Credit: Pixar Animation StudiosPixar is practically infamous for its emotional storytelling, and not just because of Inside Out. The studio has practically made millions by putting the viewers’ emotions in a vice year after year. With movies like Up, Onward, and Toy Story 3 known for being absolute tearjerkers, it’s easy to see how they’ve developed such a reputation.
Since there are 27 films in Pixar’s extensive catalog, dozens of websites and platforms have ranked them from best to worst and ranged the emotional value of each entry. However, one recent publication is doing a great disservice to both the films and the fanbase.
GQ Needs a Pixar Crash Course
This week GQ posted an article in its culture section dubbed, “All 27 Pixar films ranked by their likelihood to make you cry.” While this isn’t a particularly new concept, many fans of the studio and its films would agree that most of the list doesn’t match the fanbase’s consensus. For example, Up, often regarded as Pixar’s saddest piece due to its emotional opening, isn’t even in the top 10.
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To be fair, the writers are thorough in their analysis of most of the films. Not every Pixar movie is designed to make the audience burst into tears, so films like A Bugs Life and Monsters University obviously rank low on the list. Problems start to arise when Onward, a film about closure and the death of a father, is ranked less emotional than Cars.
Around entry 17, Toy Story 4, things start to take a turn. Because some of the movies GQ lists in the low range are the ones most audiences will instantly say when they think of the saddest Pixar films. Toy Story 3, Monsters Inc, and Luca don’t even make it into the top 10.
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In this writer’s opinion, the knife in the back ranks Turning Red and The Incredibles, a coming-of-age comedy and film about a family of superheroes, above one of the most emotional love stories Disney or Pixar has ever created. The opening sequence of Up is repeatedly regarded as the saddest moment in the studio’s history, but GQ ranks it only at #14.
The description reads,
If we were ranking Up on its opening alone, then of course it would be number one. No film that has the balls to scar an entire audience of adults and children with the painful reality of fertility issues and untimely death 10 minutes into its runtime deserves anything less. It’s perfect and so compelling. But, it has to be said, once that’s over, the rest of the film just feels slightly paint-by-numbers. It’s your bog-standard copy and paste of weird villain and cute animal. However, the emotional throughline of elder loneliness and longing just carries it into the annals of Pixar glory.
While GQ’s analysis isn’t wrong or untrue, their list is titled “All 27 Pixar films ranked by their likelihood to make you cry.” If Up is able to accomplish that goal within the first 10 minutes, it immediately takes home the gold.
Fans of any studio will go back and forth on the value of each product, and GQ’s list is just one of dozens out there. That said, some of the rankings of these entries just feel slapped on. Although this is one writer’s opinion in an endless sea of them, more thorough research could have been done for a more accurate list.
Which Pixar films made you cry? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!