Alright boys and girls, we did it: the Pixar marathon is finally complete. And with that, the official DirkGently tier list/power rankings for all 27 Pixar movies to date.
Grading is a bit of a curve. Outside of the bottom tiers, all of these are pretty good movies, so keep that in mind. Also, I could see shuffling the movies around a bit within each tier pretty easily. But I feel pretty strongly about the tiers themselves, I think there's a pretty clear drop in quality between each.
S Tier:
Coco - this made me cry more than any other Pixar movie, even on a second viewing. The music is so well utilized, the animation style is really unique, beautiful, and memorable, and the plot is surprising and powerful.
Inside Out - What struck me on a second viewing is how easy it would have been to have a really straightforward story in the external world, but Pixar really went above and beyond with Riley's narrative. The idea of turning one's happy memories into melancholy ones is really powerful. Also, Bing Bong. %$#%$#% it, Bing Bong, how dare you be the stupidest thing I've ever cried about in a movie.
Toy Story 3 - Toy story 1 is a fun, straightforward story that's well-told but doesn't hit emotionally as hard for me as 3 does. That ending is so perfect.
The Incredibles - The only one in S-tier that didn't make me cry, but it's just so much fun. The dialogue is so excellent at telling a domestic story in a fantastical context. On rewatching, I do feel like the ending is relatively mid, though. Aesthetically I love a ton of stuff up until they leave the island, and then it looks like any superhero movie punch up. But everything up until that point is perfect.
A tier:
Ratatouille - Old favorite of mine. I really like the unique story, setting, and characters. The VO narration bothered me a little on rewatch but it's not a big deal.
Toy Story - Well-written and lots of fun, it just doesn't pack as much emotional resonance as some of their other movies. Incredibly low budget compared to the rest of their catalogue, though, which is impressive.
Finding Nemo - Might have gotten into S-tier except that the ending(s) really drag(s). The "swim down" part really should have been cut.
Up - I was disappointed with this one when I first watched it, but enjoyed it a lot more on rewatching. I don't love most of the main plot, but the two main characters are great and the opening sequence is excellent.
Luca - Hadn't seen it before but I liked it. Not a tearjerker, just unique, inventive, and fun.
Toy Story 4 - I liked this more the first time I saw it. On rewatch, while I really like the characters and they're used well, the story really meanders.
Turning Red - Solid for new Pixar. Fun and lighthearted, but doesn't stick with me too much.
Toy Story 2 - Yes, it has one of he hardest-hitting emotional moments out of the entire Pixar catalogue - you know which one I'm talking about - and Jessie is a great character, but the rest of the movie is mostly filler.
Monsters Inc - Still a fun movie, but it's fallen off over the years I think. The connection between Sully and Boo is cute but doesn't really hit me.
Incredibles 2 - I like the villain and the ending more than the original to be honest, but the dialogue just doesn't crackle like it used to, and that's a lot more important. The Jack-Jack arc feels very fillery too.
Finding Dory - This one starts to feel a little too emotionally manipulative to me, considering the eponymous character was initially a joke. It's like Bing Bong if it was the whole movie. Still solid though.
Monsters University - Pretty by-the-numbers but still fun.
B tier:
Onward - The setting is fun and there's nothing obviously wrong, but I didn't feel connected enough to the characters to be swept up in this one.
Lightyear - I really like a lot of the sci-fi setting stuff here, but the main plot is pretty vanilla and the characters weren't that interesting.
Brave - I remember not liking the anachronicity of the main character when I first watched it, but on rewatch I think that's fine - the much bigger issue is how easily she's able to change everyone else's minds to agree with her. Also the main plot was a bit frustrating at times and I didn't really like anyone outside of the main character.
A Bug's Life - Pretty predictable plot and characters. Compared to Toy Story, this really felt like it was trying too hard to be funny while TS1 was effortless.
WALL-E - No comment.
Soul - Harmless fun up until the ending, which I absolutely despise. There's probably an anti-abortion reading of this movie, but tbf there's definitely an objectivist reading of Incredibles and that doesn't stop me from loving it.
Cars 3 - It's predictable as hell and I'm not that invested in the characters (pretty damning after 3 movies), but at least it doesn't piss me off.
C tier:
Elemental - The plot is really bland and uninteresting (I expected a bit more intrigue than crappy infrastructure), I hate Wade's character, it feels weirdly essentialist at worst, and at best it's taking the bold stance of "interracial marriage is okay, actually" in 2022. So brave. At least it's aesthetically pleasing.
Cars 2 - I spent most of the movie wondering why the hell they decided to make this movie with cars instead of basically anything else. It's such a strange choice that's constantly distracting. But stupid as it is, it's some inoffensive dumb nonsense, which puts it above the first one in my book.
Cars - Yep, I'm saying it. The first cars is the worst cars. The cloying country soundtrack, the "country livin' is the only real livin'" message, Larry the Cable Guy voice acting, the main character being a freaking NASCAR...it would be difficult to make a movie that more transparently panders to red voters. Yuck.
D tier:
The Good Dinosaur - It blows my mind that they let the director of this movie direct another one (Elemental - an upgrade but still bad). The plot is awful, the characters are awful, the character design is awful, and oh my god please stop playing that meat slapping sound effect every time the main character injures himself in scene, after scene, after scene. And what is with that title? It's not connected to anything in the story and it sounds terrible. At least the backgrounds are nice.
I'm sure we can all agree that I'm correct and this will prompt no discussion whatsoever.
based on our previous clashes I expected more conflict.
