Favorite Pixar/ Dreamworks type movie

[Lathum]

My son is at the age where he really enjoys these movies. Nemo, Ice Age, Madagasgar, etc...

Wondering what are some of your favorites?

I think Cars is still my favorite. The perfect mix of adult humor and my son goes apeshit over it.

[chadritt]

How to Train your Dragon is probably the best dreamworks movie yet, though Im hearing good things about Rise of the Guardians, and it has a tv show now as well. Kung Fu Panda is good and fun as well.

[WSUCougar]

I've always loved Finding Nemo, with a polite nod to Toy Story and The Incredibles.

[Edward64]

The first Shrek.

[Lathum]

How to Train your Dragon is probably the best dreamworks movie yet, though Im hearing good things about Rise of the Guardians, and it has a tv show now as well. Kung Fu Panda is good and fun as well.

I really want to see Rise of the Guardians but my son is only 2.5 so I think it may be to scary for him.

[spleen1015]

Toy Story (all 3)
The Incredibles
Cars
Shrek
Finding Nemo

I have always liked Monsters, Inc. more than other folks.

[CrimsonFox]

Ratatoouille and WallE / Kung Fu Panda

[Groundhog]

Wall-E

[PackerFanatic]

Toy Story is the absolute best.

[Izulde]

From a pure technical and narrative standpoint, the Toy Story trilogy, particularly 3. I can't think of too many films period that have the multi-generational resonance and emotional impact that those three had. For the kids, it was fun and cool; for the adults, it was like taking a trip back to their own childhoods and the wonder and imagination they used to have.

A fair second in the category would be Finding Nemo, simply because it flips the traditional hero's journey/coming of age and awareness narrative on its head. No young hero who becomes an adult through this journey - instead, it's a father on a quest to find and save his son, which isn't a treatment we usually see in the animated film medium.

I loved the first Shrek as well for how it handles the ending and just the general all-around humor. Plus, the pairing of a donkey and an ogre as a buddy movie intermingled with the toying of the fairy tale setting is just awesome. The other films in the series? Underwhelming compared to the first one and probably shouldn't have been made.

I have a certain fondness for Ratatouille, even though it was very much paint by numbers in a lot of ways. Cars I liked, but it didn't strike me as particularly memorable or groundbreaking, with the exception of Tow Mater, who is one of the most hilarious characters in the genre.

Kung Fu Panda and How To Train Your Dragon, while fun, didn't really offer anything new, and their humor wasn't quite to the level of a lot of these other entries.

Wall-E is like The Jungle and perhaps even The Razor's Edge - great first half, bordering on stellar, but the second half crashes into preachy ideology that makes me roll my eyes.

[sabotai]

The Incredibles for me is the best, followed by A Bug's Life.

[Subby]

Anything but Cars 2. The rest are phenomenal save for Toy Story 2, which is simply very good.

[Groundhog]

Was Brave Pixar, I can't remember? That one was a little disappointing. Haven't seen Toy Story 1 or 2 (I know, I know...) or Cars 1 or 2, but the rest I think are pretty much all great.

Now that I think about it, it's a toss up between Up and Wall-E.

[chadritt]

Yes Pixar made Brave. Now that I realize your sons exact age I would say start with the Toy Story movies, Finding Nemo, and Incredibles. Wreck it Ralph would also probably be good once it comes out on video if he understands the concept of video games at that point. Its kid friendly but adults tend to really like it as well.

[TLK]

For what it's worth, Wreck It Ralph is the only movie I've ever seen in a theater twice. I think almost everyone that visits this board would love it.

[Julio Riddols]

I'm a big fan of Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs.

[rowech]

My favorites are definitely the Toy Story movies. If you ask me which one is best, I think it has to be Up. I've heard a lot of people say they were brought to tears at the start of that movie and by the end were crying for different reasons.

[CrimsonFox]

Was Brave Pixar, I can't remember? That one was a little disappointing. Haven't seen Toy Story 1 or 2 (I know, I know...) or Cars 1 or 2, but the rest I think are pretty much all great.

Now that I think about it, it's a toss up between Up and Wall-E.

yes Brave was Pixar. Also excellent!

And yeah Toy Story 3 is way way up there too.
It really is hard to choose the best pixar. most of them are all so excellent. II think it comes down to subjecvt matter which people like. Or characters. Or actors even.

[CrimsonFox]

wreck it ralph worth seeing?

[Subby]

I'm a big fan of Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs.
Yeah going outside of the Pixar universe, I would also highly recommend:

Chicken Run
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Flushed Away
Wallace and Gromit in Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Fantastic Mr. Fox (babies should watch this its so good)

[Lathum]

would Wreck it Ralph be ok for a 2.5 year old? He has seen pretty much all the other movies we have discussed.

[Buccaneer]

My top 8 are all Pixar (Cars being #1). I have never liked any of the non-Pixar animations for some reason.

[revrew]

1. Finding Nemo
2. Brave

Though Toy Story and Shrek were ground breakers and all-time classics, I still like these others better. How to Train Your Dragon had amazing 3D graphics, just lovely, but I'd agree isn't quite on the Mount Rushmore with these others.

Wreck-It-Ralph for a 2.5 year old? If he was OK with the scariness level of Brave, then no problem with Wreck It Ralph, which can be intense but is much tamer than Brave. Many of the jokes, however, because they're based on current and especially old video games, he's not going to get. Also, there's a lot of name calling in jest (booger-face, diaper baby, etc), which he may come home repeating.

[Subby]

Sure, I will rank the Pixar movies for everyone.

1. The Incredibles
2. Finding Nemo
3. Toy Story 3
4. Up
5. Wall-E
6. Toy Story
7. Monsters Inc.
8. A Bug's Life
9. Ratatuille
10. Cars
11. Toy Story 2
12. Brave
13. Cars 2

[gstelmack]

Despicable Me is great, as is How To Train Your Dragon.

I don't think Pixar has missed yet. I even enjoyed Cars 2 (as did the kids).

I still think the first Shrek was written by a bunch of 20-somethings that like to pull wings off of flies. There are funny parts, but there are also parts that really turn me off.

My family also has a soft spot for the two Hoodwinked movies.

[cody8200]

Monsters Inc is fantastic. The kids love it too. By the way, no mentioned Bolt so far (I know it is neither Pixar or Dreamworks), but it is a solid movie.

[MacroGuru]

I like:

Up
The Incredibles
Meet The Robinsons
Despicable Me
Finding Nemo
Monsters Inc
Bugs Life
Wall-E
Toy Story
Cars
Ratatouille
How to Train Your Dragon
Shrek
Kung Fun PandaI have yet to see Brave.

[Fidatelo]

I have 3.5 year old and 2 year old boys, and the 3.5 year old quickly attached himself to Cars and Cars 2 (Cars 2 being his favorite). The rest of them he has seen have never really grabbed his attention in the same way, and some just outright scare him too much (Toy Story and Finding Nemo). He did enjoy Incredibles without getting too scared, surprisingly.

The little guy really likes Monsters, Inc, and also enjoys the Cars movies.

I haven't shown them stuff like Kung Fu Panda or Shrek yet since they seem a bit too grown up. Actually, in a lot of way Cars is really the only movie that I fully endorse for kids under 3 or 4. A lot of the others set some pretty bad examples for little kids (fighting, calling people stupid, etc) that I never really noticed when seeing them before being a parent.

[Kodos]

I thought Shrek 2 was far superior to Shrek. The addition of Puss in Boots was fantastic.

The Toy Story movies were the best, then Wall-E.

Wreck It Ralph was entertaining, although some scary parts that bothered my 3 year old daughter some.

[Lathum]

Wreck-It-Ralph for a 2.5 year old? If he was OK with the scariness level of Brave, then no problem with Wreck It Ralph, which can be intense but is much tamer than Brave. Many of the jokes, however, because they're based on current and especially old video games, he's not going to get. Also, there's a lot of name calling in jest (booger-face, diaper baby, etc), which he may come home repeating.

he never saw Brave but we just tok him to Hotel Transylvania and he was fine. I think our biggest worry is are the video game villians scary

[Lathum]

Monsters Inc is fantastic. The kids love it too. By the way, no mentioned Bolt so far (I know it is neither Pixar or Dreamworks), but it is a solid movie.

My son loves Monsters also. I think it seems a bit to long. FYI, they are rereleasing it in 3d around Xmas

[Kodos]

Didn't care much for Monsters.

[Coffee Warlord]

Despicable Me is great, as is How To Train Your Dragon.

Those two get old fast when you have them on nearly every day, because your kid is fixated on them. :)

He rarely watches TV, but gets utterly focused on one movie at a time. First was How to Train Your Dragon (my favorite of the three to date), second came Despicable Me, and now he is on A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures.

I'll be quite happy when we can get away from "Turtle show ON!" "Turtle show ON!". Hopefully his next fix will be good.

[PurdueBrad]

The only ones that I haven't seen mentioned that completely enthralled my 3 year old are Madagascar 3 (by far the best of that series) and a film called Astro Boy.

[Lathum]

The only ones that I haven't seen mentioned that completely enthralled my 3 year old are Madagascar 3 (by far the best of that series).

DADA DADA DADA DADA CIRCUS DADADADA AFRO CIRCUS AFRO CIRCUS AFRO

[Chubby]

Those two get old fast when you have them on nearly every day, because your kid is fixated on them. :)

He rarely watches TV, but gets utterly focused on one movie at a time. First was How to Train Your Dragon (my favorite of the three to date), second came Despicable Me, and now he is on A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures.

I'll be quite happy when we can get away from "Turtle show ON!" "Turtle show ON!". Hopefully his next fix will be good.

heh, my 3.5 year old son knows howto load up netflix to play "the turtle movie"

[gstelmack]

Those two get old fast when you have them on nearly every day, because your kid is fixated on them. :)

Nah, you just get used to it. I've seen Cars a couple of hundred times, for example.

[Coffee Warlord]

heh, my 3.5 year old son knows howto load up netflix to play "the turtle movie"

Fuck the Turtle Movie. I want that god damned turtle to be eaten by the bird 5 minutes into its wretched life. :)

[revrew]

he never saw Brave but we just tok him to Hotel Transylvania and he was fine. I think our biggest worry is are the video game villians scary

Almost all the video game villains are merely comic characters, except ...

There are two that may give pause. Several scenes take place in a first-person alien shooter, where the robot/aliens are Matrix-like scary. These creatures then take over a candy-land like game and all come storming after the good guys, a juxtaposition of genres (evil robots taking over Candy Land?) that might be frightening to a youngster on remembrance of them (nightmare stuff).

Another villain flickers back and forth from his cute facade to a more frightening, tortured creature inside. This face-changing, unmasking thing could be confusing to a little one.

Frankly, I wouldn't have my 2.5-year-old watch it, but I tend to be more conservative with my young kids.

[ISiddiqui]

Finding Nemo is my favorite Pixar movie. Wall-E is a close second.

Though I find Dreamworks is churning out movies I like better than Pixar these days. I really loved How to Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda 1 & 2.

[CrimsonFox]

I loved Panda too. I thought the second one would be terrible but they really struck gold with the whole peacock villain. The animation in both of those was just SO GOOD!

[CrimsonFox]

Fuck the Turtle Movie. I want that god damned turtle to be eaten by the bird 5 minutes into its wretched life. :)


Um ...turtle movie? What turtle?

[gstelmack]

I believe they mean: Watch A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures Online | Netflix (http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/A_Turtle_s_Tale_Sammy_s_Adventures/70155113?trkid=2361637)

[CrimsonFox]

okay....how about what is your favorite Pixar Short?

Mine is a tie between Boundin' (from the Incredibles) and Presto (from WallE)

Presto is some of the funniest pizar shit ever. Perfect timing!

[I. J. Reilly]

okay....how about what is your favorite Pixar Short?

Mine is a tie between Boundin' (from the Incredibles) and Presto (from WallE)

Presto is some of the funniest pizar shit ever. Perfect timing!

Just about every one of the Mater ones from Cars2 had me rolling.

[mckerney]

Is Tangled by Pixar? I'd have to go with that as my favorite.

[PackerFanatic]

Is Tangled by Pixar? I'd have to go with that as my favorite.

Disney, not Pixar though.

[sterlingice]

My Pixar ranking:

1. Toy Story
2. The Incredibles
3. Finding Nemo

4. Up
5. Monsters Inc.
6. Wall-E
7. Toy Story 3

8. Ratatouille
9. Cars
10. Toy Story 2
11. A Bug's Life
12. Cars 2

Have not seen Brave but I expect it to end up around 9 or 10. That said, I said the same thing about "Up" before seeing it and look where it ended up on my list.

The original Toy Story just blew me away when I first saw it, it still delivers an amazing timeless classic. Each of the next six has some distinct strengths and weaknesses but are all excellent films. I have a hard time even drawing much of a line between 3 and 4 and on another day, I may just lump them all together but Up has a little more limited audience and it bogs down a bit when we get to the villain, Monsters Inc doesn't quite seem as deep as some of the others, and Wall-E can get preachy and unevenly paced.

The one I have the hardest time with is Toy Story 3. The plot seems like a cheaper mashup of Toy Story 1 and Toy Story 2 which results in too much predictability and not enough depth. Imagine if the choice of whether to stay at the daycare had been a genuine tough decision: decreased happiness for yourself but increased happiness for many versus the toy's "purpose" of being an always loved toy of one person and personal satisfaction. Instead, we get an admittedly well polished bad guy who wasn't that different than the villain in 2. But that last 15 minutes is so emotionally manipulative that it's like nothing I've ever seen on screen so that's why I have a hard time bumping it down to a lower level despite all its faults.

I'm worried that Pixar is starting to lose their touch, tho. Think of their current string of movies: Cars 2, Toy Story 3, Brave, Monsters University. Too many sequels and the creative folks could get stale and lose the magic while they are just trying to cash in on old licenses.

Dreamworks seems to be catching up in terms of quality. Shrek was about the only thing early on that could hang with some of the Pixar movies and it was the lower tier ones. But Kung Fu Panda, Despicable Me, and How to Train Your Dragon have shown some serious quality improvement. That said, there's a certain story depth to those top of the chart Pixar movies that nothing in Dreamworks can do or at least hasn't done yet.

SI

[Bad-example]

I thought Cars was awesome.

I found Wall-e, Ratatouille and Up to be unwatchable.

No strong feelings about the rest.

[chinaski]

Gotta go with Wall-E as my all time favorite from them. Toy Story and Up a close second.

[gstelmack]

I'm worried that Pixar is starting to lose their touch, tho. Think of their current string of movies: Cars 2, Toy Story 3, Brave, Monsters University. Too many sequels and the creative folks could get stale and lose the magic while they are just trying to cash in on old licenses.

Keep in mind that part of the point behind the Disney/Pixar merger was to infuse some talent back into the Disney Animation Studios to improve their quality, and I think it has shown with efforts like Tangled and Wreck-It-Ralph. I think you'll find it harder and harder to separate those.

Plus, Toy Story 3 was VERY good, my daughter is all over Brave, and my son loved Cars 2. They are doing a good job of targeting different demographics with each of the movies.

[Fidatelo]

I think everyone who rags on Cars and Cars 2 is missing the point. Those movies are not targeted at 30-somethings, they are aimed squarely at 2-6 year olds. And they fuckin' nailed that bulls-eye both times.

[hoopsguy]

I haven't seen "Princess and the Frog" mentioned in any of the lists. My wife and I thought that was a terrific movie, although one or two parts of it are probably a little scary for a 3 year old.

[CrimsonFox]

I haven't seen "Princess and the Frog" mentioned in any of the lists. My wife and I thought that was a terrific movie, although one or two parts of it are probably a little scary for a 3 year old.


was Disney not Pixar tho.

[sterlingice]

I think everyone who rags on Cars and Cars 2 is missing the point. Those movies are not targeted at 30-somethings, they are aimed squarely at 2-6 year olds. And they fuckin' nailed that bulls-eye both times.

But that's where the higher (and perhaps unfair) expectations come from. Madagascar is aimed squarely at kids and hits it well but there's not a ton for adults there. Whereas, Toy Story or Finding Nemo were also aimed at kids but there's a lot to watch there as a parent or other adult. That's why I argued there's a depth there to most Pixar movies that is absent in other animated films.

I even think the first Cars movie does a decent job at this but I think the "take life at its own pace" part of the message which resonates with the older audience takes a backseat a lot of the movie for things which kids would appreciate more (the racing, the comic relief characters like Mater, and general "shininess" of the movie").

Yes, it targets kids and targets them well. But our expectations are higher as they're probably the single most reliable studio out there for meeting audience expectations over the past 15 years.

SI

[Matthean]

I think everyone who rags on Cars and Cars 2 is missing the point. Those movies are not targeted at 30-somethings, they are aimed squarely at 2-6 year olds. And they fuckin' nailed that bulls-eye both times.

I liked Cars quite a bit. Cars 2 was rather meh though.

[General Mike]

I guess Meet the Robinsons isn't Pixar, but its of that same style and I enjoy it.

[Daimyo]

My kids are 3 and 6 so I've probably seen each of the Pixar movies, except Cars 2, 50-100 times. They're all great, but my favorite is Ratatouille which surprised me since it was the only one I didn't see in the theater. If I had to pick one to watch right now it would be that, Monsters Incorporated (funniest of the bunch), or Toy Story 3. The only Pixar movie I actively avoid at this point is Finding Nemo (I get the sense Cars 2 would be here too, but I've only seen it once).

My son (6) was probably most obsessed with Cars, but that may have been because of the toys. My daughter (3) was most obsessed with Beauty and the Beast and more recently loves the Tinker Bell movies.

Outside of Pixar, my kids loved Bolt, Ice Age, and Madagascar, but I don't think the latter series holds up very well to repeat viewings for parents...

[EagleFan]

Despicable Me
Shrek
The Incredibles

[spleen1015]

Despicable Me
Shrek
The Incredibles

:)