ELI5: The Pixar Theory Part 1

It's been widely rumored for years the all the Pixar movies are actually in the same universe, but at different points in time. Pretty awesome, right? So let's get started!

The first film in the theory is none other than Brave. Brave introduces us to Merida, a red-haired princess in the Dark Ages of Scotland who tries to change her fate with the help of a witch. The witch helps Merida change her fate by turning her mother into a bear. What help that is. It's easy to believe that the witch had practiced turning humans into animals starting with Mor'du, the villain in Brave.

It's important to note that this theory is based off three groups all fighting for control and power: humans, animals, and machines. We see animals coming to their rise over the next three films, Finding Nemo, Ratatouille and Up.

Finding Nemo is about a clownfish that is able to swim across the ocean and back in search of his son, Nemo. What makes this so important is that he saves his son from humans.

In Ratatouille, Remy is an amazing chef, a job that only humans have. He actually does his cooking by controlling a human. Humans are also starting to see that animals are a lot smarter than they first thought. Also, Remy's ability is so incredible that word of his skill travels all the way to Charles Muntz, the villain in Up.

Charles Muntz, in his search for a rare type of bird (you would know it as Kevin), takes what he knows about Remy and invents dog collars that can let dogs speak with humans. We're also introduced to BnL, or Buy n' Large, the company that tries to buy Carl's house in the beginning of the movie (it's also the company that makes batteries for Buzz Lightyear).

That'll do it for this part. If you're interested in this theory, you can check out these two great videos that sum up the entire theory by SuperCarlinBrothers and Bloop Animation.

Rodrigo Blass' Alma

I found this short film, Alma, that is directed by Rodrigo Bass. After 10 years in the animation field, this is the first film that Bass has directed. The one thing that stands out in this short is the incredible attention to detail. In the beginning, the detail in the cobble stone alley is very realistic, with snow separating each stone with slightly varying color and shape. From all angles, we see individual hairs of our main character, Alma. The tiling of the floor is like a mosaic, with each piece a unique shape and size. I was very impressed with the detail in this short film and felt like Bass took the time to to make sure every element in this short was just right. A painstaking process? I should think so. Notice at the end of the short the number of people listed in the credits for this 5:25 length piece.

Rodrigo Blass (or Rodrigo Blass Nacle) has worked on various well known animation films including Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, WALL-E, The Incredibles, and Up.