Speaking with IGN, Kingdom Hearts director Tetsuya Nomura described Pixar as being more interested in the “technical, creative side of things” compared to Disney’s “overall production” approach. Nomura even described Square Enix as more akin to Pixar in this regard. The result, however, was that Square Enix and Pixar had to work out certain issues before even starting to move forward on Kingdom Hearts 3.
Kingdom Hearts, according to Nomura, historically has Sora, Donald, and Goofy travel to each world in a canonical capacity:
The result was that Kingdom Hearts 3 would fit its Toy Story world canonically in-between Toy Story 2 and 3. Kingdom Hearts 3 also manages to find a way to tell an in-universe story that’s separate from the normal goings-on of Andy’s room and its dozens of characters. Pixar ultimately approved the approach, even accepting that the events of Kingdom Hearts 3 fit into the animated series’ canon.
Those who have played through Kingdom Hearts 3 will likely be able to see the extent of Pixar’s more limiting influence in both the Toy Story and Monsters, Inc. worlds. Neither world retells events from their original films, like the Tangled, Frozen, and most other worlds do, and neither results in any consequential events, like the Hercules and Big Hero 6 worlds.
What matters the most is that Square Enix felt it did Pixar’s worlds justice in the end. And as animation director Koji Inoue describes, there’s no better validation than Pixar’s own animators complimenting their work:
Kingdom Hearts 3’s visual quality really speaks for itself. While there is definitely some criticism about the game’s story, few can argue that Square Enix has vividly recaptured the beauty of Disney and Pixar’s art in both its cinematics and gameplay.
Kingdom Hearts 3 is available now on PS4 and Xbox One.
Source: IGN
