I Haven't Even Got To CARS Yet

[filkertom]

... but here, in one metric buttload of formats, is the teaser trailer for Disney/Pixar's Ratatouille.

Comments

[jonnorthwood.livejournal.com]

CARS was delightful, and I'm -so- looking forward to Ratatouille.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

This one looks good. It's Brad Bird and Pixar; that's two out of three factors pointing at quality.

[sdelmonte]

This teaser impresses me more than anything I've seen regarding Cars.

I wonder, though, when rats became the next big thing, between this and Flushed Away. Maybe it's time for the Muppets' Rizzo to make a comeback.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

And that would be a problem, because...? ;)

[monkey0science.livejournal.com]

I didn't realise Buttload was a metric measurement. Does this mean we'll be seeing KiloButtloads (Kbl) at some point in the future?

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Along with Mbl, Gbl, Tbl, cbl, mlbl, mcbl, nbl, and pbl. ;)

[monkey0science.livejournal.com]

Bwahaha! The Metric System Rocks!

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

Yes, but how many standard s**tloads is one metric buttload?

[jss]

And what's the conversion factor between the metric buttload and the Imperial fuckton?

[darrenzieger.livejournal.com]

I took my son to see Cars today. Loved the Ratatouille trailer - very promising. And the short feature, "One Man Band," is just fantastic.

Cars itself was a lot of fun. Not as compelling as Pixar's absolute best work in terms of storyline, but very sweet and charming, wonderful voiceovers and, of course, CGI that rips off the top of your skull and sandblasts your cerebral cortex with its greatness.

I read that Pixar used a network of 3000 CPUs to do the rendering, and even with that kind of muscle, each frame took 17 hours to render.

It shows.

[monkey0science.livejournal.com]

What do you consider to be Pixar's "absolute best" work?

It's a little hard for me to pick (as I mentally add their Shorts into the mix and alternately remove them due to Storyline and Plot Arc becoming judgement criteria), but for visuals' sake alone I'd have to vote Cars into the top 3 (the roadtripping landscapes were just stunning), while allowing the overall prize to be won in a fight to the death between Toy Story 2 and The Incredibles.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Not having seen Cars yet, I would pick The Incredibles hands down, with the two Toy Story films right behind.

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

Now here's a movie I can identify with.

Me: Let's get this cheese, it's delicious, creamy and terrific.
My family: No, we're getting this Dreck brand artificial cheese substitute, it's half the price.
Me: But it tastes like tree bark. Rancid tree bark.
My family: But it's half the price and the same thing.
Me: No, I want cheese made from milk, that junk is textured oil by-product with artificial coloring. They aren't even close to the same thing.
My family: but it's half the price, so we're getting it.

Yeah, I can identify with that rat ;-)

[tonemangoldfarb.livejournal.com]

I have absolutely no interest in either of these films, but considering Bird's hand in this one... maybe. Am I the only one who preferred The Iron Giant to The Incredibles?

[allisona.livejournal.com]

I loved both "The Iron Giant" and "The Incredibles".

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

Why make it an either-or proposition? I like Iron Giant for different qualities than why I liked The Incredibles.

[darrenzieger.livejournal.com]

It is a tough call...

As the parent of two young children, I tend to favor the films that I've seen the _least_ (i.e. fewer than 150 times). So I tend to prefer Finding Nemo (which we don't own a copy of) to Toy Story (which between both kids I've watched so often that I've got a faint impression of Buzz Lightyear permanently burned into my retina.

But taken more objectively, it's a matter of which films had the best scripts -- the CGI in every case being the best possible at the time each film was made.

In terms of the features, certainly the original Toy Story holds up well in that regard. Compelling characters, memorable dialogue, few if any sections that drag.

A Bug's Life is a terrific film, but doesn't leave as lasting an impression as some of the others. It's full of wonderful moments and supporting characters, but Flik is pretty bland and the story is kind of pat. And, come to think of it, I don't particularly care for the character design of the ants. Kind of flat and textureless.

I've only seen Toy Story 2 a couple of times, and not recently. I had to take a few moments to recall the story arc...It's definitely a lot of fun, and occasionally quite moving. But it's not as innovative as the original and the script is lazy here and there...(pet peeve: they recycle Buzz's "you're mocking me" line from the first movie, but whereas in the first film it was a unique moment, totally in character, in TS2, when agitated by something I can't recall, he yells "You're mocking me! Stop mocking me!" as if being mocked was one of his "buttons." A small, subtly observed moment from the first film gets crudely wedged into the second as a "reference." Always makes me wince.). Still, a damn fine picture and loads of fun.

Monsters, Inc. I love. Wonderful conceit, fun plot, some of the best character animation ever done (think of Sulley's reactions when he thinks Boo is being pulverized in the trash compactor, or the remarkable range of expression on Mike Wazowski, who is basically just a sphere with one eye and a mouth). It also contains that climactic chase sequence, which is just extraordinary.

Finding Nemo is also a personal favorite (it really is hard to narrow them down). On the whole, I find the Marlin/Dory plot more interesting than the Nemo-in-the-aquarium plot, but there are just so many cool supporting characters, it's always entertaining. It has some dull stretches, but it's a terrific film.

The Incredibles is fantastic. Of all of the Pixar flicks I've had to sit though several dozen times, it's the one that enjoy the most. Works on every level. Terrific script, human characters (the whole anthropomorphed animals, machines, animals, animals, and did I mention animals? has long since worn thin.

For Cars, I need more time to let it sink in, maybe see it a few more times. I do know that as neuron-shreddingly phenomenal as the graphics were, I spent long stretches not thinking about that aspect of the film at all, just digging on the characters and relationships. That's pretty significant. I also like that it goes a step beyond the usual anthropomorhization gambit by creating a world poplulated entire by automobiles, on every level of the food chain. Even the bugs are, well, Bugs, as in the VW variety, but tinay and with wings. Inspired.

This post is way longer than I intended, but just to touch on the shorts -- I've always been a huge fan of the Pixar shorts, and they pretty much just keep getting better, not just in terms of the visuals, but also as storytelling.

The "One Man Band" short that accompanies Cars is masterful. The visuals are so beautiful, it's just ludicrous, and the story is one of those perfect little pantomime sequences that Pixar excels at.

My other favorite is "For the Birds." It's another perfect little film, on every level.

Anyway, that's my ridiculously indulgent assessment of the Pixar ouvre. Doesn't really answer your question ("What do you consider to be Pixar's "absolute best" work?"), but at least it gave me a chance to come up with multiple ways to describe the CGI in Cars, such as "rips your brain out through your eyesockets, etc."