The Cultural Roundtable
What are the five best Pixar movies of all time?
Every time a new Pixar movie is released--as Toy Story 3 was this past weekend--we all debate about which of the studious many, many great films are the greatest. And if we know one thing, it's that putting things into a numbered list makes them AWESOME. Vis a vis, we listed our top five Pixar movies. You're welcome:
Alyssa Vincent
First of all, this was IMPOSSIBLE. Thanks.
5) Finding Nemo--Like most Pixar movies, this gem contains adorable and clever dialogue. I try to say "Aww, you guys made me ink!" once a week to up my cute quotient.
4) Toy Story 2--I'm choosing the sequel because the Sarah Mchlachlan song gets me everytime.
3) Up--Ed Asner is just perfect in this.
2) Monsters, Inc.--A quite endearing concept, and Boo is the cutest animated character in existence. True story.
1) Wall-E--I could watch the scene where Wall-E dances along to "Hello, Dolly!" several times a day and not get sick of it. Sweet, smart, and funny.
Amy Dittmeier
I don't really have a top five as much as I have a top one - Wall-E. This movie is everything I could ever love in a film for three reasons. One, it has robots. Robots are one of my favorite things in the world, next to hot dogs, clapping in songs, and Josh Homme. Two, it's basically a silent film for the first thirty minutes. Kudos to Pixar for creating a film that can capture today's ADD-audience without any dialogue. Three, it's one of the few films that will guarantee tears. A mark of a good film is one that can elicit the same emotional response every viewing, despite the number of times you have seen it. There are a handful of movies that can do this to me every time - American History X (which has me curled up in a ball howling for about a hour after the film ends), Blade Runner (robots dying!? Tears in the rain!?), and Wall-E. If you haven't seen this film I won't spoil anything,* but the ending gets me every time. Yes, I've seen the film multiple times and yes, this is a Pixar film so you know it's not a "sad" ending. BUT I can't help it. I love that little robot.
Pixar has come close runners-up though. The Incredibles and Up (another film that has me continually sobbing) are also very good. But neither of them have a cute, garbage picking robot that sings show tunes and loves plants.
*If you haven't seen this film, I will seriously come to your house and force you to watch it in a contraption I copied from A Clockwork Orange.
Max Alborn
(This is in no particular order. It's Pixar, after all).
Toy Story 2: I still feel "Toy Story 2" builds on many of the themes, characters and charm that made the first one such a success; with a healthy addition of new characters that felt like they belonged rather than being tacked on. Plus, the part where Jessie recounts her being abandoned by her former owner makes me ashamed that my old toys are boxed up somewhere.
Up: What else can I say about "Up" that has not already been said? I can say that it is a classic example of why I feel Pixar is as successful as they are; Save for "Cars", the rarely pander only to the child demographic. They take many of life's little lessons acquired as we get older and put them on display via animation. Where other studios fail in this concept, Pixar succeeds almost always; "Up" being a prime example.
WALL-E: You have to hand it to a studio that develops an affecting film with virtually no use of dialogue in the 1st act. Whetehr it be a commentary on global warming or love at first sight, "WALL-E" is a charmer from start to finish.
Finding Nemo: Before "Avatar" impressed me with it's color pallate, there was "Finding Nemo". To this day, I still think this film is gorgeous. Couple that with the fantastic voice work from Albert Brooks and Ellen Degeneres and you have a winner; not to mention Pixar's most successful film to date.
Toy Story: You can't really have a "Top 5 Pixar" list and not include this one. You still remember being a kid going "Wow! That looks awesome!" But it was more than visuals that made "Toy Story" such a strong entry for the start of Pixar. It gave new life to the avenue of computer animation, and that characters truly can come alive without having to actually breath air.
The Incredibles: What I loved most about "The Incredibles" was not only it's style, humor and ensemble (yay for Holly Hunter!) but the fact that in many ways, it was a bit of a gamble. When it was released, it would be safe to say it was their darkest film yet, dealing with superheroes being killed, infidelity, etc. It paid off well in the end, retaining the now tradmark charm of Pixar, but "The Incredibles" showed signs of a Pixar studio begining to grow up with the audience that built their empire. Cheers to that.
Dominick Mayer
5. Monsters Inc.: The Pixar movie that most needs a sequel. The amount of imagination in this movie is ridiculous.
4. Toy Story 2: One of the best sequels ever. This is a series that, with the third one being out, has grown up with a certain group of people.
3. Finding Nemo: I know one day I'm going to watch this when I have kids and weep openly. Not stoked for that.
2. Toy Story: Seeing this when I was five years old and computer animation wasn't a thing yet is unforgettable.
1. Wall-E: The number one example of Pixar's skills? Try the best cinematic romance of the last decade transpiring between two robots with limited vocal abilities.
Ryan Peters
5. The Incredibles: I admire this movie for the fact that it is the one film in the Pixar stable that truly made just as much, if not more, for adults as for children. I mean, it’s about growing old and losing track of the life you planned to lead (not an uncommon theme for any Pixar movie, but done especially well here). If you like this you should check out director Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant; almost no one saw this hand-animated film, but it really is beautifully done and packs an emotional wallop.
4. Finding Nemo: Visually stunning. The panoply of ocean colors is so wonderfully rendered it’s simultaneously mellowing and exhilarating to watch this movie.
3. Up: Like most people, I find myself really moved by Up’s opening montage -- a lifetime in 5 minutes that could just break your heart. I have some problem’s with the film’s internal logic (if Ed Asner’s character is in his 70’s or 80’s, how old does that make Charles Muntz, the adventurer he looked up to as a boy? 120? WHY ISN’T HE DEAD?), but the idea that you find more memories in people than you do in new places is spot on.
2. Ratatouille: I think I’m the only one to pick this for my top five, and I think a lot of people have mixed feelings about it because in terms of plot, it’s more standard than some other Pixar fare. But who would have thought than an animated Paris at night could make you long for the real thing? And who would have thought that digitally animated rat hair could be so appealing? Peter O’Toole is absolutely perfect as the dour food critic who is reminded--through a bite of ratatouille, a French peasant dish--that food isn’t just about culinary art, but also emotion. That is, not just what we cook, but who we cook for and who cooks for us.
1. Wall-E: I’ll say it: Wall-E is the single most romantic film of the 2000s, in part because the fact that it’s a children’s movie means it can get away with avoiding cynicism. More than that, it’s daring. People act as if someone like Lars von Trier is doing something new and edgy each time he puts out a movie in which orphan children are molested and then boiled in acid, but it’s really not, because that’s exactly what you expect Lars von Trier to do. But not too many people expected the world’s highest-grossing children’s studio, a studio that makes one movie per year, to put out a movie for kids in which the first 30 minutes are essentially a silent film. That takes guts and artistic integrity.
Posted by Ryan Peters on Jun 21, 2010 @ 3:03 am
