The Definitive Ranking of Pixar Movies from Worst to Best
*Updated: June 2021*
For over twenty years, Pixar movies have been the best of the best when it comes to animated films. They’re easily the most reliable movie studio out there with the quality of their films and their mastery of the art of storytelling. Since their debut, they’ve made us laugh, cry, and in some rare cases, cringe. Their films have revolutionized modern cinema and I’m sure they’re not done doing that yet since they just keep getting better and better. So, when you don’t make bad movies, how do you decide what the best ones are? Well, luckily for you, Stars & Popcorn is here to save the day. Recently I ranked the movies of the MCU and even Marvel’s Netflix series, but this time I’ve got my sights set on the films that that little bouncing lamp has given us. So here comes the definitive ranking of all the Pixar films, from the very worst to the very best that the studio has given us over the years!
24. Cars 2
How do you make a bad Pixar movie? Well, for one thing, you promote Larry the Cable Guy from obnoxious sidekick to obnoxious main character. Cars isn’t exactly the best franchise in Pixar’s wheelhouse, but of all the movies they’ve made Cars 2 is the only one that is actually painful to sit through. For some reason, it seemed like a good idea to take Mater and pretty much turn him into The Spy Who Knew too Little. Not even Michael Cain could salvage this mess, but at least we didn’t have to listen to Owen Wilson saying “wow” over and over again.
23. The Good Dinosaur
The Good Dinosaur is the threshold as far as Pixar movies are concerned. It’s not a bad movie, it’s just incredibly underwhelming. Which for Pixar means that you’re just whelmed by the end of it. The story follows a fearful young dinosaur who gets swept off on an adventure with a feral human child who is absolutely fearless. Over the course of trying to get back home, he learns not to be so cowardly and everything turns out great for him. Pixar isn’t known for using cliches in their films, but this one is pretty much paint by numbers when it comes to kids movies.
22. A Bug’s Life
The best way to describe A Bug’s Life is to compare Pixar to a baby. Toy Story was its first step and everyone was so excited. Then it stumbled and busted its ass with A Bug’s Life. It’s still great that Pixar was learning to walk at this stage, but this is one of the least impressive films the studio has put out to date. It’s basically Seven Samurai, except instead of badass warriors it features circus bugs. Pixar movies usually have a lot more emotional depth to them than A Bug’s Life did, so I guess this one probably deserved a can of Raid more than a wide release.
21. Cars 3
Oh hey, another Cars movie. Like I said earlier, when it comes to Pixar movies, Cars is the series that should have been left well enough alone after the first one. Unlike Cars 2, the third installment drastically cuts down on the Mater screen time which is a very good thing. Unfortunately, they replace him with completely unmemorable characters. I just watched the film recently and I can’t remember half of the new character’s names. To make matters worse, Cars 3 definitely felt open-ended enough to leave room for a sequel. Let’s just hope that Pixar decides to focus on original stories for now.