This weekend Pixar‘s latest digital marvel, “Monsters University,” roars into theaters (you can read our review here). Few studios can claim the kind of quality that Pixar often does – for a while there it was the most critically and commercially adored studio in the history of cinema (though they are not without their faults; read our controversial The 5 Worst Things About Pixar feature). And for good reason. It seemed like year after year they would commit a new classic, an endlessly re-watchable delight full of characters that will be beloved by children the world over for decades to come. In fact, the amount of excellence made ranking the films a blurry and burdensome proposition. But in hindsight (and after a couple of shoddy 3D conversions), it becomes clearer which movies are truly more special than others. This is what we’ve attempted to do, with our worst-to-best Pixar retrospective.
READ MORE: The 50 Best Animated Films Of The 21st Century So Far
It goes without saying that some of these rankings represent a fractional superiority of one over the other and that this list was really hard to make and arrange. It also goes without saying that it will undoubtedly piss a lot of people off, so we encourage you to respond in the comment section below.
14.”Cars 2” (2011)
There’s a reason that “Cars 2” is the only Pixar movie not to be nominated for the Best Animated Feature Academy Award (since the category’s inception). Seemingly fueled more by commercial need than creative necessity, this sequel to the amiable and charming “Cars” totally negates that movie’s message that life is only worth living if you slow down once in a while, instead delivering nonstop thrills and dizzying set pieces which are hung loosely inside the garage of a spy movie spoof. Bafflingly, original “Cars” director John Lasseter, who was brought in after initial director Brad Lewis couldn’t cut it (during an incredibly difficult period for Lasseter, personally, coinciding with the death of his father), decided to shift the focus of the story away from hotshot race car Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) and instead built the movie around his dimwitted tow truck sidekick Tow Mater (Larry the Cable Guy). Mater finds himself mistaken for a crack secret agent, in a pin-balling plot that involves international espionage and a potentially deadly alternate fuel source. The whole thing is nonstop insanity that never makes much sense, except for the coldly cynical fact that it opens up the “Cars” universe to include boats and planes, ripe for sequels and spin-offs of their own (two “Planes” movies have already been scheduled). It did help inspire one of the studio’s towering non-cinematic achievements, though: the Carsland section of the Disney California Adventure theme park.
13. “Cars” (2006)
The low ranking of the first “Cars” suggests that the film, as many have claimed, is downright awful; the first bad Pixar movie. It’s not. But the other movies are much, much better and “Cars” (at least at the time) did feel like something of a letdown. Set in a world where anthropomorphic vehicles drive themselves, it stars Owen Wilson as an egotistical racecar who is sidelined in the sleepy town of Radiator Springs, a relic of the Route 66 days, where he’s forced to learn humility thanks to his friendship with a junky tow truck (Larry the Cable Guy) and a wizened former racecar turned doctor (real life racing enthusiast Paul Newman, in one of his final performances). Pixar godhead Lasseter said that he wanted to capture some of the soulfulness of his idol Hayao Miyazaki in the more laidback approach to “Cars” and in that aspect he does at least partially succeed. There are a handful of quiet, unrushed moments that rank amongst the very best in the Pixar oeuvre, but oftentimes the two halves of the movie feel diametrically opposed, and when they come together clash violently instead of seamlessly. The racing sequences, though, are truly thrilling and there are a handful of wonderful vocal performances (among them: George Carlin as a hippie VW bus and Michael Keaton as a villainous racecar). While not a blockbuster in its initial release, it did sell an obscene amount of merchandise, which explains the sequel and ongoing spin-offs (ironic since it was the final independently produced Pixar movie before it was swallowed up by Disney). If “Cars” was as smart as it was heartfelt, it’d be one of the classics, instead, it’s a cute near miss.
12. “Brave” (2012)
It was supposed to be the one that set things right: after repeated criticisms were (rightfully) leveled against the studio for what many perceived as outright sexism in its feature films, Pixar hired a wonderful female director (Brenda Chapman) and started development on what was known as “The Bear and the Bow.” Later, the title was changed to “Brave” and, a little later than that, Chapman was unceremoniously removed from both the film and the studio. (When the movie later won a Best Animated Feature Oscar, she would accept the award with her replacement, Mark Andrews. The amount of pride that must have been swallowed that night…) With Chapman gone, a lot of the movie’s moodiness (including its wintertime setting) was swapped for more traditional, what some would claim were more overtly “Disney” moments of sunny cheeriness. The sentiment, that a Princess (played by Kelly Macdonald) can choose her own fate instead of being auctioned off to some loser prince, is a powerful message and the closest any Pixar movie has come to being considered a “feminist” work (there is a feminist angle to another Pixar movie, but, in the words of Mr. Incredible, we’ll get there when we get there). The problem is that the movie is clunky, with a narrative that, instead of allowing the princess to really become her own person, saddles her with a burdensome buddy movie scenario wherein her mother (Emma Thompson) is accidentally turned into a bear. She’s never actually allowed to be the woman she should become since she’s babysitting her bear-mom. It’s a drag.
Anybody who would rank Monsters University ahead of Cars hasn\’t watched the movies or has no inner child.
awesome list! so happy that "The Incredibles" was #1
also completely agree that "Cars" and "Cars2" were the worst two movies of the franchise
only thing i would change is moving "Toy Story 3" above "Wall-E" and "UP" but all in all, a great list
Incredibles at #1? No no no. I would place it at around #7 or #8.
Cars is better than all the toy stories, all on the to toy stories should be at the bottom. I also feel that wall-e or up should be number 1.
Although "Up!", overall is a wonderful movie, there is one thing about it that really pushes the elements of time to too far of an extreme. What I am referring to is the characters of Carl Fredricksen and Charles Muntz. In the movie, as I remember it, the character of Carl Fredricksen is supposed to be 78 years old. Charles Muntz was the boyhood idol of Carl Fredricksen. This would make the character of Charles Muntz well into his nineties or even in his early hundreds age-wise. I know people are living longer and are also more spry than ever but to have Carl Fredricksen and Charles Muntz do some of the things that they did, especially the sword fight seem a bit far-fetched. Although I did enjoy "Up", I would have to give less praise to it than to other Pixar movies for this reason.
Up and Ratatouille higher than Finding Nemo? You even said yourself that it was the highest rated animation at the time.
Cars and Cars 2 are massively underrated, automobile fanatics should give those movies a chance!
For me there are no bad Pixar movies, but in order of my personal enjoyment –
1) Wall-E
2) Ratatouille
3) Up
4) Toy Story
5) Brave
6) Toy Story 2
7) Monsters Inc
8) The Incredibles
9) A Bug's Life
10) Monsters University
11) Cars
12) Cars 2
13) Finding Nemo
14 Toy Story 3
Other than the two Cars movies, I'd argue every Pixar movie is at the very least great (and the Cars movies aren't all that bad…just boring and cliche). Brave is a movie that is tainted in critics' minds because of the behind-the-scenes controversy, but I was completely unaware of it going into the film, and I found it masterful. A brilliant take on classic fairytale formula.
…Incredibles is definitely #1 though.
The Incredibles will always be #1 in my opinion. You'd think with the cliche of super heros, it would be a train wreck. But even as a child I always marveled at it's visual beauty, everything was so sleek and made you feel mature and just pulled you in with suspense. I loved how it was at times realistic, those moments were rare but you knew them when you saw them.
I'd love to know why Frozen wasn't anywhere on this list, it was so stupid and lacked richness in logic and detail. How did Elsa get her powers in a completely normal, royal, Scandinavian family? Olaf was the cliche ill-humored leftover crap of every other Disney sidekick character. Anna was just an annoying reincarnation of Repunzel from Tangled, which was another Pixar flop. Elsa's powers getting stronger was more of an all-bark-no-bite thing, they made it out like she was gonna become an evil ice witch with mad ice powers, but all she did was unintentionally leak ice on whatever she stood, sat, or touched, and ran away fearfully crying.
WALL – E, better then Monsters Inc? Are you serious? I went to watch WALL-E in cinema, and halfway through, I fell asleep. So boring.
1 thing I'd rather do than watch The Incredibles: Watch Frozen 13 times
Lol, MoNster's
Mosters INC :b
In my opinion…
UP was ludicrous and highly overrated. The only good part was the beginning. The rest of the story was so bogus I found myself rolling my eyes throughout the whole film. I'm surprised they didn't stick like that.
Finding Nemo was a massive cliche but I still enjoyed it for the most part because the animation was brilliant, the cinamatography spectacular. And Dori was hillarious.
CARS and CARS 2 shouldn't even be on this list, they were dreadful. Even UP, as bad as it was, was decent enough to make the list.
Anthropomorphic romances are not always my cup of tea which is only one of the reasons I wasn't crazy about CARS, so WALL-E was a little odd to watch, however, i love post-apocalyptic fiction so the first part of the film was pretty entertaining. The rest wasn't bad either. I really liked the funny little vacuum who kept cleaning stuff :b
I love THE INCREDIBLES, it was a great story and very funny but putting it at number one is a bit farfetched. I'd say, number 5 would be a better fit.
TOY STORY will always be number one. MONSTERS INK at number two. Followed by TS2 and TS3.
why the f-ck does everyone think wall-e is so d-mn great? Has to be the most boring pixar movie ever made!
Dude The Incredibles @ 1?…u must be from some other planet! This list is a piece of bull-shit!
This list is a joke, incredibles @ #1?
LOL?
Toy story 1 should be #1
this is bull you dont know anything about freaking pixar you ruined my whole damn childhood thanks bud
I thought Brave was a masterful movie, even by Pixar standards. To be fair, it's a departure in tone from the usual Pixar material which can sometimes be a little cornball for adult taste. It has sort of a Grim Fairy Tales narrative which can come across as odd to some but like many movies that aren't grasped easily at first, Brave benefits greatly from repeated viewings. The visuals are by far the most stunning of any Pixar movie to date and I believe the more traditional storyline will stand the test of time much more easily than something like Wall-E that beats you relentlessly over the head with political satire.
I'd agree with the top 3, but I'd change the ORDER of it around to Up (1), Incredibles (2) and Ratatouille (3).
I'd place Wall-E low though (It's first half is good, but it's second half is just plain crap. And it gets forgiven for that much to often). But otherwise I largely agree with the list.
Though Pixar delivers consistent quality I also think it's a bit to much of a critics darling and therefor tends to be somewhat overrated. (Which isn't the case for it's genuine masterpieces (particularly up) but IS the case for some of it's more middle films (like Finding Nemo, which is certainly not at all bad, but not a masterpiece either.)
Also though Pixar stood out positively compared to early Dreamworks (Which had just plain awful films like Shark Tale) Modern Dreamworks (And some smaller studio's) stepped up their game and mad movies that certainly compare well to TYPICAL Pixar films. Therefor I think Pixar could stand to be looked at a little more critically.
Take Ratatouille for example, it's excellent and one of my favourite Pixar movies, but even so it's far from flawless. (The biggest and easiest flaw is obvious… Linguini, who's ultimately by HIMSELF a pretty damn boring stock character. (Now REMY I think on the other hand is an excellent character and he's why I love the movie even so. (Remy is definitly one of my favourite chars from cgi films!) And there's a lot of other things I love about the movie, but flawless? No… Aside from Linguini there's also Ego the critic, I love him up until that damned ending speech he gives. I liked the idea of a sour and mean but HONEST critic. But in the end he gives a speech that amounts to 'critics suck', and that's SO the wrong message. It just drives me nuts. A lot of people love that ending speech, but I HATE it, I would have much more liked the message that being a bitter person is not necessary being a bad person, what matters is honesty. And that two honest people can definitely be bitterly adversarial (Ego's relation with Gousteau), but that that doesn't necessarily means the bitter mean person is inherently a bad person who's wrong about everything. (Which unfortunately the speech then decided IS the message. So good movie, yes… and WELL above average in spite of everything. But flawless… no.
I guess ultimately on Pixar my opinion is what it is on many old school popular RPG series… Definitly good, definitly high end stuff… But STILL overvalued and unwarrantedly gushed over. With flaws where other studio's would be skinned alive over, completely forgiven in Pixar's products.
I loved Brave. I don't get what everybody is complaining about. They probably can't handle a female main character or something. (kidding though it is true for some people..I know 2 buds in real life..but maybe I just have bad luck in people surrounding me lol)
1 Brave (best pixar main character ever and for once its about a mom and daugther instead of a romance. Girls always need a guy in animation and that is boring. This one broke that tradition. A wonderfull and importand lesson and like in most pixar movies. I like that kind of fire in a gal.)
2 Up (Second best main character, that old guy was great, it did get weaker the second part but still. Possible the animated movie I cried most on. Yeah I cried and I ain't being ashamed of that. )
3 A bugs life (very underrated movie who deserves a lot better. I remember this being one of my fave movies as a kid. But people tend to not like bugs and might feel bad for killing them after watching this movie :3 )
4 (almost everything else, I love these movies equaly all for DIFFERENT reasons)
Toy Story (made me think toys where real, oh the hours I tried catching them talk..)
Rattatoile (rat in kitchen = win)
Incredibels (yay a family with no dead people in it)
Wall- E (that Robot was awesome and would have scored higher if not for the last part of the film)
Monsters Inc ( Loved the 2 friends and the little girl and monster being afraid of children)
Toy Story 2 ( a sequal that did a good job as a sequal.)
5 Toy Story 3 (hated the ending though)
6 Monsters U (fun but not special)
7 Finding Nemo…(I saw it..and I did like it but I do feel it is very very overrated. I wanted to see more son father stuff, not all this random chasing in the sea and the ''bad guys'' where lacking, Dori was annoying. I have no clue why nemo is so loved and Brave not when the reason people claim to love nemo (father son relation) is not nearly as worked out as the mother daughter one in Brave.. Perhaps because they have the wrong gender. I do wonder how people would have ranked Brave had merida been a boy and Nemo's dad been a mother. Anyway, overrated movie and would have been my least loved pixar movie if not for the last 2.
13 Cars (but I have nothing with cars so that might be the reason, I still enjoyed the movie though. I am biased on this because I dislike cars in general. I admit had the same story happend with something different then cars I might have scored it higher. Still, despite it being low on my list it is still a fun movie to watch and still recommend to anyone who likes animated movies.)
14 Cars 2 (Just not my thing.)
Anyway people should igore critics and lists really. Just watch all the movies and decided for yourself. you love Nemo best? Good for you! Keep watching it and loving it and enjoy it as long as you can.
You like Brave best? Also good for you. Don't let the critics or other people ruin it for you.
In the end all Pixar movies are well made, and what is the best and what is the worst is something opinion based only. Everybody has their own favorites. And this is a wonderfull thing.
I just hope more movies will keep comming. Even If I won't love them all, thats ok. Some other people will and that is wonderfull for them.
Let go watch more movies people! And forever share our love for them, because if we agree on lists or not, we can agree on enjoying movies. In the end that is most importand. ^^
oh the sappiness…lol anyway I leave in peace.
A Bugs Life. I find this film very funny and light movie. Very Entertaining.
Monster Inc.
Finding Nemo
Toy Story 1 & 3
Cars
14. Cars 2 – 7.1/10
13. Brave – 7.5/10
12. Cars – 8.2/10
11. Monsters University – 8.4/10
10. Incredibles – 8.8/10
09. Ratatouille – 8.9/10
08. Toy Story 2 – 9.1/10
07. WALL-E – 9.2/10
06. Up! – 9.3/10
05. Monsters Inc. – 9.5/10
04. A Bugs Life – 9.6/10
03. Toy Story 3 – 9.7/10
02. Finding Nemo 9.8/10
01. Toy Story 10/10
Wall-E, Toy Story, and Finding Nemo are amongst my favourites.
I never liked Ratatouille, it didn't feel 'Pixar' like. The Toy Story sequels didn't live up to my expectations; and I feel that the Incredibles could have been so much more.
I always make a point on these lists, as they seem to never get it right, A Bugs Life is always, ALWAYS, underrated. It was a great film, and one of my favourites, if not my favourite, even more so than the ones I listed above. It seems it's the Pixar movie everyone but me has forgotten about.
Wall-E, Toy Story, and Finding Nemo are amongst my favourites.
I never liked Ratatouille, it didn't feel 'Pixar' like. The Toy Story sequels didn't live up to my expectations; and I feel that the Incredibles could have been so much more.
I always make a point on these lists, as they seem to never get it right, A Bugs Life is always, ALWAYS, underrated. It was a great film, and one of my favourites, if not my favourite, even more so than the ones I listed above. It seems it's the Pixar movie everyone but me has forgotten about.
Wall-E, Toy Story, and Finding Nemo are amongst my favourites.
I never liked Ratatouille, it didn't feel 'Pixar' like. The Toy Story sequels didn't live up to my expectations; and I feel that the Incredibles could have been so much more.
I always make a point on these lists, as they seem to never get it right, A Bugs Life is always, ALWAYS, underrated. It was a great film, and one of my favourites, if not my favourite, even more so than the ones I listed above. It seems it's the Pixar movie everyone but me has forgotten about.
Wall-E, Toy Story, and Finding Nemo are amongst my favourites.
I never liked Ratatouille, it didn't feel 'Pixar' like. The Toy Story sequels didn't live up to my expectations; and I feel that the Incredibles could have been so much more.
I always make a point on these lists, as they seem to never get it right, A Bugs Life is always, ALWAYS, underrated. It was a great film, and one of my favourites, if not my favourite, even more so than the ones I listed above. It seems it's the Pixar movie everyone but me has forgotten about.
Despite being visually incredible like many of Pixar's films, Wall-E is by far their worst, not to say that it's a bad film, but to say that it wasn't enjoyable. The film kept hitting everyone over the head continuously with obvious social commentary that was horribly ignorant and unwarranted in a children's film, remember that this is not a Ridley Scott film. The Incredibles and many other Pixar films were able to successfully make subtle social commentary that didn't bog down the narrative so I'm wondering how Wall-E ruined it. It also did't help that most of the characters were underdeveloped, especially compared to Pixar standards; Wall-E's character literally has no arc other than the fact that he gets the girl in the end, something that's standard in far too many films already. This is further compounded by the fact that there are no stakes in the film, making it hard to care. In the climax Wall-E is fighting to save a ship full of selfish, ignorant, lazy, and horrible people who have done nothing to him but condemn him to an eternity of collecting their garbage. I feel like an alien, what world do I live in where people are enjoying this? Greatest animated movie of all time? No, the Incredibles is the greatest animated movie of all time.
01-Monsters, Inc
02-Toy Story 3
03-Nemo
04-The Incredibles
05-Toy Story
06-Ratatouille
07-Wall-E
08-Toy Story 2
09-Up
10-Monsters U
11-Brave
12-A Bug's Life
13-Cars
14-Cars 2
I'm not sure about UP, but The Incredibles and Ratatouille by far deserved the top spots. Wall-E, Toy Story 3, and Monsters inc. also were top 5 material.
I just want to add that part of Wall-E's amazing success is because of the ability and brilliance of music composer Thomas Newman to move the whole wordless beginning along. If you're going to mention how great Giacchino was for Up (and don't get me wrong, all of his work with Pixar has been legendary) you have to tip the hat to Newman's work with Pixar as well, and the way he has brought several of these stories to life sonically.
1. The Incredibles
2. Toy Story 3
3. Finding Nemo
4. Wall-E
5. Monsters Inc.
6. Ratatouille
7. Toy Story
8. Toy Story 2
9. Brave
10. Cars
11. Up (Would've been good as a short film. As a 2 hour feature though it was dull and stupid)
12. A Bug's Life
Haven't seen Monsters University or Cars 2 yet.
1. Toy Story – it's TOY STORY!
2. Toy Story 3 – that scene at the end, when they're about to die.
3. WALL-E – the space dance.
4. Ratatouille – everything.
5. Finding Nemo – Dory (funniest character they've created).
6. Monster's Inc. – Sully and Boo.
7. Toy Story 2 – Jessie's song.
8. The Incredibles – when Bob tells his wife he's not strong enough to survive losing his family.
9. Up – a grumpy main character that you can't help but love. And THAT scene.
10. Monsters University – the best of the modern ones.
11. Cars – didn't really like this.
12. Brave – Merida is possibly the most annoying main character they've had. Great scenery.
13. A Bug's Life – boring.
14. Cars 2 – didn't even watch this one.
1. Toy Story
2. The Incredibles
3. Toy Story 2
4. Cars
5. Monsters Inc.
6. Ratatouille
7. Toy Story 3
8. A Bug's Life
9. UP
10. Monsters University
11. Brave
12. Finding Nemo
13. Cars 2
14. Wall-E
1. Toy Story
2. The Incredibles
3. Toy Story 2
4. Cars
5. Monsters Inc.
6. Ratatouille
7. Toy Story 3
8. A Bug's Life
9. UP
10. Monsters University
11. Brave
12. Finding Nemo
13. Cars 2
14. Wall-E
1. Toy Story
2. The Incredibles
3. Toy Story 2
4. Cars
5. Monsters Inc.
6. Ratatouille
7. Toy Story 3
8. A Bug's Life
9. UP
10. Monsters University
11. Brave
12. Finding Nemo
13. Cars 2
14. Wall-E
1. Toy Story
2. The Incredibles
3. Toy Story 2
4. Cars
5. Monsters Inc.
6. Ratatouille
7. Toy Story 3
8. A Bug's Life
9. UP
10. Monsters University
11. Brave
12. Finding Nemo
13. Cars 2
14. Wall-E
1. Toy Story
2. The Incredibles
3. Toy Story 2
4. Cars
5. Monsters Inc.
6. Ratatouille
7. Toy Story 3
8. A Bug's Life
9. UP
10. Monsters University
11. Brave
12. Finding Nemo
13. Cars 2
14. Wall-E
1. Nemo â Great performances by Brooks and DeGeneres, fun story, excellent pace
2. Toy Story â Groundbreaking
3. The Incredibles â Long-winded but spectacularly entertainingâI drop it because they could have shortened the scenes with the dad at work
4. Cars â Excellent pacing and fun
5. Toy Story 3 â Terrific, but the burning scene was misplaced in a kid flickâI mean, seriouslyâ¦
6. Up: Charming, paradigm-shifting for kids, but long
7. Toy Story 2
8. Ratatouille: Yes, I liked this more than most people did
9. A Bug's Life
10. Monsters, Inc.: Overrated, in my view
11. Brave
12. Cars 2: Truly awful on every level
13. Wall-E: First time Iâve ever been too bored to mind a torrential downpour of preaching that much (okay, I minded)
Wall-E was nonstop preaching; thoroughly boring. I don't know anyone–rightwing or leftwing–who actually enjoyed it. The lead character was a charmer, but this and Cars 2 were two horrifying episodes in the rightly vaunted history of Pixar. Because of them, I didn't even bother seeing Brave.
Great to see "Incredibles" at No. 1. Like almost everybody else, though, you missed the film's Libertarian moral underpinnings. It's almost a cartoon "Atlas Shrugged," railing against the supression of people with extraordinary abilities. "Saying everybody's special is the same as saying no-one is."
pffft
Walle had so much potential but ended up being the lamest lecture Pixar ever could have done considering all the crap Apple has contributed to the environmental damage to the earth. And UP was just plain stupid. They need to stop lecturing people and start entertaining them. I totally agree with the Incredibles. Loved that movie.
Maybe I need to give Ratatouille another go (I feel it belongs much lower on the list), but The Incredibles is a big *yawn* for me. There is no way that it belongs higher than WALL-E, Up, or the Toy Story films. For that matter, I'd shove it down there in "Cars" territory. I didn't even think that it was Pixar, for some reason, and so I had an unpleasant shock at reading number one.
Loved this article. Well thought-out and articulated. I disagree with the order, but that's to be expected (I'm sure everyone has their own list). The top 10 or so of these movies are all so equally wonderful that there's no way to win.
Finding Nemo definitely tops my list. Partially because of the influence it had on me, but I really do think it's an astounding movie. I still think the pacing is nearly flawless, but yeah I agree the fishing net extra climax at the end pushes it just a little long. Other than that it is a masterpiece, in my opinion. Along with Ratatouille and The Incredibles. Man. I need to watch these again.
I don't see how films which have received much so much acclaim (Toy Story & Finding Nemo) can be ranked under such mediocre films
How is Ratatouille rank so high? No disrespect but seriously???? That should be near the bottom with Cars and Brave…one reason why…I practically forgot that it was even Pixar. Heck, I forgot about that movie entirely. It was the least memorable of all the Pixar movies, no one even talks about that one no more. Toy Story 3 should be 1 or 2 and Finding Nemo should be like 3 and Up or Wall-e next.
How could a writer who knows how to spell things like 'aesthetic' and 'prognosticators' be unaware of the difference between 'principle' and principal'? Repeatedly.
Monster House and Chicken Little would have been lowest ranking if they were Pixar films (they're not, though they're both still Disney). I don't see how The Incredibles is #1. The plot was a little messy and it didn't have as much heart as Monsters, Inc, and Toy Story 3 (arguably the best of the trilogy, in my opinion). At least Up was in the top 3.
I've never understood the love for The Incrdibles, personally it does bugger all for me.
Toy Story, Monsters Inc, Ratatouille, Up and WALL E are all exceptional films. Toy Story 3, Finding Nemo and Toy Story 2 are almost there but not quite.
Brave, A Bugâs Life and The Incredibles have some pretty decent moments and are nowhere near âthe worstâ anything but in comparison to better Pixar they don't make the grade.
Cars /Cars 2 are soulless crap.
I liked Brave way more than Up – Pixar's worst in my opinion (haven't seen Cars 2)
Hey man, I like your list.
Wow..toy story 1 must be in first position..
It's a really bad ranking you've made in my opinion.
For me, Up and Wall-E have become rather overrated. Both fine films, but very conventional after their admittedly outstanding opening acts. Cars and Brave are rather underrated – sturdy classical storytelling with a lot going for them, but ultimately second tier Pixar, which makes them doomed to be forever slagged as disappointments.
My top five would probably be Ratatouille, Finding Nemo, Toy Story, The Incredibles and Monsters Inc, but aside from Cars 2 there's no such thing as a genuinely bad or even mediocre Pixar movie. Even in decline, which they have been for a few years (Toy Story 3 excepted) they're still the closest guarantee of quality entertainment the studios have to offer.
For a guy who hates Pixar so much. You sure do write about them a lot.
1. Toy Story – How could it not be top? Just a brilliant, charming, inventive, complete movie
2. Toy Story 3 – Just stunning, in many ways my favourite and that incinerator scene… My God
3. Toy Story 2 – Excellent the way it moved the Toy's universe on
4. Monsters Inc – Fun, warmth and character to spare
5. Nemo – Visually stunning, decent storyline too
6. Wall-E – First half great, second half, not so much
7. Cars – Good fun. Could be my kid's love of it that's got it higher up the list than it should be
8. The Incredibles – never really 'got' what people raved about with this. Was ok, but…
9. Brave – Could've been great, but not as bad as people made out
10. A Bug's Life – Mostly meh, but had its moments
11. Up – One for the critics. Actually a really dull film
12. Ratatouille – Missed its mark… Whatever it's mark was supposed to be
13. Cars 2 – A blatant cash in
14. Monsters U – haven't seen it so can't comment
Pretty Decent List.
Wow, am surprised how much of this list I disagree with.
Iâm with you on the Incredibles, but after that, Iâm not so sure. I donât rate Ratatouille at all â would see it as one of the worst. Not funny, twee, sentimental and didactic.
My top five would be something like:
1. The Incredibles
2. Finding Nemo
3. Toy Story 2
4. Up
5. Toy Story
Then again, Iâm not particularly a Pixar fanatic. I still miss hand-drawn animation… C'est la vie
All in all, not a bad list, although I don't really agree with the ranking of the top five.
I'd go: 5. Toy Story 4. Finding Nemo 3. Ratatouille 2. Up 1. Wall-E
My son's favorite Pixar movies are in the reverse order of this list (with the exception of Incredibles being much higher). I'm supposing our tastes are not as sophisticated as the author's.
Great article! I only have one question… I can't quite follow this portion of the Ratatouille segment: "it was going to be the first film released outside of its distribution pact with Disney (which explains its international setting)." The film was released normally by Disney both in the US and overseas, Pixar didn't release it on their own as the wording seems to suggest.
I would suggest that your premise, or at least your headline, is misleading at best and flawed at worst.
The are no WORST Pixar films . . . . there are some that are not as wonderful as
others.
My issue is not with your ranking the films.
My strong issue is your use of the use of the word WORST which strongly implies that some are TOTALLY AND WITHOUT ANY MERIT BAD and that is not the case with Pixar films . . . .
Pixar in particular and with most films in general.
If I were your editor I would write "headline editorializes story in a negative spin; allow reader to draw their own conclusions. Is this a story or an opinion piece. Label clearly if it it is opinion of the writer" I would also note that FROM BAD TO WORST LISTS and TOP TEN WORST MOVIES EVER LISTS are weak ideas in general.
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