In my opinion, this film can only be regarded as Pixar’s top-of-the-range work (three-and-a-half-star), not as good as the previous two years of "Spirit of the Mind" (this is at the end of Pixar, which is the first class. I personally think that Pixar is the best The classics are the toy trilogy, Wali, Flying House, Superman, Gourmet), which is a little higher than "Undersea 2".
I can also verify my opinion from the quite authoritative Metacritic website (this website collects the comments and scores of many famous British and American media and film critics)-the media/film critic score of "Dream of Dreams" on this website is 80 , It’s already pretty good, but it’s far from the previous classics of Pixar:
"Toy Story" 95
"Bugs" 78
Toy Story 2 88
Monsters Inc. 78
Finding Nemo 90
"The Incredibles" 90
"Cars" 73
"Food Story" 96
"Robot Story" 95
Travels around the Flying House 88
Toy Story 3 92
Secret Service 94
At least 9 or more Pixar works have a higher evaluation than "Dream of Dreams". It can be seen that this film with a score of less than 85 is already at Pixar's mid-level, and the remaining scores of "Undersea 2", "Racing 2 and 3", "Monster University", and "Brave" etc. are just waiting.
There have been many answers and analysis on the outstanding aspects of the film, such as the display of Mexican culture, such as strong sensational ability, such as presenting the world of the undead with a bright and dynamic aesthetic style, and the similarity of Chinese Taoism displayed behind this aesthetic style." The life-and-death concept of “one death and life” expresses the theme of “death is not terrible, but what is terrible is being forgotten by the one loved”... etc.
Let's talk about the shortcomings and problems of the film. That is why the film failed to reach the classic level of Pixar.
First of all, the story of this film is very mediocre and routine. It is nothing more than a teenager who insists on pursuing the ultimate dream come true-"Flying House and Travels" is also this way, but its story has many novelties, especially the relationship between young and old. The relationship between the protagonist and the adventurer, the metaphors of the big bird and the dog, etc. The final flip and ending of "Up" are smooth. After rich and meticulous preparation, the theme is not simply the so-called "persistence in pursuing dreams can succeed". Something that smells like chicken soup. And "Looking for a Dream" seems very thin on the story line, especially in this "love of music and finally let the opposing family accept themselves" story, the final key turning point is not completed by the power of music (because of singing to grandma After the song, the family immediately changed the family's attitude towards music over the years? This is too casual...)! Music has become an embellishment in this film. At the end of the film, the decisive factor for the boy to complete the adventure is not by himself, but by the open-hanging grandma's alebrije mount to solve the bad guys and complete the mission-you will find that at the last moment, the boy basically has no effect...
The image of the boy protagonist is actually a bit thin. In addition to his love for music and his dreams, you can hardly find any unique charm of his character, and there are no details to support the rich character creation. This is similar to Pixar’s classic "Toy Story" Hu Dibass Lightyear, Sullivan in "Monsters Electric Company", Malin Dolly in "Finding Nemo" and even Wali, McQueen and other vivid characters are completely incomparable! Almost the most nonexistent protagonist in Pixar's works in recent years. Pixar, who is known for polishing scripts, came up with such a book. I am not satisfied.
Some people will say: You didn't understand at all, this film is not about dreams, but about family relationship/family or death/forgotten! You see, the title is "Coco" instead of "Xun Meng"! That’s right, the film is a nested structure of two stories. One is a story about the boy’s pursuit of music dreams and his family is separated from his family. Stories in the memories of loved ones. What's incomprehensible to such a clear and simple commercial cartoon? The problem is that the three themes of dreams, affection, and death have not been fully addressed! The first story, the pursuit of dreams, seems very thin. Compare with Pixar’s own type of "Flying House" and "Food", you will find that the latter two are very hierarchical, rich in plot, and ups and downs through multiple conflicts. To shape the characters and promote the story, and finally let the audience deeply understand the theme. The theme of death/forgotten is a great entry point, but unfortunately it did not become the focus of the film, and the performance was too little, just Yoshimitsu Kataba. For example, the first time we saw the touch when the undead disappeared, does this character have a connection with the audience? no. It's just an instinctive sigh when you see this kind of thing. More is the impact of death and disappearance itself. A good story not only involves a certain topic, but also presents it richly, asks it, and expounds it. The overall presentation of the theme of this film is very straightforward and shallow, and it has not been explored in depth. We can compare with Jin Min’s "Red Pepper", Miyazaki's "Princess Mononoke" or "Song of the Sea", and you will find that "Red Pepper" explores in depth and detail what is real and what is illusion. , People’s deepest desires and dreams, etc.; "Princess Mononoke" also has a non-superficial explanation of the opposition between nature and human industrial culture; "Song of the Sea" is a very clever connection between cultural demise and personal memory. stand up. Compared with these classic cartoons, the performance of family love, death, etc. in "Dream Travels" is indeed more superficial, lacking a deep and long aftertaste.
The premise of this film's story is actually problematic: Grandpa Grandpa ran away from home for music, which was originally an irreparable wrong behavior, especially leaving young children. And the film did not presume that he was forced to do so in desperation. As a last resort, in order to reverse the plot and create the final family carnival ending, the bad guys poisoned the music in order to occupy the music, such a very extreme and even bizarre plot. There are many unreasonable points in thinking about it carefully. In the end, this Hector did nothing to remedy his fault (only one song can prove his love for the child, but this is too passive in the plot), the film just uses some dialogue and other plots to promote Just let the story go down in a hurry, this is where the script is more problematic.
The sensational effect of this film is quite obvious. When I watched the movie, I did hear that many audiences around me started crying at the end-but this is neither a criterion for evaluating the quality of a movie, nor does it conform to Pixar's usual pursuit. In the past, Pixar was always more restrained in sensationalism, but Disney cartoons are more "unrestrained" in this regard. If you take a closer look, the ending sensational climax is when the boy sings to his grandma. Unfortunately, this sensationalism is basically not an emotional climax promoted by the plot. It is more like George Lucas once said: "I know how to impress the audience. , Killing a kitten on the screen can make the audience cry, but I don’t want to do it” (to the effect). I prefer the mixed flavors created by Pixar movies before, often sentimental and long, full of power and thought-provoking atmosphere, such as the feeling of McQueen when he is about to leave the water tank spa town in "Cars", such as " The scenes in Toy Story when the toys find themselves abandoned by the owner, such as the moment when the islands of good memories in the protagonist’s mind in "Brain Agents" collapse...
Finally, talk about Pixar's consistently excellent graphics. The feeling this film gave me is: good, but not particularly brilliant. Pixar once used "Toy Story" to lead the trend of 3D animation. In "Monsters Electric Company", the hair was made amazing, so that the lifeless cars in "Cars" have personality and expressions, and "Finding Nemo" The water effect is both real and beautiful, and the night of Paris in "Food Story" is even more intoxicating... Although the city of the dead in this film is beautiful, the expressions of the dead are also very realistic and interesting, but the overall feeling is not very good. The difficulty of a big breakthrough is not very high. In contrast, Disney has made considerable progress in recent years in terms of story, theme, and image performance. The CG performance of snow in "Frozen" has a very high standard, and "Crazy Zoo" is almost perfect in terms of scenes, character expressions, light and shadow. Comparing the world of the undead and the rich and diverse environment of the Zoological City in this film, I personally think that Pixar is not surpassed, or even slightly inferior.
Perhaps it should be true: Pixar is more and more like the original Disney, and Disney is more and more like Pixar back then...
PS last reminder: Although this film is also PG, it is not completely suitable for children to watch like Pixar's previous films, and it is not the same as "Monster Electric Company". Some children will feel uncomfortable or even scared when seeing the image of the undead (this does not negate its artistic value). I hope that parents will pay attention to this!
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