Pixar released their 16th film with The Good Dinosaur this week. I gave it a 4.7 out of 5 stars, check out my review.
The Good Dinosaur is very impressive, and that led to the question, “What is the best Pixar Movie of all time?” So I sent out some tweets and posted on Facebook to conduct an official poll of Pixar, and the overwhelming response caught me a bit off-guard.
The above images are just a small sampling of the replies on Facebook alone, and this clearly told me a few concrete things. First, everyone has strong opinions on this topic but no one seems to be consistently picking the same Pixar titles.
For my Top 5 Pixar movie list to have any validity, it has to have some criteria to help sift through the many Pixar films. Without set rules, this list is nothing more than just me picking a couple of random titles and calling it a day. Having criteria isn’t that big of a deal as we all have our own personal standards when we pick which movies we love. The image below is someone’s criteria as to why Finding Nemo should be the #1 Pixar film of all time.
The criteria that we will be using to create this Top 5 list will be – Animation, Story Line, and Impact. The reason these were the three picked is that they are measurable. So without further delay .. let’s get into the Top 5 Pixar Movies of all time.
5) Toy Story
Toy Story certainly was a popular choice on social media for the #1 Pixar movie of all time.
@mrsingleton @monkeys_robots Oh man. Let's see. Toy Story has to be number 1. A Bug's Life. Nemo. Ratatouille. They gotta be on there.
— Charles M. Gibson (@CarryOnHawkeye) November 25, 2015
Toy Story is my #5 Pixar movie. While I won’t debate anyone on the impact of Toy Story (It certainly did put Pixar on the map) it’s just not in the upper echelon on animated features from Pixar. Maybe that’s due to when Toy Story originally came out (1995) but still that plus and an all too familiar story-line bring this movie down a couple of notches. Nemo , The Incredibles , Up , and The Good Dinosaur all have more of an original story-line and have had ( or will have) a deeper impact in film. It’s a fantastic Pixar film but not worthy of being the best of all time.
4) Finding Nemo
Finding Nemo certainly had it’s supporters on Twitter.
@mrsingleton @monkeys_robots
The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Toy Story, Toy Story 3, Up— The ComicNoobs Show (@comicnoobsshow) November 26, 2015
Animation wise, it’s slightly better that the original Toy Story but the story-line boasts some original characters ( you can’t get much more original than an amnesiac fish named Dory and a bunch of greedy seagulls). The success of Finding Nemo certainly had an impact on other films as Dreamworks quickly pushed its answer to Finding Nemo, Shark Tale, which floundered at the box-office. Nemo certainly has original characters and had an impact on film industry but not to the extent as our third Pixar movie of all time.
3) The Incredibles
The Incredibles is the #3 Pixar movie of all time. The Incredibles is the first time Pixar ventured into the world of Superheroes. The animation in the film is crisp and clean, and the way the superpowers are brought to life is quite awe-inspiring. Pixar certainly stepped up its level of animation with The Incredibles as well as its level of story telling too. A story about retired superheroes rediscovering their roots is the epitome of originality. As for impact, The Incredibles not only won two Academy Awards but became the first animated feature to win the prestigious Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. The Incredibles certainly has better animation than Toy Story and Nemo and it’s way more of original as well. The Incredibles could have easily been the #2 ranked Pixar movie of all time but our #2 film is in a class by itself.
Up is the #2 Pixar movie of all time. Up was such a daring subject to tackle in an animated feature. Addressing the idea of what happens after the love your life passes on is certainly something that you wouldn’t expect to see from Pixar but it was handled so beautifully. The animation of the house lifting into the heavens and traveling to South America was breathtaking. If the animation isn’t enough to bring tears to your eyes, then the theme of following your dreams will certainly do the trick. Up was a brilliant movie, and it was a home-run with all audiences scoring a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes.com. It had a profound impact as Up was the first Pixar feature to be nominated for Best Picture.
To this day, people still rave about Up.
@mrsingleton @monkeys_robots Toy Story 3, Up, Wall-E, Ratatouille, and Cars (because of Paul Newman).
— Macho Matt (@MatthewMahl) November 25, 2015
Up easily could have been my #1 Pixar film but it simply doesn’t compete in the category of Animation. While Up is head and shoulders above Toy Story, Nemo , and The Incredibles in multiple categories ( Story, Animation, and Impact) it just couldn’t surpass the level of animation in my #1 Pixar movie of all time.
1) The Good Dinosaur
The Good Dinosaur is my #1 Pixar movie of all time. No one on either Facebook or Twitter even mentioned The Good Dinosaur in any Top 5 list of Pixar films. Obviously, The Good Dinosaur is still new to almost everyone but based on the criteria it’s my #1 Pixar film of all time. For starters, the animation is so realistic that it looks like you are watching an actual documentary on the Dinosaur. The Good Dinosaur is the most beautiful animated film ever made. The animation bar has been raised with The Good Dinosaur, and other films will have to try and reach that very high bar. The story-line is not as original as say the movie UP, but the idea of a story about growing up and making your mark in this world is nothing to dismiss. The Impact of this film is yet to be fully understood, but the animation is so profoundly better than anything else that has ever been created that it’s easy to assume that it will have an effect on future films.
The Good Dinosaur is light years better than Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Up in the category of animation. The Good Dinosaur’s easily surpass The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, and Toy Story in the story-line category but it’s neck and neck with Up. What puts The Good Dinosaur over the top into the #1 Pixar movie of all time is how impactful the animation will be on future animated films. The realistic animation in this film will raise the bar in animated features for years to come.
What do you guys think of my Top 5? Do you agree or disagree?