Up, Up, and Away!

Pixar continues its winning streak. Look up "quality" in the dictionary and--underneath the picture of me, of course--you'll see the Pixar logo. "Up," the tenth movie from the little studio that could, has scored a mind-boggling 98% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Geez...that's better than most Best Picture winners.

"Up" was hardly the first Pixar Film to post ridiculous numbers, though, as this handy chart from Rotten Tomatoes can attest. I've only seen seven of the ten, so I can't comment on "Cars," "Ratatouille," or "Up." Of the seven I've seen, I'd rank 'em in this order:

1. The Incredibles--Not just my favorite Pixar film; my favorite animated film of all time. Nothing in Disney's ouevre can compete with the Underminer's wonderful declaration, "I declare war on peace and happiness!"

2. Toy Story 2--Like Toy Story uno, but with more Kelsey Grammar. That seals the deal, as far as I'm concerned. Just about every sequel would work better with a little more Grammar, with the possible exception of "The Godfather Part III."

3. A Bug's Life--A complete failure as an entomology lesson; do ants really have only four legs? Succeeds thanks to great characters, great scenery, and the phrase "Flaming death!"

4. Wall-E--Fred Willard's in it! Yeah, there's some other stuff about trash, and a spaceship, and fat people, but come on, guys--Fred Willard! THE Fred Willard! In an animated movie!

5. Toy Story--One of the very, very films of which it can be honestly said, "It changed everything." The only downside is that any kid younger than five will have nightmares about Sid for the next few years.

6. Finding Nemo--Geez, I feel really bad putting "Finding Nemo" all the way down at six. It's a great movie! I swear! It's simply facing tough competition. I mean, even Karl Malone came off the bench for the Dream Team.

7. Monsters, Inc.--Gets points because of Steve Buscemi, but loses points for being pitched at an audience younger than myself. The only Pixar film that seems a bit too skewed to the diaper demographic. And I haven't worn diapers since...oh, fifth grade at the very least.