Posterized: Disney/Pixar
Saturday, June 22, 2013 at 2:00PM My review of Monsters University will be up tomorrow but for now, let's revive our supposedly weekly (ahem) series Posterized to look back at all 13 Pixar Features and discuss their chronology and, the fun part, their hierarchy. AND... I just keep gilding this CGI lily, how they compare to the first 13 DISNEY Animated Features. Yep, throwing a little curveball into the frequent "ranking Pixar" conversations, I am.
Toy Story (1995) 3 Oscar nominations. Won an Honorary Oscar. Basically changed the (showbiz) world forever. [my ten favorite moments from this classic]
A Bugs Life (1998) 1 Oscar nomination (Score, Musical or Comedy)
Toy Story 2 (1999) 1 Oscar nomination (Song). It was right about here that people started arguing for an Animated Feature Oscar category (Tarzan and The Iron Giant were also released this year) but that wouldn't happen for another couple of years.
Monsters, Inc (2001) 4 Oscar Nominations, 1 Win but lost the first Animated Feature Oscar to Shrek which, for a long time, felt like a terrible tragedy, both because it was a far better film and because Pixar is basically responsible for the category being created at all.
Finding Nemo (2003) 4 Oscar Nominations, 1 Win. Massive (that's not even a big enough word) hit that temporarily overtook the Toy Story franchise as Pixar's crown jewel and calling card.
The Incredibles (2004) 4 Oscar Nominations, 2 Wins. And the title says it.
Cars (2006) 2 Oscar Nominations and the company's first lemon (though people were hugely forgiving at the time given the mass hysteria of the first decade of Pixar mania)
Ratatouille (2007) 5 Oscar Nominations, 1 win.
Wall•E (2008) 6 Oscar Nominations, 1 win. The artistic pinnacle. I will not be budged from this position. People gripe about The Dark Knight missing a Best Picture nomination this year but the real tragedy was this Masterpiece of Artistically Ambitious Blockbuster Cinema missing the cut.
Up (2009) 5 Oscar nominations including Best Picture (newly expanded category), 2 wins.
Toy Story 3 (2010) 5 Oscar nominations including Best Picture (expanded category), 2 wins. I warned people at the time that Pixar would shamelessly exploit/destroy the hugely moving finale by returning to the characters immediately and it didn't take long to be proven right though it still saddens me greatly that I was right.
Cars 2 (2011) the first Pixar movie to miss an Oscar nomination since the creation of the Animated Feature category and the first to not win raves.
Brave (2012) 1 Oscar nomination and win... and kind of a surprise win. A better film than many people give it credit for being but you could feel the Pixar backlash really gaining ground
Monsters University (2013) Oscar fate TBD.
I'd rank them like so... with grades
- Wall•E (A)
- The Incredibles (A)
- Toy Story (A)
- Ratatouille (A-)
- Monsters, Inc (A-/B+)
- Toy Story 3 (B+)
- Up (B+)
- Finding Nemo (B ?... I never quite loved this one but I know I'm supposed to.)
- Brave (B)
- Toy Story 2 (the only one I have trouble remembering... haven't seen it since opening weekend)
- A Bug's Life (B-)
- Cars (C)
- Monsters University (C-)
- Cars 2 (D+)
Now that it's no longer sacrilige to wonder if Pixar maybe isn't the greatest movie studio of all time, I began to think about their adoptive parent company's early days. Disney made many animated classics too and that empire was built on a great foundation itself or it wouldn't have become the world dominating corporation it now is.
So let's look at Disney's early days. Can you even compare them?
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) 1 Oscar nomination. Won Honorary Oscar. Basically changed the (showbiz) world forever. discussed last year
Pinnocchio (1940) 2 Oscar nominations and wins.
Fantasia (1940) just discussed
Dumbo (1941) 2 Oscar nominations, 1 win.
Bambi (1942) 3 Oscar nominations.
So far so comparable in terms of shockingly consistent quality and hugely beloved films with memorable characters and obvious artistic ambitions ... though Disney was adapting rather than creating original stories.
But then it becomes difficult to know how to compare the filmographies. In 1941 the USA joined World War II (already in progress) and with much of the staff gone to war and the studio in financial trouble they turned their attention to supporting the war efforts as well as producing less expensive to produce package films -- six of them consecutively from 1942 through 1949 (Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros, Make Mine Music, Fun and Fancy Free, Melody Time, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad). And then in 1950 they finally got back to traditional business.
Cinderella (1950) 3 Oscar Nominations
Alice in Wonderland (1951) 1 Oscar Nomination
Peter Pan (1953) No Oscar attention
Lady and the Tramp (1955) No Oscar attention
Which takes us through Disney's first 18 years of animated feature-making! What do you make of this comparison? Please note that Disney's next animated feature was Sleeping Beauty (1959), a bonafide masterpiece. Will The Good Dinosaur (2014) be able to say the same?
Reader Comments (33)
My Pixar ranking:
1. Toy Story 3
2. Monsters Inc.
3. Toy Story
4. Ratatouille
5. Toy Story 2
6. WALL-E
7. Finding Nemo
8. The Incredibles
9. Up
10. Brave
11. A Bug's Life
12. Cars
Basically, number 1 is my favorite animated film of all time. Numbers 2-7 are irreplaceable films. Numbers 8-11 are great fun and worthy of the standard the studio set for itself with the other 7. Number 12 is meh, but still kiiiinda, sometimes enjoyable. I haven't seen the other two.
Hmm.
1. Toy Story (A) The first, the best, the most cohesive.
2. Toy Story 2 (A) Expands on thematic underpinnings of the previous in interesting ways that justify the theatrical release.
3. WALL-E (A-) The second HALF does have (SOME) problems, but that first half is so amazing it almost doesn't matter.
4. Ratatouille (A-) Brad Bird gives a rich soulful meditation on the nature of art.
5. Monsters Inc. (A-) The biggest heart of any Pixar, having nothing truly bad to say about it's characters, not even the desperate (sort of) villains Randal and Waternoose.
6. Finding Nemo (A-) It's not as resonant as some of the others, but I really admire the visual invention on display. And Ellen DeGeneres' comic turn.
7. The Incredibles (B+) Eh, I think the Watchmen influences are too blatant for highest marks, but it's fun for what it is.
8. Toy Story 3 (B+) It's maybe a bit basic, but it's more cohesive and, overall, coherent than...
9. Up (B) The opening ten minutes or so are AMAZING, but the plot becomes completely INSANE, especially since Charles Muntz is supposed to be what, 100+ at this point? A bit more hewing to the realistic (dogs without an actual living master) would have resulted in a MUCH more cohesive feeling piece.
10. Brave (B)
11. A Bug's Life (B-)
12. Cars (B-) It's not a great movie, but I at least like seeing someone with a taste for classic cars.
PERFECT
1. Ratatouille - I fell in love my first time, and this was the first animated film I would consider buying. Not to sound like a snob, but I don't often jones to throw one on; this and SLEEPING BEAUTY are the exceptions.
WUNDERBAR
2. Toy Story
3. Finding Nemo
4. Toy Story 3
5. Brave
PRETTY GOOD, I'M IMPRESSED (channeling Goldie/Bette)
6. WALL-E - the visuals and sound work are jaw-dropping
7. Toy Story 2
8. Monsters, Inc.
9. A Bug's Life
I JUST DON'T GET IT
10. Up - The first ten minutes are great and all, but Pixar also shot themselves in the foot with it. With such a beautiful love story told so succinctly, what could the rest of the runtime possibly offer? An unnecessary villain? The world's most annoying child?
11. The Incredibles
ACTIVE HATRED
12. Cars
I was just discussing The Incredibles the other day with my friend, and after some discussion about how we both feel like the only people who don't love it, I came to an interesting conclusion: I so wish we had seen a film with those characters in a different story. Because I l-o-v-e the characters in Incredibles, but really couldn't care less about the plot. (It's the exact same way I feel about The Kids Are All Right.)
As far as the others, the Toy Story trilogy is sublime, Finding Nemo is an okay film saved by some truly amazing voice acting work, UP's intro as a 10-minute short would have been an incredible achievement, but everything past the beginning is just a mess (besides Dug), and WALL*E is, as you said Nathaniel, the absolute pinnacle.
The comparison with Disney is a fun one. They tend to get short shrift these days, what with Pixar sucking up all the oxygen in the animation discussion (until recently, at least), so it's easy to forget that Disney's early run is just as good as Pixar's.
My Pixar movie ranking:
1. WALL-E--just perfect. Like you said, this was the blockbuster which *should* have been nominated in 2008.
2. The Incredibles
3. Finding Nemo
4. Toy Story 3--maybe it's not technically 'best,' but it makes me weep like the lead of a Douglas Sirk movie.
5. Up
6. Monsters, Inc.
7. Toy Story
8. Toy Story 2
9. Ratatouille--This is the one that everyone else loves that I must have missed the boat on. I respect and enjoy it, but just don't see the great cinema everyone else does.
10. A Bug's Life
11. Brave
12. Cars
13. Cars 2--This one really is a stinker, isn't it? It's not bad in the "still fun, but not as good as other Pixars" sense; it's bad in the "I need to claw my eyes out" sense.
Fun and interesting take on the usual Pixar rankings. I still feel the first hour of Wall-E is pure gold, whille that second half is just good.
+JMJ+
I've been reading another blogger's reviews of every Disney full-length feature (which he is going through one by one this year) and so knew about the drop in quality that started with Saludos Amigos and didn't end (in his estimation) until Alice in Wonderland. It should have been obvious that the war had something to do with it, but I didn't get the context until you pointed it out here. Thanks! =)
I think my favourite Pixar movie at this point is Monsters, Inc., while Ratatouille was the first one I didn't totally love. (But that was because I grew tired of Toy Story from exposure and the sequels . . . and didn't bother to see Cars.)
Wow, I guess I was far more forgiving of Monsters U than you were. I'd probably give it a B-.
Back in 2010 I thought Toy Story 3 was maybe Pixar's greatest and still think it belongs in the top three, but people seem to have turned on it very quickly. Back then, it was almost unanimously beloved and now every review of Monsters University says how Pixar hasn't made a good movie since Up. What gives?
01. Toy Story 2
02. WALL-E
03. The Incredibles
04. Toy Story 3
05. Ratatouille
06. Toy Story
07. Brave
08. Finding Nemo
09. Monsters, Inc.
10. Up
11. A Bug's Life
12. Cars
(I will likely never see Cars 2. Can anyone blame that?)
Toy Story 2, which I've seen at least 197 times in my life, has somehow gotten stronger for me with each viewing as an adult. I don't understand it, especially because I already adored it as a child, but it just keeps being perfect in almost every way for me. And in the same frame of time, I realized I feel dutiful toward the first one without having a WHOLE lot of passion for it; its importance is clear within film history, and I love it a lot, but it just pales in comparison to its continuations. But that really won't happen again, so I can't wait for TS4 to shoot me in the face. (Oh, indignant exaggeration, you're good to me.)
And I love how people are finally turning against Up! Their films mostly age extraordinary well (as noted above), but it just becomes uncomfortably deranged the more I'm exposed to it, and I can't suspend my disbelief at anything that happens in the entire second half. I'm also stuck in a comparative grudge against it for stealing Fantastic Mr. Fox's everything that will likely never break.
I also cannot wait for the widespread critical evaluation of Brave to happen already. I mean, it's gonna, but I really don't wanna wait 15-20 years for it.
I agree with JD, I am so glad Up is getting its comeUPannce (I am so sorry.) It is, to me, THE most overrated of Pixar's movies. I also agree with you, Nathaniel, about Wall-E being the absolute pinnacle of everything Pixar has achieved. Is it wrong that I consider it my favorite movie, ever?
Uhhh, so I guess I'm the only one that has Up as their number one. I'm actually really surprised that everyone has it ranked so low, I loved it. And Nathaniel I agree with your ranking of Cars 2 as the worst of the lot; it ruined my love of Pixar as I haven't seen Brave and don't plan on seeing Monsters University. I remember reading somewhere that Mater from the Cars films is like the Jar-Jar Binks of the Pixar universe, which is such a perfect description I'm mad I didn't come up with it.
Thank you so much for this post. Reading this is like taking a trip back through the childhood of my 3 girls. And one of my earliest memories is sobbing hysterically at a cinema screening of Bambi (not original release. I'm not that old!) I remember my mum asking if I wanted to leave. I said "no *sob* way!!"
Our favourite Pixar is Finding Nemo. We are doing a clean out at the moment but there's no way we would let hubby throw out Giant Nemo!
I'm pretty sure you're supposed to like Nemo much more! ;)
For me it's the best Pixar by far.
A Bug's Life (which I saw recently) is bad, as is Brave.
I think Pixar might have started not caring much about the scripts. The animation is evolving but the writing seems to be devolving (is that the correct use?). Toy Story 3 was the last very good script. Not that I saw Cars 2 or Monsters Element..I mean University (cheap shot - haven't even seen it).
I love Toy Story 3 (somehow I still haven't seen the first two) and WALL-E (minus the parts with humans), followed by Finding Nemo. On the whole, I'm not as into Pixar as almost everybody else is, though.
Totally agree with those of you who don't care for Up - I wasn't even that into its beginning, let alone the second half, which is a mess. And as a member of Team Fantastic Mr. Fox, I hold that grudge against Up too, J.D.
Also, about that famous married life montage in Up - I'm probably way too cynical, but it felt somewhat calculated to me. As in, "Let's try to make them cry right at the beginning, so they wouldn't notice that the rest of the movie (with the annoying kid, evil dogs flying jets, etc) doesn't hold up."
Wall-E (A): Even if it gets somewhat predictable and cutesy as the third act unfolds, I admired its artistic merits and the indelible creation of Wall-E
Toy Story (A) Because it set the stage for a new era of filmmaking, while simultaneously delivering an original, poignant, and consistently brilliant movie.
Ratatouille (A-) Because the entire experience feels like good old-fashioned storytelling with a gourmet twist.
Toy Story 3 (A-) the minus because I think it hugely benefits from the anticipation and goodwill already built from the earlier films (at times relying too much on those things), but it's the best closure to one of the best cinematic trilogies
The Incredibles (A-/B+) Because it never ceases to excite me, even after repeated reruns, and because it's a much better superhero movie than most of the live-action ones out there.
Toy Story 2 (B+) the second installments in trilogies always seem to carry this feeling of . . . ambivalence? But it gets better with time.
Monsters Inc. (B+) Wonderful characters and generally sharp writing elevate it from the not very unique plot
Finding Nemo (B) It's enjoyable but it never felt like it was going for much other than entertainment. And sometimes it feels to schmaltzy for my taste, even for an animated movie.
Up (B) Because where could it go after that beautiful opening if only down?
Brave (B) Egregiously misjudged. Not Pixar's finest hour, but definitely in solid form
A Bug’s Life (B-) It seems like the most forgettable, even more than Cars. It's just not that bad (but also not that good)
Won't bother with the rest
Cars (C-)
Monsters University (C-)
Cars 2 (F)
You must watch Toy Story 2 again! The best of the three, in my opinion.
Oh, I definitely would put "Up" way up there--yes, it goes increasingly bananas in the last 1/2 hour, but so did "Monsters Inc."--and in that case, it actually IMPROVED the movie substantially. At this point, I think "A Bug's Life" is also very underrated, compared with some of the other Pixars. "Cars" and "Cars 2" are definitely operating at a lower level than all the others, and the buzz on "Planes" isn't real complimentary either.
I really don't think it's fair to compare modern computer animated films to classic Disney--different artistic styles, different eras. It's like comparing modern comedies or dramas to films from the 30's, 40's, 50's, and 60's. Now, if you went head to head comparing the new Disney "golden age" (basically "The Little Mermaid" through "Home On The Range") vs. the originals made while Walt was alive...
I feel like people who put Toy Story 3 before the original (or The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Finding Nemo for that matter) weren't old enough to experience it in the theater and fully have one's mind blown when it was first released. You're whole concept of animation was re-imagined beautifully and perfectly, and the quality of storytelling was far superior and satisfying to most 'normal' movies. Plus you had the whole backstory of, "it took them over 4 years to make this radical new type of film"... and to think it could have just been a dud, only a technological trailblazer, but it wasn't, it was the fucking Beatles.
...when it came out on VHS I watched it everyday for a long time.
Now in my opinion, Toy Story 2 > 3. The 3rd installment feels a bit forced for an old feeling of youthful excitement that the first ones held so well - definitely needed to come out 5 years before it did (I realize there were copyrights conflicts or whatever preventing this). I suggest re-watching the 2nd installment (and other Pixar flicks) since it feels like #3 is getting high placements due it being the last good Pixar movie in the eyes of some. Call me crazy, but I like A Bug's Life better the Toy Story 3 - a delightful original universe & characters Vs. a forcefully recreated one (I mean even the voices feel aged or replaced *Slinky Dog* RIP Jim Varney).
This leads me to the Pixar vs Disney debate. Technologically we can split hairs or call it a tie, but the fact that all the Pixar flicks were original stories (for a time), and great and imaginative ones at that, trumps Disney every time for more less mining classic literature and translating to animation.
And that's just like my opinion man
01. Wall•E
02. Toy Story 2
03. Toy Story 3
04. Ratatouille
05. Toy Story
06. The Incredibles
07. Monsters, Inc
08. A Bug's Life
09. Up
10. Finding Nemo
Still haven't bothered to watch - Brave
Only one I switched off during - Cars
So no way I'm going anywhere near - Cars 2
1. Toy Story
2. Toy Story 3
3. Finding Nemo
4. Monster's Inc.
5. Up
6. A Bug's Life
7. Toy Story 2
8. The Incredibles
9. Wall-E
10. Cars
Haven't seen Ratatouille, Cars 2, Brave, or Monsters University.
I'm surprised to hear such negativity about Up. I've never heard anything bad about it before. Interesting. Something to think about.
The Incredibles is great, but forgettable to me, like A Bug's Life, though The Bug's Life has childhood nostalgia for me.
Wall-E is great, but just didn't connect with me like it did other people. I felt like the overarching moral of the story was stronger than the characters. It was hard for me to connect. Idk.
Toy Story 2 is the weakest of the that series, but only because it's the most forgettable. It's still great.
I'm not sure if Cars is as bad as everyone says, but it's certainly ... unique. And unique enough for me to have no desire to ever see the sequel (even if it had good reviews).
As for Monsters University, I honestly never had any interest in it. I wanted to see if anything else happens with Boo (srsly, how can you make that character, one of the most lovable characters ever and then be like SEQUEL so everyone's like omg boo!!! only to do a prequel that has nothing to do with the most lovable character/relationship) and how they fare with the laughter instead and what arises with that. Even if that isn't that interesting, I'd take it any day over some stupid story about their college days. Who cares?
Also I want to watch Brave, but my friend told me it's meh. He said it wasn't BAD but clearly wasn't as fleshed out as it should've been. And either way it definitely shouldn't have won all those awards. So strange that it came out of nowhere and won everything. Kinda like one of those best supporting actress years like rachel weisz or melissa leo's years when you have many possible winners and you wonder who will take each one until one person just randomly comes about and takes them all.
Oh, and on Toy Story 3 ... it came at a perfect time for me to fully appreciate it. I was about to start my senior year and had just taken my senior photos that day and decided to go see Toy Story 3 with my mom. I didn't expect it to be so emotional, but it was hitting my generation right in the heart because we grew up with these films. It was the end of our childhood. Powerful stuff, man.
1. Finding Nemo - I've never heard such "backlash" on it until this post. Everyone here seems to be lukewarm on it, but to me it just keeps growing and becoming more emotionally resonant as I get older. The first time I saw it as a metaphor for sending your kid off to college I lost my shit.
2. Wall-E - It is only not my favorite because Finding Nemo is. I don't even think the 2nd half is flawed. It's just not a masterpiece like the first half. But damned if I don't get chills when the computer defines dancing.
3. Toy Story 3 - It's just firing on all cylinders and is perhaps the best 3rd film of a trilogy.
4. Up
5. Toy Story
6. The Incredibles - I actually really like The Incredibles, I just have one incredibly huge problem with it. I won't go on a tirade here, but I understand the main message has something to do with the importance of family. But since Buddy is kicked out at the beginning, he then uses his natural intelligence to achieve his goals. The movie villainizes this and basically tells kids that the only way you can succeed is to be born with super powers, not by using your brains. Because cool kids with super powers will reject you. I could go on and on.
7. Toy Story 2
8. Monsters Inc.
9. Brave
10. Ratatouille - I don't get it either Joe K...
11. A Bug's Life
12. Cars
13. Cars 2 - I went to see this with my friend who is an animator at Moonbot (the people who made The Fantastic Flying Books...) and we agreed that the scenery was beautifully rendered.
And then because I can't fall asleep, I decided to combine everyone's lists and see what were the overall winners and losers. I did the thing where your number one vote is 13 points, number two is 12, and so on so that your last place just gets 1 point. The results are interesting. I also excluded MU because who knows what the verdict on that movie will be after people have actually seen it.
1. Wall-E (98)
2. Toy Story (95 - coincidence?)
3. Toy Story 3 (91)
These were the clear favorites, miles ahead of the rest.
4. Ratatouille (75)
4. Toy Story 2 (75)
6. Finding Nemo (73)
7. The Incredibles (72)
8. Monsters Inc. (69)
As you can see only 6 points separate the two tied for fourth and eighth. If this doesn't represent a "tier 2" I don't know what does. Although Pixar's second tier is miles above most everyone else's best efforts.
9. Up (56)
10. Brave (37)
11. A Bug's Life (31)
12. Cars - (13)
13. Cars 2 (3)
So I guess only 3 of us even bothered to see Cars 2. And Up is starting to feel a serious backlash.
1. Wall-E
2. Finding Nemo
3. Toy Story
4. Toy Story 2
5. Toy Story 3
6. Monsters, Inc.
7. Ratatouille
8. Brave
9. Up
10. A Bug's Life
11. Cars
12. The Incredibles
Haven't seen: Cars 2 or Monsters University.
*I absolutely hate The Incredibles; I've seen it three times and can never get past how boring and overrated I think it is. I've tried but CANNOT get into it.
*Wall-E deserved to WIN Best Picture.
*Brave actually keeps improving upon views; it's definitely worth second/third viewings, people!
*I'm probably seeing Monsters University today.
I'll stick up for 'Monsters University'. It's not great, but I honestly think very few Pixar films actually are. It's low stakes, disposable fun, on par with most other adequate animated films this year. I do wish Pixar would turn in another great work, but I'm glad their stream of critical "failures" has brought them down to earth.
TRULY GREAT
1." WALL-E"
2. "Ratatouille"
VERY GOOD
3. "The Incredibles"
4. "Finding Nemo"
ALRIGHT, GOOD FUN (in no ranked order)
"Toy Story"
"Toy Story 2"
"Toy Story 3"
"Monsters, Inc."
"Monsters University"
UGH, NEXT PLEASE!
"Up"
"A Bug's Life"
"Cars"
"Brave"
DEEPLY, DISASTROUSLY TERRIBLE
"Cars 2"
I think Pixar's two best features that could have slipped in the five nominee best picture set were Wall-E and Ratatouille, both defying expectations, and redefining what an animated movie really stands for, more than just a kids movie. Ratatouille made us love a rat for pete's sake and for once a rat who didnot look like jerry or a cutesy cersion of it, aldo the idea behind it, to find meaning in life, was as real as in a sofia coppola movie. And with Wall-E , nothing can be said that hasnt been said before, its a mastepiece...not even a single nominee that year comes close. Finding Nemo, the incredibles and the toy story franchise are great...almost perfect movies really, but not really ground breaking so to speak.there's perfect and then theres whoa!
It's absolutely impossible for me to rank these, so I'll go in tiers. For me, the Pixar hot streak was basically Finding Nemo through Toy Story 3. Cars is better than it gets credit for, even if it does represent a serious dip in quality from the truly great films surrounding it.
Tier One
Toy Story 3 (I will not hear one word against this. EVER. I never felt that attached to the first two, but I was bawling like a baby for the entire last fifteen minutes. I have never been this emotionally affected by a film before or since)
Up (in some ways, I find this even MORE ambitious than Wall-E - a movie aimed at kids that has an old widower as a main character? That has a plot this bizarre? I've never felt as attached to a truly inanimate object in a film as I was to Carl & Ellie's house.)
Ratatouille (perfect blend of stuff for kids and for adults)
Finding Nemo (simply gorgeous)
Wall-E (flat-out brilliant)
Tier 2
Monsters, Inc. (probably my personal favorite to watch over and over again, but it's a bit thin)
Toy Story (all the seeds for greatness are there)
The Incredibles (I like it and all, I just don't think it's a brilliant as other people do. It sure does blow most other superhero movies out of the water, though)
Brave (a recent second viewing confirms that this is FAR better than anyone gives it credit for)
Toy Story 2 (I remember really liking this, but I haven't felt the desire to watch it again since it came out. However, the "When She Loved Me" sequence is great)
Tier 3
A Bug's Life (I don't even remember this. AT ALL. Except for the joke with the light-up bug zapper)
Cars (it's fine. But "fine," in the context of this output, is not very good at all.)
Cars 2 (I couldn't even get through fifteen minutes of this on cable)
I'm not particularly interested in Monsters University and I'll probably skip it.
So far, I've only seen six Pixar features. My favorites are "Wall·E" and "Up" and I would definitely enjoy a movie starring Edna from The Incredibles.
I've seen all the Disneys and I kind of love them all, although I must say it's been ages since I watched any of them, which is kind of sad if I think about it.
01. Finding Nemo
02. Ratatouille
03. Toy Story
04. Toy Story 3
05. Monsters Inc.
06. Toy Story 2
07. The Incredibles
08. Brave
09. Cars
10. Up
11. Wall-E
12. A Bugs Life
13. Cars 2
I don't think I'll ever really understand why so many people dislike Cars. To me it's a wonderful Capra-esque fable. Maybe Capra-esque fables are just more deeply out of fashion now-a-days than I realize.
Similarly, while I like and enjoy Wall-E (don't let that #11 ranking fool you, the only movie on the list that I don't genuinely like is Cars 2), I've never been able to see it as anything more than a wonderful, transcendent first act that the rest of the movie didn't come close to living up to.
Finding Nemo and Ratatouille are the clear top 2 for me - on a given day I"m likely to prefer one to the other, but to me they represent the peak of what Pixar has done to date.
Some of y'all are really high, or dumb callous brats that can't appreciate the great cinema that's unraveled in your lifetime - you pick your vice. Let me quote some of you:
"It's not great, but I honestly think very few Pixar films actually are."
"I absolutely hate The Incredibles; I've seen it three times and can never get past how boring and overrated I think it is."
"Finding Nemo (A-) It's not as resonant as some of the others"
"9. Ratatouille--This is the one that everyone else loves that I must have missed the boat on. I respect and enjoy it, but just don't see the great cinema everyone else does."
"Toy Story 2 is the weakest of the that series, but only because it's the most forgettable."
"A Bug's Life (which I saw recently) is bad, as is Brave."
Even if it's cool to not like Pixar now you could never argue against the revolutionary and miraculous run they had going. I feel sorry if you're blind to that.
As if Cars 2 is not bad enough (I actually like the first one), they are now making Planes. I saw the preview last weekend before Monsters University. Open in August I think. Don't look promising.
Matt Liam - yeah, I'd definitely say someone is callous and bratty.