The Films of Pixar Animation Studio

by James Clarke

A one-stop handbook to the studio's work, discussing each film in great detail

A major icon of cinema and pop culture more widely, Pixar Animation Studios has played a vital part in reminding audiences of animation's capacity as a major artform. Hugely popular, and recognized as a real force in the imaginative lives of its audience, Pixar's movies have attained critical mass. Each Pixar feature film is explored here in terms of creative choices made by the films' producers, writers, directors, and animators, from the first bright idea through to final realization. The book also makes connections between the studio's aesthetic and the wider realm of animation history, the blockbuster movie, and the enduring examples of folk tales.

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2013

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

It left me wanting more. A lot more. It basically went over the plots of each film and while there was some interesting information included for each film, it was mostly randomly assigned quotes from historical figures that had nothing to do with any of the productions.

[Gijs Grob · Rating 2 out of 5]

This can hardly be called an essential book on animation. Author James Clarke's long introduction is a rambling hodgepodge lacking both focus and argument. In fact, at times the text reads like a set of unrelated paragraphs randomly strung together. Moreover, Clarke uses a lot of quotations and allusions to other films that don't contribute to the argument, at all. For example, at one point Clarke tells us about the work of Jim Henson, without convincingly tying the muppet master's work to the Pixar films, rendering the whole passage completely meaningless. Clarke seems to think that dropping names makes his text better. Of course, it doesn't. In fact, the whole text is frustratingly low on information, and teaches us depressingly little about the Pixar studio, its style and its contribution to the animation field.

Clarke is at his best when unveiling information on the development process of the films involved. And when in the end he describes movies to come up to 'Coco' (called "Day of the Dead film" in his book) he shows that the development process of animation films can take up many, many years. But as an analysis of the Pixar style and as an explanation why their films up tot 2010 were so good this book fails completely. The studio certainly deserves better.