This weekend marks the UK release of Inside Out, the fifteenth and most recent entry to the Pixar filmography and the first film since their year-long absence following 2013's Monsters University. To celebrate and recognise the studio's return while you wait for the review (delayed solely because I'm unfortunately on a two week holiday), why not do what most have done in the past and rank the studio's hits?
Cars 2 is nobody's favourite Pixar film. Whilst it's clear that director John Lasseter has some love for the material, and his approach being based on his worldwide promotion for the first film being a slightly inspired decision, but the actual content present is far from a lot of Pixar's usual fare. Its comedy is a lot more forced and its plot hanging on a shoestring in making coherent sense, the only strong highlights that can be made about this sequel is a batch of the new characters and the superb animation. Seriously, despite some of the jokes here, it's hard to deny that the film does look good.
A Bug's Life is a film that has never seemed to click with me. As the studio's second theatrical attempt, it was always going to be hard to follow on from Toy Story, and for all the added effort brought into the character animation, the advancements in crowd-building and some of the location, it can't really make up for a middling story and a handful of dull characters. Add the fact that Flik (Dave Foley) is perhaps the weakest lead in the entire Pixar back-catalogue, and you're left with a film whose only memorable aspect is the whole Antz drama that occurred at the time.
Perhaps best known as Pixar's first dud, Cars was a film that - at a younger age - first didn't appeal to me but then adored. But as time passed on Cars instead turned into a film that was running more on fumes than on the NOS that had been in the systems of Finding Nemo and The Incredibles before it. While it does have some great advancements on animating reflections and it does have plenty of good moments, it's one of the dullest films Pixar has ever made as not much really happens. You get a sequence here and there outside of the opening and closing races, but that's about it, and for younger audiences that's much harder to take in.
I know it's very early on, but this is the stage on the list where it becomes difficult to pinpoint where the films belong on the list. That may sound crazy on a list of fourteen features, but because of how good Pixar have been it makes it a right pain for ranking. So with that comes the troubled Brave at #11, whose fight against the numerous changes during production did lead to a good enjoyable film with some gorgeous landscapes and work on character hair, but with a switch to somewhat crass comedy and a mother-daughter story which, while a breath of fresh air for the Disney Princess line, feels a little forced.
Another film riddled with production issues, this ingenious concept of a rat wanting to become a chef in Paris is one filled with wonderful moments but, like with Cars, often has a number of slow moments which can begin to drag. It has a lot more on offer though, with great voice casting in Patton Oswalt and Peter O'Toole and with the Paris aesthetic being absolutely beautiful. It's a film that continues to build in quality as each act progresses, but as one of Pixar's longest films, it's filled with time spare.
As I recently reviewed this picture, there's little need to really elaborate on what I enjoy so much about Monsters, Inc. and where it falters, but its controversial placement below its later prequel will likely baffle...
Speaking of controversy, Toy Story 2 at #8! Is it a solid sequel? Yes. Is the animation better? Of course. So why this low down? Because many of the newer additions to the toy box are sadly underdeveloped (Jessie gets her moment to shine with 'When Somebody Loved Me', but the same can't be said for Bullseye, Stinky Pete and co.) while Stinky Pete's involvement as the antagonist is far too sudden to really be taken without caution.
WALL-E is a film that often split audiences. Some say it's a perfect film from start to finish, while others proclaim that the moment the titular character leaves Earth is when the film takes a bit of a stumble. For me, I'm in the middle. Of course, I love the first act, with the incredibly creative way Andrew Stanton portrays the mechanical romance being near-perfect; but that's not to say moments onboard the Axiom falter because of it. Sure, it takes the moral of being eco-friendly a little hard on the head, but my main problem is the inclusion of live-action elements which tend to stick out far too much. It's a tad too ambitious for the studio.
Okay, put your pitchforks down please - yes, I do really like Monsters University more than many Pixar films which people consider overall classics. Yes, it's a by the number retread of classic 80s college comedies and it relies a little too much on cameos and nostalgia, but at its heart is a superb story, the studio's best quality of animation to date (overall, only short film The Blue Umbrella surpasses it) and a whole batch of lovable and memorable characters. Also, it's one of the funniest films they have under their name.
Many consider this third instalment in what was supposed to be a concluding trilogy as a simple retread over the last sequel, borrowing numerous elements from its predecessor and relying on audiences feeling nostalgic towards the classic movies to see this one (and it worked, going by its $1bn worldwide gross). But where its previous failed, this sequel fixes and succeeds. Underdeveloped new characters? Most of the new ones have little spotlight, so the main new bunch have plenty of time to shine. Out-of-nowhere villain? Out there right from the get-go with a top-notch backstory to boot. Where does it fail? It is a little too manipulative to audiences' emotions and is occasionally a little too dark for younger audiences.
And from the end of the original trilogy to the beginning of an entirely new way that the animation industry should be run. Toy Story will forever be a film for the history books because of how innovative it was, and while its animation and a handful of none-toy character designs may be a little garish by the standards over the course of the last two decades, it does still have a solid feature in it. Truly a classic.
Everybody loves Up for its opening ten minutes. I love Up because what follows is a strong story with superb characters and animation. It's something new - a rarity even by today's standards - and it's something smart. What more can be said that hasn't already been said?
Brad Bird's first feature for the animation studio, The Incredibles was a superhero movie that came out long before the recent onslaught of comic book movies and was made all the better for it. I reviewed it recently to mark the release of Tomorrowland: A World Beyond, so for more information on why I love this movie so it's best to read from there.
Finding Nemo isn't just the best Pixar film, it's my favourite film period. None has ever surpassed it in charm and storytelling, and its animation is something you can just frame on a wall. It's a film whose structure should have made it its downfall but adapted and was made better because of how it's done, and every character is memorable by their name and traits. It's just a film of pure gold and is one of the few that I can ever call perfect. Because that's what Finding Nemo is - perfect.
But as for where Inside Out will place? Well, just wait and see...
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