In the kingdom of animation, Pixar is the current undisputed lord of the realm. Their winning streak is remarkable: Toy Story, Wall-E, Up, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo…you get the point. But there’s another team of artists producing some great animated films these days as well. With titles like Shrek, Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon, DreamWorks Animation has established itself as the leading contender to usurp Pixar’s coveted throne. But while critics’ often praise their films, there’s this sentiment that seems to hover over every DreamWorks release like a dark cloud, and it’s typically expressed in the form of backhanded compliments like “It’s the best animated film not made by Pixar,” or “It’s great…but it’s no Pixar.”
So why does Pixar continually dominate the genre? Why are their films so much better than the rest?
Disney Ties
Pixar was purchased by Disney in 2006 and is now one of the many tentacles of the Mouse’s Empire. Since then they’ve done everything in their power to establish themselves as an autonomous entity capable of producing equal and often better films. But there still exists a large faction of the movie-going public that considers the two interchangeable. While this could be construed as a negative for a company seeking to sever the strings Disney once held over them, the fact is that the name recognition helps Pixar. Whether accurate or not, this enduring connection in the minds of die-hard Disney fans provides a built-in audience that supplements Pixar’s widening fanbase.
Voice Actors, Not Just Celebrity Voices
DreamWorks seems to have been operating under the delusion that the sole ingredient in the recipe for a successful animated film is celebrity voices. More often than not, more time will be devoted to nabbing big name talent than to crafting a worthwhile script. The best example of this backfiring for DreamWorks was when they secured both Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta-Jones for the wildly unpopular Sinbad fiasco. Pixar recruits wonderful actors, but unlike DreamWorks, it doesn’t rely on the latest issue of People magazine to determine its hiring strategy. Not that Pixar doesn’t sometimes get big names, but when it occurs, as with Tom Hanks in Toy Story, it is the exception and not the rule.
Unspoken Greatness
If you really need proof that the folks at Pixar are masters of both animation and character development, take a look at Wall-E. Pixar takes a very risky move by having the audience spend the first half-hour of the film with a robot that does not say one word…and it’s impossible not to fall in love with him! In the swelling tide of animated film characters having to fill every conceivable moment with chatter and/or terrible jokes, Pixar has honed and perfected the art of subtle characterizations that invoke strong emotional bonds. This is something born of their days creating shorts; there’s not one word uttered in any of those masterful films.
Beaucoup de Heart
While DreamWorks manages to provide a tender moment here and there, Pixar speaks to audiences at their core and uses animation to connect with their inner child. If you are watching the opening montage from Up with someone who doesn’t at least let a lip quiver escape, you’d best check their circuits, because they may be a robot. The concepts at the core of almost all of the Pixar films are not only universal, but convey a concrete understanding of the human condition. Up and Wall-E both explore the agelessness of child-like wonder while Finding Nemo is about the conflict between allowing independence and dealing with separation anxiety. These form the roots of Pixar’s various projects and the characters and environments are constructed around them, which is what makes them so fantastic.
Pixar has established a clear-cut formula for success that DreamWorks is just beginning to emulate. How To Train Your Dragon cuts way back on its fetish for selling a film based on celebrity voices; Gerard Butler is arguably its only recognizable star. They also have created, in the dragon Toothless, their most heart-warming and lovable character to date — and he doesn’t say a word. How To Train Your Dragon is by far DreamWorks’ best film to date — and proof that the perennial also-ran may finally be ready to give Pixar a run for its money.
