KrashingWaves

From my most favorite to why did I even watch this at all?

Starting off, Pixar’s been around for quite some time but their first movie was released in 1995. You know which one that is. It’s fascinating to me how I’m almost as old as one of the best animated films of all time. Since I’ve been alive to watch the shift from 2D animation to 3D thanks to Pixar & Disney, I’ve watched almost every single film produced by the animation studio.

Here is a list of all Pixar movies ranked in order from best to the worst in my opinion.

1. A Bug’s Life (1998)
2. WALL-E (2008)
3. Monsters Inc. (2001)
4. Toy Story 2 (1999)
5. Toy Story (1995)
6. Inside Out (2015)
7. The Incredibles (2004)
8. Coco (2017)
9. Luca (2021) – SILENZIO BRUNO
10. Turning Red (2022) – 4Town 4ever
11. Brave (2012)
12. Finding Nemo (2003) – fish are friends, not food
13. Ratatouille (2007)
14. Monsters University (2013)
15. The Incredibles 2 (2018)
16. Finding Dory (2016) – short term rememory loss
17. Cars (2006)
18. Onward (2020)
19. Lightyear (2022)
20. The Good Dinosaur (2015)
21. Soul (2020)
22. Up (2009)
23. Cars 2 (2011)
24. Cars 3 (2017)
25. Toy Story 4 (2019)
26. Toy Story 3 (2010) – a horror movie I didn’t need to watch

This ranking is in no way a reflection of the production of the films but of my own relation to them. As a kid born in the ’90s with a Disney-crazed parent, I watched every single movie released by Disney until I could form an opinion for myself. And then continued to watch them.

I’ve always noted that Pixar had a very unique style of animation, one you could distinguish from traditional Walt Disney Animation and other studios like DreamWorks. But, around the time of Rapunzel’s debut in Tangled (late 2010) as the next Disney Princess, 2D animation was something of the past. If you compared The Princess and the Frog (late 2009) to Tangled, there’s a clear distinction between the two; Tiana was designed in 2D while Rapunzel went to the next level, 3D. When the artists were working on Tangled, they tried to find a way to blend 2D and 3D CGI to keep the traditional style but … CGI was all the rage.

After 2010, all Disney animated features had completely shifted to 3D CGI animation style. Following Tangled are the films Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen, Big Hero 6, Zootopia, and Moana (the latest Disney princess). It’s clear that these movies are almost up to par with Pixar’s unique style of 3D animation instead of the classic 2D like that of The Little Mermaid, The Fox and the Hound, and Dumbo. I mean, I keep forgetting that Wreck-It Ralph isn’t a Pixar project even though it looks and feels like one (in my eyes). And Baymax gives me serious Pixar vibes, up there with Sully and Mr. Incredible.

Pixar used to be the game changer with their 3D animation style but now it seems like its an everybody thing. The last Pixar project that felt like a true Pixar movie was Inside Out (2015) and before that, WALL-E (2008). Those released in between and afterwards felt like any other animated movie of the time, nothing to distinguish the unique artistic style.

I don’t know where the future of animation is going but I do hope it remembers its origins in 2D storytelling. For nostalgics like me, sometimes you just want to watch Sleeping Beauty or The Aristocats because it takes you back to a simpler time. Disney Animation and Pixar Studios are going to continue making hit films that’ll mark many people’s childhoods and adolescences. I do worry, though, that Pixar will become another studio swept under Disney’s rug, furthering the monopoly Walt has on animated movies.

The studio to look out for now is Sony Animation after their masterpiece of a movie that is Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, one of my favorite movies of all time since its 2018 premiere. And soon after with Sony’s partnership with Netflix, The Mitchells vs. the Machines is a family movie with insane animation and some fun comedy. Pixar has competition and I don’t know if they’re ready for it.