Buy The Pixar Touch

The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company
Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.

I do not like animated films, and I don't go to see them (with the exception of taking my grandkids when those situations dictate my presence). The only reason this opening comment is relevant is because Price's book "is a story of technical innovation that revolutionized animation." This is truly a Cinderella story, a rags-to-riches phenomena, and a triumphant business experience that began with a dream (It is the dream of Pixar's technical genius and founding CEO, Ed Catmull), remained true to the ideals of its founders (antibureaucratic and artist driven), and ends up a multibillion-dollar success (adapted from the front jacket). Not knowing anything about animation (and having no interest in it at all), I found Price's book fascinating. I love the stories he tells and how he incorporates biographies of people like Catmull, who turned down Disney when it approached him to help design the Walt Disney World attraction Space Mountain. He talks of Steve Jobs who was thrown out of Apple Computer and bought Pixar Studio for just $5 million, then immediately discovered he had to spend twice that to keep it afloat. Price also mentions John Lasseter who advances from a skipper on Disneyland's Jungle Cruise to the principal creative advisor of Disney and Pixar animation. I loved his discussion, as well, of how computer animation developed. This is a superb book full of well-supported facts (there are 16 pages of notes), that is both engaging and entertaining.Get more detail about The Pixar Touch.