Focus film- The Incrdibles

Helen: Now it's perfectly normal...
Violet: [interrupting] Normal? What do *you* know about normal? What does *anyone* in *this* family know about normal?
Helen: Now wait a minute, young lady...
Violet: We act normal, mom! I want to *be* normal! The only normal one is Jack-Jack, and he's not even toilet trained!

Ive chosen The Incredibles as my chosen film because of the charcter development and interaction.
This film surrounds the "human world" unlike most pixar films which look at insects, toys, robots etc. It follws the Parrs, a five member superhero family tring to adopt civilian identities and live a "normal life" in the suberbs. Bob Parr, formally known as Mr Incredible was forced to retreat from superhero duties to work for an insurance company. Bob miserable at his job, still finds a way to help citizens by finding loopholes etc but it wasnt filling his superhero abilities so he went back to be a crime fighter.
Helen Parr (Elastigirl),Bobs wife, setted down in suberbia with their three kids Violet, Dash, and baby Jack-Jack. The family behave and conform to a typical family which makes them relatable to audiences; Violet is a shy insecure teenage girl who cannot talk to her her crush, Dash the annoying younger brother who gets into a trouble with the principal,Bob is stuck in a dead end job wanting something more, and Helen the curvy housewife and mother. Even at dinner they find a way of irritating on another.
" "

[ clip of dinner table scene]
Their powers, super and family orientated, are put to the test when teaming up to fight the villian Syndrome! These superheroes are not immortal and have to deal with real world day to day problems. They are not like the supers from comics or cartoons. They are real people who wont get back up and save the day, they can die.
Minor characters in Pixar Films always have an impact on audiences.
Bob's friend and co-superhero Frozone (Samuel L Jackson),Costume Designer Edna Mode (Brad Bird)and also a young boy on a bike who although only makes two appearances in the film, is a funny and memorable.

Are Pixar and Dreamworks too similar?

A BUGS LIFE (Nov 1998) / ANTZ (Oct 1998)
Similarities:Small ant trying to make a big difference for his colony, falls in love with the princess ant, battle to save the day. I think these two films have the most in common compared to these other examples.
Differences: Z's romantic interest with Princess Bala plays a bigger part in the movie compares to Flik and Atta in Bugs life. Flik and co charcters have a more cuddly appeal (child-friendly and marketable).

FINDING NEMO( May 2003)/ A SHARKS TALE (Oct 2004)
Similarities:Little fish in the big see, battling scary sharks who are in fact friendly.
Differences: Marvin(nemo) raises awareness in the community to find his son.Oscar(sharks tale)raises awareness to advance his own reputation.

RATATOUILLE (Jun 2007)/ FLUSHED AWAY(Nov 2006)
Similarities:Rats who lose their home on land and end up in the sewers
Differences: Remy has a passion for gourmet french food. No love interest.

MONSTERS INC (Nov 2001)/ SHREK (May 2001)
Similarities: Scary monsters who are soft on the inside, save the girl, both have entertaining sidekicks.
Differences: Shrek is in the style of a fairytale with multiple exhisting characters. The monsters are doing their daily job in a different realm.

Shrek Investiagtion

I personally believe that Shrek (2001)is the film that gained the closet success and qualities of a Pixar film. Shrek "helped establish Dreamworks as a prime competitor to Pixar in the field of feature film animation."
The Main character, Shrek, was an ogre who is in no way perfect and feared by villagers and fairytale creatures.Similarly to Pixar, the main charcter isnt a perfect character, and do not fit into their homeworld, but somehow they are realatable. (like Flik from bugs life, Walle the robot etc)
I think that Dreamworks tend to concentrate on the overall visual look of the film and effects used, whereas Pixar needs and has a solid story first and then apply their technical magic!
It's important to note that Shrek wasn't an original idea founded from Dreamworks writers, but a children's book Shrek! by William Steig, suggesting that the films success derived from someone elses story. The book was handed to Dreamworks co-founder Jefferey Katzenberg by Lizzie Macdonald co-head of Dreamworks. The Story stood out to Katzenberg because its an aytpical Fairytale. There were no dashing princes, singing animals or virtuous princesses, but a large Scottish ugly ogre. Katzenberg saw "irrevernce, humour,and a wonderful heart." He knew this Ogre would appeal to audiences, children and adults.

" The other part of Katzenberg's idea was equally challenging : using CG technoglogy to transform Shrek from the static world of the page into a hihjly relaistic 3-D world that onlycomputer generated animation was capable of producing "The Story itself was sort of a fractured fairy tale." says Katzenberg.
"Yet as impressive as CG aniamtion was at the time, it was still a relatively new art form. It had significant limitations, including a rather sterile "CG look" to settings and backgrounds, as well as human characters of limited mobility or expressiveness. Pixar's Toy Story , considered by many at PDI/Dreamworks to be the new Snow White of CG aniamtion, exploited these limitations brilliantly, with its relatively simple toy characters set against a visuallly striking, but bleak, suburban environment. "

"But there was something deeper to shrek as a character that the creators were still struggling with "I think the hardest part was how do you make a big,gree,stinky, ogre somebody an audience can fall in love with." In the end, these movies if they work , connect with the audience because they're allegories. The challlenge here was to create a charcter how enough dimension and complexity, so that we recognise that Shrek's journey is, in fact all our journeys...I'm fond of saying theres a little ogre in all of us, whether we want to admit it or not."

-Shrek From the Swamp To The Screen- John Hopkins.