Pixar has been charming the world with its animated adventures for years. While the stories are heartwarming, the visuals are beautiful, and the scattered romances are sweet, there's something else it has going for it that rises above everything else: its friendships.
Many of its best duos are memorable and touching, but not all Pixar pals are created equal. Some friendships — while cute on screen — would be rather problematic in the real world. Others are so special that any less-than-perfect logistics don't really matter.
Grab a bucket of popcorn and put on those 3D glasses because we're here to show you the best and the worst of Pixar's friendships.
10. Worst: Wall-E and Hal
In case you didn’t figure it out by the picture, Hal is the name of Wall-E’s cockroach friend. The biggest problem with this friendship (outside the fact that Hal’s a trash-crawling bug) is that Wall-E didn’t get much choice in it. Hal was literally the only living thing Wall-E could find, and that in itself makes this duo pretty depressing.
Wall-E doesn’t even bring Hal along on his adventure. He orders him to stay on the earth and leaves him all alone without a single other living thing. What kind of friend does that?
9. Best: Lightning McQueen and Mater
Lightning McQueen and Mater are the unlikely eight-wheel duo that warms everyone’s hearts. While Lightning McQueen is used to his racecar background and Mater is more accustomed to the tractor-tipping life, they push their differences aside to help each other out.
Sure, McQueen does get short-tempered with Mater from time to time — but in the end, they’re both ive of each other, cruising this Cars duo into the best buds list.
8. Worst: Joy and Sadness
A major turning point in the Inside Out sees Joy realizing she can’t exist without Sadness. While it may be true, this pair’s complete lack of commonality makes their friendship problematic.
They say opposites attract, but science has proven that to be false. We are attracted to people like us. So would these two ever be friends if not by necessity? It’s unlikely.
Joy eventually learns to experience empathy, an emotional state that Sadness opens her up to. On the other hand, Joy opens up Sadness to the lighter moments of life. That’s all good, but it doesn’t make their natural lack of commonality any smaller.
7. Best: Marlin and Dory
Pixar’s cutest clownfish and blue tang pair have the type of friendship that’s worth smiling about. Dory suffers from short-term memory loss, but the one thing she does — and is eventually terrified of forgetting — is her pal Marlin. They explore the sea together and conquer their fears. Friends who challenge you to do new things are worth keeping.
Additionally, it’s been suggested that doing terrifying things with someone makes you closer to them. That helps this pair swim toward the top of the list.
6. Worst: Mr. Incredible and Frozone
Yes, yes. These two are hilarious together. But do good friends really convince you to lie to your wife about going bowling so you can instead break into a burning building and pull people out? That’s debatable.
Their friendship is so strong, it’s problematic, making it one that — while memorable — wouldn't turn out so good in real life. If your friend jumps off a bridge, do you jump off a bridge, too?
Only if they’re your super bestie.
5. Best: Mike and Sulley
In addition to being comedic gold together, these two make an incredible team. They work together — live together — and go on an incredible adventure together to return a kid back to her bedroom.
While sometimes they get into silly arguments, with Mike being neurotic and Sulley being a little too laid back at times, they always have each other’s back and ultimately care about each other deeply.
If you didn’t shed a few tears when Mike literally reassembled Boo’s door from shreds so Sulley could visit her, it puts into question whether you do or don’t have a soul.
4. Worst: Spot and Arlo
Do you this prehistoric pair’s unbreakable bond? What? You don’t? This is why it’s going on our worst friendship list.
While many Pixar films feature characters that are cherished far past the end of the film, others (cough, cough, The Good Dinosaur), star leads that are rather forgettable.
Spot and Arlo were cute — they depended on each other — but years from now, is their friendship going to be cemented as one of the greatest of all time? It’s doubtful.
3. Best: Carl and Russel
Carl forms lots of heartwarming friendships as he pulls his floating house toward Paradise Falls, but better than his bond with Dug or Kevin is his companionship with Russel.
While Carl is at first reluctant to have Russel come along for the adventure (not like he had much choice), he soon steps in as a father figure to the adorable Wilderness Explorer. At the end of the film, he shows up at Russell’s ceremony to pin the "Ellie Badge” to his vest and is even seen playing a game with Russell while they both eat ice cream on the sidewalk.
Sometimes you just need someone to be there — and that’s what Carl did for Russel.
2. Worst: Remy and Linguini
Has anyone ever stopped to consider that all the chefs concerned about rats showing up in Gusteau’s restaurant actually have a point? While Remy and Linguini have an endearing bond, it’s really not all that sanitary and makes everyone else in the film look a lot less crazy.
If you’ve ever seen a rat running around at the bottom of the New York City subway tracks, you’ll know they’re not as cute as Ratatouille makes them out to be.
Pushing that aside, has anyone paid attention to all the times Linguini gets into a one-way fight with Remy? Sure, they team up by the end. But it takes a long — long journey to get there.
1. Best: Woody and Buzz
There is literally a song called “You’ve Got A Friend In Me” in Toy Story. If that doesn’t describe the type of friendship these two have, I don’t know what does.
While Woody and Buzz are first at odds as the space ranger comes to grips with being a toy, they eventually form an unbreakable bond that lasts the entirety of the Toy Story franchise.
Although their friendship is not at the center of Toy Story 4, it all ends (SPOILERS) with Buzz letting Woody go so he can live out his life with Bo Peep. True friends encourage each other to follow their dreams and reach their full potential even when it means having to leave each other behind.
They’ll always be best friends, though — to infinity and beyond.
