Come Back, Pixar

When Pixar first started to make feature length films, I was a big buyer.   Personally, I don't think there was any more clever movies than the three featured in the "Toy Story" franchise.  But, ever since then, the offerings are less and less interesting.  Humorless, sappy, and increasingly ignorable.

Which brings me to the latest.  "Inside Out."  The pinnacle of what I should said.

Humorless, sappy, and incredibly ignorable.

I am curious as to just what has happened at the Pixar organization.  Was all the inventiveness tied to the participation of that Lasseter guy who's now supposedly running all of Disney Animation now?  Because each successive film since "Up" has been entirely forgettable.  "Inside Out" adds to that growing list.

Indeed, "Inside Out" is a germ of a really, really good idea.   Everybody has five basic emotions inside them.  Joy.  Sadness.  Fear.  Anger.  Disgust.  In the Pixar world, these are all embodied in little cartoon characters.

We meet the five in young Riley's head.  And, as if you haven't seen a Disney movie in the last ten years, young Riley is, of course, a girl.  God forbid we should have a movie from that studio that actually features a boy protagonist, but I digress...

Riley and her parents have just uprooted from the hockey ice rinks of Minnesota to San Francisco for Dad's job.  Riley, away from her friends and her beloved team sport, grows increasingly miserable.  And that battle is played out amongst the Five Emotions, which, to me, sounds like a singing group that once played New York's Apollo Theater.

Okay, there's a great concept there.  But, as the writers play out this cranium fight without the aid of Prozac or Xanax, the story gets incredibly complicated and desperately in need of commentary from a child psychologist.  It was totally beyond the skill sets of my own emotions.  And, as this sad and humorless tale unfolded, three in my head stood out.  Anger.  Disgust.  And, then, as I thought about past Pixar triumphs, Sadness.

This film truly needed a comedy infusion as the film makers totally forgot that you can be funny and poignant at the same time.  Hey, look at the original "Toy Story."  Laugh out moments.  And then heart strings being pulled to just the right emotional memory.  There is none of that in "Inside Out."

Over the ninety-minutes-that-seemed-like-a-day-and-a-half, I counted just two chuckles from yours truly.  Meanwhile, the footage behind the closing credits finally hits the note that should have been pursued.  You get to see the emotions of a host of other smaller characters.  Here it is the very end of the movie and I'm finally laughing heartily.

Even worse, I think kids lose interest in this mess with all its confusion.  At my screening, three children dragged their folks out by the midway mark.  I hear you, Spunky.  I didn't want to sit there much longer myself.  

But I did.  Inexplicably.  

Buzz Lightyear, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

LEN'S RATING:  One-and-a-half stars.

Dinner last night:  Leftover turkey sausage and pickled beets.