Has Pixar Lost It's Touch?

My review of Monsters University will be coming soon, and since I am in the process of moving the blog has been stationary for the last couple weeks, making this post more important than it should be. I want to start by saying that Pixar is still a top class animated studio, and with its past films still warrants the top dog stature it has gained. In my opinion however, Pixar has hit a rut, one that may become more apparent In a few years. It seems as if the originality of their films has become none existent, and they are fast tracking sequels and in this particular case a prequel that is unnecessary. Was Monsters University a terrible? absolutely not, but it wasn't a good one either. It was an average film that falls closer to mediocrity as it becomes predictable and cliché. When leaving the theater Suzanne said to my complaints "It's a kids movie your judging it to harshly." and I promptly replied "when did Pixar make just kids movies?". That is what Monsters University was a kids movie that relied on cheap gags and a lack of wit and charm. I didn't want to see Revenge of The Nerds with a slew of monsters, I wanted another original film.

The last 3 films of Pixar are what I consider "the rut" even though one of them won Best Animated Feature (Brave), which is another rant for another time. Cars 2 is critically known as the worst Pixar film followed by Brave if you are using the Rotten Tomatoes score as the benchmark for which is a better film. For me at least Monsters University is my second least favorite Pixar film, and would fall short of my top 20 animated film list, a list which contains most every Pixar film. Looking at future projects we are given another unnecessary sequel in Finding Dory, and a couple original projects that show some promise. However, in the competitors front DreamWorks has multiple original ideas that sound more promising, along with a somewhat unnecessary sequel to their top film How To Train Your Dragon. With companies such as Blue Sky, Illumination and Aardman continuing to improve, Pixar needs to watch its back before they are bested with more original films by its competition.

I said it from last winter, Turbo (A DreamWorks production) will be the animated film of 2013. With Monsters University not hitting a homerun, the opportunity for Turbo or Despicable Me 2 is in the clearing.