Animated films are no longer childs play

by Tiana Stefanic 12 August 2010 22:23 Filmink Discusses

Another piece of magic from Pixar.

 

The massive success of Toy Story 3 goes to show that the animated film genre is making leaps and bounds in appealing to an increasingly wider audience of filmgoers who know they can expect excellent scripts, well-drawn characters and heartwarming endings.

The team behind the toys, Pixar Animation Studios, has consistently churned out quality films including Monsters Inc., The Incredibles, Cars, Wall-E and Up that are changing the perception (if anyone still holds it) that animated films are children's fare.

I have several theories about the widespread success of their most recent release....

Genre boundaries need not apply

Within the general structure of an adventure story about the enduring strength of friendship amongst a group of toys, the film uses elements of the western, horror, buddy comedy, romance and even the prison genre to enrich the story and entertain the audience. The knowing wink to adults who understand intertextual references that go over children's heads is indeed a hallmark of many animated films over the past few decades.

Nostalgia for childhood is a potent ingredient

The film's exploration of the journey that we must inevitably make from childhood to adulthood is easy to empathise with. It taps into the nostalgia that most people have for the simplicity of childhood, and it is made more potent by the fact that many young adults in the audience were children when the original Toy Story film was released in 1995.

That rare breed - a movie for the whole family

It is also nice to see that the film is not being shoved down the throat of a particular target market, and lacks the overt product placement or creepily mature child actors that youth-oriented films can tend to possess. It is a family movie in the truest sense of the term, and there are important lessons embedded in the story that resonate long after you've left the cinema.

Toys aren't just for kids

It is getting harder to define just what it means to be a 'grown-up'. The strong connection with toys and playtime that was once reserved for childhood is now a feature of everyday lives for many adults with a disposable income. The huge success of events like Comic-Con indicate that a strong interest in popular culture and all its associated paraphernalia like action figures, video games and costumes is thriving and that it's okay to play with toys long after you've left childhood behind.

Or maybe the simple reason for the film's success is that audiences would prefer to see plastic toys than plastic actors on the big screen.