From its humble beginnings within Lucasfilm to its boom years as an independent Hollywood force to its 2006 purchase by one-time competitor Disney, Pixar Animation Studios has always been a marketplace juggernaut. From their first feature, the groundbreaking Toy Story, to their 22nd and most recent effort, the contemporary fairy tale Onward, Pixar have dominated the box office, the award seasons and the forefront of technology.
So is every Pixar movie a masterpiece? Well, no. But under founder John Lasseter and with talent such as Andrew Stanton and Brad Bird on the lot, Pixar set themselves a high standard. So, if you had to rank the 22 Pixar films from worst to best, in what order might they fall….? (U.S. release dates; box office courtesy Box Office Mojo; # on Pixar’s box office chart)
22. CARS 2 (Dir: John Lasseter) Released: June 24, 2011
Pixar’s second sequel (twelve years after Toy Story 2) was the first to leave the brand tarnished. At 39% on Rotten Tomatoes, John Lasseter’s soulless sequel is the most critically unpopular by a long way. First (but not the last) time that the studio greenlit a project with an eye on the black ink.
Global Box Office: US$559,852,396.00 (#12)
21. FINDING DORY (Dir: Andrew Stanton) Released: June 17, 2016.
Peter Sohn’s The Good Dinosaur was proving a troublesome beast (see below), so Pixar fast-tracked this sequel to its hottest property to help meet profit projections. And it feels rushed, undercooked, manufactured, and manipulative. Thirteen years after Finding Nemo charmed the world, it’s waterlogged sequel tanked critically.
Global Box Office: US$1,028,570,889.00 (#4)
20. MONSTERS UNIVERSITY (Dir: Dan Scanlon) Released: June 21, 2013
Lasseter and his team are five years under the Disney roof, and the new owners want to see some of that Pixar cartoon coin. So properties like Monsters Inc besties Mike and Sully are marketed to the max, led by this strained college campus comedy. A few laughs, but doesn’t make the grade.
Global Box Office: $743,559,607.00 (#8)
19. CARS (Dir: John Lasseter) Released: June 9, 2006
Car-nut Lasseter was wooed over to Disney when they agreed to throw their distribution might behind his passion project. But something was off-key. Cars don’t anthropomorphise like fish or toys or bugs; the world building and unappealing characters rang false, even when the colours popped.
Global Box Office: $461,983,149.00 (#17)
18. CARS 3 (Dir: Brian Fee) Released: June 16, 2017
Promoted from within, director Brian Fee recaptures a little bit of that Pixar magic, albeit in the service of a formulaic hero’s journey. Bolstered by good racetrack sequences and a reduced role for the never-funny Mater, it’s ok.
Global Box Office: $383,930,656.00 (#18)
17. ONWARD (Dir: Dan Scanlon) Released: March 6, 2020
By 2020, Hollywood animation has developed a certain aesthetic, drawn from years of trying to emulate Pixar’s style (and success). Onward, a road-trip brother-buddy story set in a contemporary fairy-tale world, represents the studio finally chasing it’s own tail; it feels like a competing studio’s Pixar rip-off.
Global Box Office: $74,395,049.00 (#22; still in release)
16. TOY STORY 3 (Dir: Lee Unkrich) Released: June 18, 2010
Lee Unkrich’s first solo outing in the Pixar helming chair takes the deeper, sadder thematic subtexts of the previous franchise instalments and lays them on thick. Toy Story 3 is a miserable film, its dour colour palette and ‘existential dread’ narrative throughline a total bummer.
Global Box Office: $1,066,969,703.00 (#3)
15. THE GOOD DINOSAUR (Dir: Peter Sohn) Released November 25, 2015
Pixar’s first official ‘troubled production’. Original creatives Bob Peterson and John Walker were walked late into production; the film was reworked extensively, with many of the cast recalled to voice new scenes. Disney shuffled the release - November 2013 to May 2014 to November 2015. The end result is a jagged but not unlikable adventure, filled with nice imagery. Lost heaps of money.
Global Box Office: $332,207,671.00 (#21)
14. INCREDIBLES 2 (Dir: Brad Bird) Released: June 15, 2018
Highly anticipated, and not without ambition, Pixar’s latest long overdue Part II (this time, 14 years) ultimately can’t escape the Pixar ‘sequel curse’. Brad Bird, the studio’s ‘Golden Boy’ after The Incredibles and Ratatouille, needed to bounce back from his costly George Clooney misfire Tomorrowland; he directs Incredibles 2 like there’s a gun to his head.
Global Box Office: $1,242,805,359.00 (#1)
13. TOY STORY 2 (Dir: John Lasseter) Released: November 24, 1999
Giddy with the success of Buzz and Woody’s landmark first adventure, Lasseter directs their new film with contagious glee. All colour and movement, with Hanks and Allen leading the best voice cast ever, Toy Story 2 is old-school family-friendly animation that doesn’t break new ground and has a lot of fun doing it.
Global Box Office: $487,059,677.00 (#16)
12. BRAVE (Dirs: Mark Andrews & Brenda Chapman) Released: June 22, 2012
Much was made of ‘Merida’ being Pixar’s first female lead, and Brenda Chapman their first woman (co)director. And the first two acts of Brave deliver on the promise that pairing held – fiercely determined heroine, stunning visuals, strong narrative. It implodes in Act 3, when things turn a bit ‘Disney’-safe; well-documented ‘creative differences’ behind the scenes are obvious.
Global Box Office: $538,983,207.00 (#13)
11. A BUG’S LIFE (Dir: John Lasseter) Released: November 25, 1998
The more buoyant, family-friendly of the two ‘animated insect’ movies (though Dreamworks’ Antz holds up better). In 1998, Pixar were still enjoying the ‘New Disney’ warmth from industry and audiences alike. A Bug’s Life comes very much from that mindset – colourful, sweet natured, witty and warm.
Global Box Office: $363,258,859.00 (#20)
10. MONSTER’S INC (Dir: Pete Doctor) Released: November 2, 2001
Lasseter launched the brand, but arguably Pixar’s star director is Pete Doctor. He launched the first of his three Pixar classics in 2001 with Monsters Inc, a slice of near-perfect world building with two wonderfully ‘Odd Couple’ buddies out front of a deceptively moving story about friendship and innocence.
Global Box Office: $528,773,250.00 (#14)
9. TOY STORY (Dir: John Lasseter) Released: November 22, 1995
It is easy to look at Pixar’s first feature and not recall what a shift in the animation sector paradigm it represented. Buzz and Woody are to the Pixar empire as Mickey (and, later, Beauty and The Beast) were to Disney. Only advancements in technology keep Toy Story from a Top 5 placing.
Global Box Office: $364,545,516.00 (#19)
8. RATATOUILLE (Dir: Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava) Released: June 29, 2007
Much like it’s hero, a rat with Michelin-level kitchen skills, Ratatouille lives in a place on the Pixar roster that posits it as an underdog of sorts. It is more overtly adult in its story-telling and further enhanced the Pixar palette, with images as beautiful as anything the company has produced. It is adored, yet in an understated way usually reserved for works of art, which seems appropriate.
Global Box Office: $623,722,818.00 (#11)
7. FINDING NEMO (Dir: Andrew Stanton) Released: May 30, 2003
Another company-defining title, in the same league, both critically and commercially, as Toy Story. A truly funny character comedy, immeasurably enhanced by lead voice-actors Albert Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres (who both polished their dialogue), it also soars as a study in family bonds, fulfilling a destiny and the joys of a broader worldview. Just keep swimming…
Global Box Office: $871,014,978.00 (#5)
6. WALL-E (Dir: Andrew Stanton) Released: June 27, 2008
One of the greatest…well, silent movies, space adventures, love stories, take your pick. Stanton’s masterpiece is Pixar’s most far-out adventure, from it’s deep space setting and lil’ leading man, yet speaks to environmental devastation and mankind’s role in making it happen like few contemporary films ever have. Somehow makes mountains of garbage breathtakingly beautiful.
Global Box Office: $521,311,860.00 (#15)
5. TOY STORY 4 (Dir: Josh Cooley) Released: June 21, 2019
Plays with elements of dark and light – narratively, thematically, visually – like the richly developed, classical fairy tale it ultimately is. Not afraid to get spooky when it needs to (those dolls!) but doesn’t lose touch with the heart and humour that defined the franchise. New kid director Josh Cooley (who’d previously done voice work for Pixar) announces himself as a major storytelling force.
Global Box Office: $1,073,394,593.00 (#2)
4. UP (Dir: Pete Doctor) Released: May 29, 2009
The opening frames of Pete Doctor’s bittersweet slice of sublime melancholia are already recognised as some of the greatest in modern American film. Ten minutes in, audiences emotions are primed for the next ninety, which deliver laughs (“Squirrel!”) and tears in equal measure. Incredibly, this is not Doctor’s best Pixar movie.
Global Box Office: $735,099,082.00 (#9)
3. COCO (Dir: Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina) Released: November 22, 2017
Detractors have occasionally pointed out that Pixar films have not always been the most ethnically diverse. Coco addresses that with a journey into a young Latino boy’s family history, a musical/fantasy odyssey that transcends its netherworld setting to convey the importance of legacy, creativity and spirituality. Is Remember Me the greatest ever Pixar movie song?
Global Box Office: $807,082,196.00 (#7)
2. THE INCREDIBLES (Dir: Brad Bird) Released: November 5, 2004
The greatest super-hero movie ever made. Which ought to be praise enough, but Brad Bird’s thrillingly kinetic, retro-outfitted wonder is also a razor-sharp dissection of modern family dynamics, middle-class morality and gender redefinition. And it’s the greatest super-hero movie ever made.
Global Box Office: $631,442,092.00 (#10)
1. INSIDE OUT (Dir: Pete Doctor) Released: June 19, 2015
The premise is cute – a little girl’s emotions (Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness) must help through a family relocation. In Pete Doctor’s hands, Inside Out becomes one of American cinema’s most profound examinations of anxiety, isolation and depression. Yet as it breaks your heart, it still remains a joyous experience. Inside Out is the perfect Pixar film – a flight of vivid imagination, beautifully realised, yet intrinsically human in every aspect.
Global Box Office: $857,611,174.00 (#6)