This HAS to be GREAT. Not good. Not ok. GREAT! Why? Because it represents the best hope for a Pixar classic of days of yore; of the likes we have not seen since Toy Story 3. The schedule after this is clogged with sequels which are total toss-ups. The could be phenomenal (Toy Stories 2 and 3), they could be ok (Monsters University) or they could wreck the entire image of the company (Cars 2 anyone?). The Good Dinosaur is out there on the horizon, yes, but as I’ve lost count of the number of directors that have worked on it, I’m not holding out a lot of hope.
Pete Docter has directed three movies. Three. Monsters Inc. Wall-E. Up. That’s his resume. I’d just write that on a slip of paper and hand it to anyone who ever disagreed with me. “Hi, my name is Pete. I directed these three films. You were saying….?” Pair him with a stellar voice cast and a genius premise (each character is an emotion inside a teenage girl’s head and the film shows how the feelings work together to produce the actions of the girl) and you’ve got one of my most-anticipated movies of 2015 and our best hope for an original Pixar classic for a looong time. No pressure.
The premise of this one is so sophisticated, I’m now convinced that Brave was an anomaly, not the start of a trend of watered-down Pixar. In fact, my concern is that it might be too sophisticated for children. I’m not sure an average kid will be able to grasp the premise from this trailer. And if they do grasp the premise, it might come across as creepy and nightmarish. Are human beings just automatons, being manipulated like puppets? This trailer is on the verge of venturing into heady philosophical waters. I think it looks amazing, and I’m predicting an artistic home run, but they need to watch the marketing, because this could be a harder sell than Ratatouille and WALL-E put together.
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