Review: “Funny!: Twenty-Five Years of Laughter from the Pixar Story Room”

Behind every animated film lurks, unbeknownst to most viewers, a mysterious species known as “The Story Artist”. These artists, half-writer, half-director, are responsible for visualising and planning how the story will be shown. They’re able to bring the story and characters to life in a way that’s rare in other works of art. But though they are the backbone of the industry, their artwork – as wonderful as it is – goes unnoticed. A book has come along which might correct that. It promises to take us through the story room of one of the most successful animation studios, Pixar. This is an account of my journey through the book.

My journey begins, as journeys involving books usual do, with the cover. The title, “Funny!: Twenty-Five Years of Laughter from the Pixar Story Room,” suggests a slideshow of side-splitting anecdotes, rib-tickling pictures and gems from Pixar’s film-making past. After a preliminary flick-through, I can see how it might disappoint someone who thought that sounded like a good read. There’s nothing in the way of text, just page after page of supposedly funny drawings – a fact which makes my little heart beat with excitement.

Opening the cover sends me into choppy waters as, WHAM!, a silly picture of Lasseter’s irritating Lamp hits me in the face.

Hahaha! It slipped on a banana peel – Funny!

The book seems to enjoy screaming ‘Funny!’ on every page, reminding me of a comedian who laughs at his own jokes.

Skipping past the foreword by John Lasseter, as you do, I read through the introduction by Pixar’s story supervisor, Jason Katz. It tells of the fascinating process they go through to come up with their best ideas and ‘gags’: they put the funniest writers and artists in a room together and allow them to put forward anything that comes to mind. They call it the ‘Gag’ or ‘No No’ Sessions. This process, while interesting, unfortunately reminds me of the thousand typing monkeys scene from The Simpsons.

Sailing through the introduction leads me into the open waters known as the Table of Contents. It covers every Pixar film to date: from Toy Story to the Good Dinosaur (whatever that is), so it can be a challenge knowing where to start. I choose to go keep things simple and start from the beginning.

The first chapter is Toy Story, in which I’m surprised to find some nicely drawn pictures and clever, playful ideas. The same can’t be said for A Bug’s Life, which is rather dull. I then pop through the door to Monsters Inc, where I find a treasure trove of good drawings; it’s clear that the artists had fun working on this film. Skimming through Finding Nemo and The Incredibles – which have some nice drawings – I come upon Ratatouille, where I find innovative methods for preparing food. After a short stop with the lonely Wall-E, I hurry on to my favourite Pixar film, Up. Despite my high expectations, Up is, with the exception of two pictures of the dog, one of the dullest parts of the book. Disappointed, I head into new territory: Brave, Inside Out and The Good Dinosaur (whatever that is). I haven’t seen any of these films, so the drawings, as nice as they may be, are lost on me.

It was a short but inspiring journey, with a notable lack of the promised LOLs. I’m delighted to have learned the names of the story artists, especially Matthew Luhn, Teddy Newton and, my favourite (and not because he shares his name with an unpopular bird), Jeff Pidgeon. Jason Katz mentions in the introduction that their drawings were never intended to be seen outside of the story room – but why not? There are a lot of duds in the book, but a number of them are well drawn and, I think, capable of being admired as standalone illustrations. It’s only more mind-boggling that they look as good as they do, considering how they were meant to be ‘throw away scribbles’.

That said, this isn’t a book that will appeal to everyone; most people will see unfinished scribbles and run away. It also fails on the premise of the title: it’s just not as funny as the title wants you to think it is. But the book will be a treasure to those artistically minded Pixar fans and budding story artists alike.