81 - The Pixar Movie Tier List 🎥
Hey there, !!
It's the DISNEY/PIXAR MOVIE TIER LIST:
In going through the list, I noticed that there was an incredible dose of nostalgia with a lot of these films. Obviously, they're visually beautiful; as you go through the ages, the animation gets better and better, the camera and direction gets more fancy, and the art style is distinctly beautiful in every movies.
However I feel, like they hit a wall with animation at a certain point - and that's when the stories started to get WAY more incredible. Think of Inside Out as a concept! Or WALL-E!? SOUL?! Just amazing...
tl;dr
C tier: Monsters University, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 3
B tier: Finding Dory, Toy Story, Up, Incredibles 2
A tier: Monsters Inc, WALL-E, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 4, Inside Out, Finding Nemo, Coco
S tier: Ratatouille, The Incredibles, Soul
C tier: Monsters University, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 3
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These ones I just...don't really care about. I liked them all, of course, but I don't have any compulsion to really go back to them. Monsters University was interesting, but the copious amounts of Americanism...well, I just didn't care about it. The characters were fun, and some of the 'origin' story element was good, but it wasn't that interesting to me.
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Toy Story 3 was the weakest of the entire franchise (it's still GOOD - the final scene is an incredible tearjerker) - but when reflecting on the whole franchise...since we know there's a Toy Story 4, that is more of the 'final' movie for me than Toy Story 3. And because it came out SO MANY YEARS after Toy Story 2, the hype was too much; it didn't live up to expectations.
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I had a lot of nostalgia for A Bug's Life - it was one of my favourite movies when I was young, but over time I just don't really care to go back and watch it any more.
B tier: Finding Dory, Toy Story, Up, Incredibles 2
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Finding Dory and Incredibles 2 were good sequels, but they didn't bring that much newness to the storytelling that compelled me as much as the originals. There was opportunity in Incredibles 2 to do something cool with more superpowers and flashier uses of them, but we only saw glimpses of them with the 'new' heroes. Loved Mr. Incredible freaking out over math though - instant classic.
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Toy Story and Up are great movies, with really unique ideas that I loved. Toy Story loses points for dated animation (unfortunately), and Up loses points for a subplot with that other old guy with dogs who I was just like 'why is this happening bring me back to the ELLIE story'. Up would be a B+ if I had that tier but I don't so here it is.
A tier: Monsters Inc, WALL-E, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 4, Inside Out, Finding Nemo, Coco
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Group 1: Monsters Inc, Wall-E, Finding Nemo
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All the originals of the list, each with a unique story, a great cast of characters, and high levels of nostalgia for Vince
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I remember being fascinated with Monsters Inc - not the closet thing specifically (I was never really scared of monsters coming out of my closet?) - but the fact that there were SECRET AGENTS AT THE FACILITY THE WHOLE TIME. Roz you legend.
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Finding Nemo was an obvious addition here - how annoying it must have been to be my parents at a time when 'P Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way' was repeated CONSTANTLY. FOR MONTHS ON END. And I'm going to love when my kids do it too ;)
- Wall-E was bloody brilliant. All the robots and AI tickled me pink - I loved the concept most out of all of these!
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Group 2: Toy Story 2, Toy Story 4
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Honestly, the two best Toy Story's in my opinion. Toy Story 2 has the incredible scene of Jessie and her previous owner, shown while playing 'When She Loved Me' - absolute heartbreak. But also I loved that Woody was part of a whole CREW of Western toys - the new interactions were really fun and fresh. Also I think this was the one with the guy in the chicken suit?
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Toy Story 4 does the 'moving on' story better than Toy Story 3 - because to me, Woody's decision to leave is much better. The villain's motivation is much clearer and adventurous Bo Peep was super fun to watch. I had much lower hopes of a Toy Story 4, so maybe it's an expectation thing - it exceeded my expectations at the time!
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Group 3: Inside Out, Coco
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Inside Out is a cracker of an idea - simple memories that become complex memories as combinations emotions provide a new lens. The cast was fantastic and the landscapes were vibrant and wonderful. Just a great, solid movie tbh.
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Coco relied a lot more on the story - working out what had happened in the past, journeying through the Land of the Dead - but that Remember Me scene with the grandma at the end TORE INTO ME.
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S tier: Ratatouille, The Incredibles, Soul
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The Incredibles: I'll admit that this one has a heavy dose of nostalgia in it; my sister and I used to watch it every single holiday as it was one of the burned DVDs we had...and it was the best one. I remember the brassy music, the colourful animation, the story; it was a superhero movie with tension, with action, with spy-stuff and with classic quotable lines (WHERE'S MY SUPERSUIT?!). The storyline of superheroes needing to be boxed into civilian life, finding out about the big revenge plot, the dead heroes, EDNA MODE. Wonderful, wonderful!
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Soul: I've talked enough about this in my last post, but suffice to say that after watching it again, the message of the movie as well as the cracking score was enough to get it up to the S tier.
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Ratatouile: Hands down, the best Disney/Pixar film I've watched - I will watch this anytime, anywhere, for whatever reason. Definitely #1 in this tier list. I remember the feeling I had (like I talked about last week) of the synaesthesia watching Remy eating different foods together and having it animate in such a glorious way. There was so much learning about food and kitchens in the movie (that's the sous chef, that's the sauciere), the montages of Remy learning how to cook (you cannot be mummy!) and then solving recipe problems with his natural talents - all so wonderful and wrapped up in the central message - 'Anyone can Cook'. I especially liked the final monologue by Anton Ego:
"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so..."
It was such a powerful scene - someone's whole worldview being turned upside down (which, I guess, is pretty normal considering he was served by a rat). The story really got to me and made me think about Consuming less, Creating more - and is probably why I started something like this!
Look at that - we found the inspiration for the newsletter!
Haven't watched: Cars franchise, Brave, The Good Dinosaur, Onward - let me know if any of these are worth watching!
Chat soon :)
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✔️ Real Life Recommendations
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Sonny's Fried Chicken and Burgers - I'll do a VFC update sometime soon, but I need to go to more places! This is one that's been on my list for a while and I tried it the other day; essentially, it's upgraded KFC. The skin's a little crunchier, the pieces are a little bigger, and a little less greasy, but otherwise not much different. I did, however, have a BANGIN' mac and cheese side that gives me the confidence to recommend the joint! Try it out :D
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Pixar Putt - I actually have not been to this, but I have heard it's a fun time - and is very relevant to today's newsletter. I wanted to put it in my recommendations to see if any of y'all have been and can recommend it, or put it on your radar if you also haven't been!
🚌 Adventures on the Information Super-Highway
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Why Ratatouille is Disney/Pixar's Magnum Opus - I've linked this before, but I'm going to link it again because it's so TRUE.
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The Secret Villains of Frozen - theorycrafting is interesting to read; not always correct but funny to hear how others interpret things!
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MyHeritage DeepNostalgia - ready to be freaked out today? You can upload an image of someone, and use AI to bring their image back to 'life' - the photos get animated and look pretty realistic! A bit uncanny, sure, but a fascinating use case for 'deepfakes'!