Since Disney bought Pixar, they have had less critical and box-office success with the exception of Toy Story 3. Recent animated releases have been box-office failures and even Pixar is not immune to the plague.

Recent animated releases like "Smurfs 2" from Sony, "Turbo" from Dreamworks and "Planes" from Disney all had opening takes of around 20million$. "Smurfs 2" was at the bottom with just 17.5million. It was a far cry from early winners "Monsters University" from Disney-Pixar and "Despicable Me 2" from Universal who both had 80million$ opening weekends.

Perhaps the audience has become tired of animated films, especially after the early releases. However, it is interesting to note that most of the animated features were part of franchises..yet they were meted with contrasting fates.

"Planes" is an interesting case. While the marketing of the film links it to Pixar's "Cars" franchise, it is important to note that they were not produced by Pixar Animation. Yet the lines are hard to draw since John Lasseter, Pixar's Chief Creative Officer who also assumed the role for Disney, was the executive producer. He also directed both "Cars" films.

It is also hard to ignore that Pixar went on an unprecedented streak prior to the Disney acquisition. All the Pixar films from 1995-2009 had 90% or higher ratings from Rotten Tomatoes and also earned at least 300million$. "Cars" was the only exception, and was considered as the worst of the Pixar films.

Which raised the question of the "Cars" sequel. Why did Disney choose to make a sequel of "Cars" when they acquired Pixar, instead of the other more successful films? The subsequent projects of Pixar within the Disney umbrella (Up, Brave, Monsters U) were lacked the critical acclaim of its predecessors, which were now hailed as modern classics. "Toy Story 3" was their most successful film, but it was a sequel, and was already past conceptualization prior to the acquisition.

Pixar is no longer invincible, just as Disney itself is crumbling. Pixar was seen as Disney's Savior, but it seems to have been dragged into the quicksand.