Pixar Animated Films Wrap-Up
Boy, it feels like I just wrote one of these wrap-ups! I suppose that’s the beauty of a shorter list, it takes much less time to complete than something like 92 films!
So, I want to start by saying that I feel like I love Pixar’s films more than my average grade reflects. There might be a dash of nostalgia impacting that: I tried to grade each film based on its own merits (or lack thereof), but when I think back on the Pixar library, there’s a joy that floods my senses as I remember the moments that made me smile, made me laugh, or made me cry.
Beautiful
I think the best films are able to take their audiences on emotional journeys, and I think it’s important to remember that a story is about the message, not the medium. A film isn’t any less good if its animated or not: a live-action film is, at its core, just as fake as an animated film (from a certain point of view), and if one can take you on that emotional journey, then the other can too. There are a few people in my life, some very close to me, who say they can no longer “get into cartoons”, and to that I say: look past the medium. Let go of the stereotypes and the conventions and just experience. Treat it like a live-action film. Hell, the line between animated and live-action is so blurred now anyway (James Cameron’s Avatar (is it live-action with animation? Or animation with live-action) or Disney’s own “live-action” The Lion King are proof of that). Pixar’s films are (generally) great because their messages transcend the medium, connecting the audience through shared inherent values and experiences. We know the joy of obtaining a difficult goal. We know the shock of having our breath taken away. We know the sadness of losing a loved one. Pixar’s stories might be fantastical, but the emotions and the values they speak to are very much rooted in reality.
Looking over the grades I gave to all 22 films (and their accompanying shorts), I will say that I was surprised that the average grade between the films was merely a solid B. Above average, to be sure, but this is PIXAR we’re talking about. It’s crazy! Added to that is the fact that the average grade of the shorts was a B+! I did a double-take when I finished computing the grades: That can’t be right. A B average? And the shorts scored BETTER?! What was wrong with me?
And then I looked at the lowest-scored films.
If you haven’t been able to guess, this film is AWFUL
Yup, it should be no surprise that the three Cars films sank the overall average of the films (taking out just the lowest of them, Cars 2 (graded a D-), automatically boosts the average from a solid B to just shy of a B+). I know that there are people who love them, but I have to go on record again as saying I just don’t GET it. WHAT is so special about these three movies? For me, the Cars franchise is big misstep in the Pixar library, and yet people love them (for some god-knows-why reason), so they keep MAKING them. Please…let the madness end.
Toy Story 3, Incredibles 2, and Finding Dory
One very interesting thing that I had never thought about before is that of 22 films, eight of them are sequels (technically, 7 sequels and 1 prequel). That’s more than a third of Pixar’s feature-length output that is not, in the fullest sense of the word, original. Not to say that some of the sequels are bad; Finding Dory and ESPECIALLY Toy Story 3 are fantastic films. I do find it interesting, however, that there are so many sequels. Not even Disney has that high of a ratio (at least, in theatrically released films. The original vs. direct-to-video sequel ratio is probably staggering). Allegedly, Pixar is focused primarily on original stories, not sequels, for the moment, but we’ll see how long it takes to get to Cars 17. My guess is not very long.
Bao, Presto, and Sanjay’s Super Team
The shorts that accompany these films, as I mentioned, scored higher than the films by a full half-letter grade. Perhaps it’s because it takes a certain level of brilliance to tell these mini-stories in such a short amount of time (Olaf’s Frozen Adventure notwithstanding). Additionally, most of the time, these shorts are wordless, playing as mini-Fantasia-esque segments, which could also explain their higher than expected grades: everyone knows I love the two Fantasia films (especially the second one), so these shorts were very much a welcome return to that style of storytelling.
So what’s next? Well, like the Disney Animated Films and the Academy Award for Best Picture winners, I plan to keep adding on new releases as they come out. Perhaps, when another 10 films or so have been released, I’ll go through and add them into the rankings below. In the meantime, I’ll be anxiously looking forward to each new release, waiting for Pixar to take me on another magical journey, a journey that, most likely, will allow me to examine a familiar feeling in a brand new way.
Unless, you know…it’s a Cars film.
PIXAR ACCOMPANYING SHORTS FINAL RANKING:
Presto
Presto (2008)
La Luna (2011)
Piper (2016)
Toy Story Toons: Hawaiian Vacation (2011)
Lifted (2006)
Lava (2014)
One Man Band (2005)
Knick Knack (1989)
Sanjay’s Super Team (2015)
Luxo Jr. (1986)
Lou (2017)
Day & Night (2010)
The Blue Umbrella (2013)
Geri’s Game (1997)
Bao (2018)
The Adventures of André & Wally B. (1984)
Playdate with Destiny (2020)
For the Birds (2000)
Olaf’s Frozen Adventure (2017)
Partly Cloudy (2009)
Tin Toy (1988)
Boundin’ (2003)
PIXAR ANIMATED FILMS FINAL RANKING:
WALL-E
WALL-E (2008)
Toy Story 3 (2010)
Coco (2017)
Finding Nemo (2003)
Finding Dory (2016)
Inside Out (2015)
Toy Story (1995)
Toy Story 2 (1999)
Ratatouille (2007)
The Incredibles (2004)
Incredibles 2 (2018)
Toy Story 4 (2019)
Monsters, Inc. (2001)
A Bug’s Life (1998)
Brave (2012)
The Good Dinosaur (2015)
Up (2009)
Onward (2020)
Monsters University (2013)
Cars 3 (2017)
Cars (2006)
Cars 2 (2011)
