Pixar Rankings: July 27, 2015

The revised list is in, I've seen Inside Out again and I still have to, for now, pin it at the #1 spot. I played in my head with nostalgia vs. how good the movies are and in the least nostalgic way possible (I'm human bias exists). I weighed feelings like how on repeat viewings I felt about Toy Story 3, how long it'd been since I'd seen it for a third time versus Inside Out on a third time and there's tons of variables to consider here like the fact that Toy Story 3 has the power of it's entire franchise to build emotion that can be fully unleashed in it's third film whereas Inside Out can do it all in significantly less time in a single film. Ultimately Andy isn't a well developed character at all though and he's meant to be a stand in for us as kids so thus we put all this love into him and fuck I love him too, seeing him grow up was a defining moment of how we all grew with him between 2 and 3. And yet, all of that took 3 movies and 15 years whereas Riley's more true to life situations and emotions are vastly more relatable on a complex human level and situational use to which the viewer can remember from there own life and connect with Riley on that level as well as through the actions of her and her emotions. It's more realistic in that sense, not to mention everything is strung together and weaved with perfection while the whole movie unravels with a twist of emotions we feel for Riley because we've been there. We as humans have never been toys and so while the concept is interesting and we can feel for them because of our ultimate nostalgia with our own toys (especially when they and your childhood nearly gets burned to a crisp before your eyes) Inside Out provides a different light of the message on how to grow up. Andy gave up his toys as we did at the end of Toy Story 3 and while Riley still has a lot of room to grow, we see that she has a strong will to overcome her own lack of experience, she realizes maybe she doesn't know everything and that maybe that's ok, her parents will help her someday reach adulthood. If the quality of the Inside Out sequels (if there ever are any) holds to that of the Toy Story films, it has the potential to be an even better trilogy but even without these Inside Out masterfully stand as a culmination of every Pixar film before it, the memory sequence of Up, the connection and emotions of being a kid and the innocence of that from Toy Story, the competitive spirit of Cars, the evolution of a strong female character from Brave, the mesages of overcoming your fears from the Monster's Inc movies, the family aspects of Incredibles, and the heartfelt moments from all the rest are collected and refined here with the best artstyles yet, switching from humans that are that Pixar style, to vibrance and colorful world inside Riley's head, the music which takes you on a journey in it's own, and the overall packaged feel this movie can produce allow me to see past my nostalgia for the Toy Story franchise and realize how brilliant this one film got it! This may be Pixar's Magnum Opus and their Swan Song with films like TS4 and Good Dinosaur on the way but damn it I'd love to be just as blown away as I was here. I honestly thought this movie was gonna be a generic kids movie through the original previews but the amount seamlessly clever writing, heart, and uniqueness on display here proved me dead wrong. This is why I placed it over Toy Story 3. It's earned the podium to be one of my favorite movies by one of favorite movie studios, Pixar. and the perfect end to my marathon.

Pixar Rankings List

1. Inside Out
2. Toy Story 3
3. Toy Story
4. Up
5. Toy Story 2
6. Cars
7. Monster’s Inc.
8. Wall-E
9. Monsters University
10. The Incredibles
11. Ratatouille
12. Brave
13. A Bug’s Life
14. Finding Nemo
15. Cars 2