30. An Over-riding Dedication to Story-Telling
Regardless of who the characters are, or where the films are set, every one of Pixar's successes boil down to one thing: an over-riding dedication to the story-telling that drives everything at a fundamental level. For the studio, story is king, and everything else is the ornamentation that drives that agenda, which is exactly the precedence that should drive film-making. As the late great
Joe Ranft put it:
If the story isnt there, all the breakthrough computer graphics in the world, piled onto it wont matter.
31. The Characters: Syndrome
To balance out all the lovey-dovey, relationship stuff, Pixar was always going to have to have compelling villains, and from Hopper to Stinky Pete via Lotso and the Hal like Axiom Auto-pilot, they've pulled it off in style. The pinnacle however is Syndrome, the ultimate anti-superhero, driven by scourn at his unspectacularness and for by a desire to eradicate superheroes entirely, coupled with his child-like enthusiasm (and the quirky oddness offered by
Jason Lee's voice work). His impudence and arrogance makes him slightly more complex than Hopper, who is a more purely malevolent force, though his ultimate fate is no less grizzly than the Grasshopper's either. You can always tell a good villain in the Pixar universe by the harshness of their resolution, and the fact that Syndrome is one of the only ones to die is the ultimate proof.
32. Marketing
Not merely content with making alternate posters to back-up their pre-release marketing campaigns, Pixar have now gone one step forward, using the
Toy Story 3 campaign to create and release this brilliantly, authentic feeling advert for Lotso Huggin' Bear. Many were duped, including me, into believing the toy existed in that dusty box in the corner of everyone's head marked Toys I Played With. Genius. http://youtu.be/z6dZtNYGlLM
33. The Music: If I Didn't Have You
http://youtu.be/fEqrt6nZTS4
34. The Quotes
I suffer from short-term memory loss. [] No, its true! I forget things almost instantly. It runs in my family! Well I mean at least I think it does. Hum Where are they? Can I help you?
Dory, Finding Nemo
35. The Pixar Story Documentary
Arguably one of the finest documentaries ever made that focuses on an artist or group of artists, the Pixar Story was in itself a revelation when it was released in 2007 (it forms part of the
Wall-E blu-ray package). And it's still just as great to watch now.