Pixar has released some very successful movie in its brief movie tenure.  There have been “duds” in there too (looking at you, Cars 2).  But, today, we are going to focus on the successful ones.  Pixar is coming off another smash hit with Inside Out.  Where does the movie rank among the all of the Pixar movies?  These are just my unofficial rankings.  Your rankings may differ.  See my rankings after the jump.

5) Ratatouille

Ratatouille is a great twist on the typical “buddy” comedy.  Alfredo Linguini befriends a little rat, Remy, and uses Remy knowledge and sense of food to become a great chef.  This movie ranks high, for me, because I have always been interested in France and French culture (thanks school for having taking French from 4th through 12th grade).  But Pixar does an excellent job of unearthing the difficult task that people undergo in order to become a top chef.  It is a very cut-throat business.  With a little help from his “little friend” Remy, Linguini is able to win over one of the top food critics in Paris.

4) Finding Nemo

Finding Nemo has the most Disney-like plot of the Pixar movies.  What does that mean?  Mom dies in the first act of the movie.  As to all of Nemo’s potential siblings.  But Marlin is there to protect (over-protect) Nemo from the vast ocean.  As Nemo gets older, he no longer wants the protects and rebels.  However, his rebellion leads to his capture by an Australian dentist.  This leads Marlin on an epic journey across the sea filled with danger but he does it to save his son.  This movie has wonderful animation and the 90% of the movie takes place under the sea which makes the animation even more difficult.  Pixar animators pull the animation off perfectly which leads to Finding Nemo as the #4 movie on my list.

3) Up

After the heart-wrenching first act of the movie, Up is a very delightful movie with a great story.  Carl Fredricksen always wanted to his wife, Ellie, and the kids to Paradise Falls but his wife is unable to have kids.  Carl changes his dream to just taking his wife to Paradise Falls.  When he is finally able to, Ellie dies. Not wanting to enter a retirement home, he ties thousands of balloons to his house and heads toward Paradise Falls.  A Wilderness Explorer named Russell and a dog named Dug end up taking this trip with him.

This is a story of never giving up on your dreams and always staying young at heart.  Carl starts to protective of Russell and treats him like a son/grandson.  In the end, Carl sets off on another set of adventures this time with Russell and Dug while Ellie got her view of Paradise Falls that she always wanted.

2) Toy Story 3

Toy Story 3 is the best and most complete Toy Story movie of the trilogy.  Everything comes full circle of the characters.  They are no longer needed by their original owner, Andy, who only plans to take a couple of them with him off to college.  The rest are sentenced to live “in the attic.”  The toys, then, set off on journey which takes to a daycare center which they escape from only to return to Andy’s room who then gives all the toys to a little girl named Bonnie who will play with the toys more than him.

This is the perfect ending to the story.  The toys have watched Andy grow up.  Andy found the perfect person to give the toys so the toys could have new adventures with a new friend.  Everything was tied up  neatly.  That is until everything unravels when Toy Story 4 comes out in 2017.

1) Inside Out

What is the one thing that could top toys on this list?  Your emotions.  Anger, Fear, Joy, Disgust, and Sadness take on a journey through the mind of 10-year old girl named Riley.  The writers of Inside Out hit this one out of the park.  Having a 10-year old girl, myself, they discovered and laid out the inner working of their mind perfectly.  They are battling with being a little kid but wanting to be a grown-up at the same time.  What happens?  Joy is no longer the primary emotion of their personality and the other emotions take over.

As Joy and Sadness go through Riley’s mind, the other three emotions are left to guide Riley.  Fear, Anger and Disgust should not be allowed to guide a person.  Riley’s personality starts to fall apart until Joy is willing let go of some of Riley’s personality and let Sadness have “more say” in Riley’s emotions.  Without Sadness, a person can not have Joy.  In the end, Riley’s emotions become more blended as the emotions learn that they can’t survive without each other.

That’s my list.  What’s yours?

Thanks for reading!