Can you imagine someone pitching Up to the Disney Animated Studios? "It's about an octogenarian..." "PASS! Next?"

Can you imagine someone pitching WALL-E to the Disney Animated Studios? "It begins after the end of the world at the hands of a corporation..." "PASS! Next?"

It's clear that Pixar's FIRST priority is storytelling. It's very commercial, yes... but their films are primarily about intelligence and wit.

I mean, look at Disney's reaction to the splendid Princess and the Frog. They changed their title of the next film from Rapunzel to Tangled, because they clearly thought having "Princess" in the title hurt the box office... despite the fact that since the turn of the century, Princess and the Frog made more at the box office than any Disney Animated Film since Lilo and Stitch... and it did it during the peak of an economic recession.

They're not big picture, at all, and they're surprisingly out of touch with what Disney used to be about. They don't care that they made a good film... they care about the amount of money they make from it. We talked about this a bit in regard to their decision to make a new Winnie the Pooh film-- even if it makes no money at the B.O., its merchandise will bring the company a profit.

I had the concern that Pixar might be turning that direction with the announcements of Toy Story 3 and Cars 2 (Cars 2 being absolutely motivated by the enormous popularity of the merchandise)... but Toy Story 3 was so good that it immediately leads me to assume that they will have a strong intelligent story for Cars 2.

Look at the points you made. Disney Animation Studios has unions, salaries, and a lavish facility. Pixar is content with what they have, because they know window dressing and monetary concerns distract a studio from what truly matters-- the story.