Photo courtesy of Pixar
Since the release of their first full length film in 1995, Disney’s Pixar Studios has been pumping out a number of commercially successful family movies. In addition to their light-hearted humor, Pixar instills messages and lessons that some view as crucial to childhood development and make it recognizable with characters and songs that act the part.
2015 is no different with the arrival of “Sanjay’s Super Team,” a new short film coming from the studio. Directed by animator Sanjay Patel, “Sanjay’s Super Team” is the studio’s first film drawing influence from Hindu religion.
Patel has stated that he found inspiration in the conflict of his adolescence and obsession with superheroes and his family’s Hindu tradition. The short film follows a young boy daydreaming about Hindu gods and superheroes as his father sits next to him doing his religious meditation, boring the young boy.
Freshman Carlie Viemann said, “It’s great and about time that the studio finally incorporates different ethnicities and cultures into their films.” This is the first Pixar film to openly touch on religion and faith.
Along with “Sanjay’s Super Team,” Pixar will be releasing their long anticipated new film, “The Good Dinosaur,” on Nov. 25. The studio’s 15th film, directed by Peter Sohn, has been in development for quite some time and until a few months ago was kept under wraps.
Taking place in an alternate timeline in which Earth was never hit with the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs, “The Good Dinosaur” tells the story of a young Apatosaurus trying to find his way home, a common theme in Pixar films.
At this year’s D23 Expo in Anaheim, California, Pixar also announced a slew of new films and sequels to fan favorites including “Toy Story 4,” “The Incredibles 2,” “Cars 3” and a “Finding Nemo” spinoff entitled “Finding Dory.” With sequels getting their announcements, fans of the older generation who grew up with the original films have been showing great excitement for the upcoming releases.
College-aged students around the nation are excited for these announcements because their beloved childhood movies are coming back to the big screen with new stories after years in dormancy.
Conor Garvey, freshman, said, “I grew up loving ‘The Incredibles’ and making a sequel now after all these years just goes to show how beloved it was. I can’t wait to finally see it on the big screen again.”
It appears as though students are also excited at the prospect of another movie in the universe of “Finding Nemo.” A movie that many millennials grew up with in 2003, “Finding Nemo” played a defining role in both children’s comedy as well as modern animation, taking place primarily underwater.
Now, the so-called sequel, “Finding Dory,” is slotted for release in 2016. Following the fan favorite blue tang Dory as she tries to find her family off the coast of California and directed by Andrew Stanton, “Finding Dory” is sure to be a big ticket movie when released in June of 2016.
“I really enjoyed ‘Finding Nemo’ and I think a movie about the same universe, but focused around Dory would be pretty interesting; the prospect of a sequel to ‘Finding Nemo’ is just exciting by itself,” said Dan McElrone, a freshman.
This further proves that even 13 years after the original film’s release, a sequel is still just as exciting as it would have been three years after its release. Pixar is known to draw large crowds, whether young or old, and these new titles and sequels will surely be no different. Pixar will be packing theaters over the next few years.
jfishma2@ramapo.edu
