Should Pixar movies be classified as Disney canon?

[Jeikobu]

Ok, pretty trivial question here, but silly as it is it's been kind of bugging me: do you think Pixar movies should be paired with the other animated Disney films? I was looking at a Comcast list of their top picks for the best and worst animated Disney movies, and they included Pixar.

On the other hand, I had always thought of Pixar's stuff as being a separate category, even after Disney bought the company. Yeah, Disney distributes them, but how involved are they actually? Does Pixar do all the animating, writing, etc. and Disney just puts their label on it, or do are they involved enough that the movies should be put in the same category as Snow White, Lion King, and all the others?

Recently it was announced Merida was officially made a "Disney Princess" even though she is a Pixar character. Now Disney has even done "Planes" themselves, without Pixar, even though it is in the same world as "Cars". Disney and Pixar are really getting woven together. Should that affect how we categorize them?

Of course, it's not like we would consider "Avengers" a Disney film like we would other live-action stuff like "Parent Trap", "Enchanted", or "Mary Poppins". It's really more a Marvel Comics movie with Disney distribution, right? But what about Pixar?

[SWillie!]

Before all the zillion responses that are sure to come claiming blasphemy, I'll put my two sense in and say this: Pixar is a studio that, from the very beginning, has been carrying out Disney's legacy, oftentimes better than Disney has been able to themselves. While categorization would certainly get complicated if woven together, the Pixar films belong under the Disney name because of the people that made them.

Personally, it would take some getting used to, but I think we'd get over it eventually if they were to merge at some point in order to avoid confusion.

[not2foul]

Hey there. I don't normally post, I usually just like to lurk and read the posts, but just thought I would add my "2 cents" to this topic.

I think you both have made some very valid points, and with Lassetter now being in charge for more than 5 years, there definetly seems to be some of the same DNA being passed onto both studios. Pixar, from the early days, seemed to have mirrored what happened to the Disney studios, using shorts to test methods and hone the craft. Lassetter has similarity's to Walts creativity and leadership, and Pixar, in my opinion, had that Disney DNA from the start. (Also Snow White is credited as the first full length Animated movie, Toy Story the first CGI movie).

Pixar has now seemed to have influenced Disney after some pretty average movies in the 2000's, so in my mind, they seem to becoming the one studio, with different places of output. The fact of Merida being made a Disney Princess, the Disney Parks are full of the Pixar Characters, and to be totally honest, most consumers just sees Pixar and Disney movies made by the same studio. I have worked in music/movie retail for 20 years, and most people really don't know or understand the difference, I even have had conversations with "Disney Fans" and they call Toy Story or Up etc etc a Disney movie, so I think the general public really doesn't see a difference.

As Swillie! said "Pixar is a studio that, from the very beginning, has been carrying out Disney's legacy, oftentimes better than Disney has been able to themselves." which I totally agree with.

So with all that said, I think I would like to see a "Classic Walt Disney Pictures" list. I think the two studios need to keep there own canon, but I think there is room to have a different list, that combines the output, of the best of best. I've always found it a bit hard to understand how, say, the Package films are considered a "Classic" against Snow White or Cinderella or even Lion King, as much as love them, I still think there is big gap. Also how can Home On The Range or Chicken Little be considered classic against the likes of Aladdin Beauty and the Beast or even Tarzan?

So, my idea or thoughts would be making a separate list combining the studios to honor the outstanding movies that have come out of the 75 odd years of Disney pictures, and if it is used as a basis for home media (Dvd/Blu Ray etc) than all good.

So for starters, using the Disney Vault titles (Platinum/Diamond line) as a base you would have:

Snow White
Pinochhio
Fantasia
Bambi
Cinderella
Peter Pan
Lady and the Tramp
Sleeping Beauty
101 Dalmatians
Jungle Book
Little Mermaid
Beauty and the Beast
Aladdin
The Lion King

With Pixar I have used the Academy Awards wins as there base, and Toy Story being the first CGI:

Toy Story
Toy Story 2
Finding Nemo
The Incredibles
Ratatouille
Wall E
Up
Toy Story 3
Brave

So with that as a basis, I have now considered the different releases over the last 10-15 years of Dvd/Bluray, the "cult status" that some movies have obtained over the years, and just the general impression that I have seen and heard of how people see the movies in both canons. I'm certainly no expert, this is just based on my retail experience, listening to customers and also seeing how Disney themselves have released their movies, as an indication of how they see them. Of course it is all subjective isn't it?

So if you haven't fallen asleep yet, or moved onto another topic because you are bored this would be my "Walt Disney Pictures Classic Movie" list.

1937 Snow White
1940 Pinochhio
1940 Fantasia
1941 Dumbo
1942 Bambi
1950 Cinderella
1951 Alice In Wonderland
1953 Peter Pan
1955 Lady and the Tramp
1959 Sleeping Beauty
1961 101 Dalmatians
1964 Mary Poppins
1967 Jungle Book
1989 Little Mermaid
1991 Beauty and the Beast
1992 Aladdin
1993 Nightmare Before Christmas
1994 Lion King
1995 Toy Story
1998 Mulan
1999 Toy Story 2
1999 Tarzan
2003 Finding Nemo
2004 The Incredibles
2007 Ratatouille
2008 Wall E
2009 Up
2010 Toy Story 3
2012 Brave

So, if you're still with me you would notice I put Mary Poppins in the list. I see this as Walts shining moment, and in some ways his swan song before he passed on. The technology used was ahead of its time. There is animation, animatronics so for me it deserves to be considered classic in this context. Also, Nightmare Before Christmas, I think, has proven itself over time.
The cult status and sheer fanbase it has obtained, deserves to be considered a classic.

The criteria I think that should be used would be this. Firstly, if a movie recieves the Oscar that year, automatically should be part of the list. Then time would be the main factor, how does it hold up 10 years from now, is there a strong fan base? Cult following? Box Office hit? Strong home video sell through? So for me, it would be feesable for a title to be added 10 or more years after a release, even an older movie from the 50's or 60's due to a renewed fan base/following.

Titles that could possibly be added given time or even now: Lilo & Stitch, Tangled, Frozen (could be the start of something new for Disney, if Paperman short is anything to go by). Wreck it Ralph or even Frankenweenie? Song of the South?

Then, perhaps a title could be removed after a certain amount of time if no one seems to cares? Who knows, as I said it really is subjective, and this is just my ideas and thoughts. It will be interesting to see peoples thoughts on the list, and even come up with a better idea, but I think, moving forward, Disney and Pixar are becoming the one studio, and a list like this may be a way of marketing as an extended Diamond line, to make a collectable line for fans like us.

Well, thanks for humoring me, hope someone out there has some fun playing with the list, re-jigging it etc!!

Greg

[Jeikobu]

The problem is, which movies are considered greats really comes down to opinion. Someone may not like Bambi but think Home on the Range was a winner (not me, but I'm just saying, everyone is entitled to their own opinion). There's also the matter of the direct-to-home-media Disney sequels. Yeah, I think they are notably below the originals in quality all around, but Disney seems to consider them canon, often even packaging them with their predecessors. Starts to make for a long list.

I guess I'd have the same kind of question with Nightmare Before Christmas, etc. as with Pixar: are they really "Disney", or just Disney distributed?

[FigmentJedi]

Disney Canon should just be the Disney Animation Studios stuff. It's not that I'm one of those guys that thinks of Pixar as a separate entity from Disney, but I think Pixar should keep its own identity within the larger family of Disney's animation output.

[DC Fan]

Disney Canon should just be the Disney Animation Studios stuff. It's not that I'm one of those guys that thinks of Pixar as a separate entity from Disney, but I think Pixar should keep its own identity within the larger family of Disney's animation output.

Well said.

Pixar has established themselves as a formidable force in animation and movies in general. All on their own. So let them have their own identity.

[DisneyJedi]

Personally, I don't think so. That'd be like considering the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series and Mary Poppins as part of the canon.

[David S.]

I don't think they should be part of the numbered list of the "Disney Animated Classics" canon that begins with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and currently has Wreck It Ralph as the 52nd film in the series. That should be reserved exclusively for Walt Disney Animation Studios projects to maintain continuity and a direct link to the animation studio started by Walt himself.

BUT, I think the Pixar films deserve to be considered a part of the overall Disney "canon" in the broader sense. Their feature films have all been released by Walt Disney Pictures since the debut Toy Story, and most of the films and characters also have a presence in the Disney parks. And the Pixar films aspire to the same standards of quality family-friendly storytelling that the "Disney brand" has always been synonomous with.

IMO, Pixar is certainly more "Disney" than lots of things that are now part of the company simply through acquisition - things that had their own identity which had nothing to do with Disney aesthetically, LONG before Disney (the parent corporate company) bought them. (ie, ABC, ESPN, Marvel, etc)

[disneyftw1]

Seeing how Disney owns Pixar... nope. The Disney canon has always been mainly Disney material without the help of others. To have PIXAR part of the canon just seems a bit silly. (can't be as silly as... well... having Merida as part of the official Disney Princess chain! (facepalm))