The Pixar films

Not only one of the best animated movies ever made, but one of the best movies of all time that made history and set an incredible start for Pixar. It has an originally told story, incredible voice cast, memorable characters, and classic songs from Randy Newman. The animation is showing its age with the stiffness of the human characters, but still impressive nevertheless.

Definitely one of the greatest second sequels of all time, this film boasts appealing animation and combines similar plot points from "The Great Escape" with the heritage of the first two films to create an emotionally driven and unexpectedly dark storyline although it's almost gets too jokey in the middle. The voice cast returns once again to voice their iconic characters delivering great performances especially Ned Beatty as the villainous Lotso.

While I don't think it quite surpasses the original, this sequel is very much on par with it. The animation has gradually improved since the first film with a great story dealing with deep, emotional themes of childhood, abandonment, and finding yourself even if it retells the original film's storyline a bit. The original cast returns with more delightful characters in Jesse and Bullseye. Randy Newman continues to turn in good work with his score and the tear-jerking Oscar-nominated song "When She Loved Me".

One of my favorite animated feature films, this story combines the aspects of a superhero film with the family dynamic with rich themes of identity, family, and a satire of cultural values when it comes to celebrating mediocrity that has become surprisingly true. The animation breaks new ground in portraying realistically digitally rendered humans to much delight. The voice cast deserves to be complimented due to great vocal performances from Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Jason Lee, and even Brad Bird as the scene-stealing Edna Mode. Syndrome is probably the greatest Pixar villain ever conceived. Lastly, Michael Giacchino's jazzy, adventurous score is one of Pixar's very best paying homage to John Barry's scores for the classic Bond films.

Definitely one of the best Pixar films of their acclaimed catalog, "Finding Nemo" is an emotionally moving film with the heartwarming father-son relationship arc assisted with breathtaking animation in the characters and background designs, stellar voice performances from Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, and Willem Dafoe, and a witty, original screenplay with memorable lines such as "Just keep swimming!", "Fish are friends not food", and "Mine! Mine!".

One of the most ambitious animated films ever made, this film breaks new ground with impressive character animation of a cast mostly of robots and stellar background designs that all of it rivals even live-action itself. It is also one of the most thought-provoking and original film with relevant themes of consumerism, pollution, and over-indulgence. Thomas Newman's score is amazing to listen and Peter Gabriel delivers an emotionally moving Oscar-nominated song.

An underrated Pixar film that illustrates stellar storytelling with a high-concept, fish-out-of-water idea of a rat's dream to cook in a kitchen and a restaurant's push to reclaim its former glory following the death of its founder that is allegorical to the Walt Disney studios. It has also decent performances from Patton Oswalt, Lou Romano, Ian Holm, Peter O'Toole, and even Janeane Garofalo, a French-inspired musical score from Michael Giacchino, and great visual texture of the foods.

Cleverly mixing the monsters-in-the-bedroom stories with contemporary corporate culture, this film boasts an original story with witty humor, endearing characters, and deeply felt emotion. The voice cast is also excellent with Billy Crystal and John Goodman sharing great chemistry. Steve Buscemi, James Coburn, Jennifer Tilly, and Frank Oz make for great supporting characters. The animation takes a great step into advancement with the simulation of hair and body texture.

Having one of the best montages in any film (animated or not), "Up" is one of the most emotionally stirring and dramatically mature of Pixar's library. Carl Fredicksen is a great character that is incredibly relatable regardless of age voiced to perfection by Ed Asner. The story continues Pixar's daring ambition of tackling deep themes; this time, it deals with the loss of a loved one and personal obsession. Charles Muntz is a greatly written villain that is sadly tragic in the vein of Captain Ahab, and also voiced to perfection by Christopher Plummer. The visual palette in the animation of Carl's floating house and the South American landscapes and jungle is eye-appealing. My only complaint is the talking dogs.

While anthromorphized emotions may be nothing new, this film takes established concepts based on neuropsychology and interpersonal communication that's simple for adults and children to understand and creates an emotional joyride filled with comedy and heart. The voice cast was excellent with Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, and Richard Kind as the major highlights. The film is stunningly vivid to look at while Michael Giacchino's score was delightful to listen to.

One of the more underrated Pixar films, this film has incredible animation still impressionable by today's standards, an extensive ensemble voice cast, and a strong story (albeit rehashed from "Seven Samurai"/"The Magnificent Seven") with memorable themes of individualism, community, and anti-imperialism. Hopper is a great Pixar villain perfectly acted by Kevin Spacey. Randy Newman's score is great to listen with the underrated song "The Time of Your Life" to cap it off.

While the animation is stunningly beautiful, the story is less to write home about. Tom Hanks is perfect as Woody and it was great to see Bo Peep again. There were fun new characters like Forky, Bunny and Ducky, and Duke Caboom. However, I dislike that the toy gang was largely sidelined for most of the film and that Buzz Lightyear has been reduced to an idiot that relies on his voice box to tell him what to do.

This sequel is a sharp disappointment from the original film. First off, the animation of the characters has significantly improved since the first film. The backgrounds are also colorful with its look borrowed from the retro-futuristic designs from the 1960s. However, the plot is largely derivative from the first film only with a villain that's far less memorable than Syndrome. That said, the action sequences were enjoyably good.

While it doesn't have the emotional storytelling the original film contained, it still retains the original characters we know and love with delightfully new characters to get invested in. The visual palette of the animation still looks delightful to look at that seamlessly matches its predecessor's look despite the technological advancement. The overuse of the flashbacks may take away focus from the narrative at times, but it's used appropriately.

While it doesn't match the original film, "Monsters University" is still a winning film in its own right. While the original film had an original story, this film takes similar plot tropes and characters from other college-oriented films and plays safe with them until the unexpected plot turn with a great life message that really improved the film. Lastly, this is probably the weakest Randy Newman score for a Pixar film.

It has an unusual high-concept idea of a world populated with anthropomorphic cars and other vehicles, but the story feels too similar to other films such as "Doc Hollywood" but was nevertheless heartfelt and sincere. It has an incredible ensemble voice cast with multiple ethnic and stereotyped characters with stand-outs to Paul Newman and Larry the Cable Guy. The animation breaks from tradition with placing eyes on the cars' windshields to convey more emotion from the characters to great effect and the background designs are eye-appealing. The movie also suffers from slow pacing issues becoming incredibly lengthy at almost two hours of its runtime.

Inspired from Brenda Chapman's love for fairy tales and her own struggles as a mother, the story has an emotional relationship arc between Merida and Queen Elinor although it gradually becomes incoherent during the middle section and grows too similar to other films such as "The Little Mermaid" and "Brother Bear". The animation is impressively detailed excelling in Pixar's tradition in photorealism. While not as iconic as Woody, Buzz, and Dory, Merida is a great role model for impressionable young girls who want to change the direction of their lives.

After the misfire that was "Cars 2", the third film returns to back to the classic feel of the first film. While I can forgive the similarities to "Rocky III" with our aged protagonist being past his prime, it is still an emotionally resonant one no matter how predictable it was. It's about accepting your limits and passing the baton to a new generation. The animation is still vivid, but Randy Newman's score was not memorable.

Because of a tumultuous production history with the removal of Pixar veteran Bob Peterson as director and story and cast revamps since, "Good Dinosaur" doesn't live up to the potential and high standards expected from a Pixar film. The story is too homogeneous and familiar with animated classics such as "The Land Before Time" and Pixar's own storytelling formula. However, there are incredibly sweeping and realistic background designs to be indulged in that is set against the cartoony dinosaurs. The buddy-buddy relationship arc between Arlo and Spot is more of the same in comparison to Woody and Buzz, Mike and Sully, Marlin and Dory, Carl and Russell, and Lightning and Mater, but its resolution can invoke some tears.

While it has one of the most impressive visual palette in its photorealistic animation, the same cannot be said for its story. It first focuses on Lightning McQueen on his worldwide car race and then shifts to Mater being involved in a case of mistaken identity in a bombastic espionage spy plot in which both stories become wildly convoluted and lack the simplicity of Pixar's earlier efforts. Mater is a fun character with some endearment, but best used in a supporting role. Despite the deaths of Paul Newman, Joe Ranft, and George Carlin, the original voice cast returns with multiple new characters with a standout in Michael Caine's Finn McMissile.