The new Pixar parade at Disney California Adventure got me dancing and humming along with the energetic performers and contagious soundtrack even if the floats left me underwhelmed.
Pixar Fest kicks off on Friday, April 26 and runs through Aug. 4 with the returning “Together Forever” fireworks show at Disneyland, the new Better Together parade and Club Pixar dance party at Disney California Adventure and host of new themed food and drinks at both parks.
The Better Together parade with a message of friendship and unity features seven parade units. A massive version of Pixar’s Luxo Jr. lamp kicks off the parade.
A desk lamp has always struck me as an odd corporate symbol and an even stranger lead parade float.
The lead performance crew on roller skates helped me forget about Luxo and focus on the explosive color and energy of the parade.
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Overall, the street performers outshined the floats ladened with Pixar characters at every stage of the parade.
Three larger floats highlighted the marquee storylines of the parade — “Turning Red,” “Luca” and “Soul.”
The Turning Red float was my favorite of the marquee trio. It was a blast to see the 4*Town guys and Meilin’s big red panda.
The panda-eared dancers looked thrilled to be finally on the street performing for visitors and out of the dance studio after weeks of rehearsals. Their enthusiasm was contagious.
Two smaller floats dedicated to “Up” and “Inside Out” filled in the spaces in between.
The utter ridiculousness of Russell riding on the back of the mythical snipe bird named Kevin with the Up float was my favorite moment of the parade.
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Joy and Sadness riding aboard the Rocket Wagon with trailing rainbow exhaust was the best float of the entire parade — even better than the three marquee floats.
The Soul float looked like Disney Live Entertainment ran out of ideas and just put a music class on wheels.
The Luca float was hard to understand. Luca and Alberto stood in the ocean with their sea creature fins below the water level — and out of view of the parade watchers as Giulia loomed overhead on a Vespa. I could only see the fins if I stood on my tippy toes.
The Luca bicyclists and dancers helped distract from the confusion with a beautifully choreographed water ballet.
The finale float was filled with a host of favorite Pixar characters like Buzz and Jessie from “Toy Story,” Mike and Sulley from “Monsters Inc.” and Miguel and Dante from “Coco.”
Like the lead float, we’ve seen the finale before during Pixar Fest 2018. The final image of the parade remains Mike Wazowski’s crazy green eyeball waving farewell.
The parade highlights Pixar characters that face challenges and tackle adversities with the help of their friends, according to Disney Live Entertainment Show Director Robin Trowbridge.
“They’re made to feel different or a little off. These differences end up being what’s really the better part of them or great quality about them,” Trowbridge said during an online video interview. “Having friends really lifts them. It helps them to accept themselves and raises them no matter what challenges they are going through.”
The Better Together parade focuses on three newer Pixar movies released since the COVID-19 pandemic — “Turning Red,” “Luca” and “Soul” — that follow an individual’s journey and the adversities they face along the way.
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The storyline with each parade float picks up just after each movie ends and applies a message from every film. The Turning Red float takes parade-goers to a 4*Town boy band concert. Sea creatures and humans hang out together on the Luca float. Soul pianist Joe Gardner’s middle school students play a musical salute to him in a “Mr. Holland’s Opus” moment.
“I didn’t want to replicate the scenes from the movies. We didn’t necessarily want to just bring a little moment of the movie to life,” Trowbridge said. “With every one of our stories that we’re telling, we’ve taken the end of the story, we’ve taken the message from the story and applied it. So it’s a week later. It’s a month later. But what would happen?”
The new parade soundtrack weaves in familiar songs from the three key Pixar films — “Nobody Like U” by 4*Town in “Turning Red,” “It’s Alright” from “Soul” and a 1960s beach movie-style song sung in Italian for “Luca.”
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Trowbridge hopes the “Better Together” theme song becomes an earworm you can’t get out of your head.
“I want them singing the song,” Trowbridge said. “I want ‘It’s a Small World’ but bigger.”
I was dancing in place and grooving to the 120 beats per minute infectious soundtrack before I could see the first float and long after the finale float disappeared.
Trowbridge would be happy. I couldn’t get the chorus of “You, me, better together, better together” out of my head is I headed for the exits.