For the past 17 years Pixar has delighted audiences with some of the best films ever made. Spanning numerous genres and covering a variety of subjects, Pixar's animated masterpieces have replaced Disney as the animated films of choice for a generation of young people. Unlike many Disney movies, though, which appeal far more to children than adults, Pixar movies transcend age and gender barriers, proving themselves enjoyable for people from any wakes of life. 13 films in, Pixar has had an incredible run. Ranking Pixar's movies is mostly an effort in choosing which masterpiece is more of a masterpiece, with only a couple duds among the bunch. Suffice to say that except for number 13 I would heartily recommend any of these movies to anyone looking for a great film to watch. Even the second worst film on this list is better than the top efforts of most other studios. So without further ado I provide you with my personal ranking of Pixar's mighty movies. Feel free to leave your rankings if you have seen all of the films.

13. Cars 2

The sole dud among Pixar's films, Cars 2 isn't a bad kid's movie but it is exactly that - a film that will appeal only to children. Highly preachy with a weak story that never sounds as genuine as it could be, Cars 2 is the only Pixar film I simply wouldn't recommend to adults. As a kid's film it is serviceable but Pixar can do much better.

12. A Bug's Life

The second Pixar movie is great as far as animated movies go but not on the same level as later Pixar movies. Telling the tale of an Ant trying to save his ant hill it is a relatively touching film that will appeal to kids. Still it lacks the complex relationships that define later Pixar movies. Don't doubt that it is brilliant, but keep in mind that comparatively to other Pixar films it doesn't hold a candle.

11. Brave

Brave is a film with stunning animation and a great mix of action and drama. Director Brenda Chapman brings a woman's touch to Pixar's films and the great female heroine Merida is a much better princess than any Disney has ever created. For once a movie with Disney involved features a princess who isn't falling in love. The only reason this film falls towards the bottom of this list is its preachy beginning. Hitting the audience over the head with morals isn't the Pixar norm and this heavy handed approach cheapens the film. Still it is easily the best Disney Princess movie ever made, and is the best animated film I've seen since Toy Story 3.

10. Cars

Cars for me is Pixar's most underrated film. It doesn't do anything as ambitious as the remaining 9 films but it is still a brilliant film that tells a touching story and has a great soundtrack. As I said at the start of this blog, every film on this list but Cars 2 comes with my highest recommendation, so don't take its low place as evidence that this film is bad. It is in fact one of the best animated films ever made. It just isn't as great as the next batch of films.

9. Monster's Inc

The second half of Monster's Inc is a powerful and wonderfully written tale that mixes messages about the bonds of friendship and the power a child can have over a parent. It is among the best pieces of animation ever made and is near the top of Pixar's work. But to get to that half you have to sit through the first half which is the second worst thing Pixar has done. In the end the amazing second half and unique concept outweigh the dull first part, but this film still sits near the back of the list.

8. Toy Story 2

Who says sequels are never as good as the first entry in a series? Toy Story 2 is a sequel done right. It is filled with action, humor, and drama including a hugely powerful montage that ranks among the most powerful 5 minutes of filmmaking I have ever had the pleasure of watching. That sequence alone makes Toy Story 2 better than the bottom 5 films, but don't forget the intriguing questions about death and mortality that serve as the backdrop of the film. While children will enjoy watching Woody and team going on another adventure, parents will appreciate the deeper messages the film presents in ways subtle enough that you may not even notice it.

7. Toy Story

Sitting at the halfway point is Toy Story the original Pixar movie. It's a film that is wholly universal. What person on this planet didn't grow up imagining that their toys were real people? Toy Story takes the magic of childhood and transforms it into a landmark piece of animation that changed the movie industry forever. It catapulted director John Lassetter to the top of the animation industry and is simply a great film all around. Though not as deep as the second film in the series I place it ahead of Toy Story 2 simply because of its place in film history as the first ever computer animated feature film.

6. Ratatoullie

Leave it to animation master Brad Bird to turn the story of a rat into a relatable tale of dreams untapped. I think this film is actually more enjoyable for adults than children. There is much less action than in other Pixar movies. Instead the focus is on the coming of age story of a young man and his pet rat. Touching and moving, Ratatoullie is a great film, no qualifiers needed.

5. Finding Nemo

The funniest Pixar movie also has its fair share of action and drama. The story of a father trying to rescue his son is timeless but the highlight is Dory a fish suffering from short term memory loss. Dory is a truly hilarious character and her interplay with Marlin, Nemo's father is brilliant. Finding Nemo is Pixar's second most successful film ever and there is a reason for that. The humor works great for children while the complicated themes about love, parenting, friendship, and letting go resonate with adults. Truly a masterful film in every regard, Finding Nemo is easily one of the greatest animated films of all time. That statement alone tells you something about the quality of the next four films.

4. The Incredibles

It's rare to see an animated film that resonates with middle aged men but Brad Bird's greatest success manages it almost effortlessly. There is the great Pixar mix of action, drama and comedy but the family dynamics at play here are so masterfully created that The Incredibles easily takes its place as one of the truly great family movies in film history. Honestly the only three animated films better than The Incredibles are the next three films on this list and maybe Disney's mighty The Lion King.

3. Up

The first 10 minutes of Up may be among the greatest 10 minutes of a film ever. Pixar somehow managed in 10 minutes to tell a love story greater than those found in thousand page novels and mega movie series. The tragic end of this story sets the stage for Pixar's most affecting film. There is a point near the end of Up where the main character manages to move on from his loss. It's one of the most powerful scenes I have experienced in a film. Some may complain that the final third of the film has too much action, but seriously the 2/3 leading up to that are simply astounding and so stunningly powerful that they brought me to tears several times.

2. Toy Story 3

Leave it to Pixar to make the single greatest threequel ever made. Outside of planned trilogies there has simply never been a third film in a series even close to as good as Toy Story 3. It somehow is better than 90% of Pixar's original movies and easily eclipses the first two films in the series. The final third of the film is an emotional rollercoaster and the 2/3 leading up to it are filled with more humor and drama than most any live action film released this century. A lot of Pixar films involve letting go of something. Toy Story 3 is maybe the pinnacle of that message. For children who saw the original Toy Story back in 1995, Toy Story 3 comes at the perfect time as they enter adulthood. The parents watching this film were maybe seeing it with their parents 17 years ago, and their parents surely can't help but be moved by this film about growing up and moving on. This film is Pixar at the top of their game, and if they never reach this height again I think I can safely say that Pixar's perfect run ended on the perfect film, a closing of sorts for a generation that grew up experiencing the films on this list.

1. Wall E

It was a tough choice between this film and Toy Story 3 for the best Pixar film. In the end Wall E is in many ways simply perfect. The first third of the film is easily the greatest piece of animation ever created. Who would have thought that anyone could create such an amazing love story featuring two voiceless robots? But Pixar manages it. With no voices Pixar creates a romance for the ages. It then combines that with an amazing sci fi story filled with all the humor and action that Pixar is known for. Maybe in the end it isn't as solid all the way through as Toy Story 3, but when Wall E is at its best it is better than most any film I can think of. It's truly the pinnacle of a studio whose films seemed too perfect to be true. It is Andrew Stanton's crowning achievement both as a writer and director and it is the best animated film ever made.

Wow, you really like Pixar movies.

@Raven10 said:

11. Brave

Still it is easily the best Disney Princess movie ever made...

Better than Aladdin? That's hard to believe. Unless you mean a movie where the princess is the focus of the movie, although The Little Mermaid was quite good as well.

And yes, Cars 2 is trash. It's because of that movie that I didn't see Brave in theaters, and I'm waiting for rental. Pixar no longer has a perfect record, and I can no longer count on them.

I thought Princess & The Frog was the best disney princess film ever made. I must see Brave at some point then!

toystory 3 takes the cake for me.

i felt like they targeted almost everysingle 18-17 year old with it. even though i know the age group they're looking for is 5-10

that speaks volumes of how well written and how well done that film is

1: Finding Nemo

2: The Incredibles

3: Ratatouille

4: Toy Story 3

5: Monsters Inc.

6: Toy Story 2

7: Up

8: Toy Story

9: Brave

10: A Bug's Life

11: Wall-E

12: Cars

Have not seen Cars 2 because I thought Cars was mediocre and the previews made Cars 2 look just as mediocre.

I liked Wall-E, I just don't think it should be number 1. I liked The Incredibles and the two Toy Story movies and even Finding Nemo better than Wall-E.

@Spoonman671: Yup. I love animation in general and no one does better animation than Pixar. Too many animated films appeal only to children, so I always love when an animated film can appeal to an adult as well as a child.

@SpaceInsomniac Yes I meant Disney movies starring a princess. Aladdin would be better than Brave. I would say The Little Mermaid is up there. That would probably be #2 for me. Disney has tried to write a strong female lead a bunch of times but this is the first film under the Disney banner that I felt really captured a teenage girl well. Ariel is 16 in The Little Mermaid. That to me is way to young to be thinking about marriage. I think it gives a bad message for young girls. There is no romance at all in Brave and that is what I appreciated about it. I also agree about the perfect record thing. That's the type of thing you can never earn back. I debated between writing this blog and one about that very subject. That said Brave is a much better film than Cars 2.

@Cheesebob: I wouldn't even place that in second place. That would have to go to The Little Mermaid. In fact I think I'm one of the few who enjoyed Tangled more than Princess and the Frog. Princess and the Frog does have maybe the best 2D animation of any film in history so I'll give it that.

I can't really argue with the placement of the movies on your list. I would put Toy Story 3 ahead of Wall-E but I can understand why someone would think one is better than the other. As far as your Disney Princess's argument you're dismissing Jasmine from Aladdin who's easily the deepest of the Disney princess's. Counting all the media she's appeared she was the original Disney warrior princess.

By the way for people who trash the Cars movies, (rightfully so on Cars 2), they're Pixar's most successful movies. In terms of Box office numbers not really but when you add everything up they generate a ton of money for the studio.

Toy Story 3 was not a good movie.

Agreed. I think Wall-E is the best Pixar film, and I'm glad IGN at least had it as their second.

Didn't really like Toy Story 3. Love Wall E, Nemo, Incredibles and Up though.

@Spoonman671 said:

Wow, you really like Pixar movies.

This. The opening post reaches disturbing proportions in some of its praise.

On topic, I haven't seen Cars 2 or Brave and it's been way too long since I saw Monsters, A Bug's Life or Incredibles to say anything worth saying about those. I liked Toy Story 3 the most, it seemed to avoid the jagged structuring of most Pixar films where one half is more aimed at kids and one half is more to the adult crowd, balancing it's tone almost pitch-perfectly. The story was nothing too special, but the simplicity worked to it's advantage. After that I'd probably throw Up! up as a good one, since I really enjoyed the much praised opening, and found a surprising amount of fun with the 50s-esque jungle movie that followed. After these two, well... Everything kind of goes into one big lump for me. I loved the first half of Wall-E, but the second half borderlines on Idiocracy-levels of stupidity with the obese characters, and the silly action sequence were sorely out of place. Toy Story 1 and 2 are fine kids films, but that's about it. That SNES-game was awesome though. Finding Nemo also falls into that category. Cars isn't even that, I just wanted to get away from that thing as soon as it had been rolling for an hour or so. There was just nothing there. "I'ma learn all about dem deer hicks and dem be peoples too yeah". Ratatouille was cool, but as someone who doesn't have too much of a love of food, the whole thing became a bit redundant. It failed at pulling me in.

I don't much feel like ranking all of them, but my favorites are the first two Toy Story films and Up. There are a few I haven't seen (Monsters Inc, Cars 2, Brave), some I was fairly lukewarm toward (Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, A Bug's Life) and one (Cars) that I actively dislike. All-in-all, that is a pretty good ratio.

Great list, but much like subjectivity, I have different positions for some of my favourites. However, seeing as you obviously know how to write, I would love to see a review/snippet of Brave from you. I have been thinking of seeing it in theatres, but with limited money - I like to choose my movies wisely.

@believer258: It's really hard to rank the Pixar movies as they are all great and all of those you mentioned are good ones.

@mikey87144: I was referring to Disney Princess movies, ones where the Princess is the main character. Aladdin I agree was better than Brave but the main character in that was Aladdin not Jasmine.

@Ketchupp: I'll respectfully disagree with you. I think it was an amazing movie. I have a feeling that someone who didn't grow up watching the Toy Story movies might think less of it though. At the very least it was a very good movie.

@NTM: I read IGN's list and while I disagree with some of their placements I think overall it was one of their better lists.

@Bourbon_Warrior: Those are all great ones. Like I said to Ketchupp I think if you didn't grow up watching the Toy Story movies you might not like it as much.

@VierasTalo: I think Pixar movies tend to have one half that is more dramatic and one half that is more action focused. Personally I like the dramatic halves more. I don't think either half really is kid focused but I agree that they can have some strange changes of tone. Personally I don't mind it but I could see how someone would take issue with it.

@UitDeToekomst: You aren't missing anything with Cars 2 and Monster's Inc is a bit dated as far as the animation is concerned but it is still a good story at least for the second half. I liked Brave a lot more than I thought I would. It actually has some of the best pacing of the Pixar movies. A bit preachy but much better than some would have you believe.

@Raven10: I did grow up watching the Toy Story movies though. I get what they were going for with the movie, I just didn't like it, felt alot like Cars.

@ck1nd: As you wish:

Brave is the first original movie from Pixar in three years and the first ever directed by a woman. Though development was troubled the end product is a great film, if not on the same level as Pixar's best work. Brave tells the story of a Scottish royal family in the middle ages, focusing on the teenage daughter Merida. Like many girls her age Merida desires freedom to choose her own path in life, but her mother wants her to settle down with a nice husband sired by one of the local lords. Merida refuses and in a desperate and misguided attempt to secure her own future, she has a witch create a magic cake which will change her fate when eaten by her mother. Things don't go as planned, though, and the Queen is turned into a bear. It is then up to Merida to set things right and save the future of her kingdom.

The first third of Brave plays out like a teen drama with mother and daughter fighting over the course of Merida's future. This portion is heavy handed with preachy messages about responsibility and the lessons learned from legends. As soon as the Queen is turned into a Bear, though, the film picks up. Daughter and mother have a moving journey that celebrates their bonds and everything comes to a head in a powerful and action packed finale that had me on the edge of my seat. The story is not especially unique but as far as Disney Princess' go there are few better than Merida. For the first time a Disney Princess has a focus other than getting married. In fact it is her opposition to that very event that is the impetus for the movie's drama. While the feminist message can go a bit overboard, it is generally treated respectfully and provides a great alternative to the standard Disney mantra of a teenage girl falling in love with a handsome man and finding true love. Most importantly however, Brave is a touching film that provides equal parts drama and action, though it is light on the comedy front with Merida's three younger triplet brothers providing the majority of the laughs.

The best part of Brave is easily the superlative animation. The Scottish wilderness is brought to life in beautiful detail that oozes style and technical mastery. Pixar has recently fallen behind competitor Dreamworks as far as animation quality is concerned but this film puts the studio back in contention. The gorgeous backgrounds and expressive characters do wonders at showing how far computer animation has come in the past decade. Merida's hair alone would have taken a year to render on the computers used to render Toy Story. The art direction is also the best yet seen in a Pixar movie and the soundtrack from Patrick Doyle compliments the action and drama onscreen perfectly. Gary Rydstrom, the legendary sound designer behind some of cinema's best sounding films returns to Pixar to provide the audio for Brave and the effects and mix are both excellent. The Wisps sound effectively surreal, the deadly bear is horrifically opposing, and overall the audiovisual presentation is simply the best Pixar has ever done.

Brave isn't the best Pixar movie. In fact it isn't even one of the better ones. But it still runs circles around the films made by almost any other animation studio and delivers a great heroine in Merida. Pixar has long been a men's club, as has Disney, and indeed, animation in general. There are less than a handful of female animation directors in animation history. Brenda Chapman is the only living one and she provides a great feminine touch to a film that, while not outstanding, is still one of the best films released this year.

4/5

I hate Pixar. I hate the way their characters look, I hate how clean and wholesome everything in their films is. I work with a couple of guys who used to work at Pixar, though, and they are some of the nicest people I have ever met. Which is even more annoying.

@Raven10 said:

Ariel is 16 in The Little Mermaid. That to me is way too young to be thinking about marriage. I think it gives a bad message for young girls.

If you think THAT'S a bad message for little girls, you should see the original uncensored version.

Not a bad list, but I think Up is the best film they've made.

@Raven10 said:

Honestly the only three animated films better than The Incredibles are the next three films on this list and maybe Disney's mighty The Lion King.

I would put some of Miyazaki's films in with or above your top 3 list myself. Laputa in particular is my favorite animated movie of all time.

Toy Story is still my favorite Pixar film.

Toy Story 3, while a great film, is way overrated.

Guess I liked Monsters Inc more than everyone else. O well I'm cool with it.

@Adaurin: I would definitely put Miyazaki's films up there. Studio Ghibli makes some amazing movies. The only film of theirs I would call bad is Tales of Earthsea. I think some of Takahata's films are just too rooted in Japanese culture to make much sense outside of Japan but Grave of the Fireflies is one of the greatest animated films of all time. I've loved every Miyazaki film and I liked The Cat Returns and Whisper of the Heart. I haven't seen Arrietty yet and they still haven't brought Only Yesterday to the US. Once I see Arrietty I might do a list like this for Studio Ghibli films. I'd also put Henry Selick's stop motion films near the top of the animation heap.

I do like me some Pixar, though clearly not as much as you do. Personally, WALL-E kind of falls flat for me, though I still think it's a better movie than Brave, which underwhelmed to the Nth degree. I certainly hope that Cars 2 wasn't the herald of the end times, though maybe I'm just being cynical.

As for my favorites, I've always been a big fan of The Incredibles and Toy Story, with everything else operating on some level of "This is a pretty great movie".