Forget levitating your house with helium balloons, or defeating Syndrome's Omnidroids - here's a real impossible task: ranking every single Pixar movie, from worst to best.

The lamp-loving Emeryville animation studio has been pumping out classics for 20 years , starting with the game-changing Toy Story in 1995. Since then billions of dollars in box office takings have rolled in, along with a shed-load of Oscars.

As The Good Dinosaur approaches, here's an ordered rundown of Pixar's very best. And remember, there's no such thing as a bad Pixar movie (just a Cars movie).

15. Cars 2 (2011)

Pixar chief John Lasseter is a major petrol head, meaning the Cars movies hold a special place in his heart. Although not, sadly, on the Pixar pantheon - especially when it comes to Cars 2. Riffing on the Bond formula, it cast Michael Caine as Aston Martin-like spy car Finn McMissile for a globetrotting caper that's big on explosions but lacking in a compelling story.

Cars 2 is passably entertaining but - unlike pretty much every other Pixar film - it isn't really about anything of substance. Consequently, this never manages to shift into top gear and, for a Pixar movie, that's a bit disappointing.

14. Cars (2006)

Cars isn't really a bad movie when stacked against its sequel, but lined up next to the rest of Pixar's output it feels a bit lightweight. There's a lot to enjoy here, though, chiefly Owen Wilson's Lightning McQueen and Paul Newman voicing Doc Hudson. Visually, too, it's a marvel to look at - waxed and polished to within an inch of its life. It's only when you pop the hood, however, that a rusty storytelling engine is revealed.

Still, this was a big blockbuster hit - its $460 million worldwide box office is better than the first Toy Story - and the idea of talking cars hits the target with younger viewers. Did you know that Cars generates $2 BILLION in merchandise sales annually for Disney/Pixar? No wonder they keep making them.

13. Monsters University (2013)

The one and only prequel in Pixar's back catalogue, Monsters University saw Billy Crystal and John Goodman rekindle their affable chemistry as Mike and Sulley, while Helen Mirren stole the show as chair of MU's Scarer programme Dean Hardscrabble.

Vibrantly brought to life by director Dan Scanlon, this fires off gags thick and fast, although leaning a bit too heavily on Animal Houses references that fly over the heads of younger viewers. But, it's hard not to think of the tragically slow Slug Monster Student and not raise a smile.

12. A Bug's Life (1998)

Arriving three years after the trailblazing Toy Story - and the the same year as the similarly-themed Antz - A Bug's Life has found itself swept under the carpet when it comes to re-evaluating Pixar.

That's a shame because this is a hugely entertaining adventure about plucky ants taking on terrifying grasshoppers (led by a sinister Kevin Spacey). Though it lacks truly memorable characters, there's heart, humour and killer gags aplenty ("don't look at the light!"). This one's well worth revisiting.

11. Brave (2012)

Boasting Pixar's first ever female protagonist in the flame-haired Princess Merida, Brave marked a return to form for the studio after the creative stumble of Cars 2. It also feels very different from anything they've done before, leaning towards the traditional fairytale story more in line with classic Disney films.

Still, with slightly confused feminist themes, Brave remains regarded as another Pixar misstep by industry observers. Which is a shame: what's not to love about a touching mother-daughter tale that sees Emma Thompson's Queen Elinor transformed into an American black bear? A half-a-billion box office hit and Oscar winner for Best Animated Film, Brave happens to cover a lot of the same thematic ground as behemoth Frozen, making the films perfect for a Disney Princess double-bill.

10. Ratatouille (2007)

Pitch a Hollywood mogul a film about a rodent who dreams of becoming a chef and you'd probably get laughed out of the room. Not so at at Pixar, who embraced Brad Bird's idiosyncratic story and spun it into movie gold.

It may not have connected as universally as the Toy Story films, but this is a zippy, fast-paced comedy that's all about the pursuit of artistic perfection. Ratatouille also provides Peter O'Toole with one of his best late career roles in the form of snooty restaurant critic Anton Ego.

9. Monsters, Inc. (2001)

Conceived by the famous Pixar braintrust of John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton and Joe Ranft during a lunch break on the first Toy Story, Monsters Inc. took years to get made as animators wrestled with complex fur effects for the loveable Sulley.

When it did finally emerge in 2001... what a movie! A strange story about creatures who harvest children's fear to power a city, this is a heartfelt yarn about an unbreakable friendship. The film's technical wizardry may end up outshining its storytelling prowess, but this still goes down as a significant bar-raiser for Pixar.

8. Finding Nemo (2003)

How good are Pixar movies? So good that Finding Nemo has a 99% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and it still only made it to number eight in this list.

An undersea adventure about Marlin (Albert Brooks) searching for his lost son with the aid of forgetful blue tang Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), this is a breathtaking film that's packed with brilliant supporting characters. Bruce the shark, Bloat the puffer fish and a great cameo from John Ratzenberger as a school of moonfish make this a high-memorable outing for Pixar. Now, let's hope sequel Finding Dory doesn't go all Cars 2 on us.

7. Inside Out (2015)

Pixar's most recent release is an absolute stunner. Five emotions - Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness - wrestle inside the conscious mind of 11-year-old Riley as she's uprooted from her friends in Minnesota to the new surroundings of San Francisco.

Up director Pete Docter expertly cuts the action between the vivid colours inside Riley's brain and the drab drudgery of her everyday life. Child psychiatrists have heaped praise on the film, saying it offered meaningful insight into a child's emotional development. And Inside Out went down so well with film critic Mark Kermode that he's already started championing it to be the first animated movie to win the Best Picture Oscar.

6. The Incredibles (2004)

The Marvel Cinematic Universe wasn't even a twinkle in Robert Downey Jr's eye when Pixar rewrote the superhero rulebook with The Incredibles. Director Brad Bird frames everyday family squabbles against jaw-dropping action, a soap-opera-with-capes approach that's more successful than any of the Fantastic Four movies we've seen to date.

The casting is also bang-on: Craig T Nelson and Holly Hunter both wrestle with midlife crises as Mr Incredible and Elastigirl, while Sarah Vowell and Spencer Fox are excellent as bickering kids Violet and Dash. Props, too, should go to Bird himself for hilarious voice work on fashion designer Edna Mode. Not only is this a brilliant Pixar film, it's comfortably one of the best superhero films that's ever been made.

5. Toy Story 3 (2010)

Disney

Everybody walked into Toy Story 3 terrified it'd be awful. What was the point? Would it end up tarnishing the memory of its illustrious predecessors? We needn't have worried because this turned out to be a stunning close to one of cinema's best ever trilogies. It also boasts two of Pixar's most emotionally pulverising moments. One, the incinerator scene and two - brace yourself - the closing sequence showing a teenage Andy giving away Woody, Buzz and the rest of his toys to a new owner.

Toy Story 3 is also notable for being the most successful film in Pixar's back catalogue (thanks to $1 billion plus in box office takings) and the last animated movie to win a Best Picture Oscar nomination. Quentin Tarantino even named it his favourite movie of 2010 - and who's to argue with him?

4. Toy Story (1995)

It all began for Toy Story when director John Lasseter watched a preview of the lightcycle scene from Tron. Inspired by the possibilities of computer animation, he eventually went on to make short film Tin Toy in 1988. The roots of Pixar's game-changing 1995 feature can be found in that five-minute film, told from the point of view of one-man band toy Tinny.

That character eventually gave way for Woody and Buzz Lightyear, an odd couple pairing whose bickering eventually blossomed into an unbreakable friendship by the movie's end. The duo - an old school cowboy and a buccaneering astronaut voiced by Tom Hanks and Tim Allen - lent the movie heart to go with its dazzling technical innovation. Along with the '90s Disney Renaissance, Toy Story helped re-energise the animated film and cement the House of Mouse as the king of cartoon cinema.

3. Up (2009)

Pixar

Up's heartbreaking first ten minutes, recounting the lifelong union between Carl Fredricksen and wife Ellie, turned all who saw it into blubbing wrecks. But, there's an awful lot more to Pixar's tenth feature than its intensely moving opening stretch.

Directors Pete Docter and Bob Peterson conjure up a wild adventure film full of wit and invention. From Carl's home soaring into the sky courtesy of thousands of balloons to the endearingly cheerful Wilderness Explorer Russell (incidentally based on Good Dinosaur director Peter Sohn), this is a perfect combination of spectacle and sentiment.

2. Toy Story 2 (1999)

Originally conceived as a direct-to-video quickie, Toy Story 2 found itself upgraded to a feature film after early footage impressed Disney's top brass. Which meant Pixar had to tear the whole thing down and start from scratch - and then for a third time, after six months of animation work was accidentally deleted off the Pixar servers. And yet remarkably, from such a turbulent production would emerge one of the all-time great movie sequels.

All of your Toy Story favourites are back, with Woody swiped by an obsessive toy collector keen to sell him off to a museum in Japan. Buzz, Rex, Mr Potato Head and Slinky launch into a daring rescue mission, which neatly dovetails into the film's big message: Woody's friends are more important than immortality as an artefact inside a glass case.

1. WALL-E (2008)

True, if we're being honest, there are ten entries in Pixar's back catalogue that have a legitimate shot at the number one spot. But in the end it's hard to look past the depth, originality and sheer audacity of WALL-E - a film that doesn't feature a single line of human dialogue until 40 minutes in.

Set in the far-flung future where mankind has turned Earth into a giant garbage dump, Andrew Stanton's epic contains all the brilliance we've come to expect from a Pixar film. There's innovative storytelling, memorable characters in WALL-E ("voiced" by legendary Star Wars sound man Ben Burtt) and EVE, and stunning expansive visuals.

But what makes WALL-E a true masterpiece is its interstellar ambition. This owes more to films like Silent Running and Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey than it does any animated movie that came before it. Stanton and co-writer Jim Reardon craft a story that looks at man's relationship with technology, rampant consumerism, dystopia vs utopia, and environmental decay - all wrapped up in a magnificent sci-fi blockbuster. And one that kids and adults can enjoy at the same time? That's pretty special.

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