Mondo's Pixar Show Is A Stunning Tribute To Some Of The Greatest Animated Movies Ever Made
Mondo has established itself as the go-to source for unique and distinctive posters depicting beloved movies. So it's no surprise that they've allied themselves with Pixar, for the all-new gallery show, The Spirit of Adventure: A Pixar Poster Show. The show is now open, offering 15 all-new posters from nine different artists. Let's take a look.What's most fascinating about this series of posters is that it's not just a bunch of obvious titles. Yes, Pixar films are largely perceived of as being massive hits, but some of their films have either failed to break out or simply haven't stuck around in the cultural consciousness. Take, for example, A Bug's Life, which was a pretty solid hit in the fall of 1998. 
This poster, from Phantom City Creative, has a fun and stylish way of breaking down the massive ensemble of the adventure film. It's also a nice way to play off of the way the title is written out – as in the original marketing, the white space in each letter of "bug's" is represented by a different bug. Here, we get the portions of a leaf split up based largely on the "warrior bugs" that Flik encounters on his trip to the big city. It's an odd omission, perhaps, that Hopper isn't represented. But this poster is otherwise a pleasant surprise.
Another pleasant surprise comes in dual form: two posters from artist Greg Ruth for Brave. The 2012 mother-daughter adventure is another film that was technically a big box-office hit without having the same staying power as a Toy Story or The Incredibles. Ruth's two posters depict our heroine Merida and her transformed-into-a-bear mother in the same pose, with different backdrops. I'll admit that my preference is the dusk-set version of the poster, which incorporates the mysterious will-o'-the-wisps who set Merida on her journey.
Among the other posters, there are a couple pairs that tackle some of the bigger franchises within Pixar's filmography. Of course, it wouldn't be a poster show without some Toy Story-focused images. Though the Toy Story poster by Phantom City Creative is snazzy, I'm partial to the Toy Story 3 poster from artist Francesco Francavilla, playing off of the existential terror of the 2010 film, the stripped-down ensemble, and the prison-break sequence in the second half. It's something straight out of a horror film.
Francavilla is also responsible for another poster in the other pair of franchise designs that I'll admit preferring. His riff on Incredibles 2 incorporates every member of the superpowered Parr family, plus the mysterious Screenslaver in the background. More to the point, it captures the adventurous spirit of the series very well. But of course, the Stan and Vince poster for the 2004 original embodies the comic-book sensibility that inspired writer/director Brad Bird to tell the story of Mr. Incredible and his family. Still, I'll stick with the Incredibles 2 design.
The last one I want to call out here – though there are other posters available in the gallery – is inspired by Pixar's foray into something closer to a musical, Coco. Cesar Moreno is responsible for the poster here, which is just as colorful and gorgeous as the 2017 film itself. Moreno's poster includes the same kind of artwork adoring the title sequence of the film, as well as the scene in which young Miguel watches an old Ernesto de la Cruz film for inspiration. From the looks of it, the entire Spirit of Adventure show is lining up to genuinely honor the artistry and design of Pixar's many wonderful films. (Of the posters made available to me for review, sadly, none of them are inspired by the namesake of the show, Up.) These kinds of collectible posters are Mondo's sweet spot, and the Pixar show is a perfect meeting of the creative minds.
