunken master thing as he bumbles his way to success. I don’t like Mater’s character, and Lightning is in the background. If you find Mater’s antics funny, it will appeal to you.
Brave, 2012 I keep forgetting that this is a Pixar film, it fits neatly with Tangled and Frozen, including being an adjective title. Merida doesn’t want to be a dainty, graceful princess, she wants to be wild and free. Her mom only wants what’s best for her, and tries to shape her. Interesting to note that no parents were killed off in this movie, though one did lose a foot. Both sides, mother and daughter, have to change. Merida demonstrates she has been listening, and Eleanor accepts that Merida can choose things for herself. The triplets, who never speak, provide chaotic rescues. I feel bad for the maid, Maudie. Lessons you should learn from this story- BE SPECIFIC when asking for a spell. Don’t leave baked goods with spells in them lying around in front of hungry boys. Never conjure where you carve. Scotland forever!
Monsters University, 2013 Monsters Inc starts out with Mike and Sully already long established friends and coworkers. This is their origin story. Little Mike was adorable. Seeing him as roommate with Randall and a rivalry with Sully is a great story, and one about “natural talent” and legacy versus effort and determination.Why do some of the monsters wear clothes but others don’t? The Librarian… I feel that way sometimes. Great quote: “You are not scary. Not even a little bit. But you are fearless.”
Inside Out, 2015 Imagining what it’s like in people’s heads is an amazing idea. Joy tries to run a tight ship inside Riley’s head, shoving away sadness or keeping her in a chalk circle. She doesn’t understand what use sadness is- she understands her other coworkers, fear, anger and disgust. It takes an accident trying to stop sadness from touching anything to make her understand. This is an important movie, one that will help many kids understand what’s happening with mental illness. Sometimes you have to be sad to get better. Went through a lot of tissues in this movie. Seeing inside other people’s heads was funny and entertaining.
The Good Dinosaur, 2015 What the? Huh? Why? Ok, so the premise is that dinosaurs never went extinct. Instead they started developing civilizations. Humans were like wolves (except they were somehow smart enough to make fur skin clothing) and ran around on four limbs, howling at the moon. A small brachiosaurus family runs a corn farm, and the smallest sibling, Arlo, is afraid of everything. Including the proto-chickens. (Why do they have chickens? There is no sign in the movie that they eat the chickens or their eggs, use their feathers…anything. They just have them so that Arlo can be scared of them.) An accident sends him far away from home with a young human cub that he blames for his father’s death. Arlo eventually becomes fond of the critter and names it Spot. They encounter scavenging pterodactyls and t-Rex ranchers. In the end, Arlo sets his pet free and goes back to his own family. This was a slow-paced, maudlin movie with a questionable premise (it wasn’t just a meteor that made dinosaurs extinct, and birds are evolved from dinosaurs). At least they made an attempt to explain why dinosaurs were co-existing in the same time as Neanderthals. I think this is Pixar’s weakest movie.
I’m sailing along here- I will reach the finish line! Want the list? Ask me.
