Disney / Pixar
After a team-wide vote and a surprisingly heated argument over Slack, we have come up with a definitive ranking of all 22 Pixar movies – perfect for you to dive into them now that they’re (almost) all available on Disney+ in the UK. We asked everyone on the team to pick their top ten, and then we allocated points for those rankings to come up with the final list. Here they are, for you to disagree with.
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22. Cars 2 (2011)
Pixar is rarely ever able to follow up a decent first film with a zinger of a sequel, and that’s so evident with Cars 2. The film sucks. It’s a pile of old car scrap and highlights why making a goofy sidekick into the main character never pans out well. Tow Mater was a a slightly lovable cliche in Cars, but no one ever asked for an entire film about a character who’s just a walking stereotype. The spy plot is just plain dull and boring, and while the visuals are more stunning than the first, not even that can save this film. Start a 7-day trial of Disney+ to watch
21. Cars 3 (2017)
This film didn’t need to exist after that catastrophe of a sequel, but Cars has now turned into such a large round money-making ball that it just has to keep going. But at least we’re back to Lightning McQueen being back in the limelight. Cars 3 feels a lot more like the original Cars, throwing up questions like, “why is there a diner?” and “why do cars have to eat?”, but most of all, it’s warm, sad, and has a strong message. But it also feels so, so tired now. Ironically, it’s also about a car past its prime. So, maybe it’s time, like Lightning McQueen, to retire this franchise for good. Start a 7-day trial of Disney+ to watch
20. Onward (2020)
This one has only just come out in cinemas so it’s not quite on Disney+ yet, and only one of us actually managed to see it before all the cinemas shut, but we’ve stuck it on the list out of a sense of completion – albeit probably in a falsely low position. Pixar’s latest animation is a tale of brotherly love and magical mayhem. In a world where modern technology has become an easy alternative to magic, two polar opposite teen brothers need to come together and use a magical staff to resurrect their father for one day. Mix that with motorbike-riding pixies, a mystical pawn shop and a manticore restaurant owner and you have quite the visual feast. Though you need to cut through a lot of fat to get to the heart of Onward’s plot, it’s an enjoyable and funny watch that does what Pixar does best; a movie with a tear-jerking message for both adults and children. It’s almost certainly better than Cars 3. Start a 7-day trial of Disney+ to watch
19. Monsters University (2013)
A wholly unnecessary follow up, Monsters University is Pixar’s first and only prequel (so far – Toy Story Chronicles: Woody’s Unboxing can’t be far off). It fills in the backstory on the relationship between Sulley and Mike, who are best of friends in Monsters, Inc, when they first meet at college. Helen Mirren plays the tough but fair dean of the university, and there are some monster-themed frat-house japes to enjoy. It’s perfectly fine, but you can see why no one picked this in their top ten. Start a 7-day trial of Disney+ to watch
18. Finding Dory (2016)
Forgetful fish Dory, voiced by Ellen Degeneres, was one of the stars of the show in Finding Nemo, so it was probably inevitable that sequel would come swimming along at some point. It’s sort of fine – the plot is basically exactly the same as Finding Nemo, Dory goes off on her own, gets captured and put in an aquarium, has to mount a daring escape plan and so on and so forth. Entertaining, but maybe only if you’ve got a short memory. Start a 7-day trial of Disney+ to watch
17. Toy Story 4 (2019)
The newest, and probably least necessary instalment in the Toy Story franchise revisits the gang, who had found a new home with Bonnie after original kid Andy grows up and goes to college. On her first day of school, Bonnie fashions a new toy out of a plastic fork and some googly eyes, but when she loses him on a road trip, it’s up to Woody and co to get him back. It expertly hits all the same beats as its predecessors, but the magic is starting to wear off a little. Start a 7-day trial of Disney+ to watch
16. Incredibles 2 (2018)
Even though there was a 14-year gap between The Incredibles and its sequel, Incredibles 2 picks up the plotline seamlessly. This time it’s Helen’s turn to get out of the house and save the world as her alter-ego Elastigirl while Robert AKA Mr Incredible stays at home to watch the kids. But with Jack-Jack finally revealing his superpowers, Violet going through a teen crisis and Dash struggling with his maths homework, life is less than ideal. Start a 7-day trial of Disney+ to watch
15. The Good Dinosaur (2015)
Peter Sohn’s dino film is beautifully animated, and young kids (who don’t know better) will love it, but it doesn’t quite have the magic and personality of top-tier Pixar. Case in point: it was released the same year as the experimental, emotional Inside Out. In The Good Dinosaur, which either pays homage to or rips off The Lion King depending on how generous you’re feeling, a friendly Apatosaurus named Arlo is trying to get back to his family and, you know, prove himself with help from his human child buddy, Spot. Jeffrey Wright, Frances McDormand and Sam Elliott are on voice duty. Start a 7-day trial of Disney+ to watch
14. Cars (2006)
Everyone loves a good redemption story, and that’s exactly what Cars is. Yeah, sure, it’s a slightly creepy film about anthropomorphic cars living in a world clearly made for humans, where there aren’t actually any humans. But if you sit back and actually forget about how nothing in this world makes sense, you’ll realise that Cars is, at its core, a solid redemption story about a really annoying egomaniac who turns into a really sweet, cool guy by the end of the film. It’s a tale about friendship, about determination and about love. Because yes, cars can fall in love. But do cars produce baby cars? Oh, just watch the darn film. Start a 7-day trial of Disney+ to watch
13. Brave (2012)
Brave, shockingly, was the first Pixar film with a female protagonist. Although you may not be able to actually travel to the highlands of Scotland right now, this film will transport you there with the beautiful scenery, Celtic music and voice acting of Scots Kelly Macdonald and Billy Connolly. Merida, the iconic redhead, wants to be free to ride horses and shoot her bow and arrows but her mother is trying to train her to be a proper princess. Merida stumbled across a witch, whom she asks for help to change her fate – accidentally changing her mother into a bear. The mother-daughter relationship in this film will tug at your heartstrings and you’ll be tempted not only to try and change your own fate, but maybe perm and dye your hair to match Merida’s gorgeous red locks. Start a 7-day trial of Disney+ to watch
12. Coco (2017)
Miguel is a young boy who idolises the musician Ernesto De La Cruz, but his family don’t allow music. Miguel wants to perform and tries to steal the late De La Cruz’s guitar, but when he does, he enters the Land of the Dead. He meets all of his dead relatives and his idol, but has to get back to the land of the living before he too becomes a skeleton. This film shows the beautiful explosion of colour of Día de los Muertos and will have you in tears as the dead from the past struggle to be remembered in order to survive. Start a 7-day trial of Disney+ to watch
11. A Bug’s Life (1998)
After toys, the next easiest thing for Pixar’s animators to tackle on their mid-90s hardware were insects – and they started work on 1998’s A Bug’s Life soon after the release of their debut film Toy Story. Unfortunately, Dreamworks had a very similar idea with Antz, sparking a feud between their CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg and Pixar studio chief Steve Jobs. The Pixar offering is probably the better of the two, but in truth it hasn’t aged nearly as well as Toy Story. It’s about Flik – a maverick ant in a colony whose food supplies get ransacked by a gang of grasshoppers on a regular basis, and who embarks on a mission to get help from stronger bugs. Start a 7-day trial of Disney+ to watch
10. Toy Story 3 (2010)
Toy Story showed the world that sequels don’t have to be throwaway easy moneymakers – Toy Story 3 can stand up for itself. Andy, the owner of the toys, is all grown up and the toy gang are no longer being played with. When some of them, including Rex and Mr Potato Head, are nearly thrown away, they all decide to try and get sent to the local nursery. But when they get there, it becomes apparent that the place is ruled by an evil dictator by the name of Lots-O’-Huggin’ Bear (Lotso for short). The toys have to work together to escape and find a way to be played with once again. Start a 7-day trial of Disney+ to watch
9. Toy Story 2 (1999)
Arguably actually a better film than the first one – certainly more rewatchable – Toy Story 2 sees Buzz, Woody et al venturing out into the world again when the cowboy doll ends up being accidentally sold to a toy collector who wants to ship him to Japan. It’s not as emotionally charged as the other installments in the series – but maybe that’s a good thing, and there’s plenty of entertainment value in the ingenious ways that the toys adapt to the human-sized world to pull of a heist and rescue their friend. Start a 7-day trial of Disney+ to watch
8. Ratatouille (2007)
This movie taught us that anyone can cook – even a scrawny man being controlled by a rat who lives under his hat. Ratatouille somehow manages to capture the romance of French cooking while being the utterly ridiculous story of a rat with big dreams. Remy, the rat in question, has to escape from his provincial home after a woman discovers his entire family living in her ceiling. Guided by the ghost of his favourite chef Gusteau, he makes it to the big city and uses the power of his sensitive nose to try and save Gusteau’s restaurant. Start a 7-day trial of Disney+ to watch
7. Inside Out (2015)
Built around a conceit familiar to British readers of a certain age via the Numskulls comics in The Beano, Inside Out tracks the inner dialogue of 11-year-old Riley during a turbulent time in her life, as her family up sticks and relocate to San Francisco. The film, which takes place partly in the outside world and partly in Riley’s head, creates a rich inner world where here emotions are embodied into five characters: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust and Anger. It has a stellar cast, including Amy Poehler as Joy, the de facto leader of Riley’s emotions, and Pixar stalwart Richard Kind in a poignant turn as her imaginary friend Bing Bong. The filmmakers consulted a number of psychologists in the production of the film, and the result is smart, funny and emotionally resonant. Start a 7-day trial of Disney+ to watch
6. The Incredibles (2004)
A loving tribute to kitschy superhero comics of the 1960s, crossed with a sitcom about an unconventional nuclear family, The Incredibles is still entertaining 16 years after release. Bob and Helen Parr are retired superheroes – forced to live dull, suburban lives after legislation makes powered vigilantes illegal. While Helen has settled into her new role and is focused on raising baby Jack-Jack, their older superpowered children Dash and Violet are frustrated at not being able to openly use their abilities, while Bob is in the grip of a mid-life crisis, yearning for the action of old. A mysterious invitation to help defeat a robot running amok on a volcanic island lets Bob (aka Mr Incredible) flex his muscles once more and regain his zest for life – but a deadly conspiracy lurks in the shadows, one which threatens to destroy the Parr family and corrupt the world. It’s thrilling, funny, and the affection it has for the cheesier end of the superhero genre really shines through – plus, this is the film that brought us not only Edna Mode, the iconic fashion designer to the supers, but her immortal line: “No capes!” Start a 7-day trial of Disney+ to watch
5. Up (2009)
There are two things on the planet guaranteed to make even the steeliest of us shed a tear: the first is cutting onions, and the second is watching the first ten minutes of Up. That deeply traumatic opening sequence segues into a fun story about the relationship between grouchy widower Carl Fredricksen, who takes matters into his own hands when faced with eviction from his home and uses hundreds of helium balloons to float it into the sky in an attempt to make the trip to Paradise Falls that he and his late wife Ellie always dreamed of. Once there, with an eager boy from the neighbourhood in tow, he faces talking dogs, dense forest, and a giant inquisitive bird. Up became only the second animated film in history, after Beauty and the Beast, to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. Start a 7-day trial of Disney+ to watch
4. Monsters, Inc (2001)
Toy Story was inspired by the childhood notion that their toys have secret inner lives. Monsters, Inc was built upon an equally simple premise – the idea that there are creatures lurking in wardrobes or under your bed. Like many Pixar films, it had vastly different shapes at differing points in its production, ranging from the main character being a man in a suit with tentacles for feet to the plot centring on a 30-year-old man still scared of the monsters he drew as a child. The final iteration is about Monstropolis, a city powered by children’s screams, and the monsters who venture into bedrooms in the human world each night to extract them – it manages to be much sweeter and funnier than it sounds, and marked a leap forward in the complexity of the animation too. Start a 7-day trial of Disney+ to watch
3. Toy Story (1995)
The original and still one of the best. Toy Story was Pixar’s first feature length film, and still stands up pretty well to this day – although the animation looks slightly less impressive given the graphical leaps that have taken place since the mid-1990s. But for all the technical wizardry, the film wouldn’t have challenged Disney’s uninterrupted run of animation dominance, or changed the industry if it wasn’t for the plot: funny, poignant and emotional all at once, it tells the story of pull-string cowboy Woody and his relationship with his owner Andy when all-action spaceman Buzz Lightyear arrives on the scene. But of course you know that. It’s that classic Pixar formula, and they nailed it first time around. Start a 7-day trial of Disney+ to watch
2. WALL-E (2008)
Humans have abandoned Earth after it is no longer inhabitable, leaving behind one little trash-compacting robot who keeps cleaning. After years by itself, this little robot named WALL-E has developed a personality but it is lonely. Along comes another robot, Eve, looking for signs of life on the planet. When they discover a plant, they both get called back to a spaceship that houses the entirety of the human race, who have spent so long being fed whatever they want and scooting around in floaty chairs, they have become obese. It’s a heartwarming story about hope against all odds, and love in the face of adversity. Start a 7-day trial of Disney+ to watch
1. Finding Nemo (2003)
Who knew fish could make you feel so much. There’s so much going on in this film that it became an instant classic when it was originally released in 2003, and is still just as wonderful today that it snatched our top spot. Marlin is overprotective of his only son Nemo after his wife and all but one of their eggs were killed by a barracuda. When Nemo tries to rebel against his father’s strict rules, he gets snatched by a driver and Marlin has to go on a journey across the ocean to go find him. He meets the wonderful Dory (voiced by Ellen Degeneres) who teaches him to just keep swimming when things get sticky. Start a 7-day trial of Disney+ to watch
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