With the incredible ‘Up’ landing in cinemas this past week in the UK, LocateTV have taken a look at the success behind all of the Pixar features, headed by John Lasseter; director and chief creative officer for Pixar and Walt Disney.

Top Pixar picks!

Buy poster at AllPosters.com

1.Toy Story (1995): Hailed as the first fully computer-generated feature film, the wonderful buddy movie stars Sherriff Woody (voice by Tom Hanks) as the loveable cowboy doll and Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Tim Allen) causing a stir as owner Andy’s new favourite action figure. The film had audiences captivated and wanting more, creating a gross total of over $360 million worldwide. It was in this film that Cheers actor John Ratzenberger first worked with Pixar. He would prove an instant hit, and provide voices for every one of features that followed. A lucky charm you might say!

2. A Bug’s Life (1998): The eagerly awaited follow-up to the smash that was Toy Story, A Bug’s Life follows the dreams of Flik, an imaginative ant who inadvertently causes disaster by bringing ‘new bugs’ to help his colony fight off the grasshoppers who take more than their fair share of food every year. Denis Leary, Dave Foley and Kevin Spacey lent their voices to this release which again grossed over $360 million worldwide.

3. Toy Story 2 (1999): Rounding up all our favourite characters from the first Toy Story with a few new faces, we followed Buzz & co on his quest to rescue Woody from being sent to Japan as part of the collectable Woody’s Roundup gang. Joan Cusack and Kelsey Grammer joined the extensive voice cast for this feature that gathered more than $485 million worldwide.

4. Monsters, Inc (2001): Pixar didn’t fail to impress with their 4^th feature length production. Devised by John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton and Joe Ranft in 1994, the not-so-scary tale of monsters coming in to children’s bedrooms at night to collect their screams proved popular all over, with John Goodman, Billy Crystal and Steve Buscemi lending their voices to characters Sulley, Mike and Randall respectively.

Buy poster at AllPosters.com

5. Finding Nemo (2003): Pixar’s most commercially successful production to date, grossing over $800 million worldwide, Finding Nemo followed the over-protective father Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks) in his search for son Nemo, who has been taken to a dentist’s fish tank in Sydney, Australia. Winning the Academy Award for best animated feature, the commercial success of the touching story lead to a sudden surge in clownfish sales in the United States! Ellen DeGeneres provides the comic genius behind Dory, Willem Dafoe as fish tank leader Gill and Geoffrey Rush as the helpful seagull Nigel.

Buy poster at AllPosters.com

6. The Incredibles (2004): When a group of superheroes are forced to move to the suburbs, and live “normally”, frustration soon builds for the Parr family. As head of the family, Bob Parr (aka Mr. Incredible) finds it hard to settle down and contain his remarkable strength. Alongside his best friend, and fellow former hero Frozone (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson), he fights crime at night. A series of events ensues, and sees his wife Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), daughter Violet and sons Dash & Jack-Jack tackling a robot. Craig T Nelson provided the voice of Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible in the animation that turned over more than $631 million in profit.

Buy poster at AllPosters.com

7. Cars (2006): The 7^th and last offering from Pixar before it was purchased by Disney saw a world consisting of only talking cars. Winning a Golden Globe for the best animated feature, the story focuses on a race between Chick Hicks (voiced by Michael Keaton) and Lighting McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson). Co-director Joe Ranft tragically died during the production of this piece, with Paul Newman lending his voice for one of his last roles before his death in 2008.

8. Ratatouille (2007): Told from the perspective of a street rat and a hapless chef in Paris as they attempt to become a great chef, this addition to the Pixar collection featured the voice talents of Ian Holm and Peter O’Toole. Nominated for five Academy Awards, and winning the best animated feature film accolade, Ratatouille proved just as popular as any of the previous films.

Buy poster at AllPosters.com

9. WALL-E (2008): Offering their take on the situation of climate change, Pixar gave us the mesmerising tale of a waste collecting robot and his encounter with the highly technical EVE, as she searches the abandoned planet Earth for signs of life. WALL-E spends his days rummaging through everything that humans have left behind, as they spend their lives drifting through space on the Axiom; whilst the mega corporation Buy n Large supposedly ‘cleans up’ Earth. With the sound track of the 1969 film Hello, Dolly! Providing comfort to WALL-E, this light sided approach to our environment was a hit world wide with over $521 millions worth of takings.

10. Up (2009): Disney Pixar’s first presentation of a film in digital 3-D, Up travels across South America with grumpy old man Carl Fredricksen (voiced by Edward Asner). Having tied thousands of balloons to his house, he encounters several characters along the way, hindering his journey. Christopher Plummer also stars as Charles F. Muntz as the antagonist.

Making over $290 million so far in the USA alone, Up looks set to carry Pixar higher and higher with future features such as Toy Story 3 and Cars 2 on the way, and entertaining shorts to tie us over until then, we can be sure that Pixar are definitely leading the way in animation technology.

Emily.

Toy Story