Five Favourite Pixar Films

I love Pixar, as do many others, and this should be a fairly easy list to compile, despite Pixar having produced only 14 films, they are mostly excellent, and even if they haven't produced a really good film since 2010's Toy Story 3, up to that point all their films were excellent, and there is a wide variety of films to choose from, in addition to their narrative successes, Pixar's films are also visually stunning, use a subtle blend of photo-realism and quirky distinctive character animation.

• The Incredibles

Pixars first film featuring entirely humanoid characters, The Incredibles  are a group of superheroes, who attempt to live covert, undercover lives, hiding their powers. The Incredibles is a fantastic example of why animation is so important, as this film could just as easily be a live action film, the film walks a fine line between a parody and an homage to superhero films and comic book adaptations, the fact that it is an animated film makes that all the more clear, and gives it a fun twist. The Incredibles features some of the most well rounded and imaginative Pixar characters ever, creative and subtle, these characters have sets of well defined powers, and are an almost iconic crime fighting group.

• WALL-E

The opening hour of this film is a testament to the beauty of Pixar's character animation, despite being anthropomorphic, the characters do not communicate with human voices, but instead with gestures, subtle facial changes and sounds. The two characters of the film, despite not being able to speak, are really well rounded and subtle, and despite not containing any speech during its first hour, it is gripping and subtle, and it is the best silent film work since the thirties. The rest of the film is a testament to our future if we do not change our ways, a future where we are fat, emotionless, and when we will have to leave earth because of our reliance on consumerism and commercialism. WALL-E is beautiful, poetic and nostalgic.

• Up

The first Pixar film to be nominated for best picture at the oscars and only the second animated film ever to be nominated. Up is a film about life, a film about never giving up on life, and never stopping the adventure of life, beautifully animated and heartwarming, the opening sequence alone, showing Carl and  Ellie falling in love and growing up makes it worthy for this list, the film is winsome, fun and emotional, visually beautiful and thrilling, Up is truly a classic film.

• Finding Nemo

Setting an animated film entirely underwater is tough, Disney have done it only once with The Little Mermaid, and particularly doing it in a photorealistic way is virtually impossible. With Finding Nemo, Pixar succeeded with this whimsical treasure, a visual delight featuring a fully realized underwater world, of colourful creative characters. This film also features some fine voice work, Albert Brooks plays Marlin, Nemo's father, and Ellen DeGeneres plays Dory, a regal blue tang with short term memory loss, her performance is hilarious and distinctive, and was partially improvised. Finding Nemo features a stunning, expansive ocean as a backdrop for its complex subtle characters.

• Ratatouille

In my mind this is the best Pixar film, and one of the best films of all time, food is incredibly difficult to animate, and to make it look appetizing, and rats are hard to make look cute, however amazingly this film successfully does both, the film is a foodie's delight, featuring inventive and elegant dishes, and the fact that the two main characters never speak to each other, yet have an intimate connection is impressive. Ratatouille is an odd children's film, from the outside it seems difficult to market or merchandise, as neither rats nor food are particularly appealing to children, however the film succeeds despite all these obstacles, and Ratatouille is witty and charming.

X-Men

As we are on the dawn of the release of Days Of Future Past, and given that i recently rewatched the original X-Men, i had some thoughts about the X-Men series, which is, to my eyes, one of the most complete, and detailed superhero franchises. The series has mainly been helmed by Bryan Singer, who has directed 3 of the 5 films of the series so far, and who is due to direct a fourth.

The series,  which is based upon a series of marvel comic books, originally created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, follows a band of superheroes, as they attempt to fight evil, and live together. These superheroes are mutants, their powers derive from a mutated gene, the series follow the leader of this group, Charles Xavier, and a select band of mutants, as they battle to save humanity. The main mutants featured in the film series are Wolverine, a mutant with adamantium bound to his bones who has the ability to heal and doesn't age, Storm, and african goddess with the ability to control the weather, Cyclops, a mutant whose eyes give out laser beams, and Pheonix, an incredibly powerful mutant whose true power is only seen in the third film. Also featured are Rogue, who absorbs other mutants powers through her skin, Shadowcat, who can phase through walls and Beast, an incredibly agile mutant with blue furry skin. The X-Men spend much of this series fighting the brotherhood of evil mutants, a group led by Magneto, who is able to control metal, and his right hand woman, a shapeshifter named Mystique.

What makes this franchise so successful is it's ability to handle such a large ensemble cast, the original film is a particularly good example of this. Spider-Man took over an hour of screen time to explain who Peter Parker is and how he became Spider-Man, X-Men has dozens of characters, each with personal stories and powers, and yet it introduces them in half the time. Days of Future Past has an even bigger cast, combining the characters from the prequel series and the original trilogy,

The film series success is also based upon it's real world relevance, the film is essentially an allegory for the oppression and malignation of any minority, particularly in this case, the gay community. The characters of Charles Xavier and Magneto are essentially representatives of Martin Luther King and Malcom X, they both want the same goal, but they attempt to achieve it by different methods, Magneto is more militant and violent, and believes that mutants should be the dominant race, Charles is more peaceful and believes in the good in people. The film's franchise being largely helmed by Bryan Singer is perhaps responsible for the strong LGBT undertones of the series, the scenes of mutants powers evolving and their telling their parents strongly mirror LGBT youths coming out to their parents, and Senator Kelley asking congress if they "want mutants in their high schools" mirror what right wing politicians have been saying for years.

Overall the X-Men franchise succeeds due to it's ability to balance its large ensemble cast, and its willingness to explore conemporary social issues, exploring sexuality, race and minority subcultures, the X-Men franchise is by far the most exciting, well defined and surprisingly even franchise.

Raven: Hank, don't! You're beautiful, Hank. Everything you are, you're perfect. Look at all of us? Look at all we've achieved this week? All we will achieve? We are different. But we shouldn't be trying to fit into society. Society should aspire to be more like us. Mutant and proud.