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Chapter 1: What is the context for ranking Pixar movies in this episode?
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It's been more than 30 years since Pixar kicked off a historic run of animated features with Toy Story. And with Toy Story 5 in theaters, it seemed like a good time for your picks for the greatest Pixar films of all time. So we are revisiting our episode from last summer where we discussed the best of the best.
I'm Stephen Thompson, and today in this encore episode of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, we are ranking the best Pixar movies. Here to reveal the list is my co-host, Aisha Harris. Hey, Aisha.
Mike Wazowski. I mean, hey, Stephen.
You will forever be Sully to my Mike Wazowski.
I love it.
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Chapter 2: How did the audience participate in the Pixar ranking poll?
Oh, yay. I was raised by collectors, so that film really resonated with me. Toy Story 3 is a deep sentimental favorite for a lot of people. Where these movies come out in the span of your life ends up being very significant to whether they're your favorite. I think Toy Story is a masterful film. It is funny. It is warm. Right. Excuse me, I think the word you're searching for is space ranger.
The word I'm searching for, I can't say because there's preschool toys present. It is laying all this groundwork for a bunch of magnificent sequels. In the case of Coco, and Coco is getting a sequel. I don't know if it really needs a sequel.
It does not. It does not.
But talk about an emotional gut punch. And we're going to talk about a few other major emotionally heavyweight Pixar films. Coco is talking about death and family and remembrance and the power of music and the way memory gets distorted and the way memory can form myth. There are so many big ideas in this film. But also, Aisha, I don't think you've even mentioned how... gorgeous. Oh my goodness.
Chapter 3: What films tied for the fifth place in the Pixar rankings?
Coco is to look at.
The land of the dead is just such a visual feast. The fact that it's like this urban metropolis that is very vibrant and electric and the neon colors and just the way that everything looks like it is beautiful. And even the skeletons that are taken from, you know, the classic day of the dead imagery are They have so much personality and warmth. They're dead characters, but they're alive.
I think it's one of the most gorgeous, gorgeous Pixar movies ever. It's just, it's top tier.
It really is. And it also really felt lived in. It felt like it took this world seriously and made something that honored that tradition instead of just like using it for storytelling beats.
I absolutely agree. And this is one of the movies that I always hold up when I'm talking about, you know, Disney slash Pixar, remaking their films or reimagining their films and trying to like shoehorn in diversity or try to correct for their past sins.
And I'm just like, Coco was able to do that by creating a new completely original story, while also being very respectful and very thoughtful about the way it employed all of that. So Yeah, I'm just so happy to see both Toy Story and Coco make their way into this top five or top six. They are both correct answers.
Yes. Hey, speaking of emotional gut punches, what do you got for number four?
I feel as though listeners probably will not be at all surprised that this is in the top five. Often called one of the greatest opening sequences of a movie, especially an animated movie of all time. I think rightfully so. And that is Up. Of course, that is the 2009 film starring Ed Asner as Carl, the... Old crotchety man who is harboring a lot of just grief for the loss of his wife.
I always come back to that opening sequence. But I also think the rest of the movie is fun. Like it's hard. It's really hard. And we're going to talk about another movie. I think people will be able to guess. Yes, we are. That also has an opening sequence that's very hard to live up to.
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Chapter 4: Why is 'Coco' considered one of the best Pixar films?
Squirrel!
Squirrel!
My master made me this collar. He is a good and smart master and he made me this collar so that I may talk.
Squirrel! The character of Doug, the sweet comic relief talking dog, that understands dogs in a way that I think very few movies do. There is a sweetness to this film. There's some deep messaging in this film, not only about grief, but about how you honor your loved ones by the way that you live your life going forward that I found enormously powerful.
Genuinely, when it came out and for a long time thereafter, I would say it was one of my favorite movies, period. I really deeply love this film. And think about how novel and what a huge risk it was to make inherently a kid-friendly type animated movie about an old person. Yes.
And an old person as an action hero, an old person with an interior life, an old person with life ahead of him, an old person paying tribute to a loved one who has died, who is also a deeply fleshed-out, warm character that you care about, who has a presence throughout this film. This movie...
is such an object lesson in the fact that, like, you can make a kids movie about almost anything if you have enough of an appreciation for the characters that you're talking about. Ayesha, Up is not my number one favorite Pixar movie, but it is one that I feel really, really passionately about, and I'm so glad it made this list.
Part of that sequence is we see that Carl and his wife were unable to conceive and it was, you know, it was devastating for them. But they still found ways to find happiness together. And I love that aspect of it. And then it connects to, you know, the present day when he meets Russell, who, you know, and in a way adopts a child.
Russell, for assisting the elderly and for performing above and beyond the call of duty. I would like to award you the highest honor I can bestow. The Ellie badge.
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Chapter 5: What makes 'Up' a standout Pixar movie?
I'm guessing just in terms of sheer odds that there is a very strong possibility that we did not get to your favorite Pixar movie today. I mean, The Incredibles and Monsters, Inc. were in the top ten, but not the top five. Ratatouille didn't quite make the cut. There are some other...
truly great pixar movies that did not make the cut i was sad not to see turning red which is one of my which is one of my favorite pixar movies same same we have the full list over on our letterboxd page you can find that at letterboxd.com slash npr pop culture we'll have a link to that in our episode description so you can kind of pour over what our listeners did and didn't get right that brings us to the end of our show aisha harris thanks so much for being here
You have saved our lives. We are eternally grateful. Ah, thank you, Stephen.
This episode was produced by Liz Metzger, Hafsah Fathima, and Mike Katziff, and edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy. Hello, Come In provides our theme music. Thank you for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Stephen Thompson, and we will see you all next time.
You know, every day on Up First, NPR's Golden Globe-nominated morning news podcast, we bring you three essential stories. At the heart of each story are questions. What really happened? What really mattered? What happens next? At NPR, we stand for your right to be curious and to follow the facts. Follow Up First wherever you get your podcasts and start your day knowing what matters and why.
This week on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, we ask comedy legend Robert Smigel about the moment he first knew he was funny.
When I was like four or five, I could draw really well. So I could draw Fred Flintstone and Snoopy. And then probably a couple of years later, I started drawing them having sex.
Listen to the Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me podcast in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. This week on Shortwave, with the price of jet fuel soaring, the hunt is on for other ways to power air travel sustainably.
We are working with companies that take post-anaerobic digested human sewage and turn that into jet fuel.
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