For over three decades now, Pixar has been changing the game – pioneering the 3D-animated feature, and always delivering complex and characterful films with a sophisticated streak. From Toy Story, through beloved favourites like Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo, into Wall-E and beyond, the studio is behind some of the most iconic characters, imaginative ideas and jaw-dropping visuals to have emerged in 21st Century cinema.
But which Pixar is movie is the greatest of them all? Which ones most capture the emotions in our Headquarters, or have us feeling we could win the Piston Cup, or make our souls soar like they did in the Great Before? Read Empire’s official ranking of every Pixar feature film – from Toy Story, right up to Inside Out 2.
28. Cars 2
From any other studio, the empty but colourful whizz-bang adventure of Cars 2 would be perfectly acceptable. But while the film riffs energetically on throwback spy tropes from Bond to The Man From UNCLE, it’s not up to Pixar’s usual storytelling standards – lacking in charm and character, over-complicated and under-cooked. It does, at least, have visual pop as Lightning McQueen and crew (now including Michael Caine as secret agent Finn McMissile) set off on a globetrotting world tour with bouts of international espionage – but Cars 2 is the rare Pixar film that seems to play solely to young audience members.
27. Lightyear
There was a valiant idea in Lightyear – to take one of Pixar’s most iconic characters, and do something totally different with him. But while a full-blown sci-fi adventure from the studio sounds tantalising, the results proved oddly muted. As with weaker Pixar fare, it’s still totally watchable, but Lightyear plays unexpectedly dour, with Chris Evans’ Buzz (supposedly the ‘real’ fictional character on which Andy’s beloved space-toy is based) going on an introspective journey to learn his place in the universe. There are great ideas: a bold sequence in which Buzz repeatedly undertakes an Interstellar-like time-bending mission while everyone he’s ever known ages significantly around him; a interesting Zurg-centric villain revelation; instant-favourite robo-cat Sox. But it’ll ultimately go down as a curio, a film that never goes to infinity, let alone beyond.
26. The Good Dinosaur
A boy-and-his-dog story if the boy was a dinosaur and the dog was a boy, The Good Dinosaur famously went through much overhauling and retooling – and you can feel the joins. But if it’s a relative failure for Pixar, it’s at least an interesting one. The emotional weight is brutally blunt (the early death of apatosaurus Arlo’s dad is genuinely wrenching), and it’s full of weird and wild detours – from cowboy T-Rexs and rustler Velociraptors, to a druggy sequence that sees Arlo and human toddler Spot eat fermented fruit and trip out. Odd, but not without merit
25. Cars
For all the build-up, John Lasseter’s long-gestating passion project turned out to be oddly by-the-numbers – a perfectly acceptable piece of family entertainment that lacked the snappy comedy and perfect pacing of prime Pixar, even if it delivered solid plotting and impressive racing animation. Not to mention the sheer mind-bending logistical questions that its world conjures – one in which there are sentient cars but no humans, and the notion of vehicular reproduction can’t help but loom. If it doesn’t resonate as strongly for older viewers like the Pixar classics, it at least proved hugely popular with kids – raising an entire generation on Lightning McQueen, and spawning the studio’s first proper franchise since Toy Story.
24. Monsters University
There’s a nice idea behind this Pixar prequel – a college campus comedy that’s Monsters, Inc. meets Animal House. And it’s full of gentle chuckles, cutesy young designs of Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan (Billy Crystal and John Goodman both returning on voicing duties), and a sprightly energy. But it’s pretty lightweight stuff, even if it packs in an interesting message: that hard work might not be enough to achieve your dream if you’re really not suited for it, but you might find fulfilment in putting your talents to use elsewhere. That’s the lesson learned by the young Mike, desperate to become a celebrated scarer before pivoting to a less glamorous logistical role.