The Good Dinosaur

[Bill1978]

Cars 2 is probably the worse on my worse list. Bottom of my re-watchable list though is Ratatouille. I don't know what my issue is with it is, but I have only watched it once and have never felt compelled to re-watch it. I at least have re-watched Cars 2.

[EricJ]

Not having seen Good Dino yet, I can't say...but go on...I'll bite: what be their worst?
For me it's either Cars 2 (though that may have been more enjoyable without the first Cars!) or Monsters University which, despite a few laughs, had no reason to exist and, indeed, didn't line up with the first film, totally dumb when one is writing a fricken' *prequel*...!

Well, I hope we know that Monsters U DID have a reason to exist, what we didn't expect is that they would go to college--Again, Pixar doesn't like sequels, and when they have to, they like to throw the franchises a curveball.
I may not have liked U as much because the plot required Sulley to be an obnoxious jerk at first, but it doesn't violate its predecessor as much as Cars 2 did, and the characters are still in character enough to be funny.

Cars 2 had two good movie ideas that didn't even meet--I wanted to see more of the Lightning Movie than the Mater Movie!--and someone should tell Lasseter the sad truth about what we think of Mater. (Every good Pixar movie is supposed to have the poignant Not A Flying Toy moment, where the hero discovers everything he thought he knew was wrong, but when Mater at the Japanese press conference says "Y'mean everyone thinks I'm an idiot? ", it just comes off as "Freakin' took you long enough, Sherlock!") And yes, the Michael Caine Bond-parody was funny, if someone would just keep the Jar-Jar of Pixar out of it.
And my opinions on Brave are well known by now, but at least Merida's a good character in the marketing and parks, when she doesn't have to be snotty, and the Craig Ferguson dad was more likeable in the movie than the heroine, for being a Pixar character and not a Feminist Symbol.

So which was their "worst"? The one with no plot, scary/ugly characters, pathetically wimpy "hero", and looked more patched-up than Bolt. Yerrrrrrr lookin' at it. And yes, I DID have more fun at Cars 2, for all above-stated reasons.

[Dacey]

Worst Pixar sequel/prequel: Cars 2

Worst Pixar non-sequel/prequel: A Bug's Life

There. That was easy.

(EDIT: May as well add a disclaimer now before I'm put under fire. I still like A Bug's Life. It just lacks that certain...something. Hard to explain exactly what.)

[ShyViolet]

Pixar doesn't like sequels, and when they have to, they like to throw the franchises a curveball.

Then why are they making Toy Story 4 and Incredibles 2? (And just fyi I'm looking foreword to both those films.) They've said many times that they only make sequels when they have a good idea. I'm sure that they've been "encouraged" to make sequels by Disney at certain times but they also see the "money" side of it (and more marketing of their characters) which is why they agree to do these films.

I may not have liked U as much because the plot required Sulley to be an obnoxious jerk at first, but it doesn't violate its predecessor as much as Cars 2 did, and the characters are still in character enough to be funny.

Neither Mike nor Sulley were really "in character" in that film since, as Ben said, it had no reason to exist. It had nothing to do with any of the conflicts that took place in Monsters Inc. (Sulley's bond to a human child, the tension this causes in Mike and Sulley's relationship, etc...) The University plot was not only contrived but recycled the plot point of Mike and Sulley wanting to be top scarers. The characteristics that made them charming and loveable in Inc. were completely absent.* And it does in many ways violate its predecessor because the emphasis is all on scaring, even after we'd seen Sulley recoil in horror when he sees Boo burst into tears.

*(I did enjoy the movie, but the way I'd enjoy a cute cartoon short. There was really nothing substantial going on.)

[Dacey]

Then why are they making Toy Story 4 and Incredibles 2?

Not to mention Cars 3. (Which, to my understanding, is going to be a "true" sequel this time around?)

[EricJ]

Pixar doesn't like sequels, and when they have to, they like to throw the franchises a curveball.

Then why are they making Toy Story 4 and Incredibles 2? (And just fyi I'm looking foreword to both those films.)

For the same reason they're making Cars 3: Bob Iger makes them. (And has a much less creative idea of sequels as "Marketing franchises", that Pixar has to work around by actually being creative when they have to get down to hard work of making theirs.)
They may say "Oh, no, no, we WANTED to make this one!" in press releases, but that's more likely referring to the specific new story idea they had once the creative lightbulb flicked on.

As for why Incredibles 2, which they took this long to finally figure out a plot idea for (no, they are NOT going to do the freakin' Underminer, already!) and which wasn't an Iger marketing idea...gee, I don't know, could it maybe have had something to do with fans hounding them mercilessly for ten years to make one??--And then throwing big temper tantrums whenever Pixar made a sequel to anything else?

The University plot was not only contrived but recycled the plot point of Mike and Sulley wanting to be top scarers. The characteristics that made them charming and loveable in Inc. were completely absent.* And it does in many ways violate its predecessor because the emphasis is all on scaring, even after we'd seen Sulley recoil in horror when he sees Boo burst into tears.

...Don't you mean "before" we'd seen it, considering it's a prequel?

OTOH, just like the good Pixar movies shamelessly recycle recognizable classic movies (Bugs Life=Seven Samurai, Cars=Doc Hollywood), this was unapologetically the Pixar remake of Revenge of the Nerds, and had the same nerdy sweetness to its campus humor that the first Nerds movie had, with Mike as a more Billy Crystal-ized Robert Carradine.
Monsters Inc. was all about Sulley, but with Sulley having to be the semi-antagonist, University is all about Mike for a change.

[ShyViolet]

Monsters Inc. was about Mike as well--his relationship with Sulley and his growing fondness and finally love for Boo.
University is a fun film, but no more fun than a film like Monsters vs Aliens or Megamind.

[Dacey]

Good to know that Eric apparently has exclusive access to Pixar's top secret story meetings. Or maybe he can somehow read Bob Iger and John L's brains.

[EricJ]

Good to know that Eric apparently has exclusive access to Pixar's top secret story meetings. Or maybe he can somehow read Bob Iger and John L's brains.

It don't take psychic powers to know that whatever you THINK I2 is going to be about, it ain't going to be about...If you can predict it, that's the last thing in the world Pixar's story department wants.

They tend to adopt the policy expressed by Robert Stack in Airplane:
"That's just what they're expecting us to do... "

[Randall]

I might go with Brave as being my least favourite Pixar film. It felt like it just had so little going on in it. Though, MU was just kind of "there" too, but it did have more going on at least.

I actually liked Cars 2! It was silly fun, even if the Cars universe makes no sense.

My viewing of Dino is waiting for the BD 3D release.

[James]

Wow am I the only MU fan here?! I thought it fit in great with the world created in MI, was a ton of fun, and had some clever twists and turns. Obviously not as good as the original but sequels hardly ever are.

[Ben]

But this was a prequel that didn't line up with how it had been established the lead characters had met. All it took was a line or a scene to match things up.

[Dacey]

"You've been jealous of my good looks since the fourth grade, pal..."

[James]

A single throw away line ruined the world they created? You've been crazy your whole life, pal!

But wait, I haven't known you your whole life even though I jokingly insinuated I did! Did I just ruin reality?

[EricJ]

Or from the teaser trailer:
S: "Okay, remember the fifth grade? When you spent all your time passing notes to Suzy Boyle?"
M: "Loved it."
S: "The rest of us were studying geography, this is NOT Mongolia!"

(Even so, I like any movie that remembers the frathouse competition scene from RotN.)