The Pixar Story

Movie Title--  The Pixar Story

Release Year--  2007

Running Time--  1 Hour and 27 Minutes

Director--  Leslie Iwerks

Cast--  John Lasseter, Ed Catmull, Steve Jobs, George Lucas, Brad Bird, Stacy Keach, John Musker, Glen Keane, Don Hahn.

A look at Pixar Animation Studios from it's humble beginnings into a fully grown animation studio.

John Lasseter loved cartoons growing up and when he was in high school he found a book produced by Disney called the "Art of Animation".  That was the moment that it dawned on him that people actually get paid to make cartoons for a living and that is when he knew what he wanted to do.  In 1975, he was accepted into Cal Arts, an art college that was created by Walt Disney in 1961.  He attended the first program that taught Disney style animation.  Some  of his classmates were Tim Burton, John Musker and Brad Bird.  The instructors of the class were known as the "9 old men"; they were the legendary animators from the 1930's, brought out of retirement to instruct these young students.

While attending Cal Arts, Lasseter focused on all things Disney and even got a summer job in Disney Land working as a street sweeper in Tomorrow Land.  He was promoted to a ride operator before having to return to his studies at Cal Arts.  He made two short films while at Cal Arts "The Lady and the Lamp" a film about a lamp who replaces his broken bulb with a bottle of gin and "Nightmare" about a boy who sees monsters when he turns out the lights.  Both film won him back to back student academy awards that propelled him into the spotlight for animation.

His success in animation landed him his dream job and he became an animator at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California in 1979.  The money for the build came from the success of Snow White in the 30's.  Walking into the building, a person can just feel the experience and magic coming from the walls and Lasseter was living a dream come true.

Lasseter's first job was introducing a main character in the 1981 animated film "The Fox and the Hound".  After Disney screened the 1982 film "Tron", Lasseter along with his co-worker Glen Keane started to ask why couldn't they use computer animation to make cartoons.  Lasseter then became very excited about the possibility of what computer animation could be.  Lasseter and Keane are soon given the green light to experiment with computer animation but most of the animators in the studio feared that the computer was going to make animators obsolete.

Lasseter is given the OK to develop a story based on the short story "The Brave Little Toaster".  "The Brave Little Toaster" would mark John Lasseter's feature directorial debut which combined computer and traditional animation.  Eight months after development Lasseter was asked to present his story to the head of the studio.  The pitch did not go so well and five minutes after the pitch Lasseter is called to Ed Hanson's office who them tells him that since his project was complete he was no longer needed and he was fired.

The University of Utah set up one of the first lab in computer graphics in the 1960's thanks to federal funding due to the interest of the space race and the need for computer research.  Ed Catmull was an inspiring artist that was drawn to the idea of computer sciences and computer animation.  He loved to draw but didn't think he was a very good animator so he went into Physics.  His first film, that was of his own left hand, was the first step to developing curved surfaces.  The film was later shown in the 1976 film "Futureworld"

Ed graduated with a Ph. D in a technology that was ahead of his time and only one institution was interested in further developing this new  technology and that place was New York Tech.  They hired Catmull to spearhead the new computer graphics department to make paint programs that would help to create art and animation using the computer.  Catmull developed a program called tween that allowed the user to transfer hand drawn images into the computer.  The user would now be able to draw and paint directly into the computer.

George Lucas could see the future in computer animation and after filming "Star Wars", he brought Catmull to Lucas Films to create a new computer division that would invent new digital editing tools.  Catmull recruited a talented team of computer scientists to create these tools for Lucas.

John Lasseter attends a computer graphics conference at the "Queen Mary" in Long Beach California in 1983 that Ed Catmull was speaking at.  When Catmull asks Lasseter about his work with Disney and learns of his departure with Disney so he hires him on the spot for Lucas Films.  When Lasseter first goes to Lucas Films he feels intimidated but soon develops a short film called "Andre and Wally B".  Lasseter then works on a project that uses the computer to animate a man made of stain glass in a live action setting.  The visual effects were nominated for an Academy Award.

To improve speed and resolution, Catmull's group developed the Pixar image computer.  It was the most advanced computer of it's time but after being unable to sell the computer, George Lucas' patients were wearing thin and he insisted that he did not want to build a business off of selling software.  Lasseter and Catmull however, were set  on developing a full length animated feature and Catmull, wanting to keep the team together, convinced Lucas to let him spin it off into a new division called Pixar.  He then went on the hunt for an investor that could see the potiental in their vision.

Steve Jobs goes to see Catmull and Catmull pitches Pixar to him and Jobs invests $10 million to launch Pixar.  The very first film they make as Pixar studios is a short called "Luxo Jr." in 1987 and it was the first 3 dimensional animated film that was ever nominated for an Academy Award.  A hopping Luxo lamp becomes the symbol of Pixar Studios.

The next Pixar film is "Red's Dream" about a unicycle that wants to be a circus performer.  The next short, "Tin Toy", about a wind up toy being tortured by a baby, brought toys to life for the first time.  John Lasseter with "Tin Toy" took home the first ever Academy Award for a computer animated film.

In 1990 Pixar began to use their knowledge to make television commercials.  During this same time period, Pixar began collaborating with the new Disney team, headed by Michael Eisner, Roy Disney, Frank Wells and Jeffery Katzenberg.  Pixar created a program called "Caps" that helped bring dimension to 2-d animations.  This became evident in 1991's "Beauty and the Beast".  In 1994, "Renderman", the leading program in special effects developed by Pixar, won the first ever Academy Award for computer animated software.

Although it was amazing what they had been doing, Pixar is losing about a million dollars a year.  In an attempt to keep Pixar alive, they pitch a 30 minute Christmas television special to Disney featuring the Academy Award winning "Tin Toy".  All the while, Disney is trying to lure John Lasseter away from Pixar and directing a new animated film but Lasseter stays with Pixar.  He then comes up with the idea for a story from a toy's point a view and thought of making it a 30 minutes feature but then it was decided that they would make it a full length film.  They pitch it to Disney and are soon given the green light to work on the project.

"Toy Story" was soon put into development but the first version did not go over at all so within 2-3 weeks the team completely re story boarded the film to make it what they wanted it to be from the start and Disney, who was ready to cancel the project, decided to give it a second chance.

"Toy Story" opened on Thanksgiving weekend in 1995 and earned over $350 million worldwide.  The Academy of Motion Pictures earned John Lasseter a special achievements Oscar for directing the first full length computer animated motion picture.  Because of the contract between Disney and Pixar, the merchandising and profits were left with Disney.  This is when they realized that they needed to become a Animation studio instead of a production company so one week after "Toy Story"'s release, Pixar became a highest selling IPO of the year, raising $132 million.  Disney then came to them wanting to extend the contract but Jobs said only if Pixar could be 50/50 partners.

The next film for Disney/Pixar was "A Bugs Life".  It is the first widescreen full length computer animated film.  Pixar broke through the usual slump referred to as "Second Film Syndrome" and "A Bug's Life" became the highest grossing animated film of 1998.  Next came "Toy Story 2" in 1999, followed by "Monster's Inc." in 2001 and "Finding Nemo" in 2003.


With the release of "The Increadbles" in 2004, 2-D animation went though a slump and a lot of animators were fired or being released before their potential could become clear.  At the same time, Disney and Pixar were clashing over their contract.  In 2004 Steve Jobs opened up talks with other companies.  In 2005, Michael Iesner is out as Disney CEO and Bob Iger is in.  He begins to focus on the future of the company and realizes that they had to return to the "glory" days of animation by finding "the right people" for the job and Pixar was the place that had the right people.  Iger realizes that he needs to  think out of the box and as soon as he starts as CEO, he calls Steve Jobs and Pixar soon becomes part of Disney.  The 7.4 billion dollar aquicision of Pixar provides Steve Jobs with a seat on the Disney board of directors, John Lasseter with the title of  Chief Creative Officer and Ed Catmull becomes the President of Disney and Pixar Animation Studios.

I thought this film was awesome.  I have grown up with Pixar; I remember going to see "Toy Story" in the theater when it was first released.  I was 12 years old when I saw it and to me it was amazing.  Since it's release, "Toy Story" has been and stayed on the list of my favorite animated films.  Seeing where this company that makes so many magical films comes from is a very interesting journey.  

I think that John Lasseter is a brilliant man.  He has such great talent  and because of his love of cartoons and animation, he helped to further animated films.  You can't turn on a Disney animated film these days without seeing Lasseter's name and I  think that it speaks to the kind of man that he wanted to become when he first got involved with animation.  He wanted to make things that other people would love and something that would interest people.  He has succeeded in a big way.

If you are interested in animation or are a lover of Pixar, this is a great film to check out, but  I think this is a film that everyone should check out anyway.  Have a creative afternoon with "The Pixar Story" and Don't Forget the Popcorn!