It has been well-established in my family that I have began a love-hate relationship with Pixar. My family is so enamored with Pixar that I actually felt I was the only sane person who see faults in Pixar's recent slide in quality.
YMMV, but I think the slide in quality actually started from Toy Story 3. In my opinion, it's Lion King of Pixar. It's overrated. It has many faults and I felt underwhelmed unlike the previous two films. Lion King is good but it's not great like everyone is depicting it as. People thought the quality loss is actually Cars 2, but for me, TS3.
Just hear me out.
Toy Story 3 - I have lots of problem with the film and it certainly doesn't help that it's overrated like hell. In a nutshell, too many side characters when a script can only handle an adequate amount, supporting characters turned to one-liners/comic relief, no subtlety in the end, repetition of themes & plot, not taking chances and not a really good villain with a not really good back-story. The back-story doesn't make sense! Why is he running a dictatorship if he believes that his owner abandons him? Is he trying to watch all toys to keep them safe? When the toys wanted nothing but to be freed and be loved? If he really believes that, then he would be delusional and that he wants to keep the toys safe from abandonment which the plot is trying to get across. They didn't think through the situation as well. Why brainwash Buzz when the dictatorship is common knowledge? Let Andy's toys go because a new batch of poor toys would be victims instead. Andy's toys can rally and start a war. They can do something like what happened in Schindler's List. However, I can't bring myself to actively hate it, but rather you can say I do like it just a bit because it's Toy Story. I grew up with Toy Story and the fact that I was nostalgic despite how okay it is.
Cars 2 - Turned themes on its head. Good action but like TS3 doesn't think through enough situations. I like the agents and some of the racers but the premise of the film reminds me too much not of any dangerous spy films but of the parodies.
Brave - It's eh... The only good stuff is the relationship with the daughter/mother. It would have gone with the mythos like what HTTYD did. Too rushed and too clunky (anyone observing could see the cracks of which writer want to see to which). I don't think it deserve its Oscar, BAFTA, and Annie's or any award for that matter except its beautiful animation but not its story. I don't see Merida as truly courageous young woman; she thinks she is but she's still a naive child who thinks the world revolves around her.
The premise with the later films give me hope Pixar could at least maintain face value and show everyone that they do not run monopoly of CGI animation as does Disney run the traditional. Or Miyazaki running anime as a whole. Pixar will make a mistake because everyone is not perfect (I am looking at you, M Night. Shyamalan).
On another note, Dreamworks Animation and other animation studios, heck even recent Industrial Lights and Magic are good nowadays.
This is my opinion.
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