Children's animation - do we expect too much?

A ‘conversation’ I had on Twitter today with the Reviews editor Nick de Semylen  at Empire Magazine got me to thinking about grown ups’ expectations of kids movies. Basically it started with me reading the review of Brave at empireonline.com and being halted by a sentence disparaging Pixar saying “Monsters Inc is not half as funny as it thinks it is” to which I reacted with “SAY WHAT?”

This led to me tweeting to Empire with “I’m sorry - Monsters Inc is not half as funny as it thinks it is? please tell me this isn't a consensus across Empire”, Nick replying with “it’s not” which I totally misunderstood, thought he was agreeing that Monsters Inc was pretentious so I sent a slightly passive aggressive tweet back – to which Nick kindly corrected my understanding as in fact he loves Monsters Inc and does not agree with the latest reviewers interpretation of the film.

Apart from totally embarrassing myself, this dialogue with the Empire editor got me thinking – are the expectations of adults too much for the modern children’s animation?

(I apologise for sounding like Carrie from Sex and the City just then)

Now Monsters Inc did get a little criticism from some when it first came out for being too young, reflected in the main human being a two year old cute-as-a-button girl. I would totally agree that Monsters Inc was meant for the five year olds, but this does not mean that an adult could not enjoy it or find it funny. The grown-up can watch Sully’s fur quiver in the snow and be amazed at the beauty of it, can laugh at the jokes about yellow snow and the tedium of office work. In short, though not quite the fully rounded support cast of Toy Story, there are two huge monsters to fall in love with and a little girl that will break your heart and that is enough for five stars in my book.

The pressure that has been put upon children’s films to be as much for the adult as for the child came, I believe, in 1995 when Toy Story first hit the cinemas. Blending humour, film parody, and sentiment with stunning animation John Lasseter brought a game changer to Disney and our screens. From this point we demanded more from our children’s films – these were no longer opportunities to take a nap for an hour while the kids were glued to the latest talking animal flick, grown-up’s were willing to pay to see this film WITHOUT a child in-tow.

Pixar followed up with A Bugs Life, a film I loved but it wasn’t quite Toy Story. Then came Monsters Inc in 2001 and once again our minds were blown. Yes it was more on the level of A Bugs Life with who it was aimed at, squarely at the younger audience, but the animation was breathtaking and the action sequences seamless. It tapped into every parent’s worst nightmares and appealed to every child’s imagination, even those children who were in their forties (I count my Mum here).

That same year came a film that, it could be argued, was aimed at the adult rather than the child. That was Shrek. I loved Shrek, it was farcical and funny, rude and made references to many more adult concerns than any of the previous Pixar movies put together. Shrek was a Dreamworks creation whose previous computer animated effort was Antz, one of the worst animations I have seen with a Woody Allen voiced ant and a gory storyline of death – Disney Pixar were always more clever with their bug movie to make it cute, even the death of evil Hopper at the end came at the mouths of the most adorable looking chicks I have ever seen animated.

Shrek managed to be funny and charming, and teach children (and adults) that appearance means nothing – you can look like an ogre but have the personality of a prince. Though a slightly laboured message by the end of the fourth movie (in my opinion Dreamworks should have left it at 2) Shrek managed to start a franchise that was funny and moving, and gross in the way you know a Pixar movie would never be.

So 2001 was a pretty great year for animation, and our expectations could not have been higher.

Disney/Pixar followed up Monsters Inc with Finding Nemo in 2003 (Toy Story 2 came out in 1999 would you believe) and by far this is my favourite of the Pixar movies. A fish with short term memory loss, a paranoid father who cannot tell jokes (even though he’s a clownfish), vegetarian sharks and a tank of slightly mad tropical fish obsessed with dentistry – sheer genius.

It is not surprising that Pixar and all other children’s movie makers have had such a tough time living up to not only their competition but their own reputations. Shrek 2 was brilliant, Shrek 3 and 4 should have never been given the green light. I’m one of those rare people who disliked the Incredibles, Cars was almost worthy of being made but in no way was a sequel deserved, Ratatouille was gorgeous but slightly too long for children or adults.

Then came WALL-E in 2008 and the world was once again hooked on Pixar and its ability to transcend the lines between child and adult. For the first 30minutes of the film man woman and child were absorbed by this crazy, lonely robot finding treasures in the wasteland of Earth. Of course the film was a huge comment on the environment and our impact upon it, but that didn’t matter to the small people and if it mattered to the big people, well, they didn’t have to watch it did they?

This was swiftly followed in 2009 by possibly the most heartbreaking of all the Pixar films, UP. Honestly if you don’t cry when you watch the first 15 minutes of that film you have no heart and it would be best if you and I go our separate ways.

 UP moved easily between the heartbreak that would mean so much to the adults at the beginning, to the crazy and colourful world of South America that the children would respond to, especially the talking dogs. Ok so the grown-ups responded pretty well to the talking dogs as well.

Dreamworks have had their successes too. Apart from Shrek 1&2 they have triumphed with a martial arts bear (Kung Fu Panda 1&2), and Madagascar 1&2 – although I put that success mostly down to the amazing Penguins. Likewise Universal’s animated effort, Despicable Me, had huge success because it blended the cute (small orphan obsessed with unicorns) with the crazy (minions who are small, yellow, speak in their own language, and are obsessed with bananas).

And this is what we expect from our children’s movies. It has to be cute, it has to be intelligent, it cannot talk down to our children but it cannot ignore them completely in an effort to please the grown-ups. Films that have failed to cross that boundary of childish to child-friendly have failed to set the box office alight.

Luckily for Pixar their latest offering has pleased critics across the board. Brave is a Scottish set, female empowered movie with breathtaking animation (from what I’ve seen from the trailer) that by all means is meaningful and funny to all ages. Introducing the world to the beauty of Scotland and the joy of the Scottish accent I cannot wait to see it.

Pixar and John Lasseter forced the world of children’s movies to step up, and I for one am glad they did. Children should not be treated like idiots and their parents should not be forced to watch mediocre films at extortionate prices. However critics need to remember that first and foremost these films are for children, although they may not make the grown-ups laugh constantly I’d bet any small person would be delighted with the offering on screen. So don’t be so mean to Monsters Inc film critics, it is DELIGHTFUL.