Monday, June 25, 2012

My Favorite Pixar Movies

After reviewing Pixar's newest movie, Brave, I thought it would be fun to rank all of Pixar's films on a scale that offered perspective.

Each movie will be accompanied by a number between 1 and 10. 1 - 3 will represent the range of disliked to "just okay" movies. 3 - 5 will represent the "okay" to "good" ones. 5 - 7 will represent the "good" to "really good" films. 7 - 9 will represent the memorable and loved films. And a 10 will represent sheer perfection.

Make sure to take note of the score differences. While one movie may beat another movie in rank, the number score will help gauge how much one movie is favored over another.

(photo taken from Google Images)

One last thing before I start. If you have not seen The Pixar Story, it is a must for Pixar-lovers. I have watched it several times, enjoying it just as much with each watch. It is utterly inspiring.

And now that I got that gushing out of the way, here is my ascending list of least to most favorite Pixar films:


13. Cars 2: ?

(photo taken from pixar.com)

  • This film probably shouldn't have been included in the list at all, but I felt weird singling out one film so I included it. I put it last because 1. I haven't seen it, 2. I don't plan on seeing it anytime soon and 3. look at number 11.

12. Toy Story 2: 2.5


(photo taken from pixar.com)

  • Toy Story 2 is my least favorite of the Toy Story film trilogy. After watching The Pixar Story and learning about how John Lasseter had to save this film at nearly last minute, I understand maybe why quality-wise, it wasn't as good as its predecessor. Nonetheless, the only part I enjoyed about this film was the part about Jesse's history. The sad montage made my heart ache.

11. Cars: 2.51

(photo taken from pixar.com)

  •  Cars was a long and disappointing film, especially considering it followed The Incredibles, a film you will find on the opposite end of the list. The only component of this movie that made it better was the cute cars. For that reason, Cars 2 is only 1/100 greater than Toy Story 2.

10. Toy Story: 3

(photo taken from pixar.com)

  • I know many others who loved Toy Story when it was released. I, however, did not love it. I do enjoy the movie when I catch it airing on TV, but never desire to watch it other than that.

9. Monsters, Inc.: 4

(photo taken from pixar.com)

  • Monsters, Inc. is the Pixar film that I always somehow manage to forget about. That doesn't imply that I don't enjoy it though, because like Toy Story, when I catch it on TV, I am happy to see it. Monsters, Inc. falls short for me on the characters. There was no single or group of characters that I could point at to as my favorite, a task that I feel is easily done with an amazing Pixar film.


8. Brave: 5


(photo taken from pixar.com)

  • The newest Pixar installment was very cute and fun to watch. The graphics were well done, the music was good. The story, unfortunately, was a bit too simple to leave me overwhelming in praise for the film. Good movie. Not great.

7. A Bug's Life: 6


(photo taken from pixar.com)

  • As a kid, I experienced with A Bug's Life what many kids at the time felt with Toy Story, pure childhood enjoyment. This movie was so much fun for me. I loved all the clever details, from Flik using a drop of water and a leaf to make a telescope, to their engineering of a fake bird from twigs and leaves. This is a movie I have watched countless times. Why aren't ants really blue and violet?

6. Toy Story 3: 6.5

(photo taken from pixar.com)

  • I originally wasn't very interested in seeing this film, seeing my rating for its two predecessors, but caved when a few of my cousins wanted to see it. Toy Story 3 is undoubtedly the best of the Toy Story film trilogy. I enjoyed the new character additions, even supposedly evil ones like Lotso. Toy Story 3 contains themes of adulthood and moving forward, ones that hit close to home.
  • Fun fact: My sister has a Lotso bear she got from Disneyland, and he really does smell like strawberries!

5. Up: 7.25

(photo taken from pixar.com)

  • Up is a sweet, unique film. Carl and Ellie's storyline is touching. The montage of their growing romance is one of my favorite scenes from all the Pixar films. The last scene with their adventure book makes me want to cry every time. The only reason I probably haven't watched this film as often as I have wanted to is due to that desire to cry at the aforementioned scene.
  • Fun fact: Did you know that someone actually built and painted a house to closely resemble the Up house? I saw photos, and it looks really good.

4. Finding Nemo: 7.5

(photo taken from pixar.com)


  • I saw this movie on opening day when my mom was trying to talk me out of going to a school dance. Long story that I won't go into now, or ever probably for that matter. But I loved it immediately. What makes Finding Nemo brilliant is the cast of characters. I love Dory and all the tank fish. This Pixar film was an immediate favorite upon my first viewing. Since then, I have lost track of how many times I've seen this film. I cannot tire of this film. This film contains that quirky quality that I have come to love and expect of Pixar films. Little things such as sharks trying to become vegetarians is absolutely hilarious, as well as fishes trying to sneak out of fish tanks by clogging the water filter. It's genius.

3. The Incredibles: 8

(photo taken from pixar.com)

  • I remember being very skeptical when I first saw trailers for The Incredibles. I thought it was strange that Pixar wasn't doing a movie about imaginary creatures or talking animals or inanimate objects. I also believe this was Brad Bird's first movie for Pixar. I never saw The Iron Giant, but I was being silly and protective at the time of the Pixar studio doing something different, when in actuality it was why I loved them to begin with. Upon first viewing this film immediately won me over. I love the entire superhero family. I loved Edna Mode, the tiny little fashion designer. I love the whole concept of how idolizing a hero at a young age can father young heroes and heroines like Dash and Violet, yet still have the ability to turn sour like for the villain. Great, great movie.
  • Fun fact: Did you know Brad Bird, the director for this film did the voice for Edna?

2. Ratatouille: 8.1

 (photo taken from pixar.com)

  •  Ratatouille and The Incredibles were a close tie for me. Ratatouille wins because Remy is amazing, and the movie involves food! I firmly believe that food is the universal language and Pixar seems to agree with me with Remy's ability to communicate with Linguini. Ratatouille is a movie I can never tire of watching. This, however, is the only time I will be cheering for a rat in the kitchen.
  • Question: have you ever tried ratatouille? It really is delicious.

1. Wall-E: 9

(photo taken from pixar.com)

  • Pulling in at number one is Wall-E. For a small, boxy, primitive-looking robot, Wall-E shows so much personality through his hand gestures and eye movements, even more so than any of the human beings in this film. Wall-E has enough quirky, cute characteristics to make up for what I normally require in the cast of characters. Wall-E is also why the Macbook I am currently typing on is named Eve. I completely adored that the first half of the movie involved no form of verbal speech. I could have seen a whole movie that contained no speech at all. The whole movie could have been Wall-E and Eve, and I would have loved it. Wall-E contains themes of self-destruction at the hands of mankind, but still showcases the possibly for growth and second chances. I knew when I first saw this film that it would be hard to beat, and it has still yet to happen.

I hope you enjoyed reading my list. How would you rank the Pixar films?

2 comments:

  1. I'm shocked at where Toy Story was placed...But this list does give me a lot to think about. I have never seen Cars or (fully) WALL-E.

    I knew Ratatouille would be in your top three, how could it not~

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    1. You're a Toy Story fan? I put the third one up pretty high. The second was just okay to me, unfortunately. And you should definitely consider completing Wall-E. It'll be worth your time.

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