For more than fifteen years, Pixar has represented the gold standard in computer generated films. Since the studio's early days of making groundbreaking short films to producing Oscar-winning feature-length movies, Pixar has become a brand associated with quality animation and adorable characters. There have been some bumps along the road, from a love-hate-owner relationship with Disney to some questionable sequels, but few studios can boast such a consistent level of quality and innovation. This week, Pixar will be releasing its 13th full-length feature, Brave, with an entire new cast of characters different from any other Pixar film. This gives us a chance to look into Pixar's past and remember some of the favorite characters from their films.
Luxo Jr.Not everyone has seen this loveable short film from the mid-80s. Along with The Adventures of Andre and Wally B. in 1984, Red's Dream in 1987, and Tin Toy in 1988, Luxo Jr. was one of the earliest creations of the studio from the 1980s. This two-minute film shows a desk lamp and its awkwardly cute child playing ball. There's no dialogue at all, and there's no faces to show expression. Yet, the adorable little computer-generated lamp had enough personality to make its way to become part of the Pixar logo. Luxo Jr. was given a theatrical run ahead of Toy Story 2 in 1999, but Pixar fans had seen him for years at the head of every Pixar movie made before and since.
Buzz LightyearSo many of the most beloved characters in the Pixar universe come from its flagship film, Toy Story. Like Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Toy Story showed it was possible to not just make a full-length CGI animated film, but to also tell one of the most endearing stories ever. Representing the way science fiction characters overran traditional Western heroes of the past, Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Tim Allen during his Home Improvement days) offered the perfect mix of arrogance, honor, and humanity. And he was just a toy, for crying out loud. A child's play thing! Still, he was critical to the development of the plot in Toy Story 2 as well as his own 2D animated series. Plus, his catchphrase "To infinity and beyond!" has become part of our cultural lexicon...