Is there a single movie studio whose films elicit more of an emotional response than Pixar? Just simply seeing the name above an animated film is enough to get some people in the theater to see it. This weekend’s The Good Dinosaur marks the 16th Pixar movie to hit theaters since Toy Story blew us all away in 1995. In honor of the film’s release, we ranked all 16 of the movies, definitively. Feel free to disagree, but then you’d be wrong.

16. Cars 2

Oh Cars 2. What to say about you? You were the movie that made us lose confidence in Pixar, ever so briefly. We get why you exist, we do, but we’d prefer to pretend otherwise. (This is the only entry on this list we feel will have no disagreement).

15. Cars

Cars 2 was so bad that it has tarnished the memory of the original a little bit. While the 2006 movie isn’t bad, it just doesn’t live up to the standards we are used to holding Pixar to. But let’s not forget Larry the Cable Guy’s inherent charm and the sense of fun in the film. There’s a lot here that worked. But it was just OK.

14. Monsters University

Monsters, Inc. has one of the best endings of a Pixar film (more on that below), so it was a good thing the studio didn’t try to give it a sequel. The prequel they gave it instead — which seemed to be aimed squarely at the kids who saw the original and were maybe in college at this point, something they did much more successfully with Toy Story 3 — was missing the sense of wonder and themes about childhood that made the original so great. There’s something less genuine about college. And the movie felt it.

13. Brave

Brave had so much potential. The fairy tale hit theaters the summer after Cars 2, and it could have been the movie that recaptured the Pixar spirit. Plus it featured Pixar’s first female protagonist. It had all the makings of a Pixar classic. But it just didn't work. Maybe it was something about the structure of the story (which literally featured our heroine moving back and forth instead of moving forward), or the subpar humor, or the blatant but failed attempts at feminism (when Merida claims she’ll be shooting for her own hand at the archery ceremony, it rings false). But honestly it’s just a weak entry in the Pixar lineup, and we'd have to wait a little longer for the studio to truly be “back.”

12. A Bug’s Life

Really the only thing A Bug’s Life has going against it (besides the race back in 1998 against Dreamworks’ Antz) is that it’s not one of those cross-generational movies that appeals as much to parents as it does to their kids. Bugs is just a kids movie, about bugs. And it's not trying to be anything more than that.

11. The Good Dinosaur

The Good Dinosaur doesn't have a lot in its story that you haven't seen before. Once you get past the initial gimmick -- the meteor that took out the dinosaurs whizzed right by and the dinos have evolved into a talking, farming, herding society -- the plot is a pretty simplistic one. Young dinosaur Arlo is trying to make his way home. But what makes The Good Dinosaur such a powerful film isn't its story but its incredible animation. The photo-realistic style that brings the paleolithic Earth to life is downright astounding, and while the story of the film might not leave you breathless, just looking at it might. (For more on The Good Dinosaur, you can read our full review here.)

10. Ratatouille

Ratatouille is one of Pixar’s most earnest films, turning something most people are scared of/disgusted by, a rat, into a most charming and adorable hero. It’s a feat only Pixar could accomplish. Pair that with the the sense of nostalgia in the character of the food critic (voiced by the incomparable Peter O’Toole) and this is a big-budget movie that manages to feel so incredibly intimate. It’s a testament to how great their other films have been that this is so far down the list.

9. Inside Out

Few recent films have touched us as much as Inside Out did, and it’s no wonder, given that the film is all about emotions. Inside Out has a lot of things going for it: Striking animation, a female protagonist who isn’t a princess and a storyline designed to make you cry. But the coup d’etat of this movie is the voice performances by Amy Poehler and Phyllis Smith (Phyllis from The Office) as Joy and Sadness, respectively. So much of the movie rests on believing these two characters are emotions that also have emotions, and Poehler and Smith pull it off flawlessly.

8. Monsters, Inc.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Monsters, Inc. is essentially a John Goodman/Billy Crystal buddy comedy about two guys who work at a power plant. The fact that this same movie is also about childhood, loss of innocence, what we're truly afraid of and the nature of good and evil is the “Pixar” of it all. There’s a lot going on in Monsters, Inc., and sometimes the movie can get a little lost in itself, but this film has just an incredible ending, full of hope and possibilities. This movie is worth it if only to hear Boo say “Kitty!” as Sulley opens her closet door, and to see the look of pure joy on the monster’s face in the final seconds. Sorry, excuse us, we're tearing up a little bit.

7. Toy Story 2

OK, OK, OK, we know you think this should be higher on the list. We get it. There are just too many good Pixar films, OK? And when you think about the other sequels/prequels that Pixar has done (minus Toy Story 3, more on that later), this movie could have been a disaster. It’s thanks, mostly, to that unforgettable When She Loved Me flashback sequence about Jessie the Cowgirl and her former owner that this movie works. It was able to keep the essential theme of Toy Story but also expand on the universe in an appropriate way, which is what all sequels should do.

6. Finding Nemo

The sea-set tale of an over-protective father searching for his lost son is also one of Pixar’s most overt stories meant for both parents and kids, but it also never lets the sentiment over-power the comedy. Finding Nemo is simply a hilarious movie, from Ellen DeGeneres’s forgetful Dory to the shark version of an AA meeting to the surfer turtles to “Mount Wannahockaloogie.” Combine that with some incredible visuals, and Nemo was an instant classic. Let’s hope sequel Finding Dory will go more of a Toy Story 2 route than Cars 2.

5. Toy Story

(Almost) nothing beats the original. Toy Story was a revolutionary film in 1995 in more ways that one, and 20 years later we're still thinking about it. The movie put Pixar on the map, it pioneered computer animation and it featured all the ingredients we have come to know and love in so many of the Pixar movies that followed: Emotional storytelling, action sequences, insights on the human condition, all-star voice cast and protagonists you never would have thought of yourself. It was hard to top, but eventually they did.

4. Toy Story 3

Pixar stories are almost always about growing up, but none as much as this one, which saw young Andy from the first two Toy Story movies go to college, and grappling with his own fears and insecurities about growing up. Toy Story 3 also confronts the inevitability of death (yes we're talking about that scene where they hold hands and yes we're outright sobbing right now), heady stuff for a kids’ movie but it miraculously works.

3. The Incredibles

Most Pixar films have a healthy helping of sentiment and outright emotion pulling at our heartstrings and giving them greatness. The Incredibles is not like that. It’s simply a superhero movie, but one of the best ones to hit theaters in the past 20 years (yup, including The Dark Knight and The Avengers and all the rest). It’s a superhero movie about what it means to be a superhero, chock full of homages to the films that came before it. But because it’s Pixar, it’s also about marriage and family and finding our place in this crazy messed-up world. If there was any Pixar film that was begging for a sequel it was this one, and we’re so happy that one is on its way.


Another of Pixar’s films that absolutely should not have worked — from it’s nearly-silent beginning to its harsh commentary on technology and modern society to its robotic love story — WALL-E is a nearly perfect film. When you’re going to tell a story that is so harsh on humanity, it helps to have a protagonist as innocent and (literally) wide-eyed as WALL-E, the trash-compacting robot left all alone on a destroyed planet Earth. In between how cute he is watching Hello, Dolly! and putting bras on his eyes, there’s a devastating critique on the world as we know it, and yet it’s still a very enjoyable movie for children (and plenty of adults). Plus, the studio was able to deliver a love story between two robots that was more affecting than anything since maybe An Affair to Remember.

1. Up

The haters may say that, minus the heartbreaking opener, there isn’t a whole lot of plot to this movie. And they’d be right. But that’s exactly why this movie is so powerful and why it tops this list. This is the essential Pixar movie: It’s made up of a lot of disparate pieces that shouldn’t fit together, except for their emotion. Imagine pitching this story to anyone else, not just in Hollywood but to anyone you know. Who wants to see a movie about an old man, a outcast kid, a talking dog and another old man as a villain? This movie should not have worked. But it did. And from the story of Carl and Ellie to the story of Carl and Russell to the image of the house lifted up by thousands of balloons, there’s something almost magical happening. Yes, inevitably it’s just a good vs. bad guy story, but the emotion is what makes it great (tell me you weren’t just as heartbroken when Carl sacrificed his house to save Russell as you were during Carl and Ellie’s initial tale?). Hats off to you, Pixar. This is your best film, and one of the best films ever made, if you're asking us.

facebook sharetwitter shareemail shareemail share
Read or Share this story: