So I’m cruising around the Internet checking up things Cars and Pixar related and I come across this on Wikipedia…
"In an interview with PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley, Lasseter said that Pixar films follow the same theme of self improvement as the company itself has: with the help of friends or family, a character ventures out into the real world and learns to appreciate his friends and family. At the core, Lasseter said, “it’s gotta be about the growth of the main character, and how he changes.”
I can’t believe I never fully noticed this! Is this truly what you would call the ‘formula’ of a Pixar movie? If you think about it, it seems to prove true in every Pixar movie…just thought I would share this piece of interesting information. I’m sure many of you already knew this but I thought it might make for a nice new discussion on Pixar Planet. Feel free to share your thoughts!
I wasn’t so sure about it but then I started going through each one and thought “yes, yes, yes” it is very true. Thanks so much for the link, I will be sure to watch it!
So what Hawaiian-Shirt-Man here says is really not exclusive to Pixar movies, or anything new. But is a tried, tested and proven formula… you only have to see the huge success of Pixar movies and other films which follow this (KFP, HTTYD, etc.).
Very true, and I think many movies outside of animation also follow that too. But when you think about it isn’t it kind of inevitable that a movie will follow that kind of formula regardless of if it’s planned that way or not?
Some animated movies like Paprika and Waltz with Bashir, or live-action ones like Grindhouse and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, are just too absurd/fatalist to follow such optimistic story conventions. So, it is quite possible to not follow the formula, if you’re consequentalist (you can’t change your destiny) and/or imaginative (let’s have a crazy plot) enough.
