- Studio Ghibli
- Disney
- Pixar
- Dreamworks
- Blue Sky
Good list, albinotanuki! Nice to see Studio Ghibli as first! The only reason I didn’t rank Studio Ghibli is because I have not seen any of their films yet. I know, sad.
Thanks, EJE! Just…Pixar is my fave. I mean everyone has their favorites and least favorites with them, including me, so it never bothers me which film is where. But I think it’s obvious that they put their all in to them. Even the ones that people love less like the last few have things to enjoy about them. I don’t think there’s a bad one in the bunch, and they’ve all got characters you wish you could know in real life. I do hope I can rank Disney with them one day, though.
And I adore Blue Sky. If I don’t get to work at Pixar, my second choice would be Disney, and then third is Blue Sky hopefully. I walked into Ice Age as a kid not knowing what to expect, and to this day it is still one of my favorites.
I can’t pick a favorite. Studio Ghibli is in my opinion perfection personified, except Ponyo. Too cute and childish. Ughhhhhh Pixar and Disney have made a few movies seen as bad, but I love them just as much because what they do well, they do really well. Next would be Blue Sky, then Illumination. Then Sony, then Fox(LOVE Anastasia, but this one gets dragged down by Ferngully and their stupid sequels). Then Disney Toon comes in last, but I don’t hate them. I hate Disney Sequels. But in my eyes, the sequels were scheduled by executives, and these were just some poor souls forced to work on the drivel. And Tinker Bell kind of makes up for some of the less offensive sequels.
I still refuse to believe any Pixar film is rubbish. Especially with both Cars, I feel like the world just wants me, and Pixar, to accept that they are not good films, and we refuse. I don’t care what anyone says - they are good. I won’t necessarily call them masterpieces, either. But they are exactly what they are made out to be - enjoyable self-discovery films. They may be flawed, but that doesn’t make them bad. And Toy Story 3 is not infinitely an outstanding film either just because it looks perfect and it’s the #1 grossing animated film. It’s good, but not outstanding no matter what. The way I see it, the best story does not always win if it’s not told in the best way it can be.
I believe only one Disney film is truly rubbish, Chicken Little, and a handful of others are also semi-rubbish. You can tell the animators did not enjoy making Chicken Little very much and they only did it because they thought they had to make CG at the time, and because the executives told them to make it that way. But if we were to just base them on the Walt or Lasseter eras, none could be considered rubbish to me because they have enough good qualities about them. And several films not in their era were great, good, or not so much.
I find that most of the criticism towards Disney and Pixar films are from people who spend WAY too much time online. Cynicism must be associated with that somewhere along the way. I don’t like to judge my entertainment and the critical aspect on a film separately. My opinion of a film combines these two things. I can honestly say I do not have any guilty pleasure films, and I don’t like any “bad” films. I like “good” films because they are good, and they are good because they were able to tell a good story and make me enjoy myself.
I hate the term guilty pleasure. Either you like it, or not. Nothing to be guilty about, because nobody can prove you wrong, despite what they might think. And I agree, I don’t think any Pixar films are awful. I also dislike Chicken Little, but I would also say Dinosaur, and a little bit of Home on the Range.
Yeah, guilty pleasures don’t make sense. Why would you like something if you know it’s bad or think you know it’s bad. 
I don’t get it. I like what I like and let people like what they like.
Dinosaur and Home on the Range were the semi-ones I was referring to! I guess they could be considered on the low scale of things. I was actually obsessed with Dinosaur as a child. I knew everyone’s name and had a few toys! And yet somehow, I always knew it wasn’t Pixar, and I think my parents thought it wasn’t but they weren’t completely sure. I think it was because I was obsessed with dinosaurs so naturally I would really like that movie. After watching it again recently, I can see how it’s not up to par with the good Disney films.
When I was little I was always a little bit obsessive about the Pixar logo being present or not at the beginning of Disney movies. I hated it because I wanted to know what it meant and what difference it made! Eventually I figured out what Pixar was, but then I wondered if Disney owned them and stuff. I’ve always focused on who makes what, with movies, music, toys and everything really. My family was always confused by that. I remember coming out of How to Train Your Dragon, I remarked that I wish it had been a Disney or Pixar film because it was soooo good and I hated DW at the time. My mom was so confused, because she thought it was in fact Disney. And i used to rage because Glen and people I knew thought Tangled was Pixar or DW because of the CGI. 
I think right before Finding Nemo finally came out, I realized “I think this one is called “Pixar”? and make good ones, I think…”
How to Train Your Dragon was pretty darn good. I barely saw it a few months ago. I only really liked it the first time, not quite loved it, but I’ve been aching to see it again. I think it’s going to grow on me more. It’s my favorite of the CG DreamWorks movies. I think my family used to have an idea of who made what, but now with so many companies making movies, I don’t they can tell. I think they only know what’s Pixar now, maybe. For example, they even knew Brave was Pixar but thought the look of it was like DreamWorks or something.
I happen to be familiar with the look of each company in their movies, most of it you can usually see in the eyes. For someone who isn’t though, they’d probably just have to check the logo at the beginning of the movie. I’m surprised I don’t have that hard a time telling the difference anymore. 
Yeah, even though the movies are individual, each company does have its own “look”. Now there I don’t have a favorite. I think DreamWorks makes really ugly humans though.
Pixar is forever and always my favorite. After that is Disney of course.
Pixar used to be my favorite, but I admit I haven;t been impressed with them lately. I have them equal with Disney and Ghibli.
I will admit, although I really like their recent movies, I feel a bit similarly IV. I guess it’s hard when I’m feeling the magic from Disney and Ghibli more lately. But Pixar is still my all-time favorite studio, because their work (especially in the past) stands on its own still as so groundbreaking and important.
I doubt anyone can compare to Ghibli’s track record. But Disney’s good movies are soooo good. And Pixar still has a very emotional power for me.
That’s a good point.
When I’m ranking the studios, I rank by overall portfolio. Which is why Disney is lower down. Pixar easily gets the top spot for consistant quality. Disney, being around so long and through so many eras/hands isn’t nearly as consistently well. (1/3 of the movies are fantastic, and the rest are terrible, mediocre, or alright).
For example, Dreamworks. Some of their films (Prince of Egypt, Road to El Dorado) I’d easily rank over most of the Disney films. But when I consider the Studio overall, it’s one of the lower ones.
Also a good point. It’s just also hard to ignore recent films. I still say tie because I dislike very few Disney films, and the worst Pixar films are okay. So given the number of films they’re even to me. And Ghibli’s films are ll flawless, though I don’t personally care for Ponyo or The Secret World of Arriety.
Yeah, I’m not ignoring their recent films either. Just looking at it all in one big package. But I agree, WDAS’s films have been improving, while Pixar is in “a delcine”. (Which I’m hesitant to say because it suggests the films are bad. All of the recent films have been great, with xception of Cars 2 IMO. But they just aren’t up to par with the first 10 or so films.)
Would it be too early to add Illumination Entertainment to this list for ranking purposes? I know they only just released their 4th film, but what they’re released has generally been well received, they have several more films in development, and DM2 is the 5th highest grossing animated film of all time.