ABSTRACT
In the United States, money is the standard of measurement for just about everything of value. If you have a lot of money, so goes the logic, you must necessarily have a lot of value. If you are broke, you must lack value because, if you had any value, you would be rich. It is a sick, destructive game of circular logic, and the new generation of animators must resist it. Just because a Pixar or DreamWorks movie earns a half-billion US dollars and is followed by six sequels, that does not mean it is any good. As you will see in the film deconstructions in this book, many financially successful movies are deeply flawed artistically and owe their success primarily to smart marketing. I recall a recent conversation I had with a Hollywood movie reviewer, during which I explained to him what is lacking in the Pixar movie Inside Out. He agreed with each point I made – no antagonist, a passive human lead character, illogical and coincidental plot transitions, and so on. And after he agreed with all that, he said, “Well, somehow Pixar took all that and made a classic movie out of it.” I said, “A classic? What on earth makes you think it is a classic?” “According to BoxOfficeMojo.com, it has made almost a billion dollars. A movie doesn’t make that kind of money unless it is great.” Sigh. . . .
