100. Happy Feet (2006) (Winner of 2006 Best Animated Feature)
Directed by: George Miller
Written by: George Miller, John Collee, Judy Morris and Warren Coleman
Starring: Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Brittany Murphy, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Hugo Weaving, Anthony LaPaglia, Magda Szubanski and Steve Irwin
Music by: John Powell
Rated: U
All emperor penguins in Antarctica are expected to win their mates over with a “love song”. Mumble (Elijah Wood), the chick of the best singing penguins in Emperor Land, Mephias (Hugh Jackman) and Norma Jean (Nicole Kidman), however has a horrible singing voice, but can instead tap-dance his way to happiness. After being thrown out of his colony when the bigoted Elder (Hugo Weaving) blames him for the fish disappearing, Mumble and his Adele penguin companions, led by the suave Ramón (Robin Williams), must journey across the snowy wastelands to find the source of the lack of food..
Notable throughout the animation community as one of the few animated films in 2006 that was actually better than average throughout that terrible year for animation, Happy Feet may not have aged well in terms of predictability and originality, but the outstanding animation and huge musical setpieces make this penguin tale worth re-releasing in IMAX 3D (even if Over the Hedge and Flushed Away also deserved the nomination.)
Not much else to say about George Miller’s first foray into animation, Happy Feet may feel like a overblown extended music video at times, but it’s clear that his style of directing and cinematography did manage to make this film stand out in such a weak year, despite its predictability and the questionable voice-acting.
Rating: 3.5/5
99. Brave (2012) (Winner of 2012 Best Animated Feature)
Directed by: Brenda Chapman and Mark Andrews
Written by: Mark Andrews, Steve Purcell, Brenda Chapman and Irene Mecchi
Starring: Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly, Julie Walters, Robbie Coltrane, Kevin McKidd and Craig Ferguson
Music by: Patrick Doyle
Rated: PG
In the era of Medieval Scotland, Princess Merida (Kelly Macdonald), the first born child of the rulers of the Dunbroch clan, Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Elinor (Emma Thompson), is desperate to decide her own fate with her bow and arrow and her love for adventure. After falling out with her mother when she disrupts an event designed to choose her a husband, Merida makes a deal with a woodcarving witch (Julie Walters) for a spell to “change” her mother’s mind. However, when the spell has an unexpected side effect, it is up for Merida to save her entire kingdom from this curse…
Brave may have problems with plot consistency and tonal differences between the first and second acts of this troubled production, but the stunning background animation of medieval Scotland and the respectful presentation of Scottish myths and legends such as the wisps, are interesting concepts for Pixar’s first fairytale fantasy film. While both Merida and Elinor are very unlikable at times, the former’s character design makes her stand out as one of Disney and Pixar’s most unique looking protagonists, while the latter’s bear antics are the rare comedic moments that actually work.
Even if she wasn’t able to bring her full vision to life due to Lasseter’s bad behaviour, Brenda Chapman’s touching story about mother-daughter relationships is still heartwarming to see,even if the humour is weaker this time around, especially with the terrible slapstick.
Overall, this is not Pixar’s finest film, but Brave still hits its target in the right spot in this mother and daughter story.
Rating: 3.5/5
98. Elemental (2023)
Directed by: Peter Sohn
Written by: Kat Likkel, John Hoberg and Brenda Hsueh
Starring: Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Ronnie del Carmen, Shila Ommi, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Catherine O’Hara
Music by: Thomas Newman
Rated: PG
In a universe inhabited by anthropomorphic living elements of Water, Earth, Fire and Air, Ember Lumen (Leah Lewis), a young fire woman, is training to take over her father, Bernie’s (Ronnie del Carmen) store, the Fireplace. When Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie), a friendly water man and pipe inspector, accidentally gets sucked into the store’s piping systems, Ember convinces him to try and persuade his boss, Gale (Wendi McLendon-Covey), to allow the store to remain open. However, as both Ember and Wade start exploring the environment of Element City, they both realise growing feelings for each other and for the former, that her dream may be different than what she expected…
As Pixar Animation Studios is slowly, but surely, working hard to bring audiences back into cinemas after the poor performance of Lightyear and the Disney+ trilogy of Soul, Luca and Turning Red, supporting their original content is more important than ever. Before the company prepares new Toy Story and Inside Out sequels to support their finances, director and long-time Pixar voice actor Peter Sohn, brings out his most personal project yet, Elemental, a film inspired by his family’s lives in 1970s New York as immigrants.
Being the first Disney and Pixar project to be focused entirely on romance since Walt Disney Animation Studios’s Tangled in 2010, Elemental’s love story between the fire element, Ember and the water element, Wade, may not be as powerful and emotional as WALL-E’s, but both the character animation and the voice-acting of Leah Lewis and Mamoudou Athie does make them both entertaining characters in their own right. However, the film’s marketing could have emphasised the subplot of the difficulties that immigrant families face when living in a city, which is where the usual Pixar emotional moments run strongest here, especially in Ember’s relationship with her father.
While people have made jokes about Pixar’s over-reliance on the “what if objects had feelings” formula that has been used successfully in Toy Story, Cars and Monsters, Inc., the different districts of the fire, earth, water and air districts of Element City, do lead to the usual creativity and charm that the studio knows how to do. After doing such a good job with WALL-E and both Finding Nemo and Dory, Thomas Newman once again does a fantastic job with the score.
Overall, Elemental does at times feel like a Pixar film on autopilot, but this studio still has the skills that make people laugh, cry and cheer, even in their lesser films, and this film is no exception. While it’s no Spider-Verse, it is still a great film for all ages!
Rating: 3.5/5
97. Bolt (2008)
Directed by: Chris Williams and Byron Howard
Written by: Dan Fogelman and Chris Williams
Starring: John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman, Mark Walton, Malcolm McDowell, James Lipton and Greg Germann
Music by: John Powell
Rated: PG
Bolt (John Travolta) is a White Shepherd dog with incredible powers such as a superbark, laser-vision and superspeed that he uses to protect his owner Penny (Miley Cyrus) from the clutches of the evil Dr. Calico (Malcolm McDowell)………at least, that is what he was bred to believe in, as both are actually stars of the world’s most expensive television show. When filming a cliffhanger episode for the first time, Bolt gets accidentally shipped to New York and is forced to rely on the help of a sarcastic alley cat named Mittens (Susie Essman) and a crazy fanboy hamster named Rhino (Mark Walton), in order to get back to Hollywood…
Bolt has a lot of plot elements lifted from the likes of Homeward Bound, Toy Story and The Truman Show and admittedly Chris Sanders’s original concept for this story about a TV dog learning about the harshness of reality; American Dog, which involved the Nevada desert and a radioactive rabbit, sounded a bit more interesting than what we got from future Disney Revival mainstays Chris Williams and Byron Howard.
However, the impressive painterly style CGI, John Powell’s epic score and the more emotional moments regarding character development is more than enough evidence of the good things that John Lasseter brought to the struggling Disney studio to lift it into the era it is in now such as good storytelling and likable characters, regardless of his more questionable acts during his time there.
Bolt may be a less-interesting version of Toy Story, But it is still an overall good film that would lead to bigger and better films for the house that Walt built…..
Rating: 3.5/5
96. Elio (2025)
Directed by: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi and Adrian Molina
Written by: Julia Cho, Mark Hammer and Mike Jones
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldaña, Remy Edgerly, Brandon Moon, Jameela Jamil and Brad Garrett
Music by: Rob Simonsen
Rated: PG
Elio Solis (Yonas Kibreab), a young lonely boy raised by his Air Force Major Aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña), desperately wants to be abducted by aliens to fill in for the absence of his deceased parents. When his dream comes true after he is mistaken for Earth’s ambassador by the alien residents of the Communiverse, a galaxy where aliens share their ideas, Elio soon finds himself getting involved with a conflict with the warlord, Grigon (Brad Garrett), which gets more complicated when he ends up befriending the warlord’s much friendlier son, Glordon (Remy Edgerly)…
With the future of original animated features on the line, as in a post-COVID box office environment, sequels, prequels and IP based films are the only ones that can turn a profit due to choosier audiences, Pixar Animation Studios is currently focusing less on originality than planned due to most of their films in the 2020s being sent straight to streaming, or underperforming in the box office in the case of Lightyear and Elemental.
Although new sequels to Toy Story, The Incredibles and Coco are on the way in the aftermath of the success of Inside Out 2, Pixar still had three original films coming out, with the first of these, Elio, being one of the most interesting projects, due to it’s publicity regarding the production issues.
Originally planned for release in early 2024 from Coco co-director, Adrian Molina, an original sci-fi alien film loosely based on his childhood experiences in living at a military base and eventually, becoming a student in animation, with the titular character’s new life among friendly aliens being a metaphor for this, huge problems with the story caused it to be delayed for a year, with Turning Red director Domee Shi and Madeline Sharafian, who directed the first Sparkshort film, Burrow, taking over.
While some of the changes are obvious, including the awkward way Elio’s mother was reworked into his aunt, Elio still manages to preserve Molina’s story, while also being a fun sci-fi family film, that has the usual Pixar heart that people love about their films. Much like how Pixar depicted the Buzz Lightyear elements of the Toy Story franchise and how they created a stunning romance in a Close Encounters-style world in WALL-E, Elio’s more insect based look for the aliens in the Communiverse, does make this more cartoony worldbuilding, look very appealing and colourful. While more risks could have been done with Elio’s self contained journey, as it is obvious that the film was supposed to end in a completely different way, it does have the right amount of heart and newcomer Yonas Kibreab does give him a lot of personality.
Overall, in spite of having odd pacing and underdeveloped themes as a result of the heavy retooling that it went through, Elio is a very entertaining and funny film that only Pixar know how to provide, with fantastic animation and likeable characters.
Rating: 3.5/5
95. Frankenweenie (2012)
Directed by: Tim Burton
Written by: John August
Starring: Charlie Tahan, Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short, Martin Landau, Atticus Shaffer and Winona Ryder
Music by: Danny Elfman
Rated: PG
Victor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan), a young boy who loves filmmaking and science, is devastated when his only friend, a bull terrier named Sparky, is killed in a car accident. Inspired by an electrical experiment shown to him by his mysterious science teacher Mr. Rzykruski (Martin Landau), Victor manages to bring his dog back to life through science. But when his classmates find out about Sparky’s revival, they decide to try the experiment themselves with disastrous results…
This feature-length update of one of Tim Burton’s earliest films, a 1984 short which acted as an animal parody of James Whale’s 1931 classic Frankenstein where a boy brings his dog back to life, does look beautiful production-wise as expected from a Tim Burton film. However, most of the main characters from Victor himself to his parents (Catherine O’ Hara and Martin Short) and the owner of Sparky’s Bride of Frankenstein-like poodle love-interest, Elsa Van Helsing (Winona Ryder), lack the depth that’s usually prominent in Burton’s filmography.
However, for fans of the classic horror and monster genres, Frankenweenie is a visual delight. From the Vincent Price-like Science teacher Mr. Rzykruski, the classmates resembling classic horror icons like the Boris Karloff lookalike, Nassor (also Martin Short), and the Igor-like class snitch E’Gore (Atticus Shaffer) and the other monster pets referencing everything from the Classic Universal Monsters, to Gamera and even Gremlins, any fan would love pointing out every reference.
Overall, Frankenweenie is an entertaining love-letter to Tim Burton’s favourite genres, but the overreliance on these visual jokes may have had a negative effect on the main story of a boy and his dog, as the original short’s charm is not that focused on here.
Rating: 3.5/5
94. The BoxTrolls (2014)
Directed by: Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi
Written by: Irena Brignull and Adam Pava
Starring: Isaac Hempstead-Wright, Ben Kingsley, Elle Fanning, Dee Bradley Baker, Steve Blum, Toni Collette, Jared Harris, Nick Frost, Richard Ayoade, Tracy Morgan and Simon Pegg
Music by: Dario Marianelli
Rated: PG
Set in 1896, the cheese-loving residents of Cheesebridge, Norvenia, live in constant fear of the Boxtrolls, small creatures who live underground, due to them being accused of abducting a child known as “The Trubshaw Baby”. In truth, the Boxtrolls are friendly creatures who have secretly been raising the child, Eggs (Issac Hempstead Wright), as a Boxtroll himself. When Egg’s adoptive father, Fish (Dee Bradley Baker), is captured by Archibald Snatcher (Ben Kingsley), a ruthless pest exterminator desperate to enter into Cheesebridge’s White Hat Society and eat cheese all day long, despite being allergic to it, Eggs is forced to team up with Winnie (Elle Fanning), the daughter of the mayor, Lord Portley-Rind (Jared Harris), in order to save Fish and the rest of the Boxtrolls from death…
Being Laika’s first animated film not related to the horror genre, The Boxtrolls, like Coraline before it, has a very unique visual style with the fictional world of Cheesebridge and drawing heavy inspiration from the likes of Jules Verne’s Victorian settings,costume design and steampunk weaponry, while also promoting ingenuity and diversity. This is represented with the titular Boxtrolls using items to build underground villages and the antagonist, Archibald Snatcher uses items to destroy them, with the most impressive prop being Snatcher’s steampunk tank, all done without CGI.
The voice-acting is also amusing with Ben Kingsley, Nick Frost, Richard Ayoade and Tracy Morgan standing out as Snatcher and the Boxtrolls exterminators, Trout, Pickles and Gristle. The latter three steal the show with their thoughts on if they are heroes or not, and the former has an obsession with cheese, despite the fact that he has horrible allergic reactions to it, that the animators exploit with gruesome delight.
However the narrative itself of Eggs learning that he is not a Boxtroll and trying to fit into the human world does have a bit too many similarities to Tarzan that it becomes really predictable at times and the twist about the fate of a certain character thought to be dead doesn’t really have much of an impact as it should have, although Elle Fanning does give the character of Winnie some energy with her funny lust for gruesome stories.
Overall, along with an amusing social commentary of class division with the “White Hats and Red Hats”, The Boxtrolls may not be Laika’s finest, but it still works as a charming fantasy story.
Rating: 3.5/5
93. Puss in Boots (2011)
Directed by: Chris Miller
Written by: Tom Wheeler
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris
Music by: Henry Jackman
Rated: U
Long before he met Shrek and Donkey, Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) lived life as an outlaw on the run in the desert regions of the fairytale universe. When an opportunity to redeem his disgraced reputation comes in the form of magic beans, Puss must team up with his childhood friend, Humpty Alexander Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis), and Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek), the most successful literal cat-burglar, in order to steal the beans from the evil Jack (Billy Bob Thornton) and Jill (Amy Sedaris) and use them to grow a beanstalk to a legendary treasure…
Set apart from the Shrek saga in the change of tone from parody comedy to action/adventure and the setting from modern day European medieval to towns and deserts of the Wild West, Puss in Boots despite taking a nosedive in quality in the last act, does manage to succeed in being better than the last two Shrek sequels.
Antonio Banderas does manage to bring a more emotional take on the popular DreamWorks feline, while also still using the cat gags that everyone loves from the Shrek films. Both Zach Galifianakis and Salma Hayek give surprisingly more complex personalities than most of their previous roles, especially the former, even if some of the plot twists in the third act do feel rushed. While more could have been done with the Jack and Jill characters, the slightly more intense animation and more stylistic character designs, does help Puss in Boots feel like a completely different experience to the rest of the franchise.
In narrative and character development alone and the fact that it ended up being incredibly successful on its own right, Puss in Boots makes one wish that Dreamworks would give this charming feline, his own film series in the vein of Indiana Jones or Pirates of the Caribbean, which has finally happened in 2023, after years of delays.
Rating: 3.5/5
92. Cars (2006)
Directed by: John Lasseter
Written by: Dan Fogelman, John Lasseter, Joe Ranft, Kiel Murray, Phil Lorin and Jorgen Klubien
Music by: Randy Newman
Rated: PG
In an alternate universe where living automobiles and vehicles became the dominant species on Earth, a rookie race car named Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson), has quickly risen to the ranks of top racer when he ends up tying for first place with current champion The King (Richard Petty) and a selfish cheater named Chick Hicks (Michael Keaton) in the Annual Piston Cup Championships. While on the way to a tie-breaker race in California that will decide the winner, Lightning gets separated from his trailer Mack (John Ratzenberger) and ends up accidentally destroying the road of a small American town of Radiator Springs. Sentenced to community service by the grumpy Town Judge Doc Hudson (Paul Newman) and law attorney Sally Carrera (Bonnie Hunt), Lightning starts to learn about the values of small-town life from the residents, including a dim-witted tow truck named Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) and the benefits in detours from life….
Of all of the groundbreaking hits produced by the studio that revolutionised CGI in mainstream animated films Pixar Animation Studios, the Cars franchise is one of their most successful in terms of merchandising, but it is also their most despised one critically. While not being outright panned, these films get a lot of slack by most critics and animation buffs for not pushing the medium like Toy Story did or telling the most complex or interesting stories like a majority of their output in the 2000s. But when taken on its own terms, the first film is still pretty great entertainment.
Lightning McQueen’s arc of learning to slow down in life and appreciating small-town life may be a tad predictable, but the (disgraced) John Lasseter’s love of Americana and car culture makes his journey and the anthropological car-world pleasing to look at in terms of the production and character design, even if this world raises so many questions that creepy people on YouTube and Deviantart have tried to figure out.
The Radiator Springs residents, despite being based almost entirely on ethnic stereotypes, are all likeable characters, with the late Paul Newman’s Doc Hudson getting the best character development as a former racer turned Doctor who has to deal with his past when another racer turns up to his town. Randy Newman’s score also fits both the exciting racing action in the first and third acts and the more intimate country-based environment of Route 66 and Radiator Springs.
Overall, Cars may not be a groundbreaking film, but it is still a very good Pixar film with creative worldbuilding and a heartwarming, yet simple plot.
Rating: 3.5/5
91. A Cat in Paris (2010)
Directed by: Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol
Written by: Alain Gagnol
Starring: Dominique Blanc/Marcia Gay Harden, Bernadette Lafont/Anjelica Huston, Bruno Salomone/ Steve Blum, Jean Banguigui/ JB Blanc and Oriane Zani/ Lauren Weintraub
Music by: Serge Besset
Rated: PG
In the streets of Paris, Dino is a cat who has a busy double life. One as a loving companion to a young girl named Zoé (Oriane Zani and Lauren Weintraub) who has recently lost her father in a murder, the other as a helpful partner to a sneaky, yet kind-hearted burglar named Nico (Bruno Salomone and Steve Blum). However, Dino and his two humans soon find themselves drawn together in one fateful night, when they must stop Victor Costa (Jean Benguigui and JB Blanc), a petty, yet ruthless gangster responsible for Zoé‘s father’s death, from pulling off the greatest heist in France..
The subject of animated films revolving around cats in Paris, France, has been a popular one for the likes of Disney with The Aristocats and Warner Bros. with Gay Purr-ee, but it was this charming French film that did something different with this scenario, as it’s not a musical and the cat doesn’t talk.
While Disney themselves had an idea in the early 2000s for an animated film about a cat getting involved in a Alfred Hitchcock-style mystery with the cancelled Fraidy Cat, A Cat in Paris takes this idea and adds in some European charm, in order to make the story highly entertaining. With the visual look of a living European comic book, and the reliance on physical comedy rather than dialogue (at least, in the original French version), the film’s short length helps in keeping the adventure of Dino and his two different owners really simple and easy to follow.
Overall, while not having the most interesting mystery and the villains being a little too incompetent to be truly threatening, A Cat in Paris is a lovable and funny crime caper, about the beauty of Paris and the secret life of cats.
Rating: 3.5/5
Chaz’s Cinematic Odyssey 