I am the kind of guy who admits my biases easily. I have a bias towards movies. I love them. I have a bias towards clever dialogue. I have a bias towards something I can watch with my whole family.
These are some of the reasons why I love Pixar movies.
Yesterday after a wonderful Easter worship service we came home and enjoyed our traditional meal of roasted lamb and jellybean cake and then said, “Do we want to watch a movie?”
Of course we do. I got vetoed on watching The Ten Commandments, which, though not very biblical is very, well, very charltonhestony. So we ruminated and sorted through and decided to watch one of mine and Mrs. Greenbean’s faves: Up.
In that same vain, here are my top 5 Pixar movies, in order.
1. Up–This is not just a wonderful movie, but it is great storytelling.
2. Toy Story 2–I know, I know, most of you would put Toy Story 3 here, but what made Toy Story 3 so great? That’s right, the foundation laid in Toy Story 2. This is such an odd sequence in that it defies convention–the best is the second, the next best is the third and the least is the first. The only other franchise I can think of with the same ranking in sequels is the original X-Men trilogy.
3. The Incredibles–Without a doubt the most family affirming film in the past 20 years, if not ever. Never mind the greatest one-line commentary on pop culture ever: “And when everyone’s super, no one will be.”
4. WALL-E–Sci-Fi, social commentary, and a love story, well sign me up! It is so very Isaac Asimovish–a future world where robots develop relationships and have to save human beings from themselves.
5. Ratatouille–It was close between Ratatouille and Finding Nemo, but Ratatouille wins because it is about cooking. How can I not side with cooking? Besides, Ratatouille doesn’t seem to get the love the others do, but I think it is a fantastic film.
Okay, now for the bad list. here are the top three worst Pixar films, in reverse order. Just foolin’ ya. There is only one truly bad Pixar film, and that is Cars 2. All the rest are really good. I wonder, what is your favorite? Least favorite?
Now, for you brave souls who have a Monday morning to kill, check-out one of these two links.
The Pixar Theory (1) Interactive format
The Pixar Theory (2) Essay format
image from pixar.wikia.com