The Pixal Story (2007)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2007
	Director: Leslie Iwerks
	Actors: Stacy Keach, John Lasseter, Brad Bird
	Country: USA
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 27.12.2014, SD VOD, 11" computer screen
Synopsis: The story of the famous animation studio from the youth of its creator John Lasseter to the making of Cars.
Review: I knew already a bit about the story of Pixar from some documentary on the DVD of their short movies, and on other DVDs. This documentary is a good summary, not revolutionary but it presents the fact in a very interesting way. John Lasseter is really shown as the genius behind the creation of the firm, and indeed he is a visionary who knew and was convinced before everybody that animated movies were part of the future. His struggle to work with Disney is particularly amazing. I was also astonished to learn this Steve Jobs (yes the guy from Apple) is the one that funded the company so that it can be born, and he also supported them all along in their choices and decisions to become an independent company. Once this basis established, we learn about the making of their movies one after the other (I put my personal rating in parenthesis from memory to see how I felt the evolution): Toy Story (9/10), A Bug's Life (6/10), Toy Story 2 (8/10), Monsters Inc. (7/10), Finding Nemo (8/10), The Incredibles (9/10) and Cars (6/10). So to my feeling, they indeed managed to keep a relatively high level of quality throughout the first seven movies. When I was watching, I was always telling myself "ah yes that one was good, probably their best" until the next movie is introduced and I went "oh yeah that one was good as well" until The Incredibles which has been the best for me since it went out. I don't rate the documentary better because it is the true story that is extraordinary, the movie only documents it correctly.
Rating: 6 /10