Ramking The Pixar Films
23/05/2026
After seeing Hoppers in cinemas, my childhood adoration of Pixar was suddenly revitalised. The silly cast of characters, the moments of genuine humanity that bring tears to your eyes, the sharp and witty dialogue; it was all there. So I decided to undergo what I had started but never finished at least 7 times during my teenage years: watch every Pixar film in release order. This time, however, I had my own 3D projector all to myself. So, through totally legal means I watched most of these films in eye-popping 3D as well. Join me as I rank these films from worst to best in the least controversial and totally objectively correct way. I’ll also do some analysis of the through-lines I’ve observed while watching these films so that it’s not a totally pointless listicle like some formerly reputable news site trying to maintain some level of relevancy.
30. Finding Dory - directed by Andrew Stanton
Starting off strong here with the worst of the worst: Finding Dory. I know some people think this one is “fine” or merely serviceable, and I agree. My opinions aren’t really THAT controversial. I just find this film in particular to be almost completely soulless. I know some people feel that way about other upcoming films on the list, but this one most of all feels like a shameless attempt to garner attention, especially with the later accusations of workplace misconduct lobbied at Ellen Degeneres. Rating this as a film for children, it often feels like Ellen herself is attempting to try to prove to kids that she “understands” them, coming across more as patronising rather than a proper acknowledgment of the maturity of the children watching. The animation is gorgeous, as is consistent for this period of Pixar, and the creativity of making an octopus maintain general biological structures while feeling alive is incredibly commendable. This film is far from lazy; I wouldn’t consider any Pixar film lazy really; it just suffers from an overindulgence on relatability that it loses any chance to give the characters, especially Nemo, much of anything to chew on. I can’t believe there was a period of my life where I thought this was better than Finding Nemo.
29. Cars 2 - directed by John Lasseter and Brad Lewis
Now here’s the film that usually sits at the bottom of everyone’s Pixar ranking. Or at least it used to before people with nostalgia for it became a dominant voice in the market of ideas. Part of me wants to defend this film more due to it’s incredibly out there premise for a sequel, but it really isn’t worth defending. It wants to have this narrative arc where Mater realises how other cars perceive him and learns to change his admittedly selfish behaviour, but it also can’t risk changing Mater’s character so that they can keep selling Mater’s Tall Tales. The action sequences are fun, but both of the spy characters are just completely underwritten. There’s almost something here, but due to the creators clearly holding back there’s just nothing to chew on. At least we get one of the worst line reads ever from Lewis Hamilton.
28. Monsters University - directed by Dan Scanlon
This film definitely has its fair share of defenders, but ultimately it follows in the footsteps of Cars 2 in what I call the “sequel hell” era of Pixar where they can’t do many truly interesting things with the characters because of the narrative restrictions set in place by doing a sequel. Most of this film is just dull. The Charlie Day monster is funny, and the ending and overall message are good, but that doesn’t negate how dull this “jocks vs nerds” story is. It also feels a bit patronising to get a film where the message is “sometimes your dreams just don’t work out” made by people who are literally living the dream by getting to make a film within one of the most famous and renowned animation studios in the world.
27. The Good Dinosaur - directed by Peter Sohn
If you’ve talked to me at all about this film you know that I have a rewrite in my head of how this film could have been SO much better. It just needed to be quite a bit darker. And I understand that this is technically one of Pixar’s darker and heavier films thematically, but it really needed some more confirmed dead bodies. It wants to paint Arlo’s father as this perfect beacon of power, when really there’s some genuine trauma that this dinosaur is inflicting on his own family. If you make it more of a coming of age narrative where Arlo learns that his dad had both good and bad traits and he needs to learn to pick the right ones in order to end the cycle of abuse, then it would have made his decision to let Spot go at the end more powerful because he is deliberately going against what his father originally punished him for. Instead we get a mostly cute neo-western with dinosaurs and humans that bark but then also make really human sounding moans and grunts and it makes me uncomfortable. Why did they feel the need to do that?
26. Incredibles 2 - directed by Brad Bird
I often hear people treating this one as if it’s one of the “better” Pixar sequels that isn’t a Toy Story, and part of me has to wonder how much of that is based on their nostalgic attachment to the IP. The stakes in this film are all over the place. It never feels like there’s any real danger for any of the characters. Not to mention this film reeks of hearing about what the “Bechdel test” is and tries to implement it without properly engaging with what the original comic was complaining about. It also gets especially iffy when one of the women who was previously used in a “women: we get the job done” moment turns out to be the main antagonist. I guess women can only be powerful and bold when they’re tied to the institution of marriage or if they’re actually an evil, lying woman who wants to basically incite this film’s equivalent of a race war in order to enforce her world-view. That’s not to say this film is all bad. The sequence where Jack Jack fights the raccoon is beautifully storyboarded, and the scene where Mr Incredible apologises to Violet is done in a really tender and beautiful way. I just don’t think this is anything memorable at all.
25. Elio - directed by Adrian Molina, Madeline Sharafian, and Domee Shi
My nature is always to root for the underdog, but this film is just incredibly lacking. I really wish I had more to say about this one but it’s honestly just a nice little film. The main thing it suffers from is that I cannot see the studio behind it as a collective voice of people. Sure, it has a very personalised voice, and it’s nice to see latinx protagonists in mainstream films, but something I find that I really like in Pixar is how their collective experience as a studio bled into what narrative was being told. This is just another story that doesn’t develop any of its characters near enough for me to fully connect to it.
24. Luca - directed by Enrico Casarosa
Ah yes, the start of the “bean mouth” era. Honestly despite its shift in visual direction in terms of “realism” I feel like the animation works very well here. The character design perfectly helps you to get in touch with the feelings of each character, and it’s kind of awesome to have a children’s film that tells kids that sometimes leaving your parents for a trusted friend is the better option. He only let his parents back in his life when they repented of their ways. It doesn’t have the hard-hitting coming of age punch that I usually want from movies like this, but it is refreshing to see children’s films that show kids that they can and should be seen as people whose agency should be respected. The homemade 3D conversion I watched for this one was very very bad which might have hampered my experience but they tried.
23. WALL·E - directed by Andrew Stanton
Now here’s the actual start of my controversial Pixar opinions. Let’s start off with the positives to ease everyone in. This is a gorgeous looking film, it honestly still looks better than some of the later Pixar films that had access to more powerful technology. Everyone complains about how “the first 10 minutes are the only good part of Up” but then they all seem to turn a blind eye to Wall·E. The first bit where he falls in love with Eva is adorable and extremely heartwarming, and the touches here and there of their romance on the spaceship maintain that same level of cuteness, but then it turns into an extremely surface level critique of environmentalism that perpetuates stereotypes created by fatphobia, somewhat claiming that it’s somehow everyone’s fault for the state of the earth, equating the people’s complicity with the deliberate manipulation of Buy ‘n’ Large. Not to mention the live action humans to me feel like something out of an adult swim show rather than anything to be taken seriously. At least it looks pretty I guess.
22. Cars - directed by John Lasseter and Joe Ranft
I really wanted to like this one more due to my nostalgia for it, but really it’s just a nice feel good sports movie. I’m always somewhat hesitant of an adoration of classic Americana, especially coming from someone like John Lasseter, but it’s still a very sweet story. Mater and Lightning’s friendship feels more like two grown adults acting like children than any real friendship, which has a weird dissonance when compared to his and Sally’s relationship, but overall the race car learning the importance of taking it slow makes for a cute story and honestly a more pressing issue the older I get. The constant desire to get everywhere as fast as possible and get everything as fast as possible as destroyed the sense of community that comes from travel. This feels like such a stereotypical movie nerd thing to do, but genuinely I think that David Lynch’s The Straight Story has a lot of the same messaging that Cars has, but does it a whole lot more emotionally and compellingly. Though I guess that one’s able to tackle some more mature themes due to not being deliberately intended for children which can add to the emotional heaviness and poignancy.
21. Turning Red - directed by Domee Shi
This is probably the most explicitly personal film that Pixar has ever made. It has an element of low fantasy but the driving force of the conflict is based in something that it’s very clear the writer/writers have been through. I appreciated that all the characters, no matter how bad their actions, were given some level of humanity. The exaggerated nature of the dialogue and characters was fun, but it’s not personally how I relate to excess in film. I do think the more cartoony 2010s style of the characters fits this script and general emotion of this film better than most of the Pixar films it’s been used in. I do really enjoy every minute of this one, it just doesn’t really reach me emotionally as much as the higher ranked films on this list. Also Red Pandas are adorable so 10/10 choice for cute fuzzy animal mascot.
20. Finding Nemo - directed by Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
If it’s clear by now I do not like Andrew Stanton’s additions to the Pixar canon very much. I will admit he works great in a team with other people, since he’s credited as a writer on almost every early Pixar film, but I just find his films very surface level and dull, without any real interesting character development. This is indeed a sweet film, and it perfectly captures a scary empty serenity that comes from the ocean, but I just do not find Marlin to be a compelling protagonist, and Nemo’s story is incredibly underdeveloped. Dory is a fun comic relief character, and each sequence of tension is an excellently choreographed good time, especially the entire shark scene, but I never feel properly invested in the story. I get that this is a very personal story about the struggles of being a parent, but I feel like almost every other Pixar film does it infinitely better.
19. Cars 3 - directed by Brian Fee
Hear me out: Cars 3 is about Pixar as a company. There had been such a push in the company to focus on making sequels just before the time of this release and for a bit after. There is this strong sense of how all that society will think matters is the IP and the idea of Lightning McQueen. He could retire now and rest on his laurels and never work a day again, but then where would the fun of the race be? Where would the fun of the Pixar films be if all they do is sell of their old ideas to be repackaged continuously? However, Lightning doesn’t have what it takes to keep going. But Cruz does. The new young people at Pixar are able to do their own thing, and they should be encouraged to do that own thing with mentorship from those who came before. It can’t be a coincidence that their next film Coco was a co-directed piece by a Pixar veteran and a “newbie”. If only this was the mentality that stayed and not whatever brain-worms took over Pete Docter. You used to be so cool man, what happened?
18. Coco - directed by Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina
Speaking of Coco, uh, here it is! This is a very sweet film though I just cannot shake the Mormon-ness of it off of me. I know it’s a distinct cultural tradition from Mormonism, but the guilty responsibility that your ancestors’ eternal wellbeing is on the people who are still alive is a task that I know full well can be incredibly daunting and distract you from taking care of those in your life and focusing on those who are still alive. I think his great great grandmother gets off a bit too easy, but the narrative is sweet, the twist villain is actually great, and of course the moment when he uses music to revitalise his grandmother’s memory is actually very sweet. I know there’s the whole thing where Disney tried to copywright Day of the Dead, which is insane, but that doesn’t change this film from being nice, if not as good as some of Pixar’s other films.
17. Inside Out 2 - directed by Kelsey Mann
I feel like I’ve already expressed here my issues with how this lets Riley off too easily for her actions. I understand that it’s an attempt to teach kids to not be scared of the dangerous things there emotions can lead to, but I feel like it could have easily demonstrated how life can recover even if you lose all your friends in your desperate attempts to not be alone. As a film itself it’s much more fast paced and witty than the first one. It’s still full of brain puns, but the facial expressions combined with dialogue works so perfectly. Seriously, whoever was in charge of designing facial expressions for this film deserves a higher creative role. It’s a bummer that this film now represents all that is wrong with Pixar as a company underneath Pete Docter but what can you do?
16. Onward - directed by Dan Scanlon
It’s a shame that this film will forever be limited to the discourse of being the film with that one gay cop in it, but it really is a sweet film. I did cry heavy tears the first time I saw this once I realised halfway through that his brother was the dad in his life. There’s also some fun subtext about how rejecting the institutions of capital will help us to become our true selves and work better as a society, but it’s not quite as laid out as it could be. The implications of setting a fantasy epic in California is an awesome idea, and this movie would have done numbers as a live action film that originally bombed in the 80s but garnered a large rabid fanbase through home video and TV reruns. Anyway their Mom should have dumped her evil cop boyfriend and hooked up with the manticore instead.
15. Lightyear - directed by Angus MacLane
This might be my most controversial placement on here? I’m not entirely sure why that matters but it’s certainly important to acknowledge so I don’t come across as entirely ignorant of the discussion surrounding films. Anyway I really liked this one. With the cringe worthy references to Toy Story at the beginning out of the way, this was a really sweet film about how failure and the fear of having harmed others can overtake you and lead to more destruction. Taika Waititi luckily is barely in it, and the robot cat Socks is very cute. Do I care that it “broke” the Buzz Lightyear canon? No! Why would anyone care about a joke that’s entire premise is referencing a famous scene in another film? Following in both the footsteps of the Cars 3 with the old learning to accept the new, as well as what I shall coin “the new Pixar anxiety,” this film is a great reflection of the possibilities of new Pixar. Before I move on I should coin what I am referring to as “the new Pixar anxiety.” If you look at the trajectory of recent Pixar films, they all seem to tackle some fear of inadequacy that the protagonist needs to overcome. If all the early Pixar films were about being dads, all the new Pixar films are about being a Pixar filmmaker. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.
14. Toy Story 4 - directed by Josh Cooley
I feel like my then 6 year old cousin Gabe put it best when he said as we were leaving the cinema, “that movie wasn’t for kids was it?” Literally every Pixar film has been about what it means for your kids to grow up and leave your control, but this film asks you to sit in that state of empty nestery more than any of them. Woody not only learns that he can finally indulge in that love affair that he couldn’t when a kid was still dependent on him, while also continuing to be a parent but to other toys. While this movie does have a few silly moments clearly aimed to evoke laughter of all ages, the crux of the narrative is much more geared to what an adult needs to hear than that of a child, making this a terrible kids movie. It is still quite a good film, and Forky is an underrated addition to the Toy Story canon, but this fails to capture the whimsy of your toys coming to life in the same way the other films did.
13. Soul - directed by Pete Docter and Kemp Powers
I understand the critiques of how this movie is incredibly racist, a problem that would have been much remedied by getting basically any black person to play Tina Fey’s character except for Tina Fey. But beneath all that there is such a heartfelt story about what it means to have purpose, and what it means to find your purpose. The moment where he finally confronts his mom and she realises how her words were not having the effect she wanted them to and instead she was hurting her little boy, and she hugs him aaH. Just full of tender moment after tender moment. Maybe just living is all of our purposes. Not to mention a phenomenal score from Nine Inch Nails on this film really gives it that emotional edge, especially when that music has such a direct correlation to the visuals on screen. Truly a wonderful film that has marred itself with its refusal to sufficiently represent black voices. I blame Pete Docter for it, given his willingness to turn on other marginalised groups.
12. A Bug's Life - directed by John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton
If you asked what my favorite Pixar movie was when I was like 7 or 8 this might have been my pick. It was the underdog, oft forgotten Pixar film lost to time and VHS tapes, and I had watched it so many times. I once met someone who said that they absolutely despise the film because they had to watch it over and over again at school because it was the only tape they had at school. That feels like a very superficial and silly reason to hate a film. I’m not saying one can’t hate a film for those reasons, but it is very silly. There’s also a sense of me that’s like, “get over it, it’s not that deep.” Anyway this is a great film about how our each individual talents are not what make us significantly special, but rather what help us to build other people up and fight back against the oppressive 1% who take all our labour for themselves to lazily sit on with no care for our well-being. How many childrens films literally end with the sit in for an oppressive figure of dominating the capital being literally eaten? That’s what I thought. I also want to add in that while he is indeed a horrible person, I think that that menace shows up on this film in spades leading to one of the most terrifying villains I ever saw in a film as a child. Honestly he’s still more threatening than most villains I see these days.
11. Elemental - directed by Peter Sohn
Now here's another underrated Pixar film. Sure, it made a ton of money at the box office and has a mildly large vocal fanbase defending it, but I still view it as a film commonly maligned for being “too basic.” What other children’s film expertly tackles how systemic issues of bigotry cannot be solved by merely trying to be nice? Sure, Ember’s change in motivation feels like a sudden shift, but sometimes when something doesn’t seem like a probable option then you usually ignore or bottle up those emotions until someone lets you know you can release them, like the moment when Ember cries for the first time ever. Love can be a beautiful thing that changes your perspective on how the entire world is capable of functioning. This is another great example of the “new Pixar anxiety” where the protagonist is scared of breaking the mold and doing something outside of what is expected of the company, such as the extremely ambitious animation found in this film. I feel like this is especially exemplified when her father is literally voiced by a Pixar animation veteran. Really give this one another chance if you hated it before.
10. Brave - directed by Brenda Chapman, Mark Andrews, and Steve Purcell
Now for the top 10. The best of the best. Brave was the first Pixar movie I remember being disappointed I was not able to see in the cinema. I never remember actively disliking it, but I do remember loathing what it represented for Pixar becoming more and more an extension of Disney rather than its own distinct idea. Rewatching this I have no idea how I could have been so wrong. The story is beautifully written where it simultaneously shows how Merida’s life is unfair while showing that her actions to escape that life are just as selfish as her mother’s. They are parallels of each other, both trying to find ways to properly navigate this system that is built against them. This is very much a movie made “for the girls” so to speak but in all the best ways. It’s all about self actualisation and what being a woman means to each individual. I also love the little touch where she almost finds that one guy attractive. That off-handed joke helps to create a healthy balance of independence without leaning too far into shaming someone over their uncontrollable sexuality. I really loved this film on rewatch and I’m bummed I didn’t pay closer attention to this one sooner.
9. Hoppers - directed by Daniel Chong
Is this recency bias in addition to my predisposition to love anything Daniel Chong does? Yes. Do I care? No. This is such a chaotic, funny, heartfelt, poignant, and easy to understand film. Daniel Chong really understands how to talk to kids about things. This doesn’t hold back from the darker elements of nature, and it indulges in a healthy amount of utter chaos. I don’t think I’ve seen a film this fun in quite a long time. While some people seem to be taking the view that the film implicitly tells you that fighting the system is wrong, what it’s actually saying is that attempting to blindly fight the system you will end up hurting the people who you supposedly want to save from the terrors of those who are in power. I am not kidding when I say this film is awesome. Plus the feeling of helplessness in the main character is one of the most relatable things for me right now, I can’t lie. Also that beaver fur was maybe the fluffiest thing I have seen in a long time. I must squish. In a cuddly way not in a violent bug way.
8. Toy Story 2 - directed by John Lasseter, Ash Brannon, and Lee Unkrich
While I do think this is the weakest of the original Toy Story trilogy, mostly because of the sudden over indulgence of pop culture references, it’s still one of the best American animated films ever. The dynamics between all the characters, the elaborate set pieces with increasingly ridiculous problems for the toys to solve, and the phenomenal voice acting make this into an instant classic. I don’t know what I could say about this film that hasn’t already been said, so generally if someone says something positive about this movie I probably agree.
7. Ratatouille - directed by Brad Bird and Jan Pinkava
I want to hate on this film more because I feel like all the people calling it Pixar’s best are severely misguided, but honestly I can’t. Few films have quite as much heart as this one. The animation looks really choppy now in retrospect, but that doesn’t detract from how witty the script is and how much this film loves creation. The story may be a bit disjointed, but that really doesn’t detract from the overall experience. Plus it’s just really funny, as well as following in the footsteps of a higher ranked film in being one that only rewards the viewer the older that you get. Not in a dirty joke way (although this does have those) but rather in how maturely handled and realistic the narrative can be while still being simple for kids to understand. It’s great when films don’t shy away from sexually adjacent topics such as unwanted children.
6. Up - directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson
This is easily the most misunderstood Pixar film in the modern age. The amount of people repeating the same YouTuber talking point of “oh it’s only good because of the first 15 minute” ad nauseam is disgusting to me. You all should be ashamed of yourselves for spreading misinformation. That opening scene honestly doesn’t get to me. What gets to me is Carl sitting in his desperation to give his late wife what he thought she always wanted only to learn that a life with him was all that she ever wanted. That scrapbook of their whole life together being the adventure is such a beautiful moment and demonstrates not only the beauty of what love can bring, but also a great message for overcoming grief. Be happy it happened, don’t be sad it’s gone. And I don’t care all the dogs are cute, especially Doug. This movie gets dogs. Also the intense stakes of this one? This absolutely deserved the best picture nomination that year.
5. Inside Out - directed by Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen
This was the film that truly revitalised my interest in Pixar as a teenager to the point that it became a hyper-fixation. Pixar was my favourite thing in the world and no one else was allowed to know more than me. I went through my Disney adult phase when I was 14 so now I can look back on it as being naive instead of what grown adults are putting themselves through. I was such a chronic crier as a kid. I would cry at just about everything that made me upset. And this film came at just the right time where I was starting to become an “adult” but I still had all these intense emotions to work through. Hearing the message that it’s okay to be sad while also realising that my childhood was dying made this one an intense watch that I proceeded to watch over and over and over and over. I had the BluRay and I watched every single thing I could on there. The retrospective backlash on this one is insane to me too. It’s like y’all are looking at the premise of the film and judging it rather than actually engaging.
4. Toy Story 3 - directed by Lee Unkrich
Despite being part of the team from the very start, this was the first Pixar film Lee Unkrich helmed the direction of. Did you know he’s a They Might Be Giants fan? He’s listed as being a member of their Instant Fan Club in 2013 on the CD for the album Nanobots. Fun fact. Anyway this movie completely blew me away when I first saw it in 3D in cinemas. At first I hated it until my dad explained to me how it takes talent to manipulate someone’s emotions like that, especially about something so inhuman as toys. That helped me gain a new perspective on storytelling, and what it means to connect emotionally to someone else. The prison escape plot-line is great, Lotso is a great antagonist, all the emotional beats are so well earned, and Woody’s still needing things to learn never negates the lessons he learned from the previous films. Plus it still looks incredible. Is praising my positive nostalgia while criticising someone else's traumatic childhood experience extremely hypocritical of me? I don't think so. I am very willing to have my mind change on things, hell this movie used to be my favorite Pixar film at some point. That opinion on the other hand is stuck in some form of arrested development. Anyway this film is basically perfect. Still doesn’t even make the top 3 though.
3. Monsters, Inc. - directed by Pete Docter, David Silverman, and Lee Unkrich
I’ve always felt a strong affinity to this film. Probably because it’s as old as me, but also because it’s just a damn good film. Billy Crystal and John Goodman have such good chemistry here it’s a shock that no other filmmakers have tried to replicate the magic of the two of them together. Boo is adorable, Steve Buscemi is perfectly slimy and hateable, and the neo-noir tinge of the workplace conspiracy is awesome. Sully’s fur being visually accomplished and looking that good in 2001 is an impressive feat that they pulled off for their fourth feature film ever. It’s funny, it’s heartwarming, it’s tense, it’s everything you could want from a film and more.
2. Toy Story - directed by John Lasseter
When I say that this film has maybe the most perfect screenplay ever written, I am partially speaking in hyperbole, but I’m also not. I’m also totally not copying the words of the late, great Jeff Parkin (he’s not dead). But this screenplay really is perfect. Every joke and plot point is set up incredibly early on. Every joke or plot point is followed through on in meaningful or intentionally disappointing way. Woody is the perfect balance of being loveable and also being an utter piece of shit. Tim Allen and Tom Hanks are funny as hell, and the moments of emotion and finding out who you are are handled perfectly. This film really only gets better the more I watch it and engage with it. Perfect perfect movie, exceeded only by…
1. The Incredibles - directed by Brad Bird
I mean, was the number one film really going to be anything else? An incredible deconstruction of the American dream, what it means to have purpose, and the responsibilities we have once we choose to raise children. It’s also just a thrilling damn good time. The mystery around the island and the subplot of lying to your spouse are handled with such care and simplicity that anyone can understand them. Yet underneath that simplicity are such well rounded characters that each watch afterwards rewards you with so much more. The lighting is so beautiful, the character design is great, the action has time for levity but never loses the stakes of death that all the characters are almost always in. It’s a mature film that can still present these mature ideas to kids without scarring them beyond what they are ready for. It’s everything a family movie should be, and more.
And there’s my list! Did you agree or disagree? I don’t have a comment box here yet but if you want to share how you agree or disagree I’d love to talk about it in whatever way of contact you’d prefer, whether that be discord, instagram, direct messaging, etc. I’d love to tell you why you’re wrong hear you out and discuss gracefully our differences in opinion. If you have no way to contact me, no worries I’m planning on making another email address through which to contact me soon. Just be patient while I am lazy.
Thanks so much for reading all the way to the end, and I'll see you whenever I decided to write another one of these. Do not expect this much next time though.