Pixar has consistently made great animated movies for years, and after 29 movies, it can be said that only two are actually bad, for different reasons. Pixar continues to be a powerhouse in the field of animation, and its reign began in 1995 with Toy Story, the first entirely computer-animated feature film.
Since then, Pixar has explored and created different worlds through its movies, such as worlds with monsters and humans in Monsters Inc., one with superheroes in The Incredibles movies, and one where a rat became a chef in Ratatouille. While not all Pixar movies have been box office hits, the studio has become known for its high quality.
With 29 movies released, many others scrapped, and others in development, Pixar shows no signs of stopping soon. Although the studio has many hits and beloved movies, there are two Pixar movies that can be said are actually bad, but not for the same reasons.
Cars 2 Is Still Pixar’s Weakest Film
At the time of writing, Pixar has seven franchises: Toy Story, Cars, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Monsters Inc., Inside Out, and Coco, the latter getting a sequel in the near future. Toy Story is the studio’s biggest and most successful franchise, and the second biggest is Cars.
The Cars franchise began in 2006 with the movie of the same name, directed by John Lᴀsseter. Cars was, by far, Pixar’s weirdest movie at the time, as it introduced the audience to a world populated by anthropomorphic vehicles, with no humans or other animals. Leading Cars is Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson), a successful race car.
On his way to the most important race of his career, McQueen becomes stranded in the town of Radiator Springs. There, McQueen gets a much-needed reality check and learns valuable lessons about friendship, life, and priorities. Cars was a big box office hit, so it’s not surprising that it started a franchise – unfortunately, Cars 2 wasn’t at the level of the first movie.
Cars 2 went bigger with its story, but it didn’t do it right. Cars 2 sees Lightning McQueen, his best friend Mater (Larry the Cable Guy), and others traveling to the other side of the world for the World Grand Prix. However, Mater ends up involved in a risky espionage mission that puts his and McQueen’s lives in danger.
Despite its box office success, Cars 2 is the weakest movie in Pixar’s history, thanks to its messy plot, too many subplots, inconsistent tone, deviation from racing, and focus on Mater rather than McQueen and the World Grand Prix. Cars 2 doesn’t feel like part of the movie series, and though Cars 3 was an improvement, Cars 2 tainted the franchise.
Lightyear Is The Most Pointless Movie In Pixar’s Canon
Even with all its flaws, Cars 2 makes sense due to the success of the first movie and the potential to expand this unique world. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for one movie in the Toy Story franchise: Lightyear, a different type of spinoff within the world of Woody and Buzz.
Lightyear is the movie that Toy Story’s Andy watched before the events of the first movie and that led to his love for the character of Buzz Lightyear. As such, Lightyear follows Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Chris Evans) after he’s marooned on a hostile planet during a mission.
Buzz, with the help of a new crew, tries to find a way to return home, but he comes across the villainous Zurg. While it can be said that Lightyear is entertaining, it’s an unnecessary addition to the world of Toy Story, as it ultimately didn’t add much (or anything) to the franchise and Buzz’s story.
Lightyear was criticized for being a conventional and predictable origin story, having no links to Toy Story, not adding to Buzz’s story, and for its twist, becoming one of Pixar’s most forgettable movies and the most pointless one so far.
Most Of Pixar’s Less-Popular Movies Are Still Pretty Great
As mentioned above, not all Pixar movies have been a success or have the same popularity as Toy Story or Finding Nemo, but even those тιтles (except for Cars 2 and Lightyear, of course) are still great. Movies like The Good Dinosaur and Onward have faded into obscurity, though not because they are bad.
Some of Pixar’s less-popular movies are so due to poor marketing, which made it difficult for them to find an audience. Others, like Onward, Soul, Luca, and Turning Red, were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic that forced them to skip a theatrical release or have reduced ones. Still, their quality (visual and narrative) is at the level of Pixar’s best.
All these movies released directly on Disney+ covered serious topics that aren’t strange to Pixar, but their limited release didn’t allow them to reach the popularity they could have had. Others, like Elemental and Elio, also struggled to find their audience, but they are great movies with creative premises, worlds, and characters.
Pixar’s Consistent Quality Is Still Something To Marvel At, Despite Recent Struggles
Pixar having just two bad movies and its less-popular ones still being great speaks volumes about the studio’s quality. Pixar started strong with Toy Story, and it has been in constant improvement since then, never lowering its quality, even if some stories were more on the weaker side.
Surely, Pixar has been struggling in recent years, coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic and the release of Onward, but, as mentioned above, these struggles can be more attributed to a different release plan rather than the quality of the movies.
Pixar is a rare and impressive case of a studio with almost no bad movies, and even its bad ones have some good qualities, mostly the high quality of the animation, and the studio keeps producing more and more movies with its impressive quality and creativity.
