Two years ago, Pixar, who had been questioned by its ability to innovate because of its frequent sequels, once again succeeded in winning the title with its brilliant performance in "Dream Quest".
Two years later, Pixar once again swept in with its latest original animated film, "1/2 magic", this time the film was even better than many critics expected, with a freshness rating of 87% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 95% audience rating.
However, after the film's official release, the $40 million first-weekend box office was a big surprise.
Although such box office results have made "1/2 Magic" successfully win the first weekend box office, compared with the first weekend box office results of "Captain Marvel" released in the same period last year, "Captain Marvel" exceeded 150 million US dollars, and the box office of "1/2 Magic" after its release was really dismal.
Movies will even face the embarrassing situation of not being able to fully recover their costs.
The huge gap between word of mouth and box office has made many self-media begin to sneer at this movie, and some people even use "new work to hit the street" and "Pixar is not ok" as article titles to directly rebuke the various problems of the movie.
But to be fair, is the movie really that bad? Is there another hidden reason for the huge gap between word of mouth and box office? What kind of new thinking can this film provide for Pixar's future filmmaking?
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="01" > released for two weeks and exited</h1>
In its first week of release, "One-second Magic" barely grossed $40 million in North America and only $68 million worldwide.
After experiencing the bombardment of superhero genre movies and sci-fi commercial blockbusters, today's young American audiences are not as enthusiastic about Pixar's new works even for "not out of the way, out of the boutique" in previous years.
Coupled with the continued impact of the new crown epidemic, many viewers are actually opposed to going to high-risk indoor entertainment venues such as movie theaters.
Although recent news has often reported strong opposition and protest from many groups and politicians against the government's ban and reduction of outdoor activities in the name of democracy and freedom, and even some people still stubbornly regard the virus as a seasonal flu and political conspiracy theories, objectively speaking, many ordinary people in the United States have been highly vigilant since the outbreak of the epidemic in the United States.
Judging from various factors and relevant data, the box office failure of "1/2 Magic" is not so much the reason for the film itself, but rather the untimely.
With excellent pre-release platform ratings, professional media reviews and audience responses, the film, like many film works released at the same time, showed a sharp decline in the box office.
Judging from these data, this is not just a matter of the quality of a movie, but a turbulent shuffle of the entire film industry.
In the first week of the global box office is only more than 60 million US dollars, it has become a distant illusion to break even or even make a profit with box office revenue.
So it's not hard to understand why Pixar decided decisively and quickly to launch the film on streaming on-demand platforms just two weeks after the film's release.
Since the box office performance of movies has been affected by many reasons, it is difficult to become a key factor in judging the success of commercial films, so the data of streaming media platforms will not lie, right?
Needless to say, the achievement of "1/2 Magic" on the streaming platform is not only beyond the previous obscurity, but also beyond the expectations of many people in the industry.
Statistics from Amazon's streaming platform show that "1/2 of magic" achieved the sixth place in the most viewer viewing chart in the first week of the streaming platform's launch. On the iTunes rankings, "1/2 Magic" has become the animation masterpiece second only to DreamWorks' "Trolls 2".
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, many schools have been closed, and businesses and factories have been shut down on a large scale, making it possible for families to spend more time together at home and watch movies. For families with young children, a family-friendly animated film like 1/2 Magic is undoubtedly the best choice.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="02" > the bondage of affection</h1>
Judging from the storyline, although "1/2 magic" is not as amazing as "Dream Quest" a few years ago, it is not mediocre.
Like many of Pixar's works, 1/2 Magic still focuses on the theme and focus of the story on family and growth.
At the beginning of the story, the younger brother Ian, voiced by Tom Holland, is full of fear and timidity about the real world and family life, and even falls into social phobia, always in a lonely situation that no one understands.
In his view, the lack of the role of the father makes his growth full of regrets, and has always become an insurmountable obstacle in his heart.
The older brother voiced by "Star Lord" Chris Pratt is no different from the completely introverted younger brother, who is outgoing and grins at things and talks. And used to accompany and take care of this weak and unambitious brother around him.
On the day of Ian's sixteenth birthday, Mom took out the mysterious gifts her father had left behind—her long-lost wand and phoenix gem.
Combining these two things with the right spell can bring the deceased father back to the real world for a day.
However, an accident shattered the brothers' dreams, and in order to fulfill their wish to reunite with their father, the brothers mistakenly embarked on a mysterious and unknown journey.
While showing the magical side of the film, it also gradually leads to the true core of the story.
The brothers embark on a long journey to fulfill their desire to reunite with their father, but they are not compatible with each other's personalities, but they inevitably have differences and entanglements in the adventure of finding gems, and the older brother who loves magical history and is full of adventure and the younger brother who is single-mindedly trying to reunite with his father, where should they go at the end of the story?
Overall, Pixar's innovative elements this time are obviously not enough, but even such a cheesy search story is still played by it.
At the beginning of the movie, Ian is a socially phobia boy who will feel red in the face even when inviting classmates to a birthday party, and he is full of inferiority and helplessness.
But as the story continues to develop, with the company and encouragement of his brother, Ian gradually overcomes the inexplicable fear in his heart and learns to open his heart and face the world and face life with confidence.
In Ian's original view, without his father's company, support and encouragement, he could never become the person he wanted to be, but in fact, he did not necessarily need his father's support and encouragement to become the person he had always wanted to be.
With the company, encouragement and support of his brother, he has long grown into the person who is full of courage and dares to challenge reality.
And the big grinning, straightforward brother is also in the adventure with the younger brother, and finally realized the importance of sticking to himself and cherishing family affection.
The character's self-growth is the most important part of the film, and from this point of view, "1/2 magic" is similar to that year's "Finding Nemo", not so much that the brothers in the movie are looking for the opportunity to reunite with their fathers, but rather looking for themselves.
When it comes to family affection, our first reaction is undoubtedly that the blood between parents and children that cannot be cut off is thicker than water, but in fact, the deep friendship between brothers and sisters is also an important part of family affection.
At the end of the movie, when Ian looks back at his wish list, he looks at it from a different perspective, and the things he wants to accomplish with his father have been completed by his brother in the short and long journey.
Although Ian lost his father at an early age, at the same time his brother gave him infinite love.
Those who have passed away will no longer come, and those who have it must know how to cherish it.
At the end of the movie, Ian gradually begins to understand his brother's care for himself, and finally opens up the unbreakable wall of his heart, learning to live in the moment and cherish the relatives he has in front of him.
The fear and cowardice of the past are also gone under the inspiration of love.
Many viewers may say after watching the film that nothing seems to have changed, and that the brothers, who have experienced a brief encounter with their father, continue their lives.
In the bland plot, there is no obvious use of the concept of "broken mirror and reunion" in previous works of the same type, and many people regard it as a major failure of the film, but I think this is a particularly valuable point of this film.
Because in the real world day after day of life, where there are so many feelings that need to be repaired, more are the family affection that gradually fades in the ordinary life, but still adheres.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="03" > magic and technology, reality and fantasy</h1>
In addition to the main story of the brothers, the film also conducts a certain realistic discussion of the stark contrast between the magical world and the modern city - is it worth it to give up all the beauty of the past for efficiency and convenience?
At the beginning of the story, the world is full of magical powers, such as wizards with wands, flying dragons, galloping centaurs, and dancing elves.
However, with the development of science and technology, the power of magic has gradually been lost, and people have completely forgotten the good times of the past by relying on the power of modern technology.
A centaur police officer with a big belly, a pixie who can't fly but only rides a motorcycle, and a griffin beast that has lost its nature in the kitchen of the restaurant... The emergence and transformation of these characters makes the whole story have an extra layer of realistic meaning beyond the theme of family affection.
Although people in the real world do not have the power of magic, the beauty of life that once belonged to the old era has disappeared under the wrapping of modern technology, and those quiet years filled with birds and flowers, green fields and cherry blossoms have forever become the history in books in the rise of modern technology and industrial civilization.
In the journey of the brothers in pursuit of themselves, the griffin beasts, centaurs, and elves that were accidentally affected also began to awaken themselves——— why do they still have to use a car with a strong four hooves? Why do you have wings but you have to ride a motorcycle? Why is there an incomparable power to be mediocre in the back kitchen?
A good ending also seems to be the creator's expectation for the future of the real world, technology can not go backwards, but human beings still have the opportunity to choose, technology and magic, past and present, efficiency and beauty are not completely tit-for-tat.