The Good Dinosaur--First Thoughts

        I watched The Good Dinosaur only a few days after it opened, but I felt like letting my thoughts simmer for a few days. I enjoyed myself enough, and believe me when I say it is surprisingly gorgeous. Pixar often mentions and hints that they could go for more realism but they go for style instead. In this movie they brought the goods. The story didn't seem as mind-blowing, though. I've started noticing how often Pixar stories borrow the "buddy comedy" format, which goes back all the way to the first Toy Story movie. Woody/Marlin/Lightning/Carl/Joy/Arlo suffers a loss and must learn to trust Buzz/Dory/Mater and the town/Russel/Sadness/Spot to help him. And yet I was having a genuinely good time. I needed time to process why.
        The premise worried me because it sounded like A Land Before Time with humans. Then seeing a Bronto(Apato?)saurus plowing a corn field made me wonder if it was Jim Henson's Dinosaurs. But no, the movie has its own identity and style. Spot is the only one with thumbs and technology is pretty limited to what quadrupeds could make. Dinosaur life is agrarian. As a buddy of mine said, they tricked us into watching a western.
        That might be why I enjoyed it so much. The opening title came accompanied by a folk-inspired music theme, and that should have tipped me off. But the discovery and realization that the movie was connecting two different eras got me excited. I guess that's the similar appeal of Cowboys in space or Steampunk. Mixing time periods or cultures gives us a new vision of what could be, and new ways to tell stories. The Good Dinosaur doesn't laugh at the implausibility, it celebrates a beautiful possibility. To see Tyrannosaurs galloping across a prairie along with bison gives them a grace and majesty I hadn't really noticed before.
        I also appreciated seeing the world through both Spot's and Arlo's eyes. Sometimes we hope Arlo finds his strength, and sometimes we hope Spot can figure out Arlo's needs. They earn the last embrace of the movie by the way they worked together to communicate and reach out to each other, even without words. There was a moment that reminded me of the scene WALL-E where he and EVE use a single word, "directive," to convey deep meaning. In the end, what I celebrate Pixar for the most is their way of communicating more with less. They even avoided the trap of stopping the story to deliver a Moral of the Story. Which is good because the moral isn't as simple as "Earn your stripes, boy." It's about honoring those who go before while becoming more than they were.
        So I'd happily see The Good Dinosaur again. I'll drop my jaw at the scenery. I'll feel the tragedy, cheer for the rite of passage, and think of how to better connect with others. That's the way of most stories, and it reflects society in general. With information and communication more accessible, different cultures around the world now have to adjust to a new awareness of others. We can't dismiss whole groups of people as "wrong" or "strange" like we used to. So it's helpful to see those themes appear in art to remind us who we should be for others.

And no, you don't want to miss the opening cartoon this time. The Alvin and the Chipmunks trailer, yes, but not Sanjay's Super Team.

Inside Out--First Thoughts

This is the first Pixar movie in years that I haven't really needed to "defend." Everyone I know has been impacted by the movie even if they didn't think it the greatest thing since Luxo Jr. My approach to this "First thoughts" piece, then, will not just be why I liked it so much as what it made me think and feel. I should be able to do this without giving away surprises. 

If memory serves me, Pixar announced Inside Out while we were bracing ourselves for Cars 2. We appreciated Toy Story 3, but rumors of another Monsters, Inc. movie got many of us worried if we only had sequels to look forward to anymore. Then at a Disney presentation they announced two new untitled movies: “The Untitled Pixar Movie About Dinosaurs” and “The Untitled Pixar Movie that Takes You Inside the Mind.” 

Halfway into the movie I realized that’s exactly what it did: It wasn’t just exploring Riley’s emotions, it was getting me to analyze myself, go inside my own head. That took a lot of multitasking, and as I write this I still feel very introspective, to the point where I don’t know how much I can say about the movie itself, but here goes. 

I got to hear the soundtrack before I watched the movie. It only got me more excited. I’ve known of Michael Giacchino since The Incredibles and I always trust him to carry me through even the dullest stories. The opening cue to this movie has a sense of wonder to it because the mind is such a mysterious concept. The opening also reflected the wonder we all feel as we marvel over a newborn. What are they thinking? Do they really see us or know who they are? My favorite part of the main melodic theme is the way a chromatic note sneaks into the very end of the accompaniment. Sometimes it makes the theme sound a little off-key. The theme is very bubbly and whimsical but a little sadness can't help but sneak in. 

The character design is fascinating, too, down to the micro level. At first I thought the emotions' skin looked fuzzy like a Muppet, but closeups showed they're made of some kind of particles. It gave me a sense that there was much more to these characters and this world that we have no time to explore. It also adds realism because the characters aren't just Riley's imagination--they're made of something, whatever it may be. 

Joy kind of looks like a multi-colored Tinkerbell, and that’s not a complaint. It reflects her bouncy, flighty personality. She’s also the only emotion with more than one color. The others are pretty much all red, blue, or green, but Joy along with her bright yellow she has blue hair and eyes. That’s a lovely symbolic way to propose that sadness is the key to truly experience and appreciate joy. 

The other point I wanted to applaud Pixar for is the voice casting. I’ve said before that Pixar goes for the right voice rather than the famous face. Amy Poehler of course would make a good over-eager, somewhat oblivious lead, but how many of us remembered Phyllis Smith’s name? She doesn't just play a female Eeyore. Her Sadness wants to be involved, wants to guide, wants to feel happy in her way about her contributions to the team. That's true of all the emotions. They all have their approaches, their unique functions, but they never disagree on their objective. They know they serve and aid Riley. 

It was fascinating to me how Sadness wanted Joy to return to headquarters but didn't seem to think it mattered if she did. Everyone who knew who Joy was thought it was important she be there, even if it meant staying behind. I like to think that even the most morose people want to get better, be happy. Some just don't naturally know how. The other emotions tried to help Riley express positive thoughts but the same words can come out differently through the wrong emotional filter. 

When tragedies or huge changes come to our lives the shock can cause us to feel lost, unsure how to cope. Staying connected to our core values helps us see that our new world isn't that much different, even if some details change or fade away over time. Those changes make growth possible. The mother's mind had her Sadness in the leader role, but she wasn't the saddest. She was the wisest, the most conscious. The greatest moments of sadness tend to provide the most experience and knowledge. When we allow the full spectrum of emotions run their course we can see the world untinted, unfiltered, complete.    

Now if only I could figure out what to learn from the Lava song. *shudder*