Editorial 16/03/2015- PIXAR RETURNS

I know I normally don't do trailer reviews, but this seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up. Last Wednesday, we got our second look at Pixar's most recent animated adventure "Inside Out", the story of a girl and the personified emotions inside her head. It may sound like a gimmick and, honestly, the first trailer left me wondering how this could be stretched into an hour and a half. Pixar, though, found a way, and now this film just became one of my most anticipated for this year.

To start, please take a look at the trailer below.

Scientifically bogus? Maybe, but that hasn't stopped Pixar before.

For those of you who don't know, Pixar had quite the run between 2007 and 2010, releasing a film each of those years that could be considered masterpieces at any convention. "Ratatouille" was a creative romp that asked us about what passion really was. "WALL-E" made us fall in love with robots with possibly two lines of dialogue apiece. "Up" perfectly meshed 1930's adventure with a story of loss, grief, acceptance, and, finally, moving on. "Toy Story 3" was the gut-wrenching conclusion to the trilogy that defined childhood nostalgia. In their golden age, it seemed like nothing would stop them.

Then came "Cars 2" The sequel to the 2006 film tried its best to expand the world while capturing the spirit of the original, but failing to do so was the least of its problems. What came out was a mixed bag of cheesy humor, okay action sequences, outright horror, and some message about environmentalism. This was followed by 2012's "Brave" and 2013's "Monsters University." None of these were truly terrible films, only decent. However, knowing Pixar who hadn't released a bad film up until that point, they were a heavy blow. So, for 2014, the company put a halt on all of their projects, rewriting and revising until they knew something would work.

But, I digress. Back to "Inside out."

I'm a bit embarrassed now, to say that I was disappointed in the first trailer. In the midst of all of the blockbuster trailers, I had forgotten what made Pixar what they were. Like I said, they aren't the epic movies- they're the ones with the little plots that speak to the kid in all of us, not for the childish, but for the child-like. Also, just like with "Up", they take what should only have been a gimmick and explored every faction of it. The bits you think are just going to be gags came out and show some real impact. Classic Pixar is back and telling us to be happy and sad at the same time, and it is working!

Of course, there are still questions I have about it. Watching it again, I noticed that the most interesting parts involved the girl herself, not the little characters buzzing in her brain. They both seem creative and interesting, but there's still a fine line between which one I'd watch first. In that case, this could easily become a case like "Lilo and Stitch", another cartoon with two parallel stories, one far-fetched and action-packed, the other more grounded and personal. This could just as easily become disjointed, trying to tell the two at once. There's just no guarantee here.

Before this, though, I was under the impression that the best trailers gave us the best idea of what to expect. After this, though, I suddenly see that they're only supposed to give us an idea of what mood o look forward to. This one does an excellent job of just that- it doesn't really explain anything or how everything works in this world. (Except that it doesn't work at all like the real world, apparently.) Now, I'm certain I know just enough to go see this movie to see if it's as good as they make it look. Here's hoping that this is Pixar's return to greatness!

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