Pixar Ranking Pt. 1
This month’s review will be a little different. Instead of reading a book, I decided to take on the large task of watching every single Pixar movie (that’s twenty-six movies) and rating them in order from worst to best. Now I know what you’re thinking. Movies aren’t books. That’s a very astute observation from you, and you are correct. Movies have to follow a different structure than books do. Usually, books have time to establish its’ story, and build the world over many pages. Meanwhile movies usually have to tell a story, build the world, and create interesting characters all within under two hours.
However, Pixar usually has this reputation of creating stories that get people invested, and I wanted to take another look at them and see what hits… and what misses.
How my ranking works is based on these four categories: World Building, Story, Characters, and Message. I specifically added the last category because most Pixar movies are made to convey a message to children and adults. How well this blends together will create a higher ranking, while the opposite will result in a lower ranking.
This review became extremely long, like thirty-four pages long. This is why I've decided to break this into parts to make it easily digestible. This first part will start with the worst Pixar movies, so, without delay, let’s get into it.
However, Pixar usually has this reputation of creating stories that get people invested, and I wanted to take another look at them and see what hits… and what misses.
How my ranking works is based on these four categories: World Building, Story, Characters, and Message. I specifically added the last category because most Pixar movies are made to convey a message to children and adults. How well this blends together will create a higher ranking, while the opposite will result in a lower ranking.
This review became extremely long, like thirty-four pages long. This is why I've decided to break this into parts to make it easily digestible. This first part will start with the worst Pixar movies, so, without delay, let’s get into it.
26. The Good
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You thought it was going to be Cars 2 didn’t you? Well, I did dislike Cars 2, but at least Cars 2 evoked an emotion from me. The Good Dinosaur was an unmemorable slog.
The world building is the only interesting thing in this movie as it shows how the world would be if dinosaurs never died to an asteroid, but I begin to take issue with this when humans are shown to live in this world too. Humans are treated similar to dogs in this universe, which makes little to no sense. Humans, even if dinosaurs are more intelligent and have ‘jobs’, would still evolve the same. They would still make tools, hunt larger prey, and learn to build structures, and eventually cities. But instead, the movie tells us only dinosaurs are capable of this, humans are only as smart as a household pet. Okay movie.
The story is as basic as it can get. Main character gets separated from his home and family and works to get back to them. I’ve seen this movie before. It was called Homeward Bound and it was made in the 90s with talking cats and dogs, and I remember that movie better than this movie I just watched.
The characters are also lackluster. Arlo is portrayed as a coward, but we don’t see why he’s so afraid when his siblings aren’t. Fear is not a trait you are just born with. It’s caused by something that happened in your life to shake you to your core. But we are never shown this, we just accept Arlo is scared, and has to overcome this. And it doesn’t make a compelling enough story to stand on its own.
The message of the movie boils down to fear is not something you can get rid of, but something you live with. And while this is a message I can get behind, it’s handled about as well as a clown at a funeral. This movie had beautiful visuals, but the characters cartoony appearance did it no favors. Overall, this was a forgettable movie, and for Pixar, one of the biggest missteps in their history.
The world building is the only interesting thing in this movie as it shows how the world would be if dinosaurs never died to an asteroid, but I begin to take issue with this when humans are shown to live in this world too. Humans are treated similar to dogs in this universe, which makes little to no sense. Humans, even if dinosaurs are more intelligent and have ‘jobs’, would still evolve the same. They would still make tools, hunt larger prey, and learn to build structures, and eventually cities. But instead, the movie tells us only dinosaurs are capable of this, humans are only as smart as a household pet. Okay movie.
The story is as basic as it can get. Main character gets separated from his home and family and works to get back to them. I’ve seen this movie before. It was called Homeward Bound and it was made in the 90s with talking cats and dogs, and I remember that movie better than this movie I just watched.
The characters are also lackluster. Arlo is portrayed as a coward, but we don’t see why he’s so afraid when his siblings aren’t. Fear is not a trait you are just born with. It’s caused by something that happened in your life to shake you to your core. But we are never shown this, we just accept Arlo is scared, and has to overcome this. And it doesn’t make a compelling enough story to stand on its own.
The message of the movie boils down to fear is not something you can get rid of, but something you live with. And while this is a message I can get behind, it’s handled about as well as a clown at a funeral. This movie had beautiful visuals, but the characters cartoony appearance did it no favors. Overall, this was a forgettable movie, and for Pixar, one of the biggest missteps in their history.
25. Lightyear |
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The newest Pixar movie to be released. Lightyear is supposed to be Andy’s favorite movie and what inspired him to want the Buzz Lightyear action figure. If this is Andy’s favorite movie, I’d hate to see his least favorite. Lightyear is simply too long for its own good. The movie peaks in the first twenty minutes, and it all goes downhill from there.
The world building has to be one of the worst I’ve seen from Pixar. They had the ability to come up with any wild or crazy planet for Buzz to be on, and the only thing they manage is a desolate landscape with not much going on except vines and same-skinned bugs. The whole movie spends time in two locations. The uninteresting planet, and the space above the uninteresting planet.
The story peaks early which is why I think this would have been stronger as a short than a full-length movie. Buzz makes a mistake trying to escape a planet he brought a bunch of people to, and in the process of escaping, he breaks the ship, stranding all the people on board to this new hostile landscape. He attempts to fix this by testing a new crystal to replace the broken one. But every attempt to power it causes him to lose time with every failed attempt. Buzz tries multiple times as his friend ages and eventually dies before he’s able to rectify his mistake. This part of the story is told beautifully, and if I could judge the movie on this alone, it would rank much higher, but unfortunately, we still have another hour and twenty mins left.
The characters are nothing to write home about. Buzz is the same character at the beginning and the end. I honestly think the lesson Buzz has to learn isn’t even justified. When setting up a character, we have to know the beliefs of the character, and how we as an audience know they need to change. However, Buzz’s belief is that he doesn’t want to work with inexperienced people because they slow him down. Now I know he needs to learn the value of teamwork and to value people of all skill levels, but multiple times throughout the film I just kept saying Buzz is absolutely right. This inexperienced person almost got him killed, or he’s having to risk his life to save inexperienced person, or inexperienced person is making this movie twice as long because they have to be an obstacle. At the end, I think Buzz had a point, and I really don’t believe his turn to accept rookies at the end since his belief was only re-enforced, not challenged. This makes Buzz a very flat character. Most lines he has is recycled from dialogue from Toy Story which didn’t feel genuine seeing as this Buzz doesn’t have much personality.
The message is learning to accept your mistake and facing the fact that sometimes you can’t fix things. This message isn’t bad per se but it made the journey to get there pointless. So much of the movie’s run time is spent trying to get the people off this planet, but in the end we just come to accept it? And with Buzz’s non-existent character growth, it made it even more pointless.
This movie was a waste of time, and I don’t remember much from it after watching it. Buzz already had a pretty good origin; it was called Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, and that show did more for Buzz’s character than this ever would (it actually featured Star Command for one thing). I doubt this is eight-year-old Andy’s favorite movie, because I doubt any kid that age would be entertained by this boring mess.
The world building has to be one of the worst I’ve seen from Pixar. They had the ability to come up with any wild or crazy planet for Buzz to be on, and the only thing they manage is a desolate landscape with not much going on except vines and same-skinned bugs. The whole movie spends time in two locations. The uninteresting planet, and the space above the uninteresting planet.
The story peaks early which is why I think this would have been stronger as a short than a full-length movie. Buzz makes a mistake trying to escape a planet he brought a bunch of people to, and in the process of escaping, he breaks the ship, stranding all the people on board to this new hostile landscape. He attempts to fix this by testing a new crystal to replace the broken one. But every attempt to power it causes him to lose time with every failed attempt. Buzz tries multiple times as his friend ages and eventually dies before he’s able to rectify his mistake. This part of the story is told beautifully, and if I could judge the movie on this alone, it would rank much higher, but unfortunately, we still have another hour and twenty mins left.
The characters are nothing to write home about. Buzz is the same character at the beginning and the end. I honestly think the lesson Buzz has to learn isn’t even justified. When setting up a character, we have to know the beliefs of the character, and how we as an audience know they need to change. However, Buzz’s belief is that he doesn’t want to work with inexperienced people because they slow him down. Now I know he needs to learn the value of teamwork and to value people of all skill levels, but multiple times throughout the film I just kept saying Buzz is absolutely right. This inexperienced person almost got him killed, or he’s having to risk his life to save inexperienced person, or inexperienced person is making this movie twice as long because they have to be an obstacle. At the end, I think Buzz had a point, and I really don’t believe his turn to accept rookies at the end since his belief was only re-enforced, not challenged. This makes Buzz a very flat character. Most lines he has is recycled from dialogue from Toy Story which didn’t feel genuine seeing as this Buzz doesn’t have much personality.
The message is learning to accept your mistake and facing the fact that sometimes you can’t fix things. This message isn’t bad per se but it made the journey to get there pointless. So much of the movie’s run time is spent trying to get the people off this planet, but in the end we just come to accept it? And with Buzz’s non-existent character growth, it made it even more pointless.
This movie was a waste of time, and I don’t remember much from it after watching it. Buzz already had a pretty good origin; it was called Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, and that show did more for Buzz’s character than this ever would (it actually featured Star Command for one thing). I doubt this is eight-year-old Andy’s favorite movie, because I doubt any kid that age would be entertained by this boring mess.
24. Cars 2 |
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And here it is. The usual suspect for worst Pixar movie. My distaste for the Cars universe is well known through-out my family, but after re-watching the trilogy, I’ve kept an open mind and realized this was not the worst Pixar movie to ever exist. It’s the third worst.
The world building is the absolute worst (yes worst than Lightyear) to the point its’ distracting. It’s obvious this was John Lasseter’s passion project, and no one else’s. The world is basically the real world, but without people. How did the buildings get built without humans? Not important. How can cars hold things with their tires when everything else about the car is similar to real world physics? Who cares. Why are the bugs and birds cars in the first two movies, but Cars 3 shows actual birds again? Beats me. There was so little thought put into how this world would be constructed if only cars occupied it that it surprises me to this day three of these movies were made.
The story for this one is what convinced me not to put this one last. I will admit, I actually like the story of Cars 2. Someone sabotaging a Grand Prix race to make alternate fuel look worse compared to oil is a story told best with cars. What drags this down is the introduction of the ‘spy’ cars. Similar to the world building, they make it hard to suspend my disbelief. But what really drags this movie down is the one character who should have remained as a side character.
I can’t stand Mater as a character. When I was a wee lass, I used to think Larry the Cable Guy was funny. As I have grown older, his fake southern accent just grinds my gears. By today’s standards, it would be insulting to assume someone with a southern accent is unintelligent, and yet this franchise re-enforces that stereotype. Mater becomes a ‘spy’ through a series of accidents, and despite him telling the actual spies he is just a tow truck, everyone else has to be stupid for the gag to continue. The other characters take a back seat in this movie. This is a grave mistake as this movie could’ve built up Lightning McQueen’s character (making 3’s story hit harder), but he’s barely in it despite him and Mater being friends.
The message of this one is to stay true to yourself, and don’t judge people by appearances. A basic message that feels a bit of a slap to the face when Cars literally made a character with a southern accent act less intelligent around others, then expects us, the audience, not to judge people based on stereotypes. After making him a stereotype in the first place.
The world building is the absolute worst (yes worst than Lightyear) to the point its’ distracting. It’s obvious this was John Lasseter’s passion project, and no one else’s. The world is basically the real world, but without people. How did the buildings get built without humans? Not important. How can cars hold things with their tires when everything else about the car is similar to real world physics? Who cares. Why are the bugs and birds cars in the first two movies, but Cars 3 shows actual birds again? Beats me. There was so little thought put into how this world would be constructed if only cars occupied it that it surprises me to this day three of these movies were made.
The story for this one is what convinced me not to put this one last. I will admit, I actually like the story of Cars 2. Someone sabotaging a Grand Prix race to make alternate fuel look worse compared to oil is a story told best with cars. What drags this down is the introduction of the ‘spy’ cars. Similar to the world building, they make it hard to suspend my disbelief. But what really drags this movie down is the one character who should have remained as a side character.
I can’t stand Mater as a character. When I was a wee lass, I used to think Larry the Cable Guy was funny. As I have grown older, his fake southern accent just grinds my gears. By today’s standards, it would be insulting to assume someone with a southern accent is unintelligent, and yet this franchise re-enforces that stereotype. Mater becomes a ‘spy’ through a series of accidents, and despite him telling the actual spies he is just a tow truck, everyone else has to be stupid for the gag to continue. The other characters take a back seat in this movie. This is a grave mistake as this movie could’ve built up Lightning McQueen’s character (making 3’s story hit harder), but he’s barely in it despite him and Mater being friends.
The message of this one is to stay true to yourself, and don’t judge people by appearances. A basic message that feels a bit of a slap to the face when Cars literally made a character with a southern accent act less intelligent around others, then expects us, the audience, not to judge people based on stereotypes. After making him a stereotype in the first place.
23. Turning Red |
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Turning Red is one of those films that confuses me. What was this trying to tell me? A lot of people have seen this film as an allegory for puberty. I’ve also seen the argument of the implications of generational trauma. And after knowing these things before watching this, I specifically looked for these. And I’m still not sure I have a compelling argument for either.
The world building is pretty basic. It’s set in the real world in Canada around the late 90s-early 00s. I honestly didn’t get the feel of Canada much, and if the character didn’t wear a big maple leaf on her shirt, or them mentioning the city being Toronto, I could’ve assumed this movie took place in the U.S.
The story is about Meilin Lee (Mei) trying to impress her mother by going above and beyond her expectations. However, Mei develops a crush for a boy which causes her to act in a fashion her mother isn’t proud of. After thoroughly embarrassing her daughter, Mei turns into a large red panda anytime she expresses any outburst of emotion. The rest of the movie is spent with Mei trying to decide if she should banish this Red Panda spirit to return to her previous life her mother approved of, or if she should embrace the spirit and go against her mother’s wishes.
The character of Mei is very pre-teen. Extremely so. And because of this, I found her more annoying than relating or rooting for her. I respect them keeping her true to her age, and not having her do things that would seem out of character, however, I was bored through a lot of it, and I already knew what she would decide to do in the end. Something Pixar is usually good at, subverting expectations, wasn’t done here.
The message was another stay true to yourself, which I’ve seen many times before in more compelling ways.
This movie just didn’t resonate with me. I’ve heard from some that say this is their favorite movie and cheering that there is finally a movie about pre-teens. And if that’s the case, I’m happy for you (no sarcasm). Everyone should have a movie that speaks to them, but since I’ve long left my pre-teen years in the past, this movie had nothing to say to me. The only thing that could’ve related to me was the generational trauma the movie shows with Mei, her mother, and her grandmother, but it only takes focus in the last ten minutes. If you want generational trauma, go watch Encanto. It did it better.
The world building is pretty basic. It’s set in the real world in Canada around the late 90s-early 00s. I honestly didn’t get the feel of Canada much, and if the character didn’t wear a big maple leaf on her shirt, or them mentioning the city being Toronto, I could’ve assumed this movie took place in the U.S.
The story is about Meilin Lee (Mei) trying to impress her mother by going above and beyond her expectations. However, Mei develops a crush for a boy which causes her to act in a fashion her mother isn’t proud of. After thoroughly embarrassing her daughter, Mei turns into a large red panda anytime she expresses any outburst of emotion. The rest of the movie is spent with Mei trying to decide if she should banish this Red Panda spirit to return to her previous life her mother approved of, or if she should embrace the spirit and go against her mother’s wishes.
The character of Mei is very pre-teen. Extremely so. And because of this, I found her more annoying than relating or rooting for her. I respect them keeping her true to her age, and not having her do things that would seem out of character, however, I was bored through a lot of it, and I already knew what she would decide to do in the end. Something Pixar is usually good at, subverting expectations, wasn’t done here.
The message was another stay true to yourself, which I’ve seen many times before in more compelling ways.
This movie just didn’t resonate with me. I’ve heard from some that say this is their favorite movie and cheering that there is finally a movie about pre-teens. And if that’s the case, I’m happy for you (no sarcasm). Everyone should have a movie that speaks to them, but since I’ve long left my pre-teen years in the past, this movie had nothing to say to me. The only thing that could’ve related to me was the generational trauma the movie shows with Mei, her mother, and her grandmother, but it only takes focus in the last ten minutes. If you want generational trauma, go watch Encanto. It did it better.
22. Brave |
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The first Pixar movie to generate so much hype from a trailer, only to be sold a completely different movie on release. The production issues for this movie is no secret. The original director, Brenda Chapman, was ousted after creative disagreements with John Lasseter (oh look, him again) and replaced with Mark Andrews, a first-time director. If this movie were solely directed by Chapman, it would have made a stronger film. Because the first part of Brave, you know the parts before the bear plot comes in, that’s all Chapman’s original story. Andrews (and to some extent Lasseter) is responsible for the mess we got.
The world building in Brave starts interesting but gets very small as the film continues. This is the first time we get a glance at Scottish culture and how the early age of the Scots formed. The landscape is beautiful with its grassy hills, and large cliff sides. It even weaves Scottish myth into the land as well leaving mystery of how much fantasy is in this world. However, about thirty minutes in, this is all lost.
The story is good for the first act. Merida is a Scottish princess. She wants to buck tradition and not be forced to marry a random clan leader’s son. In this sense, she’s a lot like Jasmine from Aladdin, however, Merida does something about it instead of subjecting herself to her lands’ law. She goes to a witch to change her mother’s mind of being married off, and this ends up turning her mother into…. a bear. The story takes a nosedive from here as the Scottish lore, and Merida’s values are no longer in question because the movie has to be the plot of Brother Bear now.
Merida is a difficult character to judge. We like her for being a girl who takes matters into her own hands, and I like that she does have flaws, and is proven wrong. But I don’t think we come to these conclusions naturally. Merida doesn’t want to get married to a stranger, so thus she transforms her mom. They go on a short journey to change her back. The mom changes her mind about the marriage, and tells Merida exactly what to say to get out of it. Thus, Merida got what she wanted in the end with little character growth. From what I understood, the marriage was supposed to unite kingdoms, and yet the other clan leaders can just have their minds changed from a simple request to allow the younger people to make their own decisions. Merida’s only change of character I saw was her going from taking no responsibilities of her actions to full.
The message could technically be two. You control your own fate. Or your actions have consequences that you are solely responsible for. And while the second message is stronger, it could’ve used a stronger story to back it up.
This movie started large with Chapman but got very small and shallow under Andrews. I wished I could’ve seen what the original vision was for this film, because while this isn’t the most disappointed I’ve been with a Pixar movie (that one is later in the list), this one had the most potential to be great, and the ball was completely dropped.
The world building in Brave starts interesting but gets very small as the film continues. This is the first time we get a glance at Scottish culture and how the early age of the Scots formed. The landscape is beautiful with its grassy hills, and large cliff sides. It even weaves Scottish myth into the land as well leaving mystery of how much fantasy is in this world. However, about thirty minutes in, this is all lost.
The story is good for the first act. Merida is a Scottish princess. She wants to buck tradition and not be forced to marry a random clan leader’s son. In this sense, she’s a lot like Jasmine from Aladdin, however, Merida does something about it instead of subjecting herself to her lands’ law. She goes to a witch to change her mother’s mind of being married off, and this ends up turning her mother into…. a bear. The story takes a nosedive from here as the Scottish lore, and Merida’s values are no longer in question because the movie has to be the plot of Brother Bear now.
Merida is a difficult character to judge. We like her for being a girl who takes matters into her own hands, and I like that she does have flaws, and is proven wrong. But I don’t think we come to these conclusions naturally. Merida doesn’t want to get married to a stranger, so thus she transforms her mom. They go on a short journey to change her back. The mom changes her mind about the marriage, and tells Merida exactly what to say to get out of it. Thus, Merida got what she wanted in the end with little character growth. From what I understood, the marriage was supposed to unite kingdoms, and yet the other clan leaders can just have their minds changed from a simple request to allow the younger people to make their own decisions. Merida’s only change of character I saw was her going from taking no responsibilities of her actions to full.
The message could technically be two. You control your own fate. Or your actions have consequences that you are solely responsible for. And while the second message is stronger, it could’ve used a stronger story to back it up.
This movie started large with Chapman but got very small and shallow under Andrews. I wished I could’ve seen what the original vision was for this film, because while this isn’t the most disappointed I’ve been with a Pixar movie (that one is later in the list), this one had the most potential to be great, and the ball was completely dropped.
21. Cars |
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The mess that started it all. Cars isn’t bad. It has little sparks here and there, but its ultimately held back by many factors.
The world building I’ve already touched on in the Cars 2 section, and nothing here changes my mind about it. Flying Volkswagen bugs…(shakes head)
The story is the same plot as a movie from the 90s called Doc Hollywood. That film had Michael J. Fox as a surgeon from California who crashes his car into a fence in a small South Carolina town. The judge sentences him to community service while he waits for his car to get repaired so he can leave. The more time he spends there, he integrates with the town, and learns these people are not just some country bumpkins and begins to care about them in the end when he decides to stay. Sound familiar?
Lightning McQueen is the main character of this one, and we see as he goes from someone who has let fame go to his head to becoming humbled by the end of it. At the beginning, Lightning is only interested in winning so he can go on to be sponsored by Dinoco, which will lead to more fame and riches. Lightning’s character is still very similar to Michael J. Fox’s character. Someone who is arrogant and has to learn how to be a better person by interacting with others who don’t have any idea who he is. Mater is also in this movie and serves better as a side character. Mater still has the same stereotypes that will plague him in the second movie, but here it’s balanced a bit better playing off of the arrogant McQueen. Mater ends up breaking through Lightning’s walls, because he doesn’t understand the walls to begin with.
The message is nothing to write home about. As usual, don’t let fame go to your head. With any story involving an arrogant character learning to better themselves thanks to the people around them, the message is always the same.
Like I said at the beginning, Cars isn’t bad. But it isn’t good either. If the world building weren’t so atrocious, this might have been ranked higher. If this movie wasn’t a remake of a Michael J. Fox movie with NASCAR replacing doctors, this might have been ranked higher. Unfortunately, we have Cars.
The world building I’ve already touched on in the Cars 2 section, and nothing here changes my mind about it. Flying Volkswagen bugs…(shakes head)
The story is the same plot as a movie from the 90s called Doc Hollywood. That film had Michael J. Fox as a surgeon from California who crashes his car into a fence in a small South Carolina town. The judge sentences him to community service while he waits for his car to get repaired so he can leave. The more time he spends there, he integrates with the town, and learns these people are not just some country bumpkins and begins to care about them in the end when he decides to stay. Sound familiar?
Lightning McQueen is the main character of this one, and we see as he goes from someone who has let fame go to his head to becoming humbled by the end of it. At the beginning, Lightning is only interested in winning so he can go on to be sponsored by Dinoco, which will lead to more fame and riches. Lightning’s character is still very similar to Michael J. Fox’s character. Someone who is arrogant and has to learn how to be a better person by interacting with others who don’t have any idea who he is. Mater is also in this movie and serves better as a side character. Mater still has the same stereotypes that will plague him in the second movie, but here it’s balanced a bit better playing off of the arrogant McQueen. Mater ends up breaking through Lightning’s walls, because he doesn’t understand the walls to begin with.
The message is nothing to write home about. As usual, don’t let fame go to your head. With any story involving an arrogant character learning to better themselves thanks to the people around them, the message is always the same.
Like I said at the beginning, Cars isn’t bad. But it isn’t good either. If the world building weren’t so atrocious, this might have been ranked higher. If this movie wasn’t a remake of a Michael J. Fox movie with NASCAR replacing doctors, this might have been ranked higher. Unfortunately, we have Cars.
20. Incredibles 2
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You know earlier how I said there was a movie that disappointed me more than Brave? Well, Incredibles 2 is that movie. My expectations were so high for this movie. I grew up with the first one. My mom would play it over and over to point we got sick of watching it. My hype grew as Brad Bird was returning to write and direct. It had been fourteen years since the original, and so I looked forward how things would change. After all, 2004 hadn’t been the start of the Superhero Renaissance, and so what the first movie had to say on superheroes was new and fresh. So, I was excited to see what Brad Bird would say now that we were in a Superhero Fatigue fourteen years later. Then it was announced the movie would be picking up right where the first one left off. Then I heard about Brad Bird wanted to include a scene similar to the Jack-Jack Attack short in the movie. And then the movie came out. My disappointment was immeasurable.
The world building is exactly like the first. The movie has this 60s style, without beating you over the head with it. This gives it a unique dated feel, without being dated. We mostly stay in the city, which is a bit more fleshed out than what we got in The Incredibles. Overall, because it was strong in the first, this movie got to sail by without having to change much in this department.
Oh boy. The story. So, here’s where my biggest gripe comes from. All of my complaints with the story would be fixed if Bird had decided to embrace the time gap between movies. By doing so, this story might've had more of a leg to stand on, but since we pick up right where the first movie left off, there’s already problems. At this point in time, heroes aren’t legal yet. Let me bold that for you because it’s important and it’s going to be a tool we use later. After the Underminer fight goes wrong, The Incredibles aren’t looking so great. They are being kicked out of the protection program, senators and city officials still think Supers are more destructive than helpful. However, a business man named Winston Deavor shows up and gives an opportunity to Elastic-Girl to show how Supers can be helpful to people and use her to change public opinion of Supers in the process. I’m going to try my best to not spoil this, in case you really wanted to see this movie (even though you had four years). The villain’s plan is stupid. Cartoonily stupid. The big plan of the Screenslaver is to help Supers change public opinion and get senators and ambassadors to sign a law making Supers legal again, just to mind control the Supers and make them do destructive things on TV. Thus making Supers never to be legal again. You remember that tool I said to save for later? Let’s use it now! Why go through all the effort to make them legal when it was pretty clear, Supers were nowhere close to changing public opinion. The decisions made are just mind boggling.
Characters felt a bit assassinated here compared to their first outing. Again, if this film took place fourteen years later, I could believe Helen and Bob to change a bit. But this movie doesn’t take place over a decade later. Which makes it unbelievable that the things Helen put Bob down for in the first movie, she is now doing. She claims she’s doing it for her family, but if that were the case, she would call and check on her kids, but she never talks with them even once after she leaves. Bob is portrayed as a jealous husband who feels short-changed that he’s having to do ‘housewife’ things while his wife is out doing what he wants to do. Luckily, the movie doesn’t dwell on this long, because as shown by the end of the first film, he takes a genuine interest in his kids, and grows to spend more time with them. Which he has to relearn again in this movie.
The message of this movie… was something. Even watching it a second time, I’m not entirely sure what this film is trying to say. Because of the botched story, and how the characters are handled, I don’t know what this film wanted me to learn. Family is important? Be careful who you trust? Don’t become enslaved by TV? It’s ok for stay-at-home dad’s to exist?
If they just embraced the time gap, the movie would have been better for it. Jack-Jack would be a teenager, maybe dealing with his multiple powers, we’d get to see how the government views Supers after giving them time to work. We could see how Dash and Violet balance college life and being a hero. But more importantly, I wanted commentary on how we as a society have become over saturated by superheroes in the media. And yet, instead of defeating the dark side, Incredibles 2 joined it.
The world building is exactly like the first. The movie has this 60s style, without beating you over the head with it. This gives it a unique dated feel, without being dated. We mostly stay in the city, which is a bit more fleshed out than what we got in The Incredibles. Overall, because it was strong in the first, this movie got to sail by without having to change much in this department.
Oh boy. The story. So, here’s where my biggest gripe comes from. All of my complaints with the story would be fixed if Bird had decided to embrace the time gap between movies. By doing so, this story might've had more of a leg to stand on, but since we pick up right where the first movie left off, there’s already problems. At this point in time, heroes aren’t legal yet. Let me bold that for you because it’s important and it’s going to be a tool we use later. After the Underminer fight goes wrong, The Incredibles aren’t looking so great. They are being kicked out of the protection program, senators and city officials still think Supers are more destructive than helpful. However, a business man named Winston Deavor shows up and gives an opportunity to Elastic-Girl to show how Supers can be helpful to people and use her to change public opinion of Supers in the process. I’m going to try my best to not spoil this, in case you really wanted to see this movie (even though you had four years). The villain’s plan is stupid. Cartoonily stupid. The big plan of the Screenslaver is to help Supers change public opinion and get senators and ambassadors to sign a law making Supers legal again, just to mind control the Supers and make them do destructive things on TV. Thus making Supers never to be legal again. You remember that tool I said to save for later? Let’s use it now! Why go through all the effort to make them legal when it was pretty clear, Supers were nowhere close to changing public opinion. The decisions made are just mind boggling.
Characters felt a bit assassinated here compared to their first outing. Again, if this film took place fourteen years later, I could believe Helen and Bob to change a bit. But this movie doesn’t take place over a decade later. Which makes it unbelievable that the things Helen put Bob down for in the first movie, she is now doing. She claims she’s doing it for her family, but if that were the case, she would call and check on her kids, but she never talks with them even once after she leaves. Bob is portrayed as a jealous husband who feels short-changed that he’s having to do ‘housewife’ things while his wife is out doing what he wants to do. Luckily, the movie doesn’t dwell on this long, because as shown by the end of the first film, he takes a genuine interest in his kids, and grows to spend more time with them. Which he has to relearn again in this movie.
The message of this movie… was something. Even watching it a second time, I’m not entirely sure what this film is trying to say. Because of the botched story, and how the characters are handled, I don’t know what this film wanted me to learn. Family is important? Be careful who you trust? Don’t become enslaved by TV? It’s ok for stay-at-home dad’s to exist?
If they just embraced the time gap, the movie would have been better for it. Jack-Jack would be a teenager, maybe dealing with his multiple powers, we’d get to see how the government views Supers after giving them time to work. We could see how Dash and Violet balance college life and being a hero. But more importantly, I wanted commentary on how we as a society have become over saturated by superheroes in the media. And yet, instead of defeating the dark side, Incredibles 2 joined it.
That was a lot, and we only covered six movies. These were the movies I considered the worst in the catalogue. The next part will focus on movies I thought were ok, but not huge standouts, or movies I will not be re-watching anytime soon. Do you agree so far? Write in the comments below if you think a certain movie should or shouldn't be here, and I'll see you in Pt. 2 shortly!