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Tag: monsters-inc

Best Pixar Movies Ranked

(L to R) Yonas Kibreab and Remy Edgerly in ‘Elio’. Directed by Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi and Adrian Molina, and produced by Mary Alice Drumm, Disney and Pixar’s ‘Elio’ releases in theaters June 20, 2025. © 2024 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.

Pixar Animation Studios has changed the game when it comes to animated feature films.

For almost 30 years the Northern California studio has delivered some of the most critically acclaimed and beloved animated films of all time including ‘Up‘, ‘WALL-E‘, ‘Ratatouille‘, ‘Soul‘ and ‘Coco‘, as well as such popular franchises as ‘Toy Story‘, ‘Cars‘, ‘Finding Nemo‘, ‘The Incredibles‘ and ‘Inside Out‘.

The studio’s latest movie, ‘Elio‘, which features the voice work of recent Oscar winner Zoe Saldaña, opens in theaters on June 20th.

In honor of Pixar’s new film, Moviefone is ranking every movie Pixar has ever made, including their latest.

Let’s begin!

29. ‘Lightyear‘ (2022)

Buzz Lightyear (voice of Chris Evans) in Disney and Pixar’s ‘Lightyear,’ which opens in U.S. theaters on June 17, 2022. © 2021 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.

Legendary Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear (Chris Evans) embarks on an intergalactic adventure alongside a group of ambitious recruits and his robot companion Sox.
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28. ‘Cars 3‘ (2017)

Blindsided by a new generation of blazing-fast racers, the legendary Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is suddenly pushed out of the sport he loves. To get back in the game, he will need the help of an eager young race technician (Cristela Alonzo) with her own plan to win, inspiration from the late Fabulous Hudson Hornet (Paul Newman), and a few unexpected turns. Proving that #95 isn’t through yet will test the heart of a champion on Piston Cup Racing’s biggest stage!
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27. ‘The Good Dinosaur‘ (2015)

An epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo (Raymond Ochoa) makes an unlikely human friend.
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26. ‘Cars 2‘ (2011)

Star race car Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) and his pal Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) head overseas to compete in the World Grand Prix race. But the road to the championship becomes rocky as Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage.
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25. ‘Elemental‘ (2023)

Pixar’s ‘Elemental.’ © 2022 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.

In a city where fire, water, land and air residents live together, a fiery young woman (Leah Lewis) and a go-with-the-flow guy (Mamoudou Athie) will discover something elemental: how much they have in common.
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24. ‘Monsters University‘ (2013)

A look at the relationship between Mike (Billy Crystal) and Sulley (John Goodman) during their days at Monsters University — when they weren’t necessarily the best of friends.
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23. ‘Cars‘ (2006)

Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson), a hotshot rookie race car driven to succeed, discovers that life is about the journey, not the finish line, when he finds himself unexpectedly detoured in the sleepy Route 66 town of Radiator Springs. On route across the country to the big Piston Cup Championship in California to compete against two seasoned pros, McQueen gets to know the town’s offbeat characters.
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22. ‘Onward‘ (2020)

In a suburban fantasy world, two teenage elf brothers (Tom Holland and Chris Pratt) embark on an extraordinary quest to discover if there is still a little magic left out there.
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21. ‘Brave‘ (2012)

Brave is set in the mystical Scottish Highlands, where Mérida (Kelly Macdonald) is the princess of a kingdom ruled by King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). An unruly daughter and an accomplished archer, Mérida one day defies a sacred custom of the land and inadvertently brings turmoil to the kingdom. In an attempt to set things right, Mérida seeks out an eccentric old Wise Woman and is granted an ill-fated wish. Also figuring into Mérida’s quest — and serving as comic relief — are the kingdom’s three lords: the enormous Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), the surly Lord Macintosh (Craig Ferguson), and the disagreeable Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane).
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20. ‘Elio‘ (2025)

Yonas Kibreab in ‘Elio’. Directed by Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi and Adrian Molina, and produced by Mary Alice Drumm, Disney and Pixar’s ‘Elio’ releases in theaters June 20, 2025. © 2024 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.

Elio (Yonas Kidreab), a space fanatic with an active imagination, finds himself on a cosmic misadventure where he must form new bonds with eccentric alien lifeforms, navigate a crisis of intergalactic proportions and somehow discover who he is truly meant to be.
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19. ‘Luca‘ (2024)

Luca (Jacob Tremblay) and his best friend Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer) experience an unforgettable summer on the Italian Riviera. But all the fun is threatened by a deeply-held secret: they are sea monsters from another world just below the water’s surface.
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18. ‘A Bug’s Life‘ (1998)

On behalf of “oppressed bugs everywhere,” an inventive ant named Flik (Dave Foley) hires a troupe of warrior bugs to defend his bustling colony from a horde of freeloading grasshoppers led by the evil-minded Hopper (Kevin Spacey).
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17. ‘Finding Dory‘ (2016)

Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) is reunited with her friends Nemo (Hayden Rolence) and Marlin (Albert Brooks) in the search for answers about her past. What can she remember? Who are her parents? And where did she learn to speak Whale?
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16. ‘Incredibles 2‘ (2018)

Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) springs into action to save the day, while Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) faces his greatest challenge yet – taking care of the problems of his three children.
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15. ‘Inside Out 2‘ (2024)

Pixar’s ‘Inside Out 2’. © 2022 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.

Teenager Riley’s (Kensington Tallman) mind headquarters is undergoing a sudden demolition to make room for something entirely unexpected: new Emotions! Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Tony Hale) and Disgust (Liza Lapira), who’ve long been running a successful operation by all accounts, aren’t sure how to feel when Anxiety (Maya Hawke) shows up. And it looks like she’s not alone.
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14. ‘Monsters, Inc.‘ (2001)

Lovable Sulley (John Goodman) and his wisecracking sidekick Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) are the top scare team at Monsters, Inc., the scream-processing factory in Monstropolis. When a little girl named Boo wanders into their world, it’s the monsters who are scared silly, and it’s up to Sulley and Mike to keep her out of sight and get her back home.
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13. ‘Turning Red‘ (2024)

Thirteen-year-old Mei (Rosalie Chiang) is experiencing the awkwardness of being a teenager with a twist – when she gets too excited, she transforms into a giant red panda.
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12. ‘Toy Story 2‘ (1999)

Andy heads off to Cowboy Camp, leaving his toys to their own devices. Things shift into high gear when an obsessive toy collector named Al McWhiggen (Wayne Knight), owner of Al’s Toy Barn kidnaps Woody (Tom Hanks). Andy’s toys mount a daring rescue mission, Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) meets his match and Woody has to decide where he and his heart truly belong.
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11. ‘WALL·E‘ (2008)

What if mankind had to leave Earth and somebody forgot to turn the last robot off? After hundreds of years doing what he was built for, WALL•E (Ben Burtt) discovers a new purpose in life when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE (Elissa Knight). EVE comes to realize that WALL•E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet’s future, and races back to space to report to the humans. Meanwhile, WALL•E chases EVE across the galaxy and sets into motion one of the most imaginative adventures ever brought to the big screen.
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10. ‘Soul‘ (2024)

Jamie Foxx voices Joe Gardner in Pixar’s ‘Soul’. Photo: Pixar.

Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) is a middle school teacher with a love for jazz music. After a successful audition at the Half Note Club, he suddenly gets into an accident that separates his soul from his body and is transported to the You Seminar, a center in which souls develop and gain passions before being transported to a newborn child. Joe must enlist help from the other souls-in-training, like 22 (Tina Fey), a soul who has spent eons in the You Seminar, in order to get back to Earth.
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9. ‘Toy Story 4‘ (2019)

Woody (Tom Hanks) has always been confident about his place in the world and that his priority is taking care of his kid, whether that’s Andy or Bonnie (Madeleine McGraw). But when Bonnie adds a reluctant new toy called “Forky” (Tony Hale) to her room, a road trip adventure alongside old and new friends will show Woody how big the world can be for a toy.
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8. ‘Ratatouille‘ (2007)

Remy (Patton Oswalt), a resident of Paris, appreciates good food and has quite a sophisticated palate. He would love to become a chef so he can create and enjoy culinary masterpieces to his heart’s delight. The only problem is, Remy is a rat. When he winds up in the sewer beneath one of Paris’ finest restaurants, the rodent gourmet finds himself ideally placed to realize his dream.
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7. ‘Coco‘ (2017)

Despite his family’s baffling generations-old ban on music, Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt). Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead following a mysterious chain of events. Along the way, he meets charming trickster Hector (Gael García Bernal), and together, they set off on an extraordinary journey to unlock the real story behind Miguel’s family history.
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6. ‘Toy Story 3‘ (2010)

Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz (Tim Allen), and the rest of Andy’s toys haven’t been played with in years. With Andy about to go to college, the gang find themselves accidentally left at a nefarious day care center. The toys must band together to escape and return home to Andy.
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5. ‘Finding Nemo‘ (2003)

(L to R) Albert Brooks voices Marlin and Ellen DeGeneres voices Dory in ‘Finding Nemo’. Photo: Pixar Studios.

Nemo (Alexander Gould), an adventurous young clownfish, is unexpectedly taken from his Great Barrier Reef home to a dentist’s office aquarium. It’s up to his worrisome father Marlin (Albert Brooks) and a friendly but forgetful fish Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) to bring Nemo home — meeting vegetarian sharks, surfer dude turtles, hypnotic jellyfish, hungry seagulls, and more along the way.
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4. ‘Inside Out‘ (2015)

When 11-year-old Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) moves to a new city, her Emotions team up to help her through the transition. Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith) work together, but when Joy and Sadness get lost, they must journey through unfamiliar places to get back home.
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3. ‘The Incredibles‘ (2004)

Bob Parr (Craig T. Nelson) has given up his superhero days to log in time as an insurance adjuster and raise his three children (Sarah Vowell, Spencer Fox and Eli Fucile) with his formerly heroic wife (Holly Hunter) in suburbia. But when he receives a mysterious assignment, it’s time to get back into costume.
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2. ‘Up‘ (2009)

Carl Fredricksen (Ed Asner) spent his entire life dreaming of exploring the globe and experiencing life to its fullest. But at age 78, life seems to have passed him by, until a twist of fate (and a persistent 8-year old Wilderness Explorer named Russell (Jordan Nagai)) gives him a new lease on life.
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1. ‘Toy Story‘ (1995)

(L to R) Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) in Pixar Animation Studios’ ‘Toy Story.’

Led by Woody (Tom Hanks), Andy’s toys live happily in his room until Andy’s birthday brings Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) onto the scene. Afraid of losing his place in Andy’s heart, Woody plots against Buzz. But when circumstances separate Buzz and Woody from their owner, the duo eventually learns to put aside their differences.
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June 25, 2025
The ‘Monsters, Inc.’ Cast to Reunite for Disney+ Sequel Series

Pixar

“Monsters, Inc.” is back in business, with a new animated series featuring almost the entire original voice cast of the beloved Pixar flick in development for Disney’s upcoming streaming service.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the show, “Monsters at Work,” will be a sequel series set after the events of the original 2001 film, which starred Billy Crystal as Mike Wazowski and John Goodman as James P. Sullivan, better known as Sulley. Other returning stars include John Ratzenberger (Yeti), Jennifer Tilly (Celia), and Bob Peterson (Roz).

The newcomers to the cast are equally as exciting. They include: Ben Feldman (“Superstore”), Kelly Marie Tran (“Star Wars: The Last Jedi”), Henry Winkler (“Barry”), Lucas Neff (“Raising Hope”), Alanna Ubach (“Coco”), Stephen Stanton (“Star Wars Resistance”), and Aisha Tyler (“Archer”).

Here’s the breakdown for “Monsters at Work,” and who’s who among the cast, per THR’s report:

‘Monsters at Work’ picks up six months after the original movie with the power plant at its center now harvesting the laughter of children to fuel the city of Monstropolis. The series follows Tylor Tuskmon (Feldman), an eager and talented mechanic on the Monsters, Inc. Facilities Team who dreams of working on the Laugh Floor alongside Mike and Sulley.

Tran will voice Val Little, Tylor’s lifelong friend and confidante; Winkler will give life to Fritz, the scatterbrained boss; Neff will voice Duncan, an opportunistic plumber; Ubach is Cutter, the officious rule follower; Stanton is Smitty and Needleman, the bumbling custodial team; and Tyler voices Tylor’s mom, Millie Tuskmon.

We’re especially excited to see Tyler among the cast, since she’s excellent on long-running FX animated spy spoof series “Archer.” The language on this show will probably be a bit cleaner than Lana’s, though.

“Monsters at Work” is set to premiere on Disney+ sometime in 2020. An exact launch date for that service is currently unknown, but it’s expected to arrive at the end of this year. Additional details are expected to be revealed during a Disney investor presentation this week.

[via: The Hollywood Reporter]

April 9, 2019
Will ‘Monsters, Inc.’ Get a Sequel? Director Pete Docter Weighs In

“Monsters, Inc.” turned 15 today, and all many fans want for the film’s birthday is a sequel.

In spite of the rumors, that gift doesn’t seem likely to materialize anytime soon. Director Pete Docter recently discussed the possibility with Entertainment Weekly, and he revealed that the team very intentionally opted for a prequel — 2013’s “Monsters University” — instead of reuniting monsters Sulley (John Goodman) and Wazowski (Billy Crystal) with human Boo (Mary Gibbs).

“We purposely went with a prequel for ‘Monsters University’ because we didn’t want to answer some of the questions about what happens to Boo, and how does she grow up, and things like that,” said Docter.

However, he didn’t rule out the possibility of a sequel entirely. “You never say never — who knows what will happen?” he told EW. “It would have to be really compelling, which is hopefully the benchmark for all of our sequels, anyway.”

Of course, Disney-Pixar fans know that you patience can pay off. It took 13 years for “Finding Nemo” to get its sequel, but “Finding Dory” was well worth the wait. Boo might see “Kitty” again yet.

[via: Entertainment Weekly]

November 2, 2016
Pixar’s ’20 Years of Friendship’ Tribute May Make You Cry (Again)

The Sniffle Monster may just get you again after watching Pixar’s latest video, “20 Years of Friendship.” It’s basically a lead-in to another preview for “The Good Dinosaur,” based around Pixar’s long history of celebrating friendships.

As the synopsis notes: “A single friendship can change everything. From Toy Story to The Good Dinosaur, join us in celebrating 20 years of friendship from Pixar Animation Studios.”

The video tugs at our heartstrings with soaring music and shots from “Toy Story,” “Ratatouille,” “Up,” “Inside Out,” Monsters, Inc.,” and “Finding Nemo,” before seguing into “Good Dinosaur.”

20 years ago … Pixar showed us that we always have a friend, no matter how small, or unlikely, or different. Friendships like these can last forever. But they all begin in a single moment.”

The bulk of the video is shots from the new movie, which comes out this Thanksgiving, but it reminds us that Disney Pixar has never really let us down when it comes to heart-melting stories. Sniff. You’ve been a good friend, but why do you always have to make us cry?!

Watch the video.

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October 16, 2015
‘Inside Out’ Director Pete Docter Talks Disney Easter Eggs, Theme Park Plans

Pete Docter has done it again.

The writer/director, who crafted genuine classics “Monsters, Inc.” and “Up,” is back with “Inside Out,” a brand new Pixar masterpiece.

The film is just as imaginative as his earlier features, but instead of a world populated by monsters or floating houses, Docter takes us inside the mind of an 11-year-old-girl, where personified emotions scramble to maintain equilibrium. It’s ingenious and gently surreal, and Docter has pulled it off with aplomb. Recently, we sat down with Docter at Pixar and talked about Bing Bong, the amazing imaginary friend character (voiced by Richard Kind), the challenges the filmmaker faced developing the story, and his dreams for the movie to appear in the Disney parks.

Moviefone: It seems like making this movie was really difficult. Was there ever a point where you said, “You know, maybe ‘Monsters, Inc.’ does need another sequel?’”

Pete Docter: [laughs] It was really hard! But it was always fun. If anything, there would be moments of fear because I thought: “We have so much potential with this movie, and if we stumble and we don’t take advantage of it, and if we go through the whole film and don’t explore why songs get stuck in your head — or déjà vu, or where dreams come from… Those are all really cool things to think about and if we mess it up, then bad on us. So there was a lot of pressure to make it as fun and interesting as we could.

What was the breakthrough?

There was a time where we working towards our fourth screening. And that’s a time when you’re hoping to get some approvals – you want parts of the film to move on into production and become final footage. But going into that, I knew that parts of it were working and there were fun little bits but as a statement, I didn’t know what we were saying. What is Joy’s journey? What does she learn on this? And I walked away that weekend thinking: “What if I quit? What if I get fired?” You really go into that pit. I said, “What am I going to miss if I leave?” And I thought, “I’m going to miss my friends.”

I had this realization that the friends that I have the closest attachment to are the ones that I’ve had good times with, but I’ve also been pissed off at and gone through sad times with and been scared for. I realized, those are the emotions … responsible for the most important things in our lives. So that allowed us to reformat the film and work towards the ending — but that was a real turning point.
What’s interesting about the opening of the movie, and most of the first half is, it’s very narration-heavy, and there’s a lot of jargon and terminology — versus the beginning of “Up,” which had no dialogue at all.

Yeah, I struggled with that. There are a number of things that I now realize I was pretty wrong about, and I was dead set on there being no narration. We were going to do the hard work of showing everybody and not telling. And it ended up that, since this whole world is made up, the characters are not things that you see walking around; they’re kind of abstract concepts that are visualized. But in the end, after working at it for maybe two years, we distilled it into maybe the core things that we needed to say. And more than one person has told me it’s their favorite part of the film, just the fun of getting to meet these guys and seeing the concepts that we’re dealing with.

Another thing that makes that opening so powerful is Michael Giacchino’s score. Can you talk about the sound of the mind?

Having worked with Michael on “Up,” we didn’t really consider anybody else because he’s such a great collaborator and brought so much to the film. But we did talk about how different this one is than “Up.” “Up” was nostalgic – [“Inside Out”] needed to be more psychological and the things that felt right were like playing with time, you’re playing little bits of instruments backwards or samples.

The way Michael likes to work is — he watched the film and he went off and said, “This might be wrong, but this is how I feel about the movie,” and he then played an 8-minute suite that brought us all to tears. It was absolutely beautiful and so perfectly connected to the feeling of the film.
The character of Bing Bong, he’s going to be everybody’s favorite.

His origins came from being part of this group of disused imaginary friends that Riley came up with when she was there. There was Mrs. Scribbles and kids will always draw the quarter sun that will float down, and that’s all he was, this quarter sun. And Bing Bong was an imaginary friend, an amalgam of animals that Riley came up with, made of cotton candy. But as we redesigned the story, we came up with the idea that the rest of the guys aren’t really relevant, but Bing Bong could be a mirror to Joy.

Joy’s thing is, she’s trying to hold on to childhood and preserve the happiness of life and we took that to an extreme. This is a guy who was big in Riley’s life, but he’s been out of a job since she was three, so he’s wanting Riley to go back to the good ol’ days, which if you get into it is kind of insane and delusional. So that can help Joy on her journey on what she has to learn.

There are a bunch of great Easter Eggs, but my favorite was a nod to the Haunted Mansion. How did that happen?

Well, when [producer] Jonas Rivera and I really started working together, we bonded over our love of Disneyland. So as soon as we had this idea of doing a nightmare, we had an idea of using the music from Haunted Mansion.

You know what got replaced, but was in for a while? This came from research – we learned that when you go to sleep, all the short-term memories are redistributed to long-term, which has a lot more space. That’s why if you stay awake for 3 days you can’t remember stuff, because so much space is taken up already. So during non-REM sleep, all of those are shuffled down. That made us design that kinetic sculpture of the memories, and for a long time we used the noise of “It’s a Small World.”

Speaking of Disneyland, there are certainly a number of elements that could be retrofitted for the parks. What would you want to see?

There are a number of different things. I would love to visualize Imaginationland, although that might be too obvious. I think, from the beginning, when we came up with this, Jonas said, “Oh, this should be in EPCOT Center.” The characters could have a great ability to talk about things in a pseudo-science — but also entertaining — way, talking about how your mind works and things like that. It would be fun.

“Inside Out” is in theaters now.
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June 19, 2015