The Pixar Story

Writer/Director: Leslie Iwerks
Runtime: 87 minutes
Release Date: August 28, 2007 (limited release)
The Reel Man: 2 reels
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I can write with some degree of authority about The Pixar Story. I have two subscriptions to animation magazines which I read cover-to-cover, I religiously attend the Oscar shorts festival every year specifically to see the entries in the Animated Short category, I dropped a thousand dollars on a CG course at UCLA Extension, and I am currently working on my first animated short film. Surprisingly, I found myself bored watching The Pixar Story.

With talking heads, behind the scenes video and enhanced photographs, the movie plays like an extended DVD-extra engineered to instill faith in stockholders. There is not a lot of new information here. Anyone remotely interested in computer animation is already very familiar with the evolution of Pixar, its triumphs and struggles, including its on-again, off-again relationship with the entertainment corporation headed by a gloved, but shirtless mouse seemingly suffering from a permanent overdose of Prozac.
In a small way, The Pixar Story is also guilty of the all too common crime in Michael Moore documentaries and Fox News reports: the half-truth. Of course, the subject matter here is not as important, nor does it try to be. But to instill a somewhat false sense of jeopardy, the film champions the "risk" Pixar took in hiring outside director Brad Bird to helm The Incredibles. It depicts his film, The Iron Giant, as a hand-drawn 2D animated feature… except, it isn't. Well, half of it isn't. In fact, the film’s title character is a CG creation rendered to look like hand-drawn 2D. Point being: Bird wasn’t so out of his element in the world of Pixar.
To be fair, the movie is not devoid of entertainment. There is a brief, but engaging segment in which an animator is given notes on a sequence from Finding Nemo where the clown fish appears to be on the verge of suicide. This part of The Pixar Story works to personalize the job of the animator and it adds a much needed, relatable human element that is missing from the majority of the film.
For those who know nothing about Pixar, this is certainly an opportunity to catch up, but I'd recommend instead watching Ratatouille which is still in theatres.