Pixar Directors -- Who's Your Favorite?

The Pixar Studio & People
#61
  1. Brad Bird/John Lasseter
  2. Pete Docter
    3.Andrew Stanton
    4.Lee Unkrich
#62

Pete Docter. Although Wall-E is my favorite movie, I think Pete is the most sensetive of the directors at Pixar. At least it seems that way from his films. I think he knows how to create more moments with heart throughout his films than the other directors. I remember him saying back in 2009 that his next film was going to take animation somewhere it’s never been. I can’t wait! :smiley: I hope it works out. But one of the things I love about Andrew’s films is that the antagonist in his films aren’t typical antagonist. The “mustache touching villian” if you catch my drift. I am looking forward to Lee’s next picture. Toy Story 3 was dark, and I like that. I like Lee’s style.

#63

Pete Doctor is my ultimate favourite
and lately Lee Unkrich is a close second.

#64

My favorite is Andrew Stanton because he’s sort of a happy medium between Brad Bird’s not-always-subtle moralizing and Pete Docter’s sensitivity. And IMO he’s the most ambitious of all the Pixar directors, revolutionizing CGI animation with both of his releases.

#65
  1. JL
  2. Dan Scanlon
  3. Lee
  4. Pete
  5. Brad
  6. Andrew
  7. Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman (tied)
#66

Brad Bird and John Lasseter.

#67

Easy Brad Bird. There is something about him I like. He is a really cool dude and all the 3rd movies he’s directed that I know of (Iron Giant, Incrediables, and Ratatouie) (sp) show how creative he is. There is a reason he has been called the modern Walt Disney.

#68

My rankings:

1 Andrew Stanton
2 Brad Bird
3 Lee Unkrich
4 Pete Docter
5 John Lasseter

I consider Andrew Stanton to be the real force behind Pixar’s immaculate reputation. His storytelling abilities are unmatched by anyone else at Pixar and he’s also the most technically ambitious of all the directors, with both of his efforts pushing the limits of CGI animation. He represents everything that Pixar should be.

What I like about Brad Bird the most is the edge he brings to his films. It’s hard to explain, but somehow his films seem more aggressively “mature” than the other Pixar movies. His film was the first at Pixar to get a PG rating (and really, his other one should’ve too, IMO). While I wasn’t a big fan of Ratatouille as a whole, I still appreciate the outsider voice Bird brings to his films that makes them more obviously the work of a single director.

Lee Unkrich’s only done one movie himself, but the other ones he’s worked on as a co-director have been great, too. He seems to have a good mix of humor and pathos in the films he works on but it’s still too soon to get a read on what his “style” is.

Pete Docter’s sensitivity and originality put him above Lasseter for me, but at the same time his movies don’t have as much depth compared to the guys above him. I still enjoy both of them, though.

I very much respect Lasseter for being the one that started it all, but I think the Cars series has shown that his storytelling abilities are relatively limited without the help of the other guys. Everything else he’s directed has involved the creative assistance of at least Stanton.

#69

My favorite? Well, that’s kinda difficult for me because I have several favorites. My favorites are Pete Doctor, John Lasseter, and Lee Unkrich.

#70

Pete Docter. Forever. I love his emotional moments, and those are the things that really do it for me in movies. The emotion is all that matters. Besides, Up is my favorite Pixar film, and that’s what brought me here. So it all stems from Pete <3

#71

My favourite Pixar Director is Brad Bird. The Incredibles and Ratatouille are two of my three favourite Pixar films. Second is John Lasseter I think that all of his films are great, but his best ones are Toy Story and Toy Story 2. Third is Lee Unkrich, I thought he did Toy Story 3 perfectly. I can’t choose between Pete Docter and Anrew Stanton, so I will put them equal at fourth.
I love every Pixar film and I think that all of Pixar’s Directors are great, so it was a little bit hard to choose my favorite.

#72

I agree with the person above me!!! At this point, Brad is definitely #1 for me.

#73

I would say Pete Docter. His films usually have great emotional moments and them and his films are really colorful.

#74

Pete Docter’s films definitely have great emotional moments.

#75

Pete is tied with Lasseter for 2nd.

#76

While I would have put Brad Bird as my #1, there’s one reason why John just edges out Brad: Toy Story 2.

John saw where TS2 was headed, dove headfirst into troubled waters, and turned that thing around in 9 months. For that, I give him major kudos and respect for, and it still is my #1 favorite PIXAR film for that and a number of other reasons.

#77

That is a good point.

#78

My favorite Pixar director would be Pete Docter. I just love his visual styles. Specifically with the door chase scene in Monster’s Inc. Also, his films just have so many great emotional scenes in them. Can’t wait to see what the Mind project from him will be like.

#79

I have to say that my favorite director of all-time would have to be the guy who directed my two favorite movies of all time:
John Lasseter (well, isn’t it a little obvious?)

I tend to be biased towards his movies in thinking they’re the best, mostly because A Bug’s Life and the Cars movies get hit the hardest from fans and critics. I realized that when I shunned out everyone else’s opinions, I found that I loved each of those three movies! For example, the negative reviews for Cars and especially Cars 2 probably don’t even faze him because he has already proven himself by directing the world’s first and one of the best CG movies ever. I pretty much love A Bug’s Life, Cars, and Cars 2 as much as Toy Story and Toy Story 2, except those two barely edge the other three out for having the “first one” factor about them. After Toy Story and Toy Story 2, his other films are 9-way tied with all of Pete Docter’s, Andrew Stanton’s and Brad Bird’s Pixar films. He’s also probably the main reason Toy Story 3 is my least favorite Pixar film, but I knew he was not able to direct it since he was helping Disney. If he did direct it, it would probably be perfect in my eyes along with the first two.

#80

^Quite the fan are you? Haha, jk. I love JL too. I think he’s easily the most influential animator of the last 20 years. As an animator, director, producer, studio head. He definitely helped revolutionize the industry.