Preface

• Alright ladies and gentlemen, every now and again a movie is about to come out and that movie is in a very specific genre.
  • Such as Avengers: Age of Ultron in the Superhero Genre.
• And when such a release is nigh, I’ll do a Top 10 List of my favorite movies from that genre.
• Now Pixar, of course, isn’t a genre but is a production company.
• And no this isn’t a Top 10, but I still haven’t seen two or three of the less-hyped Pixar movies (Monsters University, Cars 2, Bug’s Life) so I couldn’t round it out to an even 10.
• But nevertheless, in preparation for Inside Out, a movie I’ll see probably Thursday, here are my Top 5 favorite Pixar Movies!

5. Ratatouille

• Oh yeah I forgot the disclaimer: Pixar is quality-wise one of the best film production companies ever, so yeah not every one of their amazing movies will be on here.
• So you could curse me out in the comments, or you could leave your favorites in the comments below, or tweet at me! (@johnmhayeck)
• So yes, I was between Ratatouille and the original Toy Story for number 5, but when I think of Ratatouille I’m always amazed at how much is going on, yet how well it’s all managed.
• I cared about every character in this movie, I was rooting for Remy and Linguini the entire time.
• Not to mention all the food that was delicious, and the sense of just overcoming any obstacle that comes your way.
  • And sometimes life will knock ya down, but when that happens you gotta just tell life their opinion doesn’t matter.
• Like I said at the beginning, Ratatouille has so many storylines from the beginning to the end, yet never feels crowded. It’s a movie that’s just under 2 hours but has you aboard from start to finish, and leaves you only wanting more.
• I saw this movie as a kid when it came out in the theater, and I still own it on DVD to this day.
• And it was an easy pick to be my Number 5.

4. Finding Nemo

• Finding Nemo was actually the first movie I ever saw in the theater.
  • Hi, for those of you who don’t know I’m actually not that old…
• And it was my first movie-theater experience that I didn’t fully grasp at the time, but in looking back is truly just a spectacle of grand proportions.
• This movie is sad, it’s funny, it’s about triumph and failure and puts the two purposefully on-screen together a number of times to show just how artistic that is.
• Finding Nemo is a movie that, as I said, I saw when it first came out, I probably saw it on DVD after that, but I saw it in 3D a couple years ago when it was re-released, and I’ve seen it a few more times since then.
• It’s a movie that I learn to appreciate more and more every time I see it, and is a truly beautiful film that could be argued as Pixar’s best to date.
  • And obviously it was a good choice by my parents to take me to this one as my first time in the theater!

3. The Incredibles

• The Incredibles is so great that not only is it one of the best Pixar movies of all time, it’s also one of the best animated movies of all time, one of the best superhero movies of all time, and one of my favorite films of all time.
• The Incredibles is a movie that you see as a kid and are amazed by it (which I did), then you see maybe once every couple of years and (like Finding Nemo) find new respect for every time you see it.
• The premise of this movie is absurd, a family of superheroes that are hiding their powers from the world, and all the chaos that ensues from that.
• Sure, Violet and Dash might be a little whiny and annoying sometimes but the portrayal of the older generation versus the younger generation is a concept that applies in EVERY family nowadays.
• I love the dialogue in this movie, Brad Bird makes these superheroes real people, which live-action superhero movies can’t even do nowadays!
• The action in this movie is phenomenal, in the scene where Mr. Incredible is taking down the Omnidroid is indescribable.
• The Incredibles, like the other movies on this list and like every Pixar movie, has a timeless theme of relevance and whether or not you actually matter.
• I loved Birdman because it had this same theme, and the two films are extremely similar in that regard.
• They both convey that no one is like they used to be, but at the end of the day, that inconsistency is the best part of being alive.
• The dialogue, the action, the themes, the characters, the rich expansive universe (how are we getting a Transformers cinematic universe but we don’t have an Incredibles one?).
• The Incredibles is a movie that is loved by literally anybody I know who’s seen it, my friends and I were all hanging out the other day and just watched scenes from The Incredibles while we were eating.
  • Maybe we’re just nerds…
• But seriously, the only doubt anyone reading this will have about how great the Incredibles is, is that I didn’t put it at number 1, and it was a top contender.

2. Up

• Like I’ve said, really numbers 4, 3, and 2 all could be number one because they’re all so great and Up is no exception.
• Up is a breathtaking film that does something so unique.
• I was like 10 or 11 when this movie came out and I saw it in the theaters and I immediately knew I had seen something special.
• Much like how The Incredibles presents a theme of growth and relevance, Up presents a theme of progression and timelessness.
• Not only does Up have a great story throughout the course of the entire film, but that first 15 minutes is a story about life and how quickly it can move. I’m 16 and I know that. I recognized that when I was 11 and saw this for the first time!
• The film moves along at a slow but steady pace in showing that it isn’t about growing up, but growing old and how life is all about progression. How things progress, and though that can be both in a positive and negative way, things will always work out for the best.
• Up probably has some of the most likable characters I have ever seen in a film. There’s only maybe 2 others movies (one of which is next on this list) that I can say have more likable characters than Up because they’re all fantastic.
• I love how characters like Russell represent the youth that we all have, and despite the stereotypical portrayal of youth in the movie, he pulls off the charm and amazement that we all have as kids.
  • And of course somebody like Carl Fredrickson goes against him so well in representing the maturity we all have.
• Not to mention Dug (I thought it was “Doug” but apparently the Internet disagrees with me…) who is one of my favorite movie characters of all time period.
  • We all want a dog like that, heck we all want a friend like that.
• And though I could say this for about 7 Pixar films, Up is… Five Stars.

• My friends and I are working on a parody pseudo-sequel called Down which ties in elements from Dante’s Inferno. In it, Russell and Dug need to go into hell to rescue Mr. Fredrickson’s soul from Satan (who will be voiced by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson).
• It will be the first R-Rated Pixar animated film to win Best Picture.
• DOWN: March 2018.

1. Toy Story 3

• Toy Story 3 is in my Top 10 Favorite Films of All Time, and it is the only movie I have ever cried during.
• I didn’t completely grow up on the Toy Story movies, but I did see them when I was like 7 or 8.
• I was 11 when Toy Story 3 came out and that scene.
• That scene at the end alone when Andy is holding Woody and saying how reliable he is…
• That scene alone is worthy of at least number 4 on this list.
• Toy Story 3 ties in many of the themes I’ve already mentioned, but ties them together in the perfect culmination to the Toy Story Trilogy.
  • I would argue that after the Dark Knight and (original) Star Wars that Toy Story is the best trilogy I have ever seen.
• Everything that Toy Story and Toy Story 2 were setting up about knowing your place in the world and whether or not we choose to grow up, those all come to a head in this final movie and it is not a movie meant for kids.
• This is a movie meant for everybody.
• This is a movie that ties in those themes I talked about in the Incredibles and puts them on steroids.
• The stakes are higher in this movie and that scene in the incinerator is a complete metaphor for how those toys would feel if they weren’t played with.
• Guys, I’m sure there are college film classes taught about the Toy Story movies and you could get a degree on this movie alone, but Toy Story 3 is the best piece of animated cinema I have ever seen with its likable characters unlike any others I had ever seen, the dynamics that just worked so well and carried over from the past couple movies, the plot of being given away by accident, the progression of story, nothing feeling irrelevant (even the Buzz voice-changing thing…), and oh God the themes…
• And Toy Story 3 is, without a single conceivable doubt… Five Stars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcpWXaA2qeg *** So guys, those are my Top 5 Favorite Pixar Movies, and I know that I’ll get some hate for not including Monsters Inc., Toy Story or Toy Story 2 all of which are still some of the best animated movies I’ve ever seen. So comment your favorites below, and are you guys looking forward to Insider Out? Let me know in the comments down below, and as always, thanks for reading guys.