Pixar Picks

As anyone who has ever heard John Lasseter talk knows, the success of any (and, so far, just about all) Pixar movie is because of the story. Words to live by, sure (and believe me, all the folks at "the lamp" must, because they say it a lot), but a story would be nothing without great characters to inhabit it. And the computer animation giant has plenty of those, as this recent list compiled by Empire Online attests.

And while the list does include the studio's biggest stars (Buzz and Woody, Mike and Sulley), sidekicks (Dory, Mater) and scene-stealers (Tuck and Roll, the fabulous Edna Mode), the readers of the site who voted left out some major players. How about Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl (come on, she yodels!), the hard working little green army men (support our troops) and both Marlin and Nemo (hello, it's called Finding Nemo for a reason). Instead, Guido, a relatively minor character from Cars, made the cut? Whatever.

The two Toy Stories are the most represented with six characters in the countdown (five of which are in the top ten), while Pixar's latest, Ratatouille (coming to DVDthis Tuesday) is a no-show. Also missing in action are any characters from Pixar's award-winning shorts (a collection of which also hits DVDnext week), like Gerie or their iconic (literally) lamp Luxo. Regardless, you can see my personal five faves pictured above ... and yes, I would gladly trade the green alien for my little cowgirl.

In related news, Leslie Iwerks' The Pixar Story, a documentary on the creation of the award-winning studio, is currently playing in select cities, with a future DVD release to be announced.

Links via EmpireOnline.com, Imdb.com, Amazon.com, TheReporter.com and Planet-k.com.