The Brilliance of Pixar

I only realized a few short months ago that Mr. Incredible in Walt Disney/Pixar's The Incredibles (my favorite Pixar film) was voiced by Craig T. Nelson, best known for his role on the TV series Coach during the late 80's and early 90's. Then I realized that other than the woman who voices Violet in that same movie (I can't remember her name right now, though I can picture her), I have no idea who voices any of the characters. (I take that back, I know that the director, Brad Bird, voices the character of Edna)

Then I thought about other Pixar movies. I know that Larry the Cable guy voices Mater in Cars and Owen Wilson voices Lightning McQueen in the same movie and Paul Newman plays Doc Hudson, but other then those few people, I have no idea who any of the characters are in real life.

I don't remember exactly when I found out that Tom Hanks or Tim Allen were in Toy Story, or that Jim Varney was the slinky dog and John Ratzenburger the pig, Ham. All I know is that I had no idea who played the characters in the movie until far after I had actually seen the movie.

I am a huge movie buff who prides himself on being able to remember movies and the people in movies, so I was actually surprised when I thought about all of Pixar's movies and the relatively few actors that I actually knew from their films. And this, I believe, is the true genius that is Pixar. They make their films so very well that the actors truly disappear into their roles (a phrase that I usually find reprehensible and overly artistic when actors talk about their live action roles that way, it just seems to me to sound stupid, like what they're doing is so complicated that no one else could do it and they are so special because they can disappear into a character) and you don't even think about the people behind the voices. All you think about are the characters, and you don't even think of them as characters, you think of them as people...or whatever else they are in that particular movie. You think of Nemo as Nemo and Dory as Dory. You don't think of them as Ellen DeGeneres and...okay, I don't know who voiced Nemo, but you literally only think of them as Nemo and Dory.

This is a thing that is truly remarkable for an animation studio today, when every big animation release is pumped up to be the biggest thing in the world and every voice in it is talked about in previews and marketing materials for the movie (that's how I know the actors in Cars. If it weren't for interviews on the Tonight Show I don't think even I'd know anyone in it). I just find it amazing that they are able to do what they have done with all of their movies, which is literally make something that no one else could have made, and make it in such a way that you are hooked from the very first second of the film to the very last. That is movie magic, something that I think has been lost in recent years.

I also think that it is very much worth noting that this is an even bigger accomplishment because an animated film is a group effort, something that I think is sometimes forgotten when you think about an animated film. So, this accomplishment of making something so wonderful to experience that you forget who the people behind the characters are is really deepened by the realization that this wonderful illusion that you are throwing yourself into was created by 100-300 people. That's just mind blowing if you think about it for awhile. And, when you do think about it, you'll then realize that Pixar is a really special studio.

What they have done is something that few actors have ever done. In fact there are only two that I can think of right off of the top of my head. The first is Johnny Depp. You cannot imagine anyone other then him portraying Edward Scissorhands or Jack Sparrow. He disappears into a role so very well that watching him is just...amazing. Sure he has a similar voice in all of his projects (that's just kind of unavoidable) and he is easily recognizable (most of the time) but just a little bit into the movie you get past the part where you recognize him as Johnny Depp, and then you only think about him in terms of the character. The other actor that I can think of is Tom Hanks. I own several of his films, and in each one I am truly amazed at how he seems to be a completely different person. In Road to Perdition he's a father who works for the mob and decides to get revenge when his wife and child are killed. In The Terminal he's a middle-aged, chunky, foreigner who lives in an airport and eats crackers smeared with ketchup and mayonnaise. In Catch Me If You Can he's an FBI agent with a slight (and funny) accent, who is divorced and has one daughter. In Big he's a little kid in an adult's body. In Saving Private Ryan he's an English teacher turned soldier and forced into situations way beyond what he thinks he could ever handle. In none of these movies is he Tom Hanks. In all of these movies, he is truly the character that he is playing to the point that you sometimes forget that it is him.

This, I think, is the ultimate compliment for an actor, and so therefore it is the ultimate compliment for the group of 100-300 people who make each Pixar project truly come alive.