[OC] John Lasseter Apology Form
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I did some research because that comment didn't make sense to me at first. Don't be too quick in siding with the mouse.
Disney bought the rights to a novella in 1982. Lasseter wanted to make a CGI version, but Disney said no because CGI wasn't faster or cheaper and fired him. Disney was going to make it for $18m and then decided to finance an independent production and gave Hyperion $5.94m to make it.
Seems Disney's contribution was saying, "why do something new unless it's more profitable," slashing 2/3 the budget, and punting it to a fledgling studio. The did keep it from being CGI though.
And it's aged better than any CGI movie.
Progress ages poorly. Tradition becomes vintage.
The original Toy Story looks dated in some aspects (especially Sid's dog), and Bug's Life looks very dated in the daytime shots, but other than those, I'd say their 5 film run from TS2 through to Cars still hold up today, aesthetically and narratively. They don't have grossly exaggerated details like their modern contemporaries do.
Ratatouille and to a far greater extent WALL-E is where the obnoxious beanmouthing starts, as well as the more subversive meanings of their later output (i.e. you don't matter goy, you won't achieve your dreams, don't be prejudiced, everyone dies some day) start to shine through. And it's hardly a surprise because that's when Lasseter started becoming less involved and Bird, Stanton and Docter took over. By Up, it's basically a straight line from there to their current movies.
Cars 2, as kid-oriented as it was, was probably the last "fun" Pixar movie that didn't have some sinister subtext to it.