Re: Every Pixar Film Ranked (Essay)
Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2022 6:16 pm
Well, Okri for being blunt, but I feel absolutely schooled by your assessment and your list as well as the hotness of your takes. Brave over Toy Story? Luca over Monsters, Inc? Now that warrants several pages of essay-writing more than my rundown.
Full disclosure: ever since I posted my review, I've watched to do an about-face and put The Incredibles back in the no. 2 position before Monsters, Inc. I've also second-guessed my Ratatouille placement as being the slightest bit too high, especially when its pleasures are so much more low-key than Inside Out or WALL*E.
But yes, Pixar absolutely was the driving factor for the creation of the category because its existence started a rise in viable competition to Disney. More and more studios wanted in on the 3D animation game. I don't know what date the announcement to create a new category was made, so I don't know how much credit the film deserves, but let's take a moment to remember Shrek, which managed nominations from BAFTA and the Producers Guild of America for Best Film, a feat no other animated film has matched, and perhaps without the creation of the Best Animated Film category it might've broken into the race.
Sidenote: in my little research for this post, I learned that Shrek was a total side project for Dreamworks and that Jeffrey Katzenberg was so certain that The Prince of Egypt was going to break into the Best Picture race that animators who weren't pulling their weight on that film were "downgraded" to Shrek.
Ratatouille is Pixar's weirdest film. I've seen it twice as I've tackled this ranking and I still have a difficult time grasping just what exactly it's doing.
As for Disney vs. Pixar in the zeitgeist, absolutely nothing Disney has put out has matched Pixar's ambition or complexity of Pixar at their peak, but I don't think any studio can match their output in that regard. Something that I love about Pixar is that their films are almost always universal personal journeys of growth that just happen to take place in animated settings. Disney will never do that. They'll always have evil queens and dragons. Pixar never will.
I do agree with you about Toy Story 2. Subsequent rewatches of Toy Story 1 and 2 reveal the degree to which Toy Story became a beloved franchise with that second entry, and moments like Woody watching "himself" on a black and white TV are sublime. Part of me wants to champion it a bit more highly because like Before Sunset its impact seems a bit lessened for today's audience based on what's come after, but it's the film where the toys truly came to mean something. With the first film, there was something less questioned and unknowable about what being a toy meant. I'll mention one moment in particular that I find absolutely haunting: after Buzz and Woody are left at the gas station by Andy (unknowingly), a truck pulls up and they freeze, and a tire comes within half an inch of running over Woody's face. He snaps back to life, reacts in horror, and backs away, leaving the audience to understand that life as a toy is one of constant horrors. Toy Story 2 dug these treasures up though.
Making this list has only made me want to do this project again.
I would love to do Best Animated Film as the next project. I'd love to catch up on the ones that I've missed. I've done a fair bit of that recently.
Full disclosure: ever since I posted my review, I've watched to do an about-face and put The Incredibles back in the no. 2 position before Monsters, Inc. I've also second-guessed my Ratatouille placement as being the slightest bit too high, especially when its pleasures are so much more low-key than Inside Out or WALL*E.
I completely agree and I began routinely skipping Pixar (something that I would've once thought of as inconceivable) around the same time. Cars 2 was my jumping off moment. I also hadn't thought about ranking the decades of Best Animated Film winners, but if hard-pressed I might give a slight edge to decade one because the peaks are higher for me and the valleys are a bit better than their reputation (Shrek gets too much hate).Okri wrote
a) It’s interesting. In my mind, I roughly divide Pixar’s output before and after Toy Story 3. That corporate beast, as Sabin mentions, becomes too dominant. When I look at the output chronologically, I see a higher basement in terms of quality, but not a lot higher. But maybe a little more frequent.
b) Though, to be frank, that’s because I skipped some of the films post 2010. I think the existence of Pixar raised the game for mainstream/animated film. I believe that boosted the idea for the animated film Oscar. And I think that boosted a lot of films/studios that otherwise might not have gotten that kind of excitement. Studio Ghibli and Aardman Studios obviously would’ve been fine and gotten their films in theatres, but GKIDs/Cartoon Saloon/Laika might not have as easily. So even if I haven’t bothered with all the films post-2010, the second decade of the animated film category is a really terrific legacy to have contributed to – and I do feel the second ten years >>> first ten years for Best Animated Film as a whole, even if individual winners range in quality)
But yes, Pixar absolutely was the driving factor for the creation of the category because its existence started a rise in viable competition to Disney. More and more studios wanted in on the 3D animation game. I don't know what date the announcement to create a new category was made, so I don't know how much credit the film deserves, but let's take a moment to remember Shrek, which managed nominations from BAFTA and the Producers Guild of America for Best Film, a feat no other animated film has matched, and perhaps without the creation of the Best Animated Film category it might've broken into the race.
Sidenote: in my little research for this post, I learned that Shrek was a total side project for Dreamworks and that Jeffrey Katzenberg was so certain that The Prince of Egypt was going to break into the Best Picture race that animators who weren't pulling their weight on that film were "downgraded" to Shrek.
As I said, in retrospect I think I put Monsters, Inc. a bit too high. I'm just so charmed by the film that I consistently overlook a slight lack of ingenuity in the second act. I registered my issues with Finding Nemo in my review of it. I like it as a whole but I find it lacking a bit in story construction. But I wouldn't describe it as meh, rather a hearttugger that maybe got a little too much praise at the time.Okri wrote
c) Specifically, I’ve seen Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, Cars and Ratatouille only once and have no desire to revisit them. They’re all on the same “meh” level for me. Some nice moments abound (Ellen Degeneres’ work, the titular sequence in Ratatouille, James Taylor’s song) but that’s really it (and gotta be frank…. I loathe the premise of Ratatouille. I also dislike that moment in EEAAO). As mentioned, seeing them that highly rated suggests I should give them another shot.
Ratatouille is Pixar's weirdest film. I've seen it twice as I've tackled this ranking and I still have a difficult time grasping just what exactly it's doing.
I hear that. If I were ask to rank Pixar's best designed characters, Merrida would easily make my top ten. I also think Kelly MacDonald's performance is excellent. I enjoyed the world so much that I wish we saw more of it. It's a weirdly castlebound affair for such a fantastical world.Okri wrote
d) I actually gasped when I read that Sabin ranked Brave last. I know that it wasn’t enthusiastically received, but I remember really liking it (I actually bought it on blu-ray). I will say that as I’ve gotten older I can be taken with a specific element or craft and have that practically function as a synecdoche. I adore the voicework, find the score to be a delight and just love the world created. Along with Inside/Out, it’s the post 2010 movie I’ve seen the most.
I can't quite share your enthusiasm but I like knowing there are fans of The Good Dinosaur. It definitely deserves a better reputation than it received, especially amidst a glut of disappointing sequels.Okri wrote
e) Along that vein, I also didn’t hate The Good Dinosaur. I can acknowledge its faults, but there’s enough that I like. Visually, its among Pixar’s finest works. Mychael Danna’s score might be the best Pixar score ever. It’s a slender story, without a doubt. But I don’t think it’s a bad one.
Luca is a Pixar movie I wish I saw on the big screen. I think that would've made a big difference. There's a lot that I enjoyed about it but I was never quite drawn into its spell. But I won't deny that it has a visual power to it, especially in moments where the sea monsters are unexpectedly revealed. I guess I never quite understood the whole Vespa race thing, like the importance of it? But your praise of it as a hangout movie might be accurate and brought to live more on the big screen.Okri wrote
f) That’s how I feel about Luca, but even more so. I’m surprised at just how taken I was with it. It’s just so effervescent. Again, visually beautiful, superb score (this time from Dan Romer). The adjectives that could fairly be used to describe it (charming, slight, minor) are accurate but feel a little too negative. I’d argue that this is Pixar’s “hangout” movie with it’s small stakes and stories of small lives, but feels like what Jacques Demy would make if he made an animated film.
This was my experience with Toy Story 4 the first time but a second viewing landed with me a bit more. We don't need the thing, but I like it as an exploration of Woody's character. If we must have a fourth Toy Story, I think it's a fine direction. I mostly object to the messiness of the second act which feel like disparate subplots.Okri wrote
g) I’m annoyed that Toy Story 4 exists – the same way I’m annoyed The Hobbit movies. It’s fine (haven’t seen The Hobbit movies, though) but there’s just no need for it. I’m beyond irritated at its existence and I didn’t hate the experience. It, more than any other sequel from that decade of sequels, illustrates the change in Pixar’s DNA.
I agree with you about Inside Out. I have no issue with the reductiveness of its ideas. We're talking about a movie for children so it has to be simple to grasp. I think they did a fine job. My only problems with Inside Out are about how intermittently fetchy-questy Joy's journey to get the core memories back feels as well as the fact that a much stronger journey would end with Joy realizing that she needs to stop trying to control all the emotions, not just Sadness. It's a fantastic film.Okri wrote
h) Conceptually, though, their most ambitious works are staggeringly ambitious. Inside Out’s conception of distinct emotions and “islands of personality” is sorta reductive, but it’s not juvenile in its theme (emotions get more complicated as you get older and that’s a necessary thing). I don’t love Soul or Coco, but they’re complex, thoughtful works and worlds. We talk about Disney taking over the zeitgeist with their slate and I don’t disagree. But I really don’t think their peaks equal Pixar’s peaks during that time (we should revitalize the Oscar polls and do animated film next). Nothing that I’ve seen from them comes close in terms of ambition or complexity.
As for Disney vs. Pixar in the zeitgeist, absolutely nothing Disney has put out has matched Pixar's ambition or complexity of Pixar at their peak, but I don't think any studio can match their output in that regard. Something that I love about Pixar is that their films are almost always universal personal journeys of growth that just happen to take place in animated settings. Disney will never do that. They'll always have evil queens and dragons. Pixar never will.
I can't really disagree, save for how rollicking I now find WALL*E's second half.Okri wrote
I don’t really think I need to say much about the top three. The Incredibles is so nimble and just purely entertaining through and through. It’s probably the best crafted screenplay of the lot. Toy Story 2 deepens an entertaining story into something unexpectedly moving. But I’ll side with WALLE as my favourite. I know it’s de rigeur to point out that the second half doesn’t hit the heights of the first. My counter to that is (a) – the first act is probably the best sustained American filmmaking of the decade and (b) the second half is still rollicking entertainment.
I do agree with you about Toy Story 2. Subsequent rewatches of Toy Story 1 and 2 reveal the degree to which Toy Story became a beloved franchise with that second entry, and moments like Woody watching "himself" on a black and white TV are sublime. Part of me wants to champion it a bit more highly because like Before Sunset its impact seems a bit lessened for today's audience based on what's come after, but it's the film where the toys truly came to mean something. With the first film, there was something less questioned and unknowable about what being a toy meant. I'll mention one moment in particular that I find absolutely haunting: after Buzz and Woody are left at the gas station by Andy (unknowingly), a truck pulls up and they freeze, and a tire comes within half an inch of running over Woody's face. He snaps back to life, reacts in horror, and backs away, leaving the audience to understand that life as a toy is one of constant horrors. Toy Story 2 dug these treasures up though.
Making this list has only made me want to do this project again.
I would love to do Best Animated Film as the next project. I'd love to catch up on the ones that I've missed. I've done a fair bit of that recently.