Since launching with the revolutionary Toy Story in 1995, Pixar has released more than two dozen movies and the studio’s consistency has been astounding, delivering hit after hit. With its origins as the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm in 1979, it was spun off into its own corporation funded by Steve Jobs seven years later with the release of a short animated film called Luxo Jr., featuring Pixar’s now iconic desk lamp.
But it was Toy Story, a movie about a toy cowboy named Woody and his newly arrived rival, Buzz Lightyear, that made Pixar a household name. Anthropomorphic bugs, monsters, ocean creatures and cars followed, eventually leading Disney to purchase the company for a whopping $7.4 billion in 2006.
Not every Pixar movie has been a masterpiece, but thanks to the imaginations of people like John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Brad Bird and Andrew Stanton, the studio has made a habit of delighting audiences of all ages—never an easy task. We’ve ranked every Pixar movie, at least among its feature-length output.
Here are the best Pixar movies:
27. Cars 2Release Date: June 24, 2011
Director: John Lasseter
Stars: Owen Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy, Tony Shalhoub, Guido Quaroni, Bonnie Hunt, John Ratzenberger, Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, John Turturro, Eddie Izzard, Thomas Kretschmann
Rating: G
Runtime: 106 minutes
If Cars was Pixar’s first minor stumble, Cars 2 was the widespread evidence that they weren’t immune from making a flat-out bad movie. This was the first dose of the studio putting out something that at one time would have felt beneath their standards, and the first time that the rampant creativity that defined their films wasn’t always a surefire guarantee. Cars plucks our talking vehicles out of the dusty town of Radiator Springs and sends them on a globe-trotting adventure wherein Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) gets embroiled in a high-stakes espionage mission filled with spies and conspiracies that spell trouble for the World Grand Prix that Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is preparing to race in. It’s a huge left turn following the first film, which could be a good thing if not for the haphazard storytelling and tired humor. The biggest blunder, though, might be the film’s heavy focus on Mater, a character that truly tests the audience’s tolerance of the comedic stylings of Larry the Cable Guy. Also, Michael Caine plays a British spy car, which would be kind of fun if this whole thing wasn’t so taxing.—Trace Sauveur
26. Cars 3Release Date: June 16, 2017
Director: Brian Fee
Stars: Owen Wilson, Cristela Alonzo, Chris Cooper, Nathan Fillion, Larry the Cable Guy, Armie Hammer
Rating: G
Runtime: 109 minutes
Where earlier misfires were at least nervy experiments or noble failures, the latest chapter in the company’s least-interesting franchise never shakes one’s suspicion that its existence is the direct result of corporate bottom lines and synergistic marketing strategies. It’s certainly the first Pixar film whose commercial success I’m actively rooting against. Cars 3 is always wondrous to look at, and its level of cutesy humor is always several notches more advanced than family-film garbage such as Minions and The Secret Life of Pets. Even on a low gear, Pixar’s brain trust generates more superficial pleasures than plenty of its peers. But that’s precisely why Cars 3 feels so egregiously mediocre. Ever since Cars came out in the summer of 2006, the series has been critics’ whipping boy, giving Pixar naysayers an opening to loudly declare that the seemingly infallible company wasn’t deserving of such hosannas. The initial backlash to Cars was understandable: After a series of dynamic action-comedies (Toy Story, The Incredibles), Pixar told a gentler, more nostalgic tale of a conceited race car, Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson), who gets sidetracked in a dying small town, discovering old-fashioned values along the way. Cars 3’s major theme is that our hotshot hero discovers how quickly the limelight can be stolen from him. Cars 3 feels like it’s aspiring to be the Rocky IV of the franchise, pitting an aging winner against a top-flight, younger foe, leading to a battle between combatants that’s also a war between differing philosophies. Wilson’s laidback, swaggering performance makes Lightning endearing, but there’s no deeper twist to him—no resonant, universal anxiety that he embodies. Sure, he’s arrogant and needs to learn to be nicer, but the Cars films have always been pretty trite in their handling of Lightning’s growth. It would be inaccurate to accuse Cars 3 of lazy commercial expediency. Young viewers may walk away appreciating the importance of being selfless. And the sequel contains some grace notes concerning mourning those you’ve lost and appreciating when your moment in the spotlight is over, ceding the fanfare to others who never got their chance. But for the first time in its storied history, a Pixar movie feels like a straight-to-DVD entry: undemanding, mildly amusing, utterly disposable.—Tim Grierson
25. The Good DinosaurRelease Date: November 25, 2015
Director: Peter Sohn
Stars: Raymond Ochoa, Jeffrey Wright, Frances McDormand, Steve Zahn, Sam Elliott, Anna Paquin, A.J. Buckley
Rating: PG
Runtime: 93 minutes
The Good Dinosaur is a simple story with a simple formula derived from an oft-used setting in animated children’s fare. In a way, that’s fine. Pixar’s bread and butter has always been taking the familiar and making it feel fresh, and The Good Dinosaur, disappointing or no, is a beneficiary of the company’s distinguishing magic. But it’s still a dino-flick about a boy and his dog, here repurposed as an apatosaurus and his human. Arlo (Raymond Ochoa) is the youngest child of Poppa Henry (Jeffrey Wright) and Momma Ida (Frances McDormand), two apatosauruses living off the land on their farm. Arlo is a gawky, runty sort, a scaredy-cat by birth who’s literally terrified of coming out of his shell when he’s born. Henry gives him patience: He believes Arlo will come into his own and earn his place as a member of their clan in due time. But the dino-boy isn’t even able to feed their chickens without incident, so when Henry tasks Arlo with killing the “critter” that’s been feeding off their corn supplies, he’s setting the boy up for disaster. Arlo can’t bring himself to off the animal, which happens to be a feral human child, which sets off a chain of events that ends with Henry’s death. It’s a sudden moment right out of the Lion King playbook, and in a vengeful fit of pique, Arlo chases the caveboy down, only to fall into a river and be swept far, far away from home by its currents. It’s Earth if that pesky ol’ Chicxulub asteroid hadn’t smashed our planet millions upon millions of years ago and wiped out the dinosaurs. You’ll probably walk out of The Good Dinosaur wishing that the film had explored that idea more: We’re introduced to Henry as he sows seeds in a crop field, and we meet pterodactyl storm chasers, T-Rex wranglers, and raptor rustlers on Arlo and Spot’s journey, but aside from acquainting us with these characters, Sohn and screenwriter Meg LeFauve do little else to expand on their premise. You get the sense they came up with The Good Dinosaur’s basic conceit just to dodge scientific criticisms from Neil deGrasse Tyson. There’s no consistent tone, either, though as a caveat this is probably fine: The Good Dinosaur is clearly more calibrated for children than for adults. As the story caroms from comedy, to tragedy, to beats of pure horror, and opens up to make room for drug jokes (Arlo and Spot eat some suspect fruit and trip balls for a minute or so, which is twice as hilarious as it sounds), you can feel Sohn trying to establish a groove where the disparate emotionalism gels. These scenes just happen—it’s all incident—and while the film’s willful genre hopping isn’t especially disruptive, it is distracting. By consequence, The Good Dinosaur doesn’t make for especially satisfying viewing.—Andy Crump
24. OnwardRelease Date: March 6, 2020
Director: Dan Scanlon
Stars: Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Octavia Spencer, Ali Wong, Lena Waithe, Mel Rodriguez
Rating: PG
Runtime: 102 minutes
For its interminable, meandering first half, Onward somehow compiles the worst parts of even the best Pixar movies. It’s aggressively high-concept, albeit strained this time, positing what would happen if magical creatures were dulled by generations of capitalism into losing everything magical about them. (Turns out: It makes them dull!) It features yet another protagonist who feels displaced from their home and yearns for a past they feel deprived of. (Usually a lost family member: here, a father.) Worst, it is yet another Let’s Go On A Quest! plot, a Pixar trope so exhausted and hoary that you always appreciate that a character at last just blurts out, “Let’s Go On A Quest!” It is dispiriting, during an era when the very meaning of the Pixar brand is being diluted by sequels and overarching corporate strategies, to see a movie that seems cobbled together from various other Pixar films, a reliance on a formula from a company that once rewrote all the rules themselves. It’s a relief, then, that Onward does ultimately right itself and, against all odds, still provide a signature Pixar moment or two, even improbably jerking a few tears here or there. That speaks to an almost pathological ability to find the beating heart of any story, even if, as is the case here, it’s surrounded by a lot of “irreverent” bells and whistles that feel less organic than “desperately clung to” as if to remind us, “Look, look, still Pixar!” But it also is a result of what appears, at least in its initial stages, to be a deeply personal project for director and co-writer Dan Scanlon. Scanlon is a Pixar lifer, and thus a project of this magnitude feels like the result of a lifetime of hard work and dedication. But it also feels like the result of someone who has learned long ago the compromises you have to make. That Pixar has become more about the compromises rather than the passion of the thing sums up exactly why Onward, for all its virtues, is reason to worry.—Will Leitch
23. CarsRelease Date: June 9, 2006
Director: John Lasseter
Stars: Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy, Tony Shalhoub, Cheech Marin, Michael Wallis, George Carlin, Paul Dooley, Jenifer Lewis, Guido Quaroni, Michael Keaton, Katherine Helmond, John Ratzenberger, Richard Petty
Rating: G
Runtime: 117 minutes
It’s fair to consider Cars the first minor stumble for an animation studio that, at the time, seemed infallible. The reception to this film about anthropomorphized automobiles was generally positive but more muted than what one had come to expect out of Pixar—in a catalog of films that had wide-ranging family appeal, this is the first one that seemed like it was truly just for kids. It’s not terrible and the animation is still nice for its time, but the story and characters were never particularly memorable when pitted against other Pixar titans, and the blue-collar pandering—evident by elements such as the grating, Larry the Cable Guy-voiced Mater and the prominent Rascal Flatts cover of “Life Is a Highway”—always felt a little strained. It’s a thoroughly unremarkable venture. Still, if nothing else, it’s kinda fun to say “Kachow!”—Trace Sauveur
22. LucaRelease Date: June 18, 2021
Director: Enrico Casarosa
Stars: Jacob Tremblay, Jack Dylan Grazer, Emma Berman, Maya Rudolph, Jim Gaffigan, Sandy Martin, Saverio Raimondo, Sacha Baron Cohen
Rating: PG
Runtime: 95 minutes
Luca takes the foundation of Hans Christian Andersen and builds upon it a gallery of delicately curated cultural influences ranging from Studio Ghibli to Aardman Animations to the movies of Luca Guadagnino to boilerplate Italian fairy tales: The particulars are all familiar, but freshened up by the pairings. The threads that first-time director Enrico Casarosa, Pixar Senior Story and Creative Artist Mike Jones and screenwriter Jesse Andrews weave together throughout Luca are endless, but over time grow tangled. It’s less an issue of where the team has sourced their inspiration, and more an issue with how those inspirations collide. Their skeins don’t compliment one another. They could, of course. But Casarosa, Jones, and Andrews appear out of sync with either themselves or their material—maybe both. All that rich goodness on paper, the many colorful pieces that compose the movie’s whole, grows muddled on screen: The plotting is crushed down, the pacing is rushed and character motivations change on a dime for the convenience of narrative, assuming they’re well-established at all. Luca banks on broad adorableness and, granted, there are worse things that a beautifully animated film about boyhood, budding friendships, sea monsters and the youthful desire for agency could be than “adorable.” But Luca, instead of just adorable, comes frustratingly close to being another thing entirely: Precise instead of wandering, decisive instead of dithering, substantial instead of cute, fluffy and trivial. Luca’s whimsical synopsis pans out according to the Pixar playbook, differentiated from other films in their canon through setting and aesthetic. Even a watchful viewer might, at times, forget that they’re watching a CG-animated film and convince themselves they’re watching other forms of animation stitched into one. The precision of CG fades, the details grow soft and Casarosa’s visuals take on the gentle spontaneity of a Ghibli film (like, say, Ponyo, which despite the obvious homage to Porco Rosso reads as Luca’s closest cousin in the studio’s portfolio). And the characters, too, at times bear the plasticine features of Nick Park’s stop-motion claymation figures, giving them tactility that contrasts nicely with the dreamier qualities of its Ghibli references and nods to Federico Fellini. The film tries, gamely but awkwardly, to find a rhythm that matches its ambitions as both entertainment for children, pop art for adults and a coordinated blend of the varying cultures its authors have drawn from. There’s a long pedigree for Casarosa, Andrews and Jones to live up to. Mostly what they manage is sweetness, and so sweetness must suffice. A little more body would have been better.—Andy Crump
21. Monsters UniversityRelease Date: June 21, 2013
Director: Dan Scanlon
Stars: Billy Crystal, John Goodman
Rating: G
Runtime: 104 minutes
Monsters University proves to be a defiantly peculiar project, but fortunately an entertaining one. The film flashes back to the college days of one-eyed Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) and hulking James “Sully” Sullivan (John Goodman). The concept initially seems like a one-joke premise better suited for a Pixar DVD era, and while Monsters University lacks the imaginative scope of Pixar’s best, it nevertheless finds an affecting emotional center. While most prequels suffer from a kind of predestination, since the audience already knows the characters’ futures, Monsters University does an excellent job of playing off the established rules and relationships. Since we know Mike and Sully will become best friends, Monsters University feels free to give them a deeply bitter rivalry: their palpable dislike proves rather bracing, and Crystal’s voice performance is always funniest at its most indignant. Both find their futures as scarers in jeopardy, so Mike reluctantly teams up with Sully for the campus “Scare Games” as a last-ditch shot at redemption. For a cheerful, fast-paced comedy, Monsters University touches on the unexpectedly knotty idea that some dreams may not be achievable, and your aspirations don’t always match up with your abilities. The idea gives Monsters some thematic teeth, while its heart comes from Mike and Sully’s dawning awareness that they can achieve more together than apart. For a Disney film about higher education, Monsters University proves impressively willing to teach a harsh lesson.—Curt Holman
20. ElementalRelease Date: June 16, 2023
Director: Peter Sohn
Stars: Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Ronnie del Carmen, Shila Ommi, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Catherine O’Hara, Mason Wertheimer, Joe Pera, Matt Yang King
Rating: PG
Runtime: 102 minutes
Filmmaker Peter Sohn again has his head in the clouds, this time with Elemental, another bold, impressive feat of technical animation prowess with an emotionally rich storyline that runs throughout. At its heart, Elemental is a cross-cultural love story, a tale of immigrant tenacity and struggle, and a movie about the challenges of cultural siloing and the responsibilities to respect the sacrifices of those that came before us. All this is heady stuff in what is ostensibly characterized as children’s entertainment, but Pixar films have rarely shied away from more adult, or at least adolescent, concerns. Elemental owes much to the likes of Amélie with its wide-eyed sense of romance, but also more than a bit of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? and a dash of In The Heights—or even more tragic tales like the Shakespeare-redux West Side Story, where differing individuals react strongly to those outside their circle interacting, and star-crossed lovers must overcome the prejudices of those around them. Ember Lumen (Leah Lewis) is a hot-tempered resident of Fire Town. She works at her father’s store, where Bernie (Ronnie del Carmen) has spent years waiting for the day to pass it onto the new generation and keep the flame alive. He and his wife Cinder (Shila Ommi) immigrated, and her reticence to accept other elements has made her protective of her community and her daughter’s outlook. When a water element bureaucrat named Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie) unexpectedly enters Ember’s life, things truly start to boil as the two of them are forced to cooperate to solve an existential issue for Fire Town. Along the way they are drawn closer despite their obvious differences and encounter other, more earthy and airy characters, with each contributing their own aspect to the greater community. Elemental may not rise to the heights that Up soared to, but the ingredients of Elemental combine in ways that are both satisfying and even moving. Elemental manages to build its own path, employing a predictable yet satisfying story structure and subtle yet spectacular character animation to bring this latest tale to life.—Jason Gorber
19. LightyearRelease Date: June 17, 2022
Director: Angus MacLane
Stars: Chris Evans, Keke Palmer, Peter Sohn, Taika Waititi, Dale Soules, James Brolin, Uzo Aduba, Mary McDonald-Lewis, Isiah Whitlock Jr.
Rating: PG
Runtime: 105 minutes
Pixar’s trade is in time. Its hardest-hitting stories push kids, and the parents that take them to the movies, to consider our impermanence. To see the sand trickling down our hourglasses. Their signature bittersweetness slips through alongside the coarse grains. Lightyear teleports this surefire poignancy into a pulpy sci-fi adventure. Its strapping hero flies full speed ahead when confronting the passage of time, accelerating to an enjoyable but decidedly finite success. Opening text sets the tone and clears up the confusion of Lightyear’s own IP-forward making: This is the in-universe film that served as inspiration for Toy Story’s Buzz Lightyear figure. Got it? No? This time he’s supposed to be a guy, made of hair and skin and bravado, instead of a toy made of plastic, electronics and bravado. Beyond that initial bit of corporate absurdity, Lightyear is, for the most part, easy to wrap your head around. It doesn’t give you time to mull its meta-premise over: We crash-land straight into Star Command’s Buzz (Chris Evans) and his BFF/commander Alisha Hawthorne (Uzo Aduba) exploring an uninhabitable alien world. They’re vine-cutting, insect-blasting throwbacks to huckster magazine covers; Amazing Stories, Startling Stories, Thrilling Wonder Stories already supplied all the adjectives I could ever need. The 105-minute movie zips at the same clip as a flashlight-lit, under-the-covers page-turner. As Lightyear brings up both sci-fi history and the history of its own company, mining the very origins of Pixar, it sees the auteurish animation house take a new genre past the limits of homage. But the film also establishes itself as a step in an endless progression of creative collage, a historical marker built to augment its inspirations and carry them towards a future movie. Lightyear is a beautiful starship with precious genre cargo, functional and direct in its simple mission to carry on. —Jacob Oller
18. Finding DoryRelease Date: June 17, 2016
Director: Andrew Stanton, Angus MacLane
Stars: Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Ed O’Neill, Kaitlin Olson, Ty Burrell, Diane Keaton, Eugene Levy, Hayden Rolence
Rating: PG
Runtime: 97 minutes
Finding Dory picks up a year after the events of the 2003 film. Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) is still best friends and the third wheel to clownfish Marlin (Albert Brooks) and his son Nemo (Hayden Rolence). She tests their patience on a daily basis with her neediness, requiring constant supervision lest she go rushing off into the mouth of a bigger fish. If the original found a cuteness in Dory’s handicap, there’s a palpable sense of frustration with her here, whether it’s the usually gregarious Mr. Ray (Bob Peterson), who dreads having to deal with Dory’s constant interruptions during his class, or Marlin, who shoos her away when she wakes him up for the umpteenth time. Through episodic flashbacks, Dory’s childhood—and later, adulthood—is shown as a long period of loneliness. She’s trapped in an endless cycle of asking others for help, only to be either ignored or asked further questions that she can’t answer. That’s not to say this is Pixar’s answer to Memento, but Finding Dory finds a boundless well of emotional distress in Dory’s continual doubt in herself, until she hits rock bottom in a quiet episode that’s reminiscent of the serenely graceful first half of WALL-E. Finding Dory is a bit too concerned about being constantly on the move, especially in a creative but overly chaotic third act set in a marine life center. Still, it’s thematically appropriate—Dory’s life is a string of scrambled thoughts, feelings and memories that only come into focus at random instances. What the film lacks in clean-cut storytelling, though, it more than makes up for in sheer emotionality. Finding Dory is the rare sequel that repurposes the original as a foundation rather than as a cheap form of fan service.—Michael Snydel
17. A Bug’s LifeRelease Date: November 20, 1998
Director: John Lasseter
Stars: Dave Foley, Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Rating: G
Runtime: 95 minutes
While similar in scale and ensemble to Pixar’s first effort, its second film’s move from toys to bugs saw a change in genre. Eschewing odd couple buddy adventure, A Bug’s Life turned The Ant and the Grasshopper into a Western (or, going back a little further, samurai) dramedy, where a band of misfits are recruited to help save an oppressed town from the powerful gang in charge. A bit of a strange pivot, but one painted with the vibrant colors and repeatable designs of insect hordes. Like so many of Pixar’s early efforts, A Bug’s Life feels groundbreaking—as in, the developments in technology are baked into the movie so that it often reads more impressive than immersive. How did all that artistic computer science age? The character models are a little bulbous, the voice cast lives (Dave Foley! Julia Louis-Dreyfus!) and dies (Denis Leary, playing an overcompensating ladybug in the worst running joke) by how tied they are to a single gag, and the dark class revolution running under its surface is surprisingly well-delivered. This may not be the best the studio has to offer, but the movie’s ambitious blend of dark conflict and lighthearted, world-building adventure still has the power to stagger. The sweeter, more animation-focused CG ant movie in the CG Ant Movie Wars of 1998, A Bug’s Life is nonetheless best remembered as a stepping stone to what Pixar would later accomplish: Its well-designed charms, thoughtful narrative approach and breakthroughs in the animations of light and texture would inform the golden years of the studio. Not bad for some toys and bugs.—Jacob Oller
16. Toy Story 3Year: 2010
Director: Lee Unkrich
Stars: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Ned Beatty, Don Rickles
Rating: G
Runtime: 103 minutes
Towards the conclusion of 1999’s Toy Story 2, villain Stinky Pete asks Woody the Cowboy what he’ll do when Andy, their owner, grows up and no longer wants his toys. At the time, Woody did not have a definite answer for the duplicitous prospector. And the Pixar team could have left it there—ending on an optimistic image of the toys mutually agreeing that they can’t stop Andy from growing, but they can enjoy the time they have left. Instead, 11 years later, John Lasseter and Co. actually made an entire movie exploring that exact question. Boasting both gut-busting laughs (Mr. Potato Head as a flour tortilla) and questionably intense drama (the toys being lowered into a fiery pit of death), this third Toy Story adventure was treated as an unequivocal success. Story-wise, the film is not horribly original, taking its escape plotline almost beat for beat from the second film. Yet, for any audience member who had grown up with Woody, Buzz and the gang, it was all about those last five minutes—when a college-bound Andy plays with his childhood toys for the last time. It’s the film that would make you believe a jaded teenager could cry. —Mark Rozeman
15. SoulYear: 2020
Directors: Pete Docter, Kemp Powers
Stars: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Questlove, Phylicia Rashad, Daveed Diggs, Angela Bassett, Graham Norton
Rating: PG
Runtime: 100 minutes
Watch on Disney+
Pixar’s best in years, Soul matches its musical deftness with character and locations designs that are true love letters to New York City and its inhabitants. That’s the way it should be for a movie all about learning to look up once in a while and enjoy the life that’s happening all around you. Less heady than Inside Out, thanks to its grounded roots in barbershops and tailor back rooms, Soul is still one of Pixar’s most existential. A focus on jazz is a natural fit. Jamie Foxx’s obsessed music teacher/jazz pianist wannabe Joe flirts back and forth with death, getting a little It’s a Wonderful Life lesson while an unborn soul (Tina Fey) learns about all life has to offer alongside him. With plenty of jokes and impressive visual creations to plaster over some unwieldy plot decisions (Why are Black people always being pushed out of their bodies in animations?), Soul still sings. It’s got some of the most impressive lighting I’ve ever seen in an animated film, with skin, hair and metallic instruments glistening with a complex, near-photorealism that invites you to reach out and touch them. As Pixar’s premium offering in 2020, its tears flow early and often as crushing montages and inspiring instrumental performances prove over and over again how much joy there is to appreciate in this world—and how much joy Pixar films have the potential to capture. Soul is one of the closest yet to fully achieving that potential on an intimate, human scale. —Jacob Oller
14. BraveRelease Date: June 22, 2012
Director: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman; Steve Purcell (co-director)
Stars: Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters, Robbie Coltrane
Rating: PG
Runtime: 93 minutes
Red-tressed Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) is the willful daughter of King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). Turn ons? Riding her horse, shooting a bow and recklessly following blue wisps. Turn offs? Being packaged off to the son of a clan leader (to avert a kingdom-wrecking civil war, or something like that). Merida is a refreshing departure from a certain self-abnegating mermaid and her crew of color-coded princesses dependent on a Prince to save them. After a rebellious display of archery that suggests Merida would be better off taking her talents to South Nottingham, princess and queen have a particularly spirited mother-daughter chat in which hurtful things are said, tapestries torn and bows thrown into fire. One anguished ride from the castle later, Merida stumbles upon a witch’s cottage. There’s more, of course. There’s a monster bear who logs enough screen time to cause lasting regret for any parent who brings a nightmare-prone child to the theater. And there’s the gorgeous vision of Scotland itself, a rich palette of greens, oranges and blues that makes a compelling argument for catching the film on the big screen. But above all else, Brave is a film about mothers and daughters, and this is one of its strengths. But for all it’s got going for it—gorgeous visuals and exemplary voice work in particular—Brave also has some decidedly atypical (for Pixar) flaws. The story itself feels rushed. Perhaps much of this can be attributed to a mid-production change at the helm—Mark Andrews took over for Brenda Chapman with about 18 months to go. Brave is a Pixar film with flaws that one does not expect in a Pixar effort devoid of talking automobiles. A film that, like Young Macintosh (who goes second in the archery contest), is pleasing to the eye, has an adoring fan base and fires a shot that is nonetheless slightly off the mark.—Michael Burgin
13. The Incredibles 2Release Date: June 15, 2018
Director: Brad Bird
Stars: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Huck Milner, Catherine Keener, Eli Fucile, Bob Odenkirk, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Bird, Sophia Bush, Brad Bird
Rating: PG
Runtime: 126 minutes
Compared to the original, the long-awaited The Incredibles 2 is inescapably messier throughout. The villain and scheme are not quite as compelling, and the choreography of character and location—another hallmark of the first film—is a perceptible degree sloppier. Nonetheless, it feels great to be back. The Incredibles 2 starts right where the first film ended, with the costumed Family Parr reacting to the arrival of the Underminer (John Ratzenberger). Their scuffle with the villain gains the attention of Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk)—or more precisely, allows Deavor and his sister, Evelyn (Catherine Keener), to gain the attention of the Parrs. The siblings want to bring supers back into the light, using Winston’s salesmanship and Evelyn’s tech to sway public opinion back to the pro-super side. To do so, they want to enlist Elastigirl as the tip of the spear in their charm offensive, leaving Mr. Incredible on the sidelines for now. (She tends to fight crime in a manner that results in less property damage than her husband, after all.) This sets up a second act that’s firmly by the numbers in terms of story development—watch the husband try to succeed as a stay-at-home dad!—yet no less enjoyable. Bob’s attempts to handle teen romance, Jack-Jack’s manifestation of powers and, horror or horrors, “new” math will strike a chord with any mom or dad who has ever felt overwhelmed by the simple, devastating challenges of parenthood. (The family interactions, one strength among many with the first film, remain a delight in the sequel.) Meanwhile, we get to watch Elastigirl in action, as she encounters, foils and matches wits with the film’s mysterious villain, Screenslaver. As in the first film, watching Helen Parr do the hero thing is also quite the delight—she’s resourceful, tough and, above all, a professional. Whether you enjoy The Incredibles 2 as much as the original will likely depend on your opinion of the latter, but regardless, you’ll be happy both exist. And in today’s sequel-saturated environment, that is practically a superheroic achievement in itself.—Michael Burgin
12. Toy Story 4Year: 2019
Director: Josh Cooley
Stars: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts, Tony Hale, Keegan-Michal Key, Jordan Peele
Rating: G
Runtime: 90 minutes
We were all concerned about Toy Story 4. How could we not be? This is perhaps the most beloved animated franchise of the last 50 years, and, in the eyes of many, each movie has been a little better than the last one. That final one, Toy Story 3, ended in such a perfect, emotionally devastating fashion that trying to follow it up felt like the ultimate fool’s errand. And in the nine years since that installment, Pixar, as a company, has changed, becoming more corporate, more sequel-focused, more …Disney. What a relief it is, then, that Toy Story 4 is such an immense joy. Like its protagonist, it’s less concerned with trying to do something revolutionary just because it’s done it in the past and instead worries about what comes next …what the next logical progression is. It finds the next step, for Woody (voiced as ever by Tom Hanks in what honestly has always been one of his best roles), and the franchise, while still being as hellzapoppin’ and wildly entertaining as you have come to expect from this franchise. The overarching theme in Toy Story 4 isn’t as much death as it is loss—loss of purpose, loss of meaning, loss of value. What do you do with yourself when the best thing you’ll ever be a part of is already over? How do you find drive in life when your lifelong goal has been accomplished? How do you handle getting old and not being needed anymore? If these seem like heady concepts for a Toy Story movie …you’ve never seen a Toy Story movie. —Will Leitch
11. Inside OutYear: 2015
Director: Pete Docter
Stars: Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Mindy Kaling, Lewis Black, Phyllis Smith, Kaitlyn Dias, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan
Rating: PG
Runtime: 94 minutes
When Pixar is at its best, the studio’s films aren’t just massively entertaining and wonderfully funny—they’re almost piercingly emotional, touching on universal sentiments with such clarity, such honesty you feel they’re speaking directly to you, and you alone. (This may be why people’s favorite Pixar films are so fiercely defended: We take these movies personally.) Inside Out may be the best Pixar has released in a while, especially after a string of disappointing and underwhelming efforts, but what’s most cheering about the film—and most like Pixar’s celebrated classics—is that it’s so emotionally astute. You cry because it makes you happy, and you cry because it makes you sad, and you cry because it’s all true. —Tim Grierson
10. Monsters, Inc.Year: 2001
Director: Pete Docter
Stars: John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Mary Gibbs
Rating: PG
Runtime: 92 minutes
Monsters, Inc. may very well be the most lovable film in the illustrious Pixar canon. And, based on everything from the exhilarating door-chase sequence to the brilliant decision of naming its colorful monsters run-of-the-mill things like Mike Wazowski, it might be its most inventive, encapsulating the spirit of childhood unlike any other of the company’s singular creations. Billy Crystal and John Goodman make an endearing and iconic odd couple. And that ending? Perfection. —Jeremy Medina
9. Turning RedRelease Date: March 11, 2022
Director: Domee Shi
Stars: Rosalie Chiang, Sandra Oh, Ava Morse, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Hyein Park, Orion Lee, Wai Ching Ho, James Hong
Rating: PG
Runtime: 100 minutes
Filmmaker Domee Shi (who delivered the best short Pixar’s ever made in Bao) becomes the first woman to direct a Pixar movie alone, and her floofy red panda’s coming-of-age story stretches the strengths of the company’s legacy. Turning Red is a hyper-cute whirlwind of figurative layers and literal loveliness, dense with meaning and meaningful even to the most dense among us. An exceptional puberty comedy by way of Sanrio-branded Kafka, Turning Red’s truthful transformations are strikingly charming, surprisingly complex and satisfyingly heartfelt. And yes, so cute you might scream until you’re red in the face. Hyperactive 13-year-old overachiever Meilin Lee (Rosalie Chiang) likes to think she runs Toronto with her weirdo friends, partitioning her life into boy-band obsession, extracurricular exceptionalism and deference to intense mom Ming (Sandra Oh) and soft-spoken dad Jin (Orion Lee). She’s got it all balanced, embodying the multiple identities we develop as we become our own people with the overwhelming energy of someone discovering this exciting new freedom for the first time. Chiang’s crackling vocal performance and a blistering visual pace right out the gate make it clear that Mei’s a ridiculous little goober who knows exactly who she is. That is, until she’s “visited by the red panda.” What initially seems like a fairly straightforward allegory for the bodily betrayal and raging emotions of puberty starts scooping up more and more relatable elements into its impressive, finely detailed bear hug. Shi and co-writer Julia Cho weave an ambitious amount of themes into a narrative that’s main plot engine is boy-band concert lust. Its love-hate bout with puberty is obvious, but self-actualization, filial piety and intergenerational trauma keep its romping red wonder from feeling one-note or derivative of underwhelming transformation tales. Turning Red’s oddball characters and well-rooted fantasy inject personality into the common plot device. Not only one of Pixar’s best efforts from the last half-decade, Turning Red is one that overcomes some of the animation giant’s weaknesses. It’s original and human-centric; it’s not particularly beholden to messages more weepy for adults than enjoyable for children. It’s funny without being overly witty and smart without being overly heady. Shi displays a fantastic ability for integrating the specific and personal into the broad beats of a magical cartoon, all done sweetly and endearingly enough to become an instant favorite among modern kids and those who’ll recognize their past selves. —Jacob Oller
8. UpYear: 2009
Directors: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
Stars: Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai
Rating: PG
Runtime: 89 minutes
The public hadn’t balked at a Wall-E, a film whose first two acts were essentially dialogue-free. How would it react to a film whose protagonist is an elderly widower with a hearing aid, dentures and back pain—who looks like and is voiced by Ed Asner? Thank God for Pixar and good storytelling. Asner’s character, Carl Fredericksen, isn’t just the grumpy, old man we expect, but a kind-hearted and devoted husband adrift after the loss of his wife. His first 78 years are condensed into the film’s beautiful first ten minutes, as we see a young boy with dreams of adventure fall in love with a fellow dreamer. Though childless, the couple live full lives until Carl is left alone. After his wife’s death, he clings on to every memory of her, including a house that stands stubbornly in the way of a high-rise development. He has a single regret (an unfulfilled promise of a trip to Paradise Falls), but even less purpose, and when cornered, he does what any wistful balloon-maker would do: Fly his house to South America. The resulting Andean adventures snap him from his self-pitying funk by providing him with a goal to pursue, but it’s not his childhood dream that provides ultimate fulfillment. In a culture that devalues its elders, tucking them away in nursing homes and occupying their time with leisure pursuits, it’s refreshing to be reminded that, regardless of age, meaning can always be found in both relationships and story—that glorious struggle to overcome adversity in the pursuit of justice. That the reminder comes in the form of a cartoon would be more surprising if not for the depth of Pixar’s track record. Sure, the film has its adorable characters for the kids—the dogs with innovative collars that allow their thoughts to be communicated through speech, the wilderness scout who tags along for the ride, some cute baby birds. But what makes Up such a satisfying film is the story of an old man deciding that he still has life left to be lived. And that life is an adventure. —Josh Jackson
7. CocoYear: 2017
Directors: Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina
Stars: Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Renée Victor, Ana Ofelia Murguia, Alanna Ubach, Jaime Camil, Sofía Espinosa, Selene Luna, Alfonso Arau, Edward James Olmos
Rating: PG
Runtime: 109 minutes
Thanks to its story and, most importantly, its setting, Coco may count as one of Pixar’s clearest successes—and for many who long to see their culture center stage instead of just a flavor sprinkle, the story of Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) as he struggles to pursue his dreams could prove the studio’s most meaningful yet. The implicit contract between films like Coco and the audience is a simple one: Sit back and let us immerse you in a world you haven’t seen before, or one you’ve only imagined. Directors Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina do just that. Coco’s underworld is richly textured and imagined, but so is the “real world” where we start and end up. Sure, by now it’s what we expect from Pixar, but it’s notable nonetheless. And the lasting accomplishment of Coco lies in the reverence and joy with which it depicts another culture’s celebration. Dia de los Muertos isn’t used as some convenient, exotic setting or explored through the eyes of someone from the United States (though early iterations of the script did just that, apparently). Instead, the film represents a full embrace of a culture and its people, as well as a celebration of family, both present and past. As such, it’s difficult to imagine healthier holiday fare. —Michael Burgin
6. Toy StoryYear: 1995
Director: John Lasseter
Stars: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn
Rating: G
Runtime: 80 minutes
The one that started it all. Still to this day, Toy Story is a remarkable technical achievement (the first computer-animated film) and a flawless blueprint for all of the Pixar films that followed: start with a litany of standout characters (Woody, Buzz, Potato Head, Slinkie, Rex, and more); add a decidedly-sinister villain (in this case, the skull-shirted bully Syd); and top it off with a well-rounded, awe-inspiring adventure, and you’ve got the makings of an enduring classic. Few films can capture the true essence of childhood without featuring a kid as the main character, but that’s just what Pixar did in 1995 with Toy Story. The film’s hilarious (and heartwarming) competition between longtime toy-favorite Woody and flashy newcomer Buzz Lightyear wasn’t only entertaining—it explored themes of friendship, family and ultimately growing up. The film gave us our first peek into the legacy that Pixar solidified with classics like Up and Wall-E, not to mention three fantastic sequels. —Jeremy Medina and Tyler Kane
5. WALL-EYear: 2008
Director: Andrew Stanton
Stars: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin
Rating: G
Runtime: 97 minutes
Opening with 45 sublime minutes of almost no dialogue, WALL-E was a significant gamble for Pixar, whose remarkable string of successes to that point fell within a pretty narrow range. WALL-E rests firmly in the realm of children’s fantasy, but writer-director Andrew Stanton shooed the celebrity voices away from the center of the film and was clearly reaching toward something new. In a post-post-apocalyptic world where humans have gone into space and left behind an army of machines to clean up the place, 700 years have passed without much progress, and even the machines have fallen into ruin, except for one, a dilapidated ottoman-sized trash compactor named WALL-E who’s still honoring his directive and pining for a lost world. When WALL-E meets a gleaming white probe named Eve, their tentative relationship, like the rest of the film, evolves with few words. Even as the setting shifts to the ship containing the aforementioned humans and the rhythm shifts to action sequences with hazy goals, he film’s promise reduced to a well-executed but ordinary need for adrenaline, WALL-E is a noble experiment, lingering in the mind long after movies like Cars have faded. —Robert Davis
4. Finding NemoYear: 2003
Directors: Lee Unkrich, Andrew Stanton
Stars: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould
Rating: G
Runtime: 100 minutes
Pixar delivered a gem in Finding Nemo. The film follows the clown fish Marlin’s trek across the ocean to find Nemo, his son who was captured by a diver and deposited in a dentist’s aquarium. The journey takes us from the breathtaking beauty of the Great Barrier Reef through alternatingly perilous and humorous encounters with deep-sea life. Meanwhile, Nemo and his new cohorts scheme to escape the aquarium, throw themselves out the dentist’s window, cross a highway, and jump into the ocean. Visually, Finding Nemo is spectacular. The animators render theses scenes with exquisite detail and vibrant color, reaching beyond mere CGI-wizardry to artistry. The voices of the film, anchored by Albert Brooks as the neurotic Marlin and Ellen DeGeneres as the frantic and forgetful Dory, help bring these characters to life. The script is witty, and the pacing serves to keep the audience engaged. Thematically, the film examines friendship and family, especially the complicated dance of dependence and independence between father and son. Finding Nemo is a thoroughly entertaining classic. —Tim Regan-Porter
3. RatatouilleYear: 2007
Director: Brad Bird
Stars: Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Lou Romano
Rating: G
Runtime: 110 minutes
Up until Ratatouille, the driving idea behind every Pixar movie seemed like the kind of thing that might result from that legendary 1994 brainstorming lunch between John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Joe Ranft and Pete Docter: The toys of Toy Story, the bugs of A Bug’s Life, the monsters of Monsters, Inc., etc. Ratatouille was something completely different, a smaller-scale tale about a rat with a dream. Brad Bird, who’d begun his career as an animator before writing and directing beautiful films like The Iron Giant and The Incredibles, created this underrated gem. None of his fellow rats understand Remy’s passion for flavor and his belief, inspired by celebrity chef Auguste Gusteau, that “anyone can cook.” He teams up with a hapless restaurant worker named Alfredo Linguini to follow his passion and save Gusteau’s legacy in the process. It’s a charming, funny and heart-warming celebration of food and the memories it can conjure. —Josh Jackson
2. Toy Story 2Year: 2012
Director: John Lasseter
Stars: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack
Rating: G
Runtime: 92 minutes
Toy Story was a revelation of technology. Its sequel was simply a revelation. When Woody is stolen by Seinfeld’s Newman, it’s Buzz Lightyear’s turn to save the day. The toy store scene with Tour Guide Barbie (“I’m a married spud, I’m a married spud”) and legions of Buzz toys is priceless. Improving on the original in almost every way, Toy Story 2 took the characters we grew to love in the first film and separated them—usually a recipe for disaster. But in this case, with Woody discovering the rest of the round-up gang, the new characters are integrated impeccably, and the larger scale of the story allows the sequel to have more gravity. —Josh Jackson & Jeremy Medina
1. The IncrediblesYear: 2004
Director: Brad Bird
Stars: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson
Rating: PG
Runtime: 115 minutes
With all the leaps and bounds taken in the genre in the last ten years alone, it should not be possible that the best superhero film ever is an animated film that came about separately from Marvel, DC or any of the companies in the business of making comics. Yet, here we are. Twelve years after Bob (Craig T. Nelson), Helen (Holly Hunter), Violet (Sarah Vowell) and Dash (Spencer Fox) dealt with some rather serious Buddy (Jason Lee) issues, The Incredibles remains the gold standard—a deft balance of heart, humor and superheroics. The Pixar film is suffused with wit and wonder, with the oh-so-familiar family dynamic of the Family Parr being just as crucial to the final product as Syndrome’s Bond-worthy supervillain hideout and dastardly plan. In hindsight, The Incredibles deserves an additional accolade—Brad Bird’s film shows just how one can include dark themes in a superhero film yet not jettison all the other things that make the genre fun and awe-inspiring. The Incredibles takes place in a world where superheroes have been banned by the government. Syndrome’s plan has already claimed the lives of at least 15 supers by the time Mr. Incredible becomes involved. (And there’s that little aside from Edna Mode regarding capes and the crusaders undone by them.) And yet, this is still a world where the danger and darkness, as well as the all-too-human traits of our protagonists, can exist side by side with the wonder inherent in a reality where people have super frickin’ powers. Take note, Warner Bros., and anyone else driven by the need to inject a comic book property with “grit” and “realism.” (Please.) —Michael Burgin