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A Ranking of Pixar Movies

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A Ranking of Pixar Movies

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  1. Up
  • This movie will have you crying tears of sadness and the next moment you’ll be crying tears of joy. This movie is like a roller coaster. There are plot twists, mood changes, and possibly some of the greatest character development you will see in any piece of film. It really teaches you the complication of life, and that sometimes you can’t appreciate a moment until it becomes a memory, but even then, you have to move on. 
  1. The Incredibles 
  • The Incredibles is the second-best superhero movie ever right behind The Dark Knight, which is not a Pixar movie. The Incredibles features the life of a family in which each family member has an extremely vibrant and unique character, as the audience learns throughout the movie to appreciate each character for separate reasons. This movie is anything but generic. The film covers political, economic, social, pretty much all the ideals of the real world, but incorporates them into a theoretical world where superheroes have a controversial role in society, making this film truly great and unforgettable. 
  1. Toy Story 3
  • Being one of the greatest animated films of all time, Toy Story 3 is truly unforgettable. Woody has a good character arc throughout the film, and the movie is filled with intense plotting, rivalries, twists, and even moments of great suspense that will have you on the edge of your seat. There are great character dynamics, and there are different character changes for different characters, which makes the movie even more interesting. Also, the ending is great and extremely emotional. To put it short, anyone that has seen the first two Toy Story movies will have an indescribable feeling of happiness seeing how far these characters have come.
  1. Ratatouille 
  • To begin; Ratatouille has amazing character development and definitely some of the best scenery and setting of any Pixar movie. The setting of Paris, France definitely gives a unique vibe, and it allows the audience to dwell in an environment drastically different than if you live somewhere that isn’t Paris, France. This movie teaches the audience the significance of discrimination, and how one should fight it in order to achieve their aspirations no matter how negatively society looks at you. 
  1. Toy Story 2
  • Toy Story 2 manages to be incredibly touching while still maintaining the comedic aspects of every character from the first movie. It stresses the sad process of growing up, but also how we should learn to accept its inevitability rather than dwelling on the melancholy of it. 
  1. Finding Nemo
  • Finding Nemo has the story that certainly feels the longest, and probably the story that is the most stressful too. The difficulties of being a good parent, particularly if you are a single parent and effectively conveyed through the plot of this film. In a truly unique way, Finding Nemo teaches you to always respect and appreciate the effort that your parents put in taking care and raising you, but also that you have to sometimes branch out and talk to new people if you want to make friends.
  1. A Bug’s life
  • As great as this movie is, it sort of does appeal to slightly older audiences, as it is certainly one of the more literary and complicated films from Pixar. The movie goes in many different directions and has many great dynamic characters that all play into the audience learning the importance of an individual in a large society, particularly one under unjust authoritative rule. 
  1. Monsters INC.
  • Monsters INC. is the perfect combination of funny and heartwarming. Similar to the Incredibles, the audience is put in a theoretical universe, only the audience learns to appreciate monsters rather than superheroes. The film is full of surprises and twists making it a riveting watch, more the first time than the second. Similar to many other great Pixar movies, it employs the importance of caring for youth in a world full of threats. 
  1. Toy Story 
  • Toy Story, being one of the original Pixar favorites by many, is a very happy and high-energy film that is enjoyable to all audiences. Woody is sort of an eccentric character that some may have to get used to, and the plot becomes better as you watch the movie more times, so this film actually tends to get better in the screenings following the first time watching it. The voice acting is great, and the film effectively elaborates on the motifs of jealousy, aging, rivalry, etc. 
  1. Coco
  • Coco has one of the greatest plot twists of any Pixar movie. I’m not going to say what the plot twist is, but it’s pretty great. Some would compare this to The Book of Life at first glance, but it is actually quite different in terms of plot, characters, and general vibe. This film has beautiful imagery, great characters, and does a really great job portraying the significance of Mexican culture and the importance of family in the long term. Even though death and family legacy are components that younger audiences may not understand to a high extent, it is greatly simplified in this film so that it can be enjoyed by viewers of all ages. 
  1. Cars
  • Cars is touching as it teaches the audience the importance of having a broader viewpoint in determining what really matters. Cars teach you that there are more important things than fame and glory, such as friendship and developing a wholesome character. This film is filled with eccentric characters, particularly the main character, Lightning Mcqueen, who develops greatly throughout the film.
  1. Monsters University
  • Monsters University is a great prequel to Monsters INC. Monsters University actually does a great job portraying the maturing of the two main characters if you watch it back-to-back with Monster INC. The film elaborates on the importance of authentic friendship over being associated with someone that is well known. Monsters University is funny, emotional, and really makes graet use of the college vibe while maintaining the great personalities of Sully and Mike.
  1. Inside Out
  • Inside Out is special in a way that is a film that most people can relate to, and therefore has a strong and unique effect on the audience. This movie does an emotional and hugely effective job portraying some of the struggles of childhood, including moving houses and settling in new areas and schools as you progress through youth, which is something that many of us relate to and sympathize with. This movie has an art style that mainly pertains to younger audiences, and it’s REALLY bright and colorful and the characters look very cartoony. Also, the movie is cheesy and generic at times, because you can only do so much when you’re making a movie where the main character is a little girl whose biggest problem is adjusting to a new area.
  1. Toy Story 4
  • Toy Story 4 is a great mix of emotional, nostalgic, and funny put together. Though the movie as a whole was pulled off quite well, I don’t think that the ten-year gap between this and Toy Story 3 was really great in the grand scheme of things. The movie has a very nostalgic and friendly vibe, one that just makes you really feel thankful for being able to watch a Toy Story movie again after 10 years. Also, the ending is super emotional, but you’re going to have to watch to see why.
  1. The Incredibles 2
  • This movie still had most of the core elements from the first Incredibles, but the acting and the general vibe of the characters was different than the first. It almost seemed that after years of being politically discriminated against, public superheroes sort of lost their character and physique, and the mission just wasn’t as exciting. 
  1. Finding Dory 
  • If I were to put it straight, Finding Dory is just Finding Nemo but worse, still not terrible, but definitely worse. The setting was narrowed from the entire ocean to a single aquarium, where the main characters meet new friends in their wacky misadventure at the aquarium. This movie was more emotional than Finding Nemo at certain times as Dorys’ short term memory loss became something that the audience felt quite bad about as the movie progressed and it was mentioned more and more. The characters in this movie were pretty great, and the quality of the characters was one thing that managed to be carried on from Finding Nemo. This movie has a narrower plot, and regards a character with a very emotional background, making it one for all ages to enjoy at least to some extent. 
  1. Wall-E
  • Wall-E is a unique film that would definitely be better if they didn’t put such a terrible image on humans as being fat, lazy, and incapable of doing anything without technological assistance.  On a better note, this movie has a great and very calm beginning in sort of a post-apocalyptic wasteland, which I believe is a setting that had potential but was underused in the grand scheme of things. Also, this movie has two of the cutest main characters ever, and that is definitely the reason why many adore this movie, even if those people are toddlers. Wall-E is emotional, funny, and really puts emphasis on the importance of friendship with differences, even if the film is boring and insulting at times. 
  1. Brave
  • Other than the rich Scottish culture, this movie is just pretty bland as a whole. There are no plot twists whatsoever and the entire “plot” is literally imitated after the main character is so immature that she refuses tradition and would rather shoot a bow and arrow against a crowd where there is ZERO competition. Also, this film puts a terrible image on bears, like they might be friendly but NO, let’s try and kill them instead!! On a more positive note, some of the action scenes are good, and plenty of people actually adore the movie for its moments of mother-daughter bonding, which is actually pretty emotional at the end given how terrible Merideth was to her mom in the beginning. 
  1. Cars 2 
  • I actually got pretty emotional having to put this one so low because it was a personal favorite from my childhood, of course when I couldn’t tell the difference between a good movie and one that was thrown together. If you’re above the age of 10, it becomes quite evident that cars 2 is just Mission Impossible with cars that talk. Some of the characters are okay, and I even sort of still like the action and spying aspect of this film. However, the movie is very thrown together and the script sounds exactly as if an elementary school kid wrote the script for the next Mission Impossible. The movie is generic, predictable, and overall a sub-par action film.
  1. The Good Dinosaur
  • The cinematography in this movie is great. There are a lot of great shots of panoramic landscapes, thunderstorms, sunsets, etc. However, pretty much everything else is bad. Arlo’s character is kind of annoying and immature for the most part and Spot is just a dumb figure with no character whatsoever and runs around being stupid while tagging along with the annoying green dinosaur. If the plot and characters were better, they could have mixed with the cinematography to make a good film, but instead, the film remains pretty poor. 
  1. Cars 3
  • Cars 3 is just straight-up bad. The third movie in a pretty good series had the opportunity to bring nostalgic aspects from the first two movies but instead, it has a cheesy plot that tries to glorify another female racer rather than making the story about Lightning Mcqueen. The plot is all over the place and there are lines so cringe that there were little kids cringing in the theater.