"A Bug's Life is as excellent as ever!"
This was the impression of all the audience at the premiere.
Elements like warmth, emotion, and humor were transformed into a work of art by the designers at Pixar Animation.
Jeffrey Katzenberg, the head of DreamWorks Animation, was the most astonished person.
As someone also dedicated to animation, no one realized more than him how high Pixar Animation's technical standards were.
Their excellent production quality, and their handling of water textures, fur, skin, lighting, and particles, were far ahead of the industry.
Steven Spielberg, standing beside him, said in a deep voice, "Jeffrey, can our animation studio's standards reach Pixar's level?"
"There's a gap," Jeffrey Katzenberg replied, shaking his head.
In fact, the gap in technical standards was far from the only reason DreamWorks Animation was inferior to Pixar.
Style!
That's right, it's style!
Pixar Animation, established for a long time, not only surpassed its peers in technical standards but had also formed its own unique style.
Warmth, emotion!
Looking at Pixar's development, whether it was the early Toy Story, the current A Bug's Life, or future films like Cars, all of them conveyed a strong sense of style!
In contrast, DreamWorks Animation was still in a period of confusion, in the exploration phase of "style."
In October 1998, DreamWorks Animation had just released Antz, an animated film that had grossed $1.3 billion worldwide to date.
Frankly speaking, it was quite excellent!
However...
Both external media and film audiences, after watching Antz, would compare it to Toy Story.
The result of the comparison, of course, was that Pixar Animation was far superior to DreamWorks Animation!
This is style!
DreamWorks Animation had not formed a strong, self-defined style!
Antz, The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Chicken Run—four animated films in a row, and DreamWorks was still far from Pixar Animation.
It wasn't until 2001, when DreamWorks released Shrek, that it completely established its "anti-traditional," "anti-fairytale," and "parody" style, becoming an animation company that could be mentioned in the same breath as Pixar!
Blue Sky Studios, under Fox, is an example of the opposite!
Blue Sky Studios' technical standards would also be quite impressive in the future, not inferior to Pixar and DreamWorks Animation, yet after nearly 20 years of development, only Ice Age left a deep impression; the others are not worth mentioning, lacking any distinctive features or style.
Therefore, in the future, Blue Sky Studios gradually faded into obscurity!
Of course, in the future, another animation company rose to prominence, and that was Illumination Entertainment!
Illumination Entertainment's Despicable Me (also known as Minions) series of animations, with its "adorable" style, charmed the whole world!
...# Its subsequent animated films like The Secret Life of Pets and Sing also raked in massive box office revenue worldwide!
In addition, one cannot help but mention Disney Princess animation!
In the future, the long-dormant Disney Princess animation would also produce the globally acclaimed Frozen, with its "new era, new princess" style.
Excluding the animation companies mentioned above, there isn't a single world-renowned animation company in the entire American domain, because they lack a unique "style"!
"Nonsense!"
Kyle, who was standing nearby, couldn't help but say after hearing Katzenberg and Spielberg's discussion, "Jeffrey, forget about style. In my opinion, a good movie is a good movie, a good animation is a good animation. As long as it's a good animation, it will be loved by the audience. They don't care what style it is!"
Katzenberg: "..."
Spielberg: "..."
"What's wrong? Do you think what I said makes a lot of sense, and you're speechless?"
Kyle laughed, "Style? A unique style? Aren't those just words from the great masters in your animation field, used to fool outsiders?"
"In my opinion, an animation that can make money and be loved by children is a good animation."
"Style? Can it be eaten?"
"Therefore, mentioning these things is useless!"
Katzenberg and Spielberg were speechless.
The people around them were also dumbfounded.
Redstone of Paramount Pictures sighed, "Big Mouth Kyle, truly lives up to his name!"
Murdoch echoed, "Exactly! These words are for fooling outsiders, but young man, you don't have to say them out loud, do you? How are we supposed to maintain a dignified image when facing the media later?!"
Everyone knew it clearly in their hearts!
Every industry has its own rules, especially some traditional industries, which always come up with so-called "dignified" and "profound" theories to deceive the world.
"Our crosstalk industry is not easy!"
"Opera emphasizes ten minutes on stage, ten years of practice off stage!"
"Piano, our Western piano is the king of instruments!"
"When watching ballet, you can't imagine the hardships behind them."
Bullshit!
Which industry is easy?
It's nothing more than using "profound" and "playing the victim" to tell outsiders that this industry is not easy, it's awesome!
But in reality, once you truly enter this industry, you will find that all industries are the same!
Only through hard work can you reap rewards!
The style theory proposed by Hollywood animation companies is to hope to denigrate peers and elevate themselves through public opinion and tone.
At this moment, Kyle, known as "Big Mouth," mercilessly tore open this reality, making the faces of those present somewhat grim.
"Hypocritical!"
Kyle said bluntly, "Alright, you're all a bunch of foxes... who are you trying to fool here? You all know that everyone present is an insider, so is there any need to deceive anyone? What if I say it out loud? Can you bite me or something?!"
Was Kyle out of his mind?
Logically speaking, in such an occasion, even if Kyle knew everything clearly, he shouldn't have said it directly. It would make him seem to lack emotional intelligence and intelligence!
But this was precisely Kyle's goal!
Kyle wanted to leave an impression on the Hollywood bigwigs: "Little fox Kyle is nothing special. His so-called cunning is just about wanting to take advantage, but in reality, he's just a hothead."
The persona is crucial!
At least...
The persona Kyle had currently established would make many Hollywood bigwigs lower their guard, buying him time to develop discreetly.
For a moment, many people looked at Kyle with a hint of contempt.
Laugh!
Everyone laugh!
"When Page Pictures releases several blockbusters next year, I wonder if you'll still be laughing then?" Kyle secretly laughed.
Did no one see through Kyle's cunning?
Of course there were!
There are plenty of smart people in this world!
But even if they saw through it, their high emotional intelligence would never allow them to speak out. Kyle didn't expect to fool everyone; being able to fool some people was a gain.
This would sometimes play a significant role in the development of Kyle's various companies.
Just like Katzenberg of DreamWorks.
He straightforwardly believed that Kyle was a hothead. Of course, he paid an extremely heavy price for this in the future!