The Odd-Even Rule: Pixar

[Alolan_Apples]

For your entertainment, I decided to have a subjective list of best to worst Pixar movies. But I wouldn’t rank them in all one line.

So we all know Pixar, the animation studio that released the very first film to completely use CGI. What’s great about this studio was that they were able to consistently make great movies. Out of the 20 movies they released (21 later this month), no film (except for The Good Dinosaur) flopped, and no film (except for Cars 2) generated a rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes. From Toy Story to Toy Story 3, every film had a fresh score, a box office success, and an Oscar nomination. Half of all the films that won “Best Animated Feature” in the Oscars were Pixar films, and only five Pixar movies never got a nomination.

However, when I put one movie against another, what’s interesting is that Pixar does a better job on their odd-numbered releases than on their even-numbered releases.

Here are their odd films:

• Toy Story
  [*]Toy Story 2
  [*]Finding Nemo
  [*]Cars
  [*]Wall-E
  [*]Toy Story 3
  [*]Brave
  [*]Inside Out
  [*]Finding Dory
  [*]Coco

And here are their even films:

• A Bug’s Life
  [*]Monsters Inc
  [*]The Incredibles
  [*]Ratatouille
  [*]Up
  [*]Cars 2
  [*]Monsters University
  [*]The Good Dinosaur
  [*]Cars 3
  [*]Incredibles 2

What’s very interesting is that based on their reception, as well as my personal preference, the odd films do a lot better. Here are the reception facts:

• Only two Pixar films made a Rotten Tomatoes score of 100%. They are Toy Story and Toy Story 2, both of them being odd releases.
• Only two Pixar films made a Rotten Tomatoes score less than 70%. They are Cars 2 and Cars 3, both of them being even releases.
• The first Pixar film to make $1 billion in the worldwide box office is Toy Story 3. The closest film to make that much before then is Finding Nemo.
• The first Pixar film to be a box office bomb is The Good Dinosaur. The closest success to be a flop is Cars 3.
• The average Rotten Tomatoes score for the odd films is 93.4%. The average Rotten Tomatoes score for the even films is 83.6%.
• The total worldwide gross for the odd films is $7.108 billion. The total worldwide gross for the even films is $6.143 billion.
• Of the five films that didn’t get nominated for any Oscar, Finding Dory was the only odd release.

Albeit some odd films doing worse than a handful of even films, I feel that there’s an odd-even rule in Pixar, where the odd releases do better. Here are my thoughts:

• Even on my subjective views, the odd Pixar films are better than the even. Considering that the odd films include the Toy Story series, Finding Nemo, Wall-E, Inside Out, and Coco. Versus the Monsters series, The Incredibles, The Good Dinosaur, the Cars sequels, and A Bug’s Life.
• The only exceptions to the rule are Up and Brave. Up is an even-numbered Pixar film, yet that is Pixar at its best. It’s easily the best even-numbered Pixar film, and the first one to be nominated for Best Picture. I put this in my top three. Meanwhile, Brave is an odd-numbered Pixar film that was released during a time Pixar wasn’t doing too well. Even Brave wasn’t all that great to me. I put this in my bottom three.
• Cars 1 follows the Odd-Even rule. As an odd-numbered release, I personally prefer this film more than any even-numbered release. There’s no denying that it’s better than its sequels. I never cared too much about the Incredibles, and I wouldn’t understand The Good Dinosaur. Even A Bug’s Life, Monsters Inc, and Ratatouille aren’t as great as Cars 1. But when I compare it to movies like Toy Story 2, Wall-E, Coco, or Finding Nemo, there’s no way I would think it’s any better. The only even film better than Cars is Up, and the only odd films Cars beats are Brave and Finding Dory.
• Ratatouille is an enjoyable movie for me, as this would be my number 2 for the even films, but I couldn’t enjoy it over any odd film (save for Finding Dory and Brave).
• My favorite Pixar film by decade are Toy Story 2, Wall-E, and Coco, with Wall-E being the best of the three. What do they have in common according to this entry?