speaking of feminism...

a brief history of pixar films:

(note: i have no idea why there is so much space between some of the movies in this post. sorry.)

first there was toy story way back in 1995. i don't think i know anyone who didn't like this movie.















then in 1998 a bug's life came out. this began the pattern of dreamworks copying every character idea pixar has ever had.

















then there was toy story 2 (1999). not as good as the first. but not a bad movie by any means.










this was followed by monsters, inc. it came out in 2001 when i was in high school. my best friend and i skipped the last hour of school and went and saw the matinee. this movie is to this date my favorite pixar film. i think it's funnier than the rest and it also has a lot of emotion without being cheesy.




finding nemo was released in 2003. what i remember most distinctly about this movie is that everyone really hyped it up. and then when i saw it i was quite disappointed. it's a good movie and all, just not as great as i felt everyone made it out to be.

the incredibles came out a year later in 2004. this was the first and only pixar movie (thus far) to be rated pg instead of g. i believe the short film they made about jack jack and the babysitter to be one of the funniest things i've ever seen on screen. makes me laugh everytime.



while i was on my mission, in 2006, cars was released. cars is my second least favorite of all these movies. maybe it's because they were cars, but it just didn't have the heart that the rest of them seem to have.










a year later was ratatouille. personally, i think they did the best animation job yet on this movie. it's really incredible what they can do with computers. this also happens to be my second favorite of these movies.








then came wall e in 2008. this movie was touted to be their best one yet. i went and saw it in the theater and i know everyone loves it, but if i never see it again i really wouldn't mind one bit. it was boring and cheesy and way too political for a cartoon. yeah yeah i know, doesn't he just look so endearing? lame.



and now we find ourselves in 2009. (how can it be june already?) tonight i went and saw up, pixars latest film. and you know what? i just can't decide how i feel about this movie. it's well made, no question about that. the background song is still stuck in my head. carl's wife ellie appears, grows old, and dies within about five minutes of film time, and yet i was still so sad when she passed away. how many movie production companies could pull that off? and even i, who most of you know to be pretty heartless when it comes to stuff like this, was overwhelmed by the love carl had for his wife. it was really quite romantic. for one quick second the thought crossed my mind that growing old with someone might be nice.

but illogical thoughts never stay long in my mind. WARNING: [the next three sentences contain spoilers. if you haven't seen this movie, skip skip skip.] near the end of the movie carl opens the adventure book up for the last time and the feminist in me exploded out. of course a woman's adventure is taking care of a man. living her whole life just to love a guy. it's like beauty and the beast, with belle's idiotic 'i want adventure in the great wide somewhere.' right. and her adventure consists of falling in love with a big jerk while simultaneously filling little girl's heads with the ridiculous idea that they can change men if they just look past all the crap they do. it's infuriating really. but anyway, back to up. the ending of this movie was mediocre, and the whole talking dogs thing was annoying at best. but overall a pretty cute movie. lots of great pixar emotion. and let's face it, most of you will think it's quite romantic and won't care at all that ellie never got any real adventure. as for me, i'd see it again. but not until my feminist side calms down a bit. which might be awhile...