Ranking the first 24 films from Pixar, worst to best

Cars 3 is considered one of the worst animated movies of all time. It's filled with talking cars, unfunny jokes, drab animation, and offensive stereotypes. A truck named Mater does the worst Texas accent I've ever heard, and the comeback story should've been scrapped in a junkyard. 

The second installment in the Cars franchise has one thing going for it: it's not Cars 3. 

Cars might legitimately be the worst trilogy ever made. You'd think the geniuses at Pixar could have made one of these good, but instead, we'll have to settle for two car crashes and a decent movie about a red automobile who discovers that there's more to life than racing. 

There's some good stuff here, like Merida, who is the studio's first female protagonist and who can shoot an arrow better than Katniss Everdeen. That being said, it feels more like a response to criticism than an original, thought-out adventure.

Who would have thought that a movie about two elves and a pair of pants would not only be a hit, but also a tearjerker? While not peak-Pixar, anyone who has a sibling will find themselves in tears. 

If you're not familiar with The Good Dinosaur, you're not alone. This is Pixar's lowest-grossing film, and it was nearly ruined by production delays and story problems. Which is a shame. Since this is a feel-good adventure, it's time people started putting it on their radar. 

Call it Animal House. Call it Blue's Brother. Whatever you call it, this colorful prequel to Mike (Billy Crystal) and Sully's (John Goodman) friendship is a whole lot of college tropes stuffed in a G-rated package. 

Any movie set under the blues skies and colorful homes of Cinque Terre is bound to be gorgeous. Luca, about two sea monsters assuming human form, is beyond gorgeous. It's a summer vacation on a lovely strip of paradisio you can't afford to miss.

It took more than 13 years for Andrew Stanton to make Finding Dory, the sequel to Finding Nemo. Thank God he kept on swimming. While it would have been easy to give up, he persevered and delivered another action-packed, emotionally-soaked romp. Ellen DeGeneres returns as the forgetful fish who searches for her family, this time with a school of friends in tow. 

A Bug's Life vs. Antz was 1998's Steph vs. Lebron. It was the rivalry everyone was talking about, though if you ask me, it wasn't much of a rivalry at all. I'd take the highs of A Bug's Life over the lows of Antz any day. 

What if you died and didn't go to heaven? Or hell? Where would you go? That's the premise of Kemp Power's Soul, a goofy, spontaneous charmer about a jazz musician (Jame Foxx) who dies and instead of taking the stairway to heaven, takes the stairway to nowhere. 

Leave it to Pixar to turn a childhood terror into something funny, fuzzy, and wonderful. By 2001, the studio had nailed the feel-good formula. All they had to do was open the right doors. 

Nobody asked for a follow-up to Toy Story 3, but this sequel is every bit as good as its predecessor. And with the introduction of Forky, Key Peele, and Duke Caboom, it's clear this was never meant to be a cash grab. 

More Toy Story! This installment sees Andy going off to college, leaving the toys feeling left behind. Of course, all the characters find a new calling and personality, as well as a new place they can call home. The final scene is a roller coaster of emotions: happy, sad, beautiful, bittersweet, and life-affirming. 

There's no better example of Pixar's bold and humanistic approach to storytelling than this one: Ratatouille tells of Remy, a food-obsessed rat washed down a sewer only to emerge in Paris, where he teaches a chef how to cook. It's lovely, and its ending wafts off the screen and into our eyes like a freshly-cut onion. 

Family is often a theme in Pixar films, but it's never been explored as deeply as it is in Coco, which tells the story of a 12-year-old boy who picks up a guitar and comes face-to-face with his ancestors. In the Land of the Dead, leaves sparkle, houses tremble, skeletons dance, and music flows. Every inch of the frame is decked-out with animation trickery, a love for Mexican culture and heritage, and a deep understanding of what it means to be a part of a family.

Toy Story 2 is the Mr. Potato Head of Pixar movies: it's about getting ripped apart, trampled on, and learning to put the pieces back together again. Some may find it depressing, but most will find it beautiful. 

The world of Inside Out can be a little strange for kids, what with the brains and orbs and stuff. Also, they might not be able to wrap their head around the fact that they are in somebody else's head. That said, there are plenty of jokes and set-pieces, and the voice cast brings personality to each character. Amy Poehler and Phyllis Smith, in particular, are great as Joy and Sadness. 

It opens with my favorite montage in movie history: a marriage summed up in four minutes, full of adventure and wonder and love and balloons, flat tires and kisses, miscarriages, and music. Everything that comes after is pretty darn good, too. 

Most animated movies are like sugar rushes. They are bright and bouncy, but they wear off after 45 minutes. That's not the case with Finding Nemo, which is bright and bouncy, but also awash with sentiment and emotion. If only more animators could balance the two. 

Probably the greatest superhero movie ever made, Brad Bird's The Incredibles is a masterpiece of action, animation, and family-friendly entertainment. Take note, Marvel: you don't need two hours to flesh out every Avenger. Bird fleshes out four heroes in the span of forty minutes, along with an entire world, a villain, and a number of side characters. 

Toy Story basically invented computer-generated animation and kicked-off Pixar's run. That alone would earn it a spot on our list, but there are so many laughs and characters (Woody! Buzz! Andy!) that it still remains a favorite in our household. It's almost impossible to top it, but they eventually did. 

This was an obvious choice. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better-animated movie, one with more heart, more soul, more to say. It's meticulous in its attention to detail; magnificent in its attention to plot. Wall-E is like a robot Chaplin: cute, clumsy, a magnet to danger. He falls for a robot named Eva, who arrives on Earth after humanity has gone to space. In a nod to City Lights, he loses his sight after a short circuit. His eyes get to working again, and, well...you know the rest.