It's good. It isn't a home run, but it's good for one or two bases

Rating: 8/10 (8 June 2006)

I enjoyed this movie very much. I also plan to see this again. Lasseter and Pixar have both given me years of pleasure, so I think they deserve my honest opinion, though I'm not a voice that can sway the opinion of thousands (I think I can influence two, my sons, but even my authority there is not that secure). So while I DID enjoy the movie, there is a "but", and I'm stating this but because I do care, and because I do hope that Lasseter (and Pixar) would go on and do better things, because, in a nutshell, I think they have, and I think they should try again, though in the next movie.
So far, I think my favorite Pixar movie is The Incredibles, and the reason for that might be attributable to bringing in an outsider, Brad Bird, to write and direct it.
Since it's John Lasseter's first chance to direct since Toy Story 2, I think he learned one thing from his friend Brad and his idol, Miyazake, and it's the wrong thing too. He learned to make his movie longer.
The difference is, Bird's tale is pretty epic, with an out-sized villain, a flawed hero and his fantastic four family, and inspired supporting characters (I wanna be Edna Mode!).
Miyazake also has plenty to tell and his movies don't feel tedious. In fact they're perfectly paced at two hours, usually thirty or more minutes longer than typical American animated movies.
I don't know but I suspect Lasseter here had the same problem Jackson had with Kong. It's a labor of love and no one was about to tell them to their face, no, this or that decision is wrong.
I think they should take more risks. Incredibles was risky, but over time it still seems conservative, almost a safe bet. It's the least Pixar of the Pixars and it has plenty of things that make it not just my favorite Pixar, my favorite animated film, but also my favorite Superhero film, whether live or animated.
Miyazake, it can be argued, has not been taking risks lately, recycling characters and designs from previous movies. However, his latest, Howl's Moving Castle, has plenty to say about old age, and that's not a very commercial idea. His Spirited Away might rehash his usual themes of flight, pro-environmentalism, thinking of enemies as not-enemies, but I can't deny he still tells the story with exhilaration, as if he just woke up to these ideas the day before. He hasn't made a tired, "phoned in" movie yet. Before that, his Hime Mononoke is angry and violent, a protest against how we people think of the world as our personal toilet and concubine, to abuse as we see fit.
The variety of his stories have decreased. Critics would say he's lost his nerve. I would interpret it as being more "focused".
Lasseter, of the oddball humor, the perfectly paced story and the gentle, idiosyncratic characters, will have to reach further and risk his box office appeal if he wants to take the next step and grow as an artist.