PIXAR SEQUELS? A SHORT RANT

Pixar used to be the guys who made the most original stuff around, now... Well now they've got four sequels in between original films. I don't think I'm alone in saying, what is going on? Did we suddenly stop going to the original Pixar films that made this a necessary venture? After the newly announced Coco will we see Up 2 followed by Toy Story 5? It's getting a little scary Pixar, seriously. I honestly hope these films are great, but we seriously need to slow down the sequel train, or at least put out more features like Dreamworks Animation to balance out the ratio before it's too late.

How Did We Get Here?

Look, I'm the first to admit that I actually really enjoyed both Cars 2 and Monsters University, but at some point seeing the studio that usually doesn't play it safe doing nothing but sequels gets frightening. I'll admit I knew these films were coming, so I should've been prepared, but I had hoped it wouldn't be in this way, I was hoping we'd hear announcements of new projects in between, instead there's only one new film in between all of this.

Oddly enough the only sequel here that I'm in no way bothered by is Cars 3, which I know means everyone will be ready to insult me over, but the thing is that I enjoyed the prior films, especially the second movie, as fun diversions, in other words these are the simple Pixar films that are more about the fun than the emotion. I know it sounds weird, but when you consider it, the Cars franchise's worst offense is not being as emotional as most Pixar properties, meaning so long as it's a silly diversion I really can't get mad because it's not like they were ever more than that, it'd be like getting mad that The Muppets are getting another sequel in a way, these are silly films that even when they're not enjoyable, they're at least not tarnishing the weight and emotion of a prior film. Even if I hated Cars, well why would I even get mad, I already know what I'm getting, these other films risk ruining the legacies of better films, which is far worse.

I hope these movies are great, despite not much enthusiasm being heard (aside from John Lasseter and the Toy Story 4 crew) from the filmmakers, the only thing worse than Pixar losing original films is Pixar losing quality. I just really hope this sequel trend is a momentary thing for Pixar, they need to get it out of their system and at the least balance out the ratio of upcoming releases with original material, otherwise Dreamworks, the animation studio often mocked for sequels, may end up being the one laughing at the irony of Pixar's current state.

Written By Octaviano Macias