Picking Pixar

Chit Chatting Cars, Talking Toys, Monsters and Superheros...Pixar sure has brought us some great movies in the past 16 years.  And with Cars 2 premiering tomorrow, I've decided to put the films in order from my least to most favorite.  Really though, seeing as how I've loved each one, repeatedly re-watched them all when they aired on ABC Family, and own each on DVD, this little rating system is really more of a great to greatest scale.

11) A Bug's Life:   It's the tale of an oddball individualist inventor ant who hires what he things are "warrior bugs"-actually circus performers-to fight of a band of grasshoppers who have made the ant colony their servants.  While I always liked the allusion of the little guy defeating the evil giant, this film's short of the old man playing chess is my absolute favorite!

10) Cars:  The  movie takes place in a world populated by anthropomorphic motor vehicles.  After the Piston Cup's three-way tie, rookie Lightning McQueen ends up in the run-down town of Radiator Springs.  After falling for the blue porsche Sally, McQueen decides to set up his headquarters in the small town and put Route 66 back on the map.

9) Toy Story 2:  Buzz and Woody are back again, but this time the dynamic duo battles the Evil Emperor Zurg, a prospector, and the owner of Al's Toy Barn.

8) The Incredibles:  The story is set in a world just like ours where some people have superhuman abilities.  Bob's desire to save the world puts his entire family in danger.  He battles Syndrome, who intends to avenge himself against Mr. Incredible and other superheroes for shunning him as a boy.

7) Ratatouille:  The plot follows Remy, a rat who dreams of becoming a chef and tries to achieve his goal  by forming an alliance with a Parisian restaurant's garbage boy.

6) Finding Nemo:  It tells the story of the overly protective clownfish Marlin who, along with a regal tang called Dory, searches for his abducted son Nemo.  Along the way Marlin learns to take risks and to let Nemo care for himself.

5) Toy Story:  It's the movie that started it all.  In 1995,we were introduced to Woody, Buzz, and the rest of Andy's toys.  I remember my four year old self being absolutely mesmerized by the talking toys.  I just knew that as soon as I left to go to preschool, my Barbies and Becky's Mr. Potato Head would have tea parties.

4) Monster's Inc:  The story takes place in Monstropolis, a city populated entirely by monsters.  Although it's not part of the human world, it can be connected to children's bedrooms through their closet doors.  The city runs on children's screams, and one day the best scarers find a little two year old has followed them back into the monster world.

3)WALL-E:  The story follows a robot named WALL-E, who is designed to clean up a waste covered Earth far in the future.  He eventually falls in love with another robot named EVE and follows her into outer space on an adventure that changes the destiny of both his kind and humanity.

2) UP:  By tying thousands of balloons to his home, 78-year-old Carl Fredrickson sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South Africa.  Right after lifting off, however, he learns he isn't alone on his journey, since Russell, a wilderness explorer 70 years his junior, has inadvertently become a stowaway on the trip.  After landing atop a mountain, the duo find themselves in an adventure of a lifetime.

1)Toy Story 3:  The first time I saw this movie I was with six other college students; by the time the ending credits rolled we were all crying.  The plot focuses on the toys Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and their friends as they deal with an uncertain future as their owner, Andy, prepares to leave for college.