I watched a bit of The Incredibles on Disney Channel one day, and well, it was the first part where he comes to Nomanisan Island and he going through the jungle. Well, for a split second I thought Disney Channel was putting a special on where you see the working of it, so the scene wasn’t the final piece. Then it came to me that this was the NORMAL version, and that after seeing the last three Pixar movies with their great animation, Pixar succeeded in making themselves look bad in just a few years!
I sort of know what you mean, Rac_Rules. I was watching Toy Story the other day, so the animation is obviously from way back when, and it took me a good ten minutes to get so into the film that I wasn’t noticing how undetailed everything seemed. Though, even then, the animation was very impressive, it’s just nothing compared to what they’re able to do now.
I haven’t found that with The Incredibles, though. Cars and Ratatouille are both very beautiful (and rather recent) so they won’t look outdated for years and years, and even Finding Nemo and Monsters, Inc. still look recent to me. I’m always impressed by Sulley’s fur, even now.
There also has to be the comparison made between Pixar and the offerings from other studios. I saw an ad in the cinema for a very, very strange looking film- it looked like it was about worms going to space or something? I couldn’t understand half of what they were saying- and the animation looked much worse than anything Pixar’s ever done (in terms of full-length features, I mean). Space Chimps seemed to be the same, just so under par in comparison with what Pixar is able to do. At least some movie studios use the fact that they’re not going to be able to compete to their advantage, and just go for something more stylized and fun like Igor, without desperately trying to be all realistic.
I think it was because I had JUST seen WALL-E, so, by comparison, it does look pretty outdated.
i see that sometimes in other features such as videos or aardman movies (wallace and gromit).
You can start to make out the clay in those features. Also the rendering is more noticable.
I never felt that watching a Pixar movie. There are two main reasons for that :
-
I grew up with the Pixar films. I’m used to them. Used to their qualities and imperfections. That’s how they are, that’s how I love them.
-
And, most importantly, what are we talking aboout here ? Is it the rendering or the animation ? If it’s the rendering, then okay : Wall•e is better rendered than Toy Story was. It has clearly better looking images. It’s more believable, as they put it.
But I feel that the quality of animation hasn’t really changed. Since the beginning, Pixar has had talented artists, able to depict a variety of emotions in a toy, an ant, a monster… That has nothing to do with the advance of the technology.
And that’s why these are still awesome movies.
no my idea of rendering is between programs (flash, renderman, blender etc.)
example Pixar V.S. Dreamworks
they use different animation software and this results in different rendering
I can watch Toy Story ad it doesn’t feel outdated. Yes, it’s not as fantastically detailed, but the law of animation hasn’t changed, and they;ve always animated incredibly well.
It’s like watching Andre and Wally B. today. I saw a little while ago, and it pretty much scared me, but when it was premeired at SIGGRAPH, people freaked out in the good way. 
While I dont think their old movies look bad, I do see what you’re getting at. When I watch Toy Story for example, I do see how much they’ve improved. But also how much the technology has developed to let them be even greater.
I’ve been buying and watching the older movies since finding this fansite after first seeing Wall-E. A Bugs Life’s animation wasn’t distracting at all. Nemo is still a standard for dvd players/screen demo’s in the electronics stores. Now Monster’s Inc seemed a bit less quality, but nevertheless was still a treat, no fretting on my part.
When I watch those older Pixar movies, I usually think “Holy s***! They could do that back then? Why do all the other films made in that era have such bad animation?” (I’m talking about Toy Story in comparison with other films of the time.)
I noticed that betwen Toy Story 1 and 3. But it was spectacular for it’s time.
I feel like Toy Story through Monsters, Inc. have some computer-y animation at times (feels a little robotic), but after that every movie looks great.
Humans look kinda weird in Toy Story.
Yes, the Ts humans are disturbing. Other than that, none of the animation from any Pixar movie bothers me. Yes, it’s old. It gives it character, just like old live action movies being black-and-white.
Haha, it’s amazing how quickly this medium is changing, yes?
Still, as Toy Story proves, a great story makes a work last forever! 
WHich is why PIxar stories shall continue to be tresured forever.
Back then TS1 looked like state of teh art. CGI has gone a long way since then. When they were making Finding they were worried about making it look too real.
That’s where characterization comes in. Like, making the fish look like humans.
Yeah, I agree that some of their older films look a little less polished compared to their newer ones. In The Incredibles I find the scene where Helen is in the kitchen washing Jack-Jack kind of distracting because it doesn’t look as well done as the rest of the film (I think it’s the lighting).
However…
One thing that I like a lot about Pixar is that even their oldest movie still looks good by todays standards. You see some movies (like the aforementioned Space Chimps) and it just feels unbelievable that they were made more than a decade after Toy Story. Admittedly, Pixar has the advantage of a better budget, but there’s no denying that their animation has always been nicely done. Dreamworks does pretty good animation too- especially their new stuff, like Megamind and How to Train Your Dragon.