Newport Beach Film Festival 2008

Not looking to break free from the set standard of documentary plots and composition, Iwerks did tell an engaging story of the rise and that's about it of the Pixar animation studios. The director accomplished one goal in capturing the ins-and-outs of the Pixar story, the climb of a group of animators, hopping from the influence of media giants the likes of Disney, Lucas and Jobs, into utter animation domination through the mastering of 3-D computer graphics work. Although the story could have easily been called the Lasseter Story as most of it's initial focus was aimed at famed animator and animation director John Lasseter. I have to state that it was extremely entertaining and I found myself walking out of the theater with severl nuggets of new information, which I, an avid Pixar follower, was happily surprised at. The film's one major flaw is it's ending... as it simply fades into obscurity, a sort of and-this-is-just-the-beginning kind of closing. It fades with snipits of the newest films, Ratatouille and Cars, and then simply ends happily/ I guess it's fitting though. Again, not groundbreaking nor a horrific bomb, just a simple story that it was just about time to tell. Got to catch the older crowd interviewed in the film (ie. animators of a Disney past and so on) before the memories get lost. Well executed, but bland in the end. Of course, I would buy it on DVD to show my kids one day.