My Pixar Story

A week ago, the trailer for 'Finding Dory' was released.

Finding Dory is the sequel to Finding Nemo which came out in 2003. I'll admit I was immensely excited when I found out there would be another film, and I did shed a tear the first time I watched the trailer, but I'm somehow less excited about this sequel than I was about the other Pixar sequels.

Because I was born in 1995 and I grew up in the 90's and 00's, I was in Pixar's target audience when they started to release feature length films. Whenever I would hear about or see a trailer for the new Pixar film, I would get excited. I loved the characters and the story lines and just everything about them. However, I started to lose interest after I saw WALL-E. I had enjoyed every previous film released (Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars and Ratatouille) but I just didn't see the appeal of WALL-E. I thought it had a good plot and message, and the robot itself was adorable, but I didn't like the film. And then Up came out, and it had the same effect that WALL-E did. I thought it was a good idea for a film, and I'll admit I cried my eyes out at the first 10 minutes, but other than that I just found it boring. After that I decided to accept the inevitable. I admitted to myself that I was growing up and the films weren't designed to appeal to me anymore. (Bare in mind that I was 14 at the time!)

And then, just as I was about to lose hope, Toy Story 3 was made. I thought that this was my last chance to get my childhood back, so I went to see it in the cinema and I loved every bit of it. They had made it so new audiences, as well as the established audience, could enjoy it.

The following year, they released Cars 2. At the time I thought that this would be a similar case to Toy Story 3, but I was sadly mistaken. It was for kids, plain and simple. They included jokes for adults, but I quickly realised they were there to benefit the parents who took their children to see the film. And I accepted the inevitable again, that I was too old for Pixar.

The year after that, it was like Pixar had read my mind. They released Brave which was unlike any other Pixar animated film ever made, in my opinion. It was set in a completely different era, and dealt with very serious issues, such as arranged marriage and feminism, and it worked like Toy Story 3 and brought my faith back!

The year after that, I was expecting to be let down again. After having some bad experiences with Pixar sequels, I was skeptical about the release of Monsters University. But I loved it. Not more so than Monsters Inc. but it was a brilliant film nonetheless.

Now, if you've made it this far into my blog post without getting bored, you've probably sensed a pattern of getting my hopes up, then realising I was growing up. To be honest, I expected this to happen when I saw the trailer for Inside Out. I didn't think it looked good and I decided I wasn't going to bother to see it. But after hearing great reviews about it from people my age, and older, I decided to give it a go. I was not disappointed. It was one of the best animated (not just by Pixar) films I had ever seen. I noticed how Pixar used their power and popularity to get messages across to kids. It's been proven that children have more of an understanding of mental illness and their own emotions after watching Inside Out.

After enjoying three Pixar films in a row, I was still optimistic when I heard the about the plan for Finding Dory. However, after watching the trailer, I felt as though I was not going to enjoy it, and this really bugged me because the premise of it looks quite good. Then I spotted a contrast with Finding Dory and other Pixar sequels. Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3 were released 11 years apart, and within the world of the film, 11 years had also passed. Finding Nemo was released 13 years ago, but judging by the trailer, no time has passed, and Nemo and his friends still look quite young.

That's the reason I am quite unsure about whether or not I will like Finding Dory, but we'll have to wait and see...

Even if I don't enjoy it or any other film that they will release, Pixar is and always will be one of the best things about my childhood. That will never change.

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