The Definitive Ranking of Pixar Movies from Worst to Best
5. The Incredibles
As a comic book geek, The Incredibles is easily one of my favorite Pixar movies. It’s basically a story about a dad going through a midlife crisis, the twist is that he’s a former superhero who longs for his glory days. The thing is that his family has their own powers and when Dad gets in over his head they have to come and bail him out. In the end, it’s a movie about discovering that what you really want has often been right in front of you the whole time. Plus, it was the first film from Brad Bird during his time at Pixar and he’s definitely one of their powerhouse directors.
4. Toy Story 4
It’s the end of yet another era in 2019 as the Toy Story saga comes to a fitting and satisfying end. Of course, all your favorite toys are back voiced by the likes of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, but they’re joined by some refreshing new additions including Jordan Peele, Keegan-Michael Key, and Keanu Reeves. This movie gets pretty heavy at times and even borders on dark (it’s filled with creepy ventriloquist dummies) which leads me to believe it’s made for all those kids who first saw Toy Story in theaters and now have children of their own. Don’t worry, it’s still family friendly and proves that Pixar is the best at what they do.
3. Inside Out
I’m going to be curious to see how many kids grow up to by psychologist after Inside Out. Like so many other Pixar movies, this is a film that is filled to the brim with “the feels.” It’s an emotional rollercoaster, but then again so it growing up. In it, Pixar takes the human condition and boils it down to five key emotions. What makes it such a beautiful film is that it embraces the idea that joy can’t exist without sadness. Pretty high concept stuff for a kid’s film, but that’s just because Pixar actually respects kids enough to give them movies with actual depth to them… Or they respect the parents that have to go see all these animated movies.
2. Toy Story 3
Sequels that are better than the original are few and far between. The original Toy Story was the foundation that Pixar was built on. It’s a franchise that is near and dear to their heart, so there’s little wonder that they would take such care when it came to the stories that came after the original. While the first film was about making new friends, this one was about leaving friends behind. It’s definitely got more than a few moments that prove to be real tear jerkers, and it’s one of the most satisfying Pixar movies to date. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll shudder over just how damn old you are when you realize you saw the first one in theaters over twenty years ago.
1. Coco
Pixar has a habit of making movies that really speak to the audience, but of all of them, I believe Coco was the most important film they released. During a time when our Commander and Chief was ranting and raving on Twitter about building a wall to keep Mexicans from entering our country, Pixar embraced Mexican culture and released an absolutely beautiful film. Coco is exactly what cinema should be, social commentary reflective of our time that doesn’t feel like its standing on a soapbox. That’s why Coco was such a perfect movie and one that I encourage everyone to see.
Ranking the Pixar movies proved to be much more difficult than I initially thought it would be. Sure figuring out the best and the worst was pretty easy, but all of the movies are so good that all the ones in between were in a pretty tight race with each other. Of course, with Pixar releasing new movies every year, this list is definitely going to undergo some changes in the future. In the meantime, I’d love to hear what you think of the rankings. What do you think are the best Pixar movies and which ones are you looking forward to the most? Leave a comment below and be sure to check back after the next Pixar movie to see how the rankings change.