The Pixar Touch Book Review
I have just finished listening to the audio book of “The Pixar Touch” and I thought I would share my feelings about the book.
“The Pixar Touch, The Making of a Company” was written by David A Price and it was published in 2009. The book tells the story of the creation of the Pixar company and how it made its first few films.
By coincidence, before reading “The Pixar Touch” I had just finished listening to “Steve Jobs”, the autobiography, and although it was very long, it gave me an insight into who the man Steve Jobs is, his role in the creation of Pixar and knowledge about computers throughout history. This helped get me through the beginning 40% of “The Pixar Touch”, it gave me background knowledge and understanding. However I still found the beginning of “The Pixar Touch” boring and unnecessary. I hate to be negative but I have to be honest. There were a lot of names and information about other company’s and the development of computers that really did not interest me or seem that relevant. However I persevered because names that I knew like Pete Docter, Steve Jobs and Ed Catmull kept on cropping up and that meant we were getting closer to the magic of Pixar.
Once I read past the first 40% the book talks about each of Pixar’s films starting with Toy Story and leading up to Ratatouille and Wall-E. I loved this portion of the book. It was so interesting. I write blogs about the making of different Pixar films and have therefore researched the making of these films, but there were facts about these films that even I had never heard before. Obviously David had done his research thoroughly. There’s roughly a chapter on each film and within these chapters the creation of the film is outlined and an explanation about how the art of CGI had developed. It was very intriguing.
What’s lucky about the story of Pixar is that there is a great story written already, from its starting days, to the development of CGI, to the problems with Disney, to the merger with Disney. The book is not short on material to talk about which is why the last 60% was so engaging because there was so much going on.
The book also talks about Michael Eisner who was the then CEO of Disney. It talks about how he helped save the animation studio but also how he was close to ending the animation studio. Disney was, up until a point, a great animation studio, churning out hit after hit but that didn’t last forever and the book talks briefly about this fascinating era in Disney and Pixar history and how the two companies are inter-woven.
If you didn’t know, John Lassiter left Pixar and Disney due to a sexual harassment issue in 2018. The details of which I don’t know, nor do I want to know. These issues do not show up in the book, a) because at the time they are unknown or b) they haven’t happened yet. I think it’s wrong that I’ve bought this audio book and there is no mention to this in an update. It gives the wrong impression of Lassiter. I am very conflicted about this issue as I once thought that Lassiter was a great man who made great films, but now, with this sexual harassment case, it feels wrong to have him praised so much with not an afterword mentioning what happened. The sexual harassment case doesn’t take away the fact that John was crucial in the development of Pixar but this aspect to his character should be made known to the reader.
If you’ve read this book and enjoyed it, then I suggest you read “The Ride of a Lifetime” by Bob Igor, who up until very recently was the CEO of Disney. He talks about the merger of Pixar and Disney from his own point of view. It helps to fill in some gaps.
Overall I really enjoyed the book, it wasn’t too long and once you get past the beginning waffle it really contains some Pixar magic. Let me know what you think of the book if you’ve read it in the comments bellow, or is it on your “to be read” pile.
Come back on Friday 17th July for a Disney haul.
Disney Inside 