White Board Mafia

My quintessential scene from any Pixar movie is from the film they’ll probably be least remembered for. If anything, it’ll most likely be remembered and admonished as being the least successful of all their films. It’s a scene from the climax of Ratatouille, not my favorite Pixar film, I didn’t even like it as much as last year’s Wall-E, but it was still an excellent movie in Pixar’s flawless cannon.

In this scene, Anton Ego, the harshest food critic in all of Paris, comes to Gusteau’s, the restaurant that is the main focus of the movie, prepared to critique their food and already anticipating extreme disappointment, having condemned the restaurant years prior. Ego is the most cynical critic around, to the extent that if he doesn’t like what he’s tasting, he refuses to swallow. Like a film critic leaving a movie early because he doesn’t like what he sees. After a lengthy wait, Ego looks disdainfully at the ratatouille dish that Remy the rat creates for him, only to be blown away when he takes one taste. The scene reflects Ego as a child, being served a simple bowl of ratatouille from his mom after seeming having fallen off his bike, and his demeanor immediately changes from almost tears to satisfied smiling. Then, we rejoin Ego in the present as his look of shock at the immediate taste turns into a look of delight as he joyfully chows down on the rest of the dish. With this small dish of food in front of them, even the coarsest, meanest, vilest of critics can remember what it was like to be happy and innocent. That is a Pixar movie to me.

The reason I feel compelled to write about this is because Up, Pixar’s 10^th full-length feature comes out tomorrow (or today depending on when I post this). The reviews have been excellent, the previews have been delightful and the hype has been rigorous if not a little understated. I’ve already got my ticket to see it, but it’s more than just a chance to go see a movie. It’s a chance to be that happy little kid again, sitting in the theater and not having a care in the world, if only for an hour and half.

I’m the living 24 year old incarnation of Randall Graves from Clerks. I’m about as far as he is in life when it comes to relationships, career, income and most of all, cynicism. I spend most of my time listening to caustic, angry music. I do not have what I would consider high job satisfaction. I’ve been to 6 Phillies game this season, and they’ve only won one of them. Everyone is stupid to me and I’ll always be the first to notice or anticipate someone’s faults before their benefits. And yet, for the last few years, about once a year, I’ve been able to feel wonder, imagination and amazement like I did 10, 15 or 20 years ago. It’s hard to see the beauty in the world around me with my daily disappointments and frustrations, whether internal or external. However, when the film rolls and the Pixar lamp hops across the screen, I’m transported out of my life to a variety of truly magical worlds without me realizing it until the movie is over.

While I was too young to truly appreciate some of their earliest films when they were released, I was 11 when the first Toy Story came out, each one of their latest movies has felt almost like an out of body experience. Each of their films has been a masterpiece of setting, character, plot and scripting that takes me into a world of fantasy like almost no other film company can hope to accomplish. I remember seeing The Incredibles in theaters the Sunday after it came out and wanting to talk about superheroes for hours, not even the excellent Iron Man did that to me. I remember wanting to go out and grab a bite to eat at a fancy restaurant when walking out of Ratatouille. I completely lost myself and felt at peace as Lightning McQueen and Sally took their little drive through the countryside in Cars. And just last summer, the music and motion in a few scenes of Wall-E literally sent chills down my spine and a scene towards the end almost, ALMOST, made me cry at the movies for the first time. Now, how does that happen to someone who’s favorite movies are Fight Club and Kill Bill?

I’m not sure if I can put it into words, the way Pixar’s movies draw me in and put me at peace. It’s a phenomenon that’s exclusive to them, what I like to call “The Pixar Experience”. I’ve seen some of my favorite movies of all time in the theaters, but never did I lose grasp of myself. I was always self-aware that I was a miserable wreck of a human being in a fleeting moment of happiness, but it was different during Pixar’s movies. It’s hard to explain the difference between knowing exactly who you are while genuinely enjoying a movie and letting your mind escape into the imaginary world before your eyes like you did while watching cartoons as a child. These are child-appropriate animated movies, both funny, emotional and critically acclaimed, how do they do it?

It’s not like every cartoon movie works this way on me. I saw Cars in theaters the same summer I saw Over the Hedge. I now own Cars on Blu-ray, I haven’t seen Over the Hedge since then. There’s a distinct difference between the power of Pixar and everyone else in the computer animated game, even Disney’s own animation studio. Everyone else looks like they’re looking for the slam dunk cash cow and pale in comparison to any of Pixar’s movies (the single exclusion was the great Kung-Fu Panda). They make movies with some endearing moments, pop-culture send-ups and adult-centric jokes, they have mom & dad buy a few tickets for the kids and sell some dolls and t-shirts for kids for a few months after the movie’s release and then vanish. Hey, does anyone else even remember that Antz existed? I bet we would’ve forgotten about Ice Age by now too if it wasn’t for the sequels. In watching Wall-E last year, I never thought about buying a Wall-E action figure or getting a shirt with EVE on it for my niece (well, a little…), I was just enraptured in an excellent, touching, poignant story about robots centuries in the future. It’s like Pixar has no rules, and they’re willing to break the barrier between making a successful franchise movie and creating an excellent tale that only has one intention. That intention is to make audiences happy, to take them away from their everyday problems without thought of marketability, sales, product placement or endorsements. I’m actually impressed by Disney’s obvious trust that Pixar will deliver an amazing product every time they make a movie. It’s so hard to find integrity and quality in family entertainment today, and Pixar is the top company for both in today’s movies.

That’s why by this time tomorrow I’ll have seen their latest film, Up. And for a short time within the next 24 hours, I’ll expect to be the happiest and most peaceful you could ever hope to see me. Like Anton Ego over his plate of ratatouille, my inner child expects to be released and hold my hand as I escape from reality, if only for a little while. The little while when I’m lost to the Pixar Experience.

Up, in theaters today!