By Leo N. Holzer

Assistant News Editor, The Vacaville Reporter

By their very nature, documentary films are meant to educate, enlighten and tell interesting stories. But the best of the bunch are just as entertaining as any work of fiction on the big screen.

“The Pixar Story,” by Leslie Iwerks, is quite simply a very, very good documentary. It’s informative; it’s inspiring; it’s wildly entertaining. One moment it’s funny without being satirical; minutes later it’s tugging at your heart strings — just like the best movies made by the Bay Area-based animation powerhouse.

This tightly edited 86-minute documentary recounts the origins of 3-D computer animation with a primary focus on computer scientist Ed Catmull, animator John Lasseter and entrepreneur Steve Jobs.

Besides the principal players, there are Disney and Pixar artists, directors and executives; filmmaker George Lucas; actors Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and Billy Crystal; film critic and historian Leonard Maltin; composer Randy Newman and dozens of others talking about Pixar’s films from the studio’s earliest shorts to its full-blown features.

Iwerks said she talked to at least 70 people for the film, which is narrated by Stacy Keach.

With comments from most of them making the final cut, “The Pixar Story” might sound like a somewhat dry “talking heads” documentary, but it’s far from that. 

Iwerks beefs up the interviews with dozens of clips culled from Pixar’s archives and elsewhere. 

After a crash course into Pixar’s earliest days, including Jobs’ $10 million purchase of Pixar from Lucas and the ultimate success of “Toy Story,” Iwerks’ documentary continues by revealing several of the obstacles the studio faced in its subsequent features.

There were challenges in developing the software and tools needed for “A Bug’s Life,” “Finding Nemo” and “The Incredibles” and story problems encountered in “Toy Story 2” and “Monsters, Inc.”

One of the best sequences in Iwerks’ documentary involves artist Doug Sweetland as he reworks a scene for “Finding Nemo.” It’s one of the few times the documentary shows something as it’s happening and it’s interesting to hear Sweetland talk about the emotion he’s trying to convey in a scene involving Nemo and his dad, Marlin.

Iwerks’ film also delves into the relationship between Pixar and Disney, but the revelations about those trials and tribulations are surprisingly candid.

After Disney’s CEO Bob Iger succeeded Michael Eisner, Pixar was purchased by Disney. The $7.4 billion transaction, completed last year, gave Jobs a seat on Disney’s Board of Directors as the largest single shareholder and led to new management roles for Catmull and Lasseter overseeing production at Pixar and Walt Disney Feature Animation Studios.

Catmull and Lasseter are in the process of reviving great storytelling at Disney, with projects such as the upcoming short, “Goofy: How to Hook Up Your Home Theater” and the traditional hand-drawn animated feature “The Princess and the Frog,” among others.

With any luck, Iwerks will be able to release a sequel in about 10 years gauging the success of this endeavor at Disney Feature Animation.

“The Pixar Story” will be shown at 6:45 and 9:30 p.m. Thursday at Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema in San Francisco. For more information, visit www.sfiff.org. The film will return to San Francisco for showings at Lumiere 35 at noon and 7 p.m. Nov. 13; and noon and 2 p.m. on Nov. 14-15.

For more information about Iwerks’ documentary, visit www.thepixarstory.com. To listen to a panel discussion featuring Catmull, Lasseter and Iwerks, hosted by Bay Area entertainment reporter Jan Wahl, visit http://thereporter.com//ci_7342702.