The Official Pixar Film Ranking
#1 The Incredibles
Score: 10
An amazing movie in every sense of the word. This movie is perfectly paced, tells its remarkable story beautifully, creates characters that you genuinely care about, and puts them in scary situations. This film has the greatest stakes by far of any of the Pixar films because it’s so mature and doesn’t pull any punches.
#2 WALL-E
Score: 10
A beautiful film full of complex themes and symbolism. The animation, setpieces, music, and breathtakingly perfect first half make for a real treat. The second half simply expands on the themes set about in the first half, even if the human scenes are a little less magical than the chemistry going on between the robots.
#3 Toy Story 2
Score: 9 ½
The best kind of sequel: the one that takes possibilities set up in the first movie and runs with them. This movie is definitely the best of the three films and puts the characters in genuinely puzzling situations with so many uncertain outcomes. From the opening scene to Jesse’s backstory, this film is full of gems.
#4 Ratatouille
Score: 9 ½
A brilliantly original film with a beautiful message. This film has a hilarious tone to go along with it’s great writing. The score perfectly brings France to life in front of our eyes as our characters eat up the food that is available in the film. Tie that with one of the best film endings I’ve ever seen, and you have a great movie.
#5 Toy Story
Score: 9 ½
A classic animated film whose thought-provoking premise and sadly realistic themes make for quite an entertaining movie. Not only that, but the film creates fantastic characters that you relate to and enjoy watching.
#6 Monsters, Inc.
Score: 9
A really touching film that was made off of a fantastic premise. Seriously, they took the whole “monsters in your closet” setting and ran with it. I love the world that is created by the movie and the characters are great. The humor in the first half is amazing and the heart in the second half is warming.
#7 Finding Nemo
Score: 9
A great film that introduced the “annoying character” Pixar cliché and executes it quite well. Dory’s empathetic link into the film works very well to help Marlin to understand that maybe he is partially responsible for Nemo rebelling and getting taken. The story the movie tells is quite an adventure.
#8 Toy Story 3
Score: 9
More story but a lot less thought make this not as good as the previous two installments of the Toy Story franchise. That having been said, the story is a really good one that includes a ton of information and characters that I wish had been given more time. That having been said, the film is hilarious and a lot of fun.
#9 Inside Out
Score: 8 ½
This is a film featuring fantastic characters with amazing chemistry, but also featuring a rather lacking story. Overall, the way the emotions play off of each other and the way the message is brought about keep the film a definite star among the Pixar collection.
#10 A Bug’s Life
Score: 8 ¼
Often wrongfully forgotten, this film features a very simple story with a simple message. That having been said, A Bug’s Life successfully executes the story to great effect with the help of a great metaphor and a fantastic score.
#11 Coco
Score: B+
This film starts off pretty rushed but finds its stride in the second half and really packs an emotional punch. The animation is gorgeous and the dog is hilarious. The Land of the Dead and the rules set up in this world is pretty creative too.
#12 Up
Score: 8 ¼
Featuring a flawless first 11 minutes and 38 seconds and then twenty minutes of an annoying character, this film is saved by finding its footing again in the second half, even if it introduces a completely unnecessary villain. Carl and Ellie are the best part of the movie, but the way in which the movie finds Carl a new purpose is pretty good too.
#13 Monsters University
Score: 7 ¾
A rather formulaic and unremarkable story until a scene towards the end, this film studies two types of people: the type that is born with no expectations and the type born with the weight of his family name as an expectation. You might think that it’s pretty clear-cut who is at an advantage, but that one scene might make you reconsider.
#14 Finding Dory
Score: 7 ¼
Though Dory was not my favorite part of Finding Nemo, she does manage to do well in this film. Unfortunately, the rest of the characters are sidelined in a film so fast-paced that there isn't any room to breathe and build up to a true emotional catharsis. The entire film feels like a perfect example of "good not great".
#15 Incredibles 2
Grade: C+
Entertaining movie but really unoriginal, predictable, and ultimately forgettable. This movie was guaranteed to make money so why not take a risk?
#15 Cars
Score: 6 ½
A really slow and generic story that is done well, featuring beautiful scenery, a lot of car stereotype humor, and a potentially annoying character that is actually done well. The slow pace of the film and the clichéd paths it trods bog it down a lot though.
#16 Brave
Score: 5
A movie with a familiar message and a really familiar story. It copies from mediocre films, really doesn’t do any better, and has a lot of silliness. On top of that, it tries to fit many subplots into a really short runtime, making the entire movie feel rushed.
#17 The Good Dinosaur
Score: 5
A movie with a very simple story lacking originality and memorable characters. Definitely geared more towards kids than adults, it's spellbinding animation saves it from being a bad movie.
#18 Cars 3
Score: 3 ¼
After Cars 2 was a critical failure, why did they decide to make another one? Moreover, why did they think that mixing a retirement story with toddler humor would work? None of the jokes land. If this film didn't open strong, it might have been worse than the film below.
#19 Cars 2
Score: 1 ½
Remember what I said about annoying characters and how they should not be abused or overwrought? This entire movie exists to violate that rule. There is nothing more to say.
The Official Pixar Film Ranking