This scene okay. This fucking scene is probably the most important, home-hitting scene for me in any Pixar movie ever. Even Finding Nemo, and that movie has been near and dear to me since I got the VHS.
Because this scene is why Pixar waited until now to release this movie. This is where most of us are at right now in our lives: we’re realizing that trying hard and doing the best we can just isn’t enough sometimes to accomplish our dreams. Passion alone just isn’t enough to beat our circumstances. We’re in a lot of pain and we have so many people telling us “oh, I know how you feel” without really REALLY listening or trying to understand.
In the end Mike is able to realize that just because he can’t be scary doesn’t mean he’s failed, and I think that’s what the developers at Pixar want to pass on to us, in the best way they know how: just because you’re not where you want to be in life doesn’t mean your experiences were worthless. They’re just taking you in a different direction than intended. Sometimes people get ahead in life just because of their family name or because they just have this SOMETHING that you can’t teach. But that doesn’t mean you should quit on yourself, because you have so much to offer that you haven’t even realized yourself.
You’re not just okay. You’re great. And don’t let anybody tell you any differently.
