What is the best Pixar Score?

[natedog 7]

To date what is everybody's favourite score from a pixar movie?

[Jay 37,281]

Inside Out by Michael Giacchino

[mstrox 6,643]

Too late to add a poll?

Michael Giacchino's "The Incredibles." I also liked his score for "Up" and thought "Ratatouille and "Inside Out" were ok.

I am less enthralled with the Newmans' scores, and don't really remember Doyle's "Brave" score

[Jay 37,281]

I'll add a poll!

Poll added!

By the way, Nate Dogg... what's yours?

[natedog 7]

toy story

[Jay 37,281]

Vote in the poll!

[Dixon Hill 4,232]

La Luna, and the Danna score.

[Jay 37,281]

Ooooh, should I add a poll option for the short films?

[publicist 4,643]

WALL-E...and that's about it.

[Balahkay 627]

Definitely Toy Story. Maybe a few others. Otherwise, Pixar scores don't hold my interest much.

[crocodile 7,983]

WALL-E and The Good Dinosaur.

Karol

[Bilbo 3,709]

Toy Story I think. I am less familiar with Giacchino's stuff and their respective films though.

[SafeUnderHill 205]

[Jay 37,281]

No, of course not -- but come on, why would Brad Bird possibly use any other composer?

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Ratatouille

Whichever film Giacchino scores next; The Incredibles 2 gets the vote here.

[crocodile 7,983]

Ratatouille is my close second, by the way. Very close to second actually.

Karol

[publicist 4,643]

Yeah, RATATOUILLE is neat, too. But on the whole, given the enormous clout these movies have, creatively speaking, they are no score bonanza.

[crocodile 7,983]

Yeah, I haven't heard a "Pixar masterpiece". Not yet.

Karol

[mrbellamy 6,272]

Gia's first two and Coolman's are all about even for me...the latter's scores particularly work wonders in context, but I gave the edge to Ratatouille. Brave and Inside Out are nice too.

Randy's songs are more memorable than his underscore - "When She Loved Me" is really one of the great movie songs - but I like his Bug's Life theme, and in general his nostalgic tendencies worked well for those films. I like that he tapped into some of the antiquated charm of the early Disney scores, like this shrill little piece from Toy Story 2. Shades of "Little Wooden Head" from Pinocchio in there.

[SafeUnderHill 205]

[Jay 37,281]

Hmmm, I'll have to check it out sometime. I haven't seen the film since 1997 and have never heard the score outside it.

[Muad'Dib 1,800]

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[A. A. Ron 1,738]

I more or less agree with these guys:

Yeah, RATATOUILLE is neat, too. But on the whole, given the enormous clout these movies have, creatively speaking, they are no score bonanza.

Yeah, I haven't heard a "Pixar masterpiece". Not yet.

Karol

As for a favorite though, mine is Giacchino's The Incredibles (originality aside), followed very closely by Newman's WALL-E. Most looking forward to Danna's The Good Dinosaur.

[Thor 7,463]

None of these are favourites with me (especially not the Giacchino, although they fare well within my general distaste for the composer), but I've come to enjoy both Randy Newman in general, and his TOY STORY outings more specifically over the years. Looking forward to the Danna the most -- a composer I've always liked and that may inject something new and worthwhile to the studio.

[Balto's Claws 2]

This is unusual coming from an animation fan.....I don't really have an answer because NONE of the Pixar scores truly interest me. Weird huh? I own almost every Disney film soundtrack but none of the Pixar ones. I have that one album that did a "Best of" with some songs and score and only goes as new as "Up". Outside of that....nothing. Nothing connected to me. The films are good, but the music....nothing there.

[Jay 37,281]

Well it makes sense if your primary interest is 80s and 90s animated films, because Pixar films go out of their way to be nothing like those, including their scores

[Uni 306]

Bug's Life is Newman's best, in my eyes. But my own favorite is the John Barry tribute Gia pulled off in The Incredibles.

[Jay 37,281]

Yea, I meant to say something about trying to distinguish between "best" and "favorite", because to me those have always meant different things, and natedogg used both in his original post and thread title

[Uni 306]

That's always the inherent difficulty in all those Top-10 lists, too: it's not always clearly defined whether you're voting for your favorite or which you consider the best (and there's absolutely a difference between the two).

[Jay 37,281]

I agree

[BloodBoal 7,538]

I think that whether you use the word "favourite" or "best", people generally just list their favourite films/scores/books/etc.

[mrbellamy 6,272]

I've kinda given up on trying to figure out that distinction. "Favorites" lists are more personal and unique, anyway, whereas "Bests" have a tendency to just copy/paste the usual selections from AFI, IMDb, Sight/Sound etc or equivalent lists for music/books/whatever. I don't have anything new or enlightening to say on what hundreds of people have already said (and will forever debate on) what constitutes the "best" of something, whereas I could go all day long about what makes something particularly interesting or enjoyable or emotionally significant for me as a "favorite" since I'm the only one who knows.

Maybe it's also that what I admire (i.e. best) and what I enjoy (i.e. favorite) tend to merge and that makes it hard for me to value one over the other. I have a hard time ranking things like that anymore...it starts to get really nitpicky when you get that high up. I'm not really that interested in if Children of Paradise is a better movie than The Wizard of Oz. I don't know how I'd compare them, anyway. Or even if, oh, 2001 is better than Close Encounters. All I know is that I think they're all utterly fantastic for different reasons and sit on the shelf with my favorite movies of all-time, because none of them are quite like any other movies out there. I'd rather leave it at that.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

I think it's the best post I've ever read about the difference between "favourite" and "best", thought it's clearly not my favourite post on that topic.

[Uni 306]

It'll still make your top 10.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

Not sure. Maybe it'll only get an honorable mention.

[Red 75]

I love Giacchino's Up the most. And I've enjoyed most Pixar scores.