With the increasing number of "live-action animation" CG blockbusters, the market space of Hollywood animation has been squeezed and the agglomeration effect has become increasingly significant. But as far as top players like Disney and Pixar are concerned, it is not yet time for them to worry: the three-high strategy of high investment, high return and high reputation is still effective, and the box office and award harvesting are still sharp.
For Pixar, the biggest problem has always been how to stay grounded and surpass oneself. In the past works, Pixar has shown great enthusiasm, concise and profound stories, and technical excellence, which are unusually attractive to audiences of all ages.
However, since 2015, Pixar has three records of launching two animated films in the same year: 2015 "Brain" / "Dinosaurs", 2017 "Dream Travels" / "Cars 3", and "Soul"/"1/2 Magic" in 2020. You know, Disney Animation has only two works released in 2016 ("Crazy Zoo" and "Moana").
What long-term impression the increase in production will have for Pixar is still open for discussion. But an indisputable fact is that in the first ten years of the Oscar Award for Best Animated Feature Film (almost exclusively for Pixar), Pixar launched 8 films and received 8 nominations and 6 statuettes; in the last nine years In the middle of the year, 10 films were released, but only 5 nominations and 4 figurines were received.
There is no doubt that the "1/2 Magic" released in March is the weaker of Pixar's two movies in 2020. The story is still making a fuss about family relations, and the animation effect is also very impressive, but compared with Pixar's main production, the imagination is still too thin, and in the end it has not realized the higher themes and collisions above the brothers farce.
Such a simple and lively home animation can come from DreamWorks ("Baby Boss") and Blue Sky Studio ("Transformed Agent"), and does not need to be from Pixar.
【Overview】
In the past 10 years, the Hollywood animation industry has ushered in a major reshuffle: The ace IPs of Blue Sky Studio and DreamWorks are no longer alive, and they restarted to produce animation for young children; Warner and Sony Animation, backed by major studios , Relying on comics and other IP materials to open up new markets with non-traditional themes.
And the winning head player, the marriage of Disney and Pixar, has further consolidated its dominance-the high-investment, high-return, and high-reputation model is too attractive to the wealthy Disney. Compared to DreamWorks’ investment of 100 million yuan, Disney Animation Headquarters and Pixar can achieve a higher rate of return with a large sum of more than 150 million US dollars.
In this context, Disney Animation and Pixar also have the confidence to abandon the "less but refined" route. As a result, 4 of the 5 animations launched by Pixar in 16-19 were sequels. Only last year's "Toy Story 4" received an Oscar nomination (and won).
What followed was the lack of universal social metaphor of Pixar Animation. The early interpretation of "The Incredibles" on the middle-aged crisis, "Robots"'s teasing about environmental pollution and captivity of human beings, "The Flying House" in the opening paragraph, wrote the most beautiful love in the most gentle way. carol.
This content was once Pixar's treasure. But starting from "Monsters University" in 2013, this kind of humanistic and caring thinking has gradually faded out, replaced by (non-Pixar) formulaic settings and jokes. As far as "1/2 of the magic" is concerned, the absence of parental images is already a standard feature of Disney animation, and the mission-based plot of "Find someone/Save someone" is also highly typified and structured. In terms of personality and plot, both horizontal and vertical comparisons appear to be very mediocre.
【Production】
With more and more human protagonists in Pixar animation, the tendency of personalization and localization in the creation of stories has become more and more serious. Although most of the Pixar characters in the era of the Big Five are leather humans, the additional setting of the leather jacket is often inseparable from the story itself.
In other words, they are not just "muppets" doing human things, but have their unique social structure and social functions.
On the other hand, "Monsters University" by Dan Scanlon, the director of "1/2 of the magic", is completely the most common campus comedy, without the chemical reaction of the encounter between different worlds in "Monsters Company", it is just the previous work. It's just made by the same people.
In comparison, "1/2 of the magic" is not much better. Regardless of whether the story is based on "Dungeons and Dragons", which is only popular in Europe and the United States, the background setting of magical creatures coexisting, abandoning magic and switching to modern technology, did not inspire any contradictions and conflicts in the whole film, and it is not as good as Japan has already flooded. The theme of the different world is new and unbelievable.
This approach seems to be called "Hotel Spirit", but there is no collision between "elves" and ordinary people. Replace all the characters with humans, and the whole story is still established, even smoother.
The film’s inspiration comes from the director’s personal experience, but this does not mean that the film can be rigid and lack surprises. Considering that the film is still rewriting the script two years after the project was established in 2017, Pixar is not unconscious about it.
The plot arrangement of "1/2 Magic" is also subject to the game format of taking the task and breaking the level. Both the plot and the character creation are too simple, and the narrative motivation is also lacking in urgency, and the purpose is not clear enough, which seems to be too plot. Too messy.
You know, even if the previous Pixar movies are messy, the audience will not lose their attention to the characters: "Flying House" is to go to the waterfall, "Food Story" is to become a chef, but "1/2 of the magic" "It is "save dad" in name, but it always deliberately detours on irrelevant and random plots-these plots neither promote the development of the character, nor have any stage features, but are just a waste of time.
【Performance】
As a PG-level family comedy movie, "The Magic of 1/2" is indeed suitable for all ages, but it is not outstanding. The setting of Huanxi Yuanjia and buddy comedy did not create enough conflict and contrast-the problem is mainly in the role of Tom Holland-the laugh point derived from "half dad as a living person" is basically The simple transplantation of "Boss Going on Vacation", most of the time, even abandoned the basic setting of "living lower body".
Secondary characters have also been Pixar’s strengths in the past-such as a bad friend in the "Toy Story" series, the MO of "Robot Story", and the dog Doug of "The Flying House"-but "1/2 Magic" The supporting role in the movie can only be said to be few and useless. It lacks a sense of humor and does not promote the development of the story (especially the "stepfather"). Except for the Minotaur Manticore, who played a little more in the role, none of them left a deep enough impression, and even the name could not be remembered.
As for the core of the story: the eldest brother is the father, the performance in the film is even more a failure. The older brother Barley has always been a troublemaker and lacks enough emotional motivation to support his behavior; younger brother Ian is blindly angry, there is no real friction between the two, due to the serious lack of urgency in the narrative, the only outbreak is not seen. The shadow accumulated before. In this way, the two brothers did not grow up with each other because of the journey, but the younger brother unilaterally suddenly "understood"-and this kind of subjective change lacking objective support is a major taboo in script writing.
And since Father Figure, the father figure of the (childish and chaotic) brother, is not established in the film, the film’s handling of the ending is even more inexplicable-the plot of curse and dragon is obviously to increase the action scene, but it is very abrupt and It has nothing to do with the subject (looking for the father instead of overthrowing patriarchy). At the same time, the mischievous brother did not make any real sacrifices, and the brother who wanted to find his father did not make the necessary choice between his father and his brother, making this originally expected ending even more boring.
In the final analysis, these problems are that "1/2 of the magic" is not strong enough to show that the protagonist misses his father-more similar to (never owned but) regret, rather than the (unresolved) contradiction needs to be finally reconciled-this way The typical weak conflict does not have enough motivation to support the entire adventure.
In terms of voice acting, Tom Holland’s image of a good person has been established, and it is in the same position on the spectrum as "Transfiguration Agent" and "Spiderman", and the combination of "Virginity" and magic is even more of "The Chosen Son". Tradition is too old. Although Chris Pratt's performance is a bit overdone, it does have a different taste than Emmet in "The Lego Movie".
【Summarize】
The line "I don't know, it just started" in the trailer is a perfect summary of "The Magic of 1/2": the story and emotion lack internal logic and connection, which is very different from Pixar's previous works, more like a dream workshop The style is short and flat. Although the fast-paced plot made this family carnival animation still work, the boring story and the decline in originality were still noticeable and even disappointing.
It is not easy to continue the success of IP-"Frozen 2" just confirmed this-it is even more difficult to continue the success of the label. With "Home Alone" in front, and popular Marvel actors performing, "1/2 Magic" is unlikely to be the worst-performing Pixar work on the market, but it won't be too strong. Considering that since "Cars", Pixar's animation production cost has not been lower than 150 million US dollars, even if the pressure to pay back is not high, there is not much to win.
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