Lady's Choice: Favorite Pixar Movies!

Guess who's taking over!

I promise that eventually I will get away from lists. I'm looking at doing my own "From the Vault" or "Date Night" articles for the blog, but for now, I keep wanting to do lists. June has seen the release of Disney/Pixar's newest movie: Inside Out. For the most part Pixar has put out a movie every year, and while not all of them have been smash hits, they all have been solid movies. Because of that, I had a really hard time limiting myself to just 5 movies.

I decided to go with movies with Pixar as the studios and only including feature lengths. I also decided against putting The Incredibles (2004) on this list. My decision was mainly because it has already been highlighted as part of my of my superhero movie list. Even with this decision, I still had a really hard time limiting it to not all of them. So here's my top 5 Pixar movies in release date order.

Toy Story (1995)

Pixar's first movie put it front and center for children's movies from 1995 through today. They used the state of the art CG for the day, amazing audiences. It also left many children with the question of what their toys did while they were away or even lost. It also had a great message: it's not about what you think you are but what you mean to those around you. This is seen with Buzz thinking that he is the real Buzz Lightyear and goes through a crisis of both identity and purpose when he finds out that he actually is a toy. Woody shows him that while he might not be a real sheriff (space ranger for Buzz) but loves being Andy's toy and bringing joy to Andy. The voice acting with leading actors Tom Hanks as Woody and Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear is superb. The soundtrack is great. Everyone know "You've Got a Friend in Me." And to this day, most kids have seen this ground breaking Pixar classic.


Finding Nemo (2003)
Pixar took audiences on a wild, Australian ride with Finding Nemo. Again, audiences were amazed with the CG. The attention to detail was amazing. From studying how the fish actually move to how the currents affect the reef and other wildlife, Pixar took their time to get everything not only right but natural looking. I don't remember Toy Story in theaters, but I remember being in awe when Finding Nemo's opening scenes started playing. I was lost in the underwater world, and, thanks to a great script, still to this day quote this movie (Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming). Audiences loved the character Dory so much so that Pixar will have Finding Dory coming out in June 2016. I think this movie is also why children know clown fish as Nemos.


WALL - E (2008)
From underwater to outer space, once again Pixar upped the game by taking its audiences to the future and made us root for a little robot named Wall-E. Again, Pixar's attention to detail is evident in the CG, from the garbage filled, abandoned Earth to Wall-E and Eve dancing in space. Some adults railed against the environmentalist message from this movie, but I think it is a good message. It is also a love story. Wall-E and Eve are from different worlds essentially. Even though they are both robots made by human beings, they have different directives and end up loving each other all the same. And all of this was done with much less dialogue then other movies as Wall-E and Eve don't have very big vocabulary, and the humans are somewhat of side characters.


Up (2009)

Somewhat back down to Earth, Up is still a high flying adventure about a husband trying to live how his wife had dreamed of living. First, I'm going to state the obvious: The first like 8 minutes of this movie is better than Twilight. With that out of the way, Pixar has proven once again to be able to focus on what matters in the story, in this case it is the variety of characters and their interactions. Carl looses the love of his life Ellie and feels like she never got to go on the adventure that she wanted. So, when push comes to shove, he set sail for Paradise Falls with Russell (a stowaway). Along the way, they meet Dug the Dog, Kevin the Bird, and Carl's childhood hero Carles Muntz, and Carl learns what really mattered to Ellie and what matters now to him. Like Finding Nemo, this movie is still quoted among my friends and loved by many.


Brave (2012)
Brave is a very underrated Pixar/Disney movie. Merida herself, while the favorite of a friend, is an underrated princess. Today, many love Frozen because Ana saves Elsa and herself, it doesn't end in a wedding, etc. This leave me confused because Merida did it first. She is trying to get out of her parents arranging a marriage and wants to choose her own fate. In fact, Merida has mad bow skills, and the movie doesn't end with any love interest for her at all. Her fate, and that of her people, rests on her shoulders the entire movie. Maybe Brave wasn't as well received because she is so different or some other reason that I am not seeing; however, Merida is one of my favorite princess and well as the star of one of my favorite Pixar movies. Can I also point out that her hair was a nightmare to animate? Props to Pixar for giving her those beautiful, long, red curls. I also love that she is Scottish and has her own distinct look from the rest of Disney's princess line-up.

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