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Pixar Ranking! #7: Wall-E

This is my dad’s favorite Pixar movie. And it’s one of the many ways we bond!

But yeah I put it at number 7…and obviously while that doesn’t mean it was my favorite, it’s ONE of my favorites. Basically anything in the top 10 is amazing.

Wall-E is such a unique film experience. And the people behind the movie really took a leap of faith when the first 10 minutes or so had 0 dialogue. Cuz kids may not be interested. The movie came out just as I was hitting teenagerdom so I thought it was great!

But you immediately connect with Wall-E and his adorable personality and curiosity. Contrasting to when Eve shows up, those two are really great together! And it really makes you think about what the future is going to be like for earth….and it doesn’t look good….

Even though the main characters barely talk, you understand the movie just fine. The plant is the key to getting everyone back to earth and our heroes are trying everything to make sure the plant gets put in the proper place to do that. And humanity can have a fresh start again. It’s themes are (un)surprisingly mature. But told in a light hearted way.

The music/songs they use for the movie is also a unique quirk that I absolutely love. It kind of ties everything together in a way.

Okay I’ll stop here because I’ll keep rambling! This is always a wholesome, inspiring, and pleasant watch.

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Pixar Ranking! #8: Ratatouille

The trailer for this movie was cute when I saw it, but it seemed a little boring. Now seeing the actual movie as an adult, I love it so much more. I don’t know if that’s the same case with other people (not liking the movie as much as a kid vs. adult) but where I stand now, this movie is in my top 10.

It’s probably the most “adult” Pixar movie ever made. Brad bird really knows how to make a Pixar movie feel like any regular movie for adults. It just happens to have a talking rat in it.

The message is also really really good. The ending now almost makes me cry. Not because anything sad happened, but how the food took the critic back to somewhere deep in his childhood memory and I’m just like holy crap….and it’s got me thinking about all the foods that I used to eat as a kid and now I just want to re-live all of it and god being an adult sucks!!!

Anyway, it moved me a lot, and also just the message that great things can come from anywhere. Not everyone can do these things but don’t doubt anyone either. It makes me feel seen as I continue to work on my own painting skills. I know I’m not there yet but honestly the journey is awesome and it’s all just for fun.

On the surface the movie is just about a rat who wants to cook but underneath it’s about finding out how dreams can work for you and how you can adapt to a world that might not accept you. And how to change their mind. I don’t know if I have any specifics from this movie to talk about. Just because the story and message are so powerful. So maybe I’ll just leave it at that.

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Pixar Rating! #9: Coco

Another newer title but this movie is downright beautiful! Both in the visuals and in the writing!

It’s a simple story about a boy wanting to do something that his family disapproves of, but what Pixar does best is how to take a simple story and add so much more to it! Plus the twist villain is actually one of the better ones that Disney has done.

I cried at the end the first time watching it. That’s how I knew it had to be in my top 10. No question! I love the skeleton designs on the characters and how they made them look much more friendly and appealing. Miguel as a character has simple wants and dreams with a very unreasonable family that wants to ban music? At first I thought that idea was silly because music is everywhere. And maybe that’s the point. But the movie itself builds on that concept so we’ll that I’ll give it a pass.

It’s not quite a musical and I’m kinda glad for that. I dont think I want Pixar heading down that road. This is just a movie that has some songs in it. And I love the fact that all the songs can be translated very easily into Spanish (for the songs that don’t already have Spanish words in them). “Remember Me” is really good as both a fast paced and slow-paced song. In fact I think it takes on a different meaning for each version.

Yeah there’s been that whole debate about “dia de los muertos” and Disney trying to trademark it or something, which is kinda messed up. But im glad that this day is being known more. It’s not “Mexican Halloween” it’s celebrating your family that’s no longer with you and looking back on their lives on earth. And it’s beautiful!

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Pixar Ranking! #10: Inside Out

Speaking of Inside Out…it’s number 10! Although it’s a newer title, I think it’s probably the best use of their new formula.

You can clearly see how the movie is going to go as an adult, with Joy isolating Sadness because she doesn’t see her purpose. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t emotional for me to watch when Reilly finally starts crying.

I LOVE how this movie is being used for child therapy, because it’s such a great way to explain to kids how their feelings work and how to express their feelings. When you’re a little kid, you don’t know how to do any of that. And I think that’s why toddlers act out a lot! They don’t know how to process anything so they just scream.

Anyway, it’s just such a good lesson for anyone that sadness is just as important as joy. You actually can’t have one without the other. How would you know what the happy days were if you don’t experience the opposite too?

The movie itself is really cute and full of relatable content, because obviously everyone watching has emotions, and daydreams and has annoying commercial jingles stuck in their head from time to time. It’s also about growing up and changing. What you were interested in as a kid won’t be the same when you’re a teenager. And I’m kind of excited to see there’s a sequel headed our way, which is probably going to be about navigating teenagerdom and puberty and boys and social pressures. So much fun!

The character designs are great! The casting is perfect! The characters themselves are so likable, even anger is hilarious! The story is sad and happy at the same time. Just about moving onto the next phase in your life and learning that it’s okay. It’s such a cute and fun movie and I would happily watch it anytime!

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Pixar Ranking #11: Soul

One of the newer-ish Pixar movies to come out! And while I personally think it’s trying a bit too hard to use the subject matter to play the emotional beats, it’s still a movie that answers a really good question, “what’s the purpose of living?”

I think that question might be a bit mature for small kids. But I think older kids and above will really get something from this movie. I know I did.

I do find it interesting that the main character is an adult, versus a teen or young adult. But I guess since the main character does technically die, having someone other than an older adult be in that position might be more traumatic. Idk.

The concept for this movie almost seems like a re-hashed version of “inside out” in that it creates an entire world and lore based on concepts such as the after life (or before-life), and what goes on inside the mind. Which Pixar has been doing a lot lately (now with their upcoming movie Elemental).

I love the takeaways from this move though. That you don’t have to have a specific passion for something to love life. Just being alive and experiencing all the little things that come with being alive, that’s what really matters. Sometimes that can be the only thing that keeps you on this planet. And that’s okay! I honestly hate the rush rush culture we’ve created where if you’re not actively being productive on something than you have no value. Like, it’s always good to have goals and work on them but it’s also okay to do nothing, not all the time but my god we all deserve some breaks every once in a while.

It’s engaging and entertaining, and I learn a valuable lesson about life. So I think that’s all well and good! But now to my top 10…

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Pixar Ranking! #12: A Bug’s Life

Now we’re starting to get into some of my favorite Pixar films!! Even though this movie didn’t break into the top 10, this is the first movie on the list that I would willingly watch and be excited about watching. (Maybe except monsters university but I gotta be in a certain mood to watch that one).

This is a pretty simple story about ants being overworked and finally learning to stand up for themselves and fight for their freedom from the grasshoppers. It’s nothing extremely groundbreaking but the ending was very satisfying. I think knowing everything is happening on such a small scale, even if there’s a lot of action, it feels quieter and more peaceful somehow. I LOVE the bird making sequence for some reason. Like it’s things like that that make it more peaceful and calming I guess. Also they got very creative with the design of the “city” with all the cardboard boxes and pop cans and stuff. Super cool to look at!

The movie is very funny and has a lot of great recognizable voices! (I wish I knew the names off the top of my head). But the guy playing the ladybug was awesome, the caterpillar was hilarious, like the acting as always is very good. I guess this movie isn’t as popular as other Pixar movies these days was because it’s a stand-alone and not a franchise, but also everything happens on a small scale like I said before. I think everything happens within a mile radius or something. It all just feels small and cute and not a big adventure like it was supposed to be.

But sometimes I don’t want a Lightyear sized movie, I want a bug sized movie, and that’s the beauty of this film!

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Pixar Ranking! #13: The Incredibles 2

I watched this movie in theaters and then again for this ranking. I definitely liked the movie more on my second viewing than my first.

It still feels like the incredibles, just slightly more “disney-fied” like a little bit less serious and a little more goofy and silly. not a lot, just a little. Brad bird still delivers fairly well with this movie.

Because of the huge success of marvel movies, I was a little worried that it would go in that direction just based of the trailers and looking at the other supers. But thankfully they are very much side characters that don’t contribute too much.

The reason why I was turned off by the sequel at first was because it felt like the same movie except Helen was the one going off on secret missions and Bob was staying home. But on second rewatch, yes that happened but other things happened that didn’t happen in the first movie, that were good! Like jack jack and the raccoon sequence, violet trying to date, etc.

The twist villain is eh, it’s fine. I think that was the weak point, tbh. The overall story is also just not AS strong as the original. But that’s to be expected. I don’t know if I would still be excited to watch this but who knows, maybe the third time watching it I’ll like it even more!

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Pixar Ranking! #14: Toy Story 4

Oh boy, this movie…

I think I’m in the majority boat when it comes to how I feel about this movie.

This movie was kind of unnecessary. As most folks have been saying, the 3rd movie was about as satisfying of a conclusion as you can get. And it made sense with the story to have the 3rd movie! This just felt like an epilogue. And I’m forever going to treat it as an epilogue.

There were just too many characters to keep track of that the original characters were just shoved off to the side for most of the movie. Not that the new characters were bad, it’s just all 3 movies had the original characters be the focus but not this one. And that’s why I consider it an epilogue and the “conclusion” to woody’s story. I’m kinda mixed on that whole thing too, with woody’s character.

On one side, I understand that woody has put other people before him for so long that he never thought about what he wanted. He never even considered living an ownerless life because it just wasn’t an option for him. Whoever his owner was, he was indebted to. And that’s his character. But then the other side is, now that he’s putting himself first and wants to stay with bo peep, is that out of character?! And like, the other toys just have one scene to say bye before they have to leave? Like, nooo!

I just feel like if they were going to go this direction, they needed to make that scene much longer or in a different place as to make it not so quick. In Toy Story 3, the toys got to play with Andy one last time for like an hour! Maybe even more! And he spent time naming each toy and what they meant to him, and ughhh that needed to be repeated in this movie for it to work and it needed to hit just as hard, if not, harder. But it just didn’t. It felt like woody was still not at that point when he decided to stay at the carnival.

Okay enough ranting! The movie itself was good! I like the new characters! And I’m sure they’ll make a ton of spin offs and now they’re making a 5th movie (Jesus help us all). Overall, I liked it. I just didn’t love it like I loved the other three.

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Pixar Ranking! #15: Cars

The original movie is still the best out of the whole franchise. But that’s not saying a WHOLE lot.

Lightnings character arc was pretty good and believable! As a character you don’t hate him at the beginning as much as you should, because Pixar was smart and made him a rookie. He wasn’t the best racer yet. There were cars that had BIGGER egos than him, and he wanted to beat them. So you still kinda root for him when he’s acting like a jerk. But you quickly realize once he gets lost that you don’t like him that much and take pleasure in the townspeople basically torturing him.

So in that regard the story was smartly done. Although it definitely feels like something from a hallmark Christmas movie. Mater is very likable and funny but can also be pretty annoying. The love interest is really just the love interest but she also kind of bridges the gap between his world and their world. So I’m a way she is kind of needed. Or at least she’s not useless as a character.

There’s not too much to say about this one because it actually doesn’t have THAT much substance to really talk about. None of the other characters change except for the main character and maybe doc. Doc is also a good character and a good foil for lighting. Ummmmm I’m really struggling hard to come up with more to say. But it’s a good movie. I really enjoyed it as a kid and I’d still watch this as an adult. Not my absolute favorite but definitely the only one of the franchise that I would willingly watch. (Cars 3 is a close second).

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Pixar Ranking! #16: Cars 3

Obviously a massive improvement from the second movie! But still not in my top 10 by any means. I’m just not big into the cars franchise.

It’s honestly been a long time since I’ve actually seen this because the DCOMS took literally forever to rank, and post. But from what I remember, this is basically about Lightning’s retirement and him moving on, coaching another racer. I thought this was a natural progression from the first movie. I honestly thought that maybe this would be a Cars 4 but I’m glad they left it at 3.

It was actually kind of sad because I think it was 10-12 years since the first movie came out and so it’s showing how much time has passed since McQueen first won the piston cup. That he’s no longer the new rookie, he’s the old timer that needs to retire but can’t accept it. The new yellow car character is nice enough, she served her purpose as being the newest rookie, as Lightning takes on the mentor role. He definitely gets a lot more humble throughout the movie.

It’s a little sad, like I said, but nothing extremely groundbreaking or notable. But necessary for the franchise for sure. Eventually this movie had to be made anyway, might as well be now. (Or whatever year this came out). I’m glad that the move went back to its roots instead of doing something completely left field. That’s about it.

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Pixar Ranking! #17: Monsters University

This also isn’t a big favorite for many people. But I actually liked this one. Obviously not as much as the original, but as a spin-off, it actually wasn’t that bad in my opinion.

There’s 2 reasons why I think a lot of people don’t like this movie that much. 1) the fact that it wasn’t the true sequel everyone was hoping for, and 2) the moral or lesson of the movie is a little bit controversial. (And a secret 3rd reason that it does break continuity a little bit).

For me, I was fine with not getting a Monsters Inc sequel. Im really not that into sequels as much as I used to be as a kid. It feels like a different world but it’s still the same characters you know and love. And im fine with breaking continuity as long as it doesn’t matter that much to the story itself. Mike and Sully meeting in college vs meeting as little kids, is honestly not too different, because by the timeframe of the original movie, they have still been best friends a long time either way. So it doesn’t bother me.

I will admit though that I didn’t quite ask for this movie either. I wasn’t begging to see mike and sullly in their college days and how they ended up as partners. Nonetheless, I thought it was cute and funny!

I actually really like the moral because it’s realistic. You have this big dream but somehow no matter how hard you try you can’t reach it. Not everything is going to work out the way you want it to. And that’s okay. It doesn’t mean you’re a failure. Sometimes we put too much pressure on ourselves to be this one thing. Maybe we want to be liked, or be noticed.

I know it’s nice to hear that you can do ANYTHING you set your mind to. But sometimes you just have physical and/or mental limitations that just make it either much harder or impossible. But you can adapt! You can pivot! And who knows, maybe it works out even better!

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Pixar Ranking! #18: Brave

I remember when this teaser came out I was so excited to see this movie. At the time, this was the first Pixar movie to be not set in modern times? If I’m not mistaken? It seemed like something Disney would do but not Pixar. The 2010’s were a time when Disney was trying to subvert their fairytale tropes, and be like “princesses don’t need a prince”, or “you can’t marry a person you just met!” Trying to be as different from the 90’s movies as possible.

It was fine for a bit but it got old super quickly. At least for me. Just make good stories. They don’t have to have a super feminist lead all the time. And I’m not saying that’s why the movie is this low on the list either. It’s the story itself that’s the problem. Hence: just make good stories.

The story structure is pretty straight forward. Two people don’t see eye to eye so one of them wishes for something and then it backfires and now it’s a race against the clock to fix it. I’ve seen it before. But I guess I’m just not as fond of the characters. I can relate to Merida in a couple ways, but she doesn’t seem to be interesting enough to really pull me in. And she’s the most interesting out of all the other characters!

I guess I thought the story would also take a different turn than the one we got. But you would think after seeing Brother bear…that oh maybe we shouldn’t do that again…I put this above Lightyear because at least Pixar was trying to branch out a little bit. And it’s not attached to other media or universes. It’s just by itself. And the movie isn’t horrible. It’s just predictable mostly. Not much else there is to say….

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Pixar Ranking! #19: Lightyear

I’ve read all the reviews about this movie and all of them have pretty much the same consensus, and I’m no different unfortunately.

I can at least SEE why they deviated from the lore of the previous films for this movie, because at that time it was just an allusion or parody to Star Wars. And I’m sure they didn’t want this specific movie to be like Star Wars.

But then I’d argue, why make the movie at all, if there’s no choice but to deviate from the source material? Because most people may not expect such a big deviation. But I guess because Toy Story is such a big and successful franchise, they felt they had to make this movie.

In all the reviews I’ve read/watched, the consensus is mostly that if this was a standalone space movie and NOT attached to the Toy Story universe, it would have been a lot better. And I fully agree. It seemed that the ties to Toy Story are what was holding the movie back. Because they had to bring up Zurg, and Star Command, etc. It just wouldn’t make sense that THIS was the movie Andy saw that made him want the Buzz Lightyear toy. Maybe if it was an alternate universe or a Buzz Lightyear movie that Andy takes his OWN kids to see, I think that also would have been so much better. But this kind of movie would never fly in 1995.

The movie itself is actually not that bad. I really like the dynamic between Buzz and Hawthorne, and then Buzz and the granddaughter. The other characters I just feel don’t add much. The whole “gay kiss” plug in thing, I admit, seemed to be just thrown in there, but it didn’t ruin anything for me. And the struggle Buzz goes through to accept his mistake and that other people have already moved on and had entire lives without him while he was stuck in his own mindset. That hit me a little bit. Socks was pretty funny, and a character that was much needed as this is probably one of the most dark and serious Pixar movies ever made. And I’m unsure how I feel about that. All in all I liked it but I would have liked it better if the in-universe logic matched up more.

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Pixar Ranking! #20: Onward

I think people might find it strange that I put this above finding dory, but I always appreciate when studios take risks and do original movies instead of sequels, and this is a bit out of the box for Pixar so I always applaud that even if the outcome isn’t fantastic.

The overall concept and lore of the movie is interesting. Mythical creatures living like they’re in the modern world. Mermaids taking selfies, unicorns are like deer in suburban neighborhoods eating everyone’s flowers, dragons as pets, etc.

But I can see why it wouldn’t be interesting to a lot of folks because you might as well replace most of the characters with regular modern humans. Besides a few differences, it’s like any other movie with modern humans in it. And to me, that’s cool but also kinda lame at the same time. Maybe it’s one of those things that seems to work in hindsight but not when carried out.

I think the people who love this movie the most, have related to the characters themselves more. I never had a parents pass away yet, so when the really emotional scenes happen, yeah of course I was emotional but it didn’t hit me like some other Pixar movies did. I think it’s also because the characters themselves I didn’t fall in love with. It’s basically Andy Dwyer and Tom Holland in Spider-Man Homecoming having a bro fest.

Overall this movie feels like it would work on paper but it doesn’t quite work when it’s actually executed. It’s still a cute movie and I like it but, it’s not something that I would put in my personal Pixar lineup.

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Pixar Ranking! #21: Finding Dory

I’m not sure how folks would react if this was #21 on the list, but I assure you, this is miles better than Cars 2. But still not my absolute favorite.

It kinda felt like a smaller scale version of the first movie, because most of it took place at one location. Also Nemo’s only role was to basically remind Marlin how much he sucked with his decision making. He didn’t really need to be in the movie at all.

The octopus (or septopus ) character was fun! Mostly just another grumpier version of Marlin to be a foil for Dory. The other characters like the beluga and the whale shark, ehhh I didn’t care much for. Dory’s parents are nice.

It’s just another one of those “side character becomes the main character” movies. And thankfully this is one of those movies that didn’t completely fall apart with that trope, because they really leaned into Dory’s condition and how it disables her, which to me is actually interesting. It’s a good lesson to teach kids (and adults too) that there’s more than one way to think about something, and neither way is wrong. It’s essentially the same moral theme as cars 2, but this movie did it wayyyy better!

I will also say, baby dory is the CUTEST THING IVE EVER SEEN! I wish it was enough to bring this movie just a little bit higher but Pixar has too good of a lineup, lol.

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Pixar Ranking! #22: Cars 2

No one saw this coming, huh?

The only reason why this isn’t on the bottom is because I actually do like the characters, but the characters are pretty much the only saving Grace for this movie.

It just has nothing to do with the overall story of Cars. It’s a complete detour that can be completely removed from the franchise and nothing would change. Which would be fine if the story was really good but it wasn’t so, unfortunately this movie was a bit of a waste. Maybe the folks making it wanted to take a “fun” risk and failed horribly. A lot of the silly scenes were just low-brow humor that’s aimed at toddlers. And that kinda sucks.

The spy stuff wasn’t TOO bad, but having an entire sequel focused on a side character almost never works out, even if we love the side character! I’m glad at least for the third movie they changed it around, but this movie isn’t really about racing at all, and just seems like a random spinoff Pixar would do, like Planes. If it was labeled as such, I think this movie would have been fine.

Cars is very popular among young boys, and I’m sure only younger boys actually love this movie. Maybe, maybe not. I don’t really care. Onto the next film!!

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Pixar Films Ranking! #23: The Good Dinosaur

(WOW it is SUCH a good feeling to start a ranking off with 23 instead of 110!)

So I watched this for the first time for this ranking when I was sick with a terrible cold and body aches (somehow it wasn’t Covid) and I was also in the middle of a big dilemma so I was already not in the best mood when I decided to watch this. And to top it off this is by far the worst thing I have seen from Pixar. I think most everyone would agree.

The story is like something from a direct-to-video knock off disney kids movie that grandma buys for you because there’s cute animal characters but the 80’s-90’s animation and the plot and voice acting suck. That’s what this feels like.

It’s the most bottom of the barrel stuff the studio could come up with. As far as the animation and artistry go, it’s beautiful! But even the character designs I’m not a huge fan of. Everything else can please go!

From the trailers it didn’t look too bad, it didn’t look like it would be an absolute masterpiece but I didn’t realize how bad it would be. I never want to see this movie again. I don’t like watching any of the characters, they’re all very annoying. It’s literally the same thing over and over again with Arlo being scared of something. And a lot of the times it’s not even his fault something happened. It’s literally just that he’s scared that’s the problem. They just didn’t make this one interesting even with the whole twist on “cave person with a pet dinosaur” trope.

I feel bad that I’m ripping so hard on this but I do it because I know Pixar and I know they can do a better job. I expect more from them generally. And I’m not going to be like this for any more of their films. Even the next film up is much better than this movie. In my opinion.

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