Behind every great hero is their parents...
Shaping their morality from a young age.
However, for as big of a company as it is... with so many films under its belt, Disney
is rather infamous for killing off their parents...
Bambi’s Mom…
Simba’s Dad…
These scenes really messed us up as kids…
Pixar, on the other hand, isn’t afraid to let the parents live and even be a part of
the journey themselves.
And today, we’re counting them down...
How good these parents all are, and how they rank among these other well meaning folks.
But first, the rules:
Normally, we’ll take both parents in a film and count them together…
This is because parents in many Pixar movies work together and represent more-or-less the
same morality.
However, if one parent receives significantly more screen time than the other, then we’ll
just focus on the one that got the most screen time.
And furthermore, if the parents are apart throughout the majority of the movie but have
the same amount of development, then we’ll separate them.
And with that said , let’s go!
I’m Brad with WickedBinge and this is Pixar Parents: Good to Most Good.
And fair warning: Spoilers Ahead!
So this time, we’re starting off with the least good and moving on up to the best of
the best.
There really aren’t any evil parental figures here, so expect some hair splitting.
First up, we have the two dinosaurs Henry and Ida.
Now, we are aware that Henry ended up dying and leaving Ida all alone…
However, thanks to how this mostly revolves around Arlo and Spot being lost, we’re just
going to count them in one spot.
These two parental figures have survived the meteor that would have killed them as it simply
just missed the planet.
Becoming farmers, these two dinosaurs give birth to two sons and a daughter, Arlo, Libby,
and Buck.
The two of them help them become farmers themselves, and how to set up traps to keep any pests,
like Spot, out.
Between the two, Henry is more forceful than Ida, becoming the one that is more set on
killing Spot than his son or wife.
To be fair, Spot is eating their food, so their lives were definitely on the line.
Even then, after realizing just how hard he was pushing Arlo, he relents and decides to
just help him get back home.
He even sacrifices himself in a flash flood just to save his son.
You can’t say that he doesn’t care about him.
Ida on the other hand is just the standard good mother, being more than willing to step
up after her husband’s death to keep the farm running.
Second on our list, we have Pixar’s first parent for their first film, Andy’s Mom.
As the first parent Pixar created, she definitely isn’t the most complex mother figure.
Oh sure, she still cares for her son and daughter, happy to film them playing with their toys,
but she doesn’t have much else to her besides that.
She definitely is a good mother though, moving Andy’s birthday party up a bit before they
move so he can celebrate it with his friends and playing with them one last time before
leaving.
She has also shown to be quite patient and understanding with Andy, showing pity when
his Woody doll got a rip.
By the third movie, she was in charge of a grown up Andy and Molly, having them give
her any old toys they don’t play with in order to donate them to Sunnyside, and was
more than sentimental with Andy as he left for college.
Sure, she was the reason that Woody’s friends got sent out to the trash, but she didn’t
know the toys were alive.
However, what we can deduct some points for is having the yard sale in Toy Story 2 using
Andy’s own toys.
This wouldn’t be a problem, but as Andy was at cowboy camp, it felt like a jerk move
to sell his toys as he was away.
Despite this, in the end, she is still a good mother.
Next up, have the human parental characters in Enrique and Luisa Rivera.
As Miguel’s parents, they take great pride in their business as shoemakers and help raise
their family of seven; themselves, Miguel, Coco, Luisa’s mother, Elena, Miguel’s
grandma, and Abel and Rosa, Miguel’s cousins.
With how many people they are helping in their shoe making business, it’s clear to see
that they are definitely working their hardest for them, with Luisa even having another kid
on the way.
That said, they do push for Miguel to not be a musician and instead just be a shoemaker…
They could definitely be a bit more supportive to their son.
Still, they do show a great deal of care for him.
They’re still willing and patient with him even as he expresses his distaste with shoe
making.
They were also equally shocked seeing Elena destroying Miguel’s guitar... with the father
even trying to reach out to stop her... and getting the chance to stop Elena from stopping
Miguel singing to Coco.
Even after seeing Miguel run away, they are quick to worry for his own safety.
With their massive family and line of work, it’s clear to see that they really do care
for and love their children, even if they are into other things that they don’t like.
Third from the bottom, we have the other parents in the Toy Story franchise, Bonnie’s parents.
These two are the parents to young Bonnie.
Together, the two of them do their best to help Bonnie have a good happy life, even if
they are more in the background in the films than other parents.
That isn’t to say we don’t know anything about them.
Mrs Anderson is the daycare receptionist and is more than happy with her job.
She looks out for her daughter and is more than happy to help her look for her toys when
they go missing.
When she finds out that someone actually stole her toys in “Toy Story Of Terror”, she
got livid and even called the police.
Mr Anderson didn’t get as much screen time as his wife did, but he is still a good father,
going on the family vacation with his wife and daughter... and staying behind at the
fair to help look for her toys and replace the tires once Jessie makes them flat...
Even if he was angry upon realizing what happened.
Overall, these two are still very good parents, even if there isn’t much to write home about
for their actions on-screen…
But the humans take the backstage in Toy Story universe, so it makes sense.
Next up, we have the parents of Riley, Mr and Mrs Andersen, and if you’re wondering
what the difference in spelling between them and Bonnie’s parents is, it’s that Bonnie’s
parents have their last name spelled with an “o”...
Anyway, these parents, Bill and Jill, are the parental figures of Riley, moving to San
Francisco from Minnesota.
However, with one thing after another going wrong, they end up having to work around these
problems and deal with their daughter getting more and more anxious and angry about the
move.
Despite having so much to juggle, they still try their best to keep their daughter happy
as well.
From playing with her during her hockey game in the house to supporting her during the
hockey tryouts, it’s clear that they both really do love Riley.
While the mother is a bit quicker to pick up when something is bothering Riley, her
husband is definitely still willing to try to talk with Riley to see if he can cheer
her up.
And when they realized Riley ran away, they both were visually distraught and worried
for her safety, and relieved when she came back.
Another great pair of parents.
Next, we have Wilden Lightfoot.
As the father or Ian and Barley, he was once a great magician, only to succumb to and die
from a terminal disease.
While his sons didn’t learn much about him, they would get a chance to meet him thanks
to a magic spell he created to hopefully get the chance to meet them one day when they
grew up.
However, thanks to the spell going wrong, it would result with only his bottom half
being brought back.
Despite this obvious handicap, you can tell by just looking at his legs and feet that
he really is happy to be back with his sons, and are more than happy to look after them
during their quest as much as they can.
From helping Ian and Barley get along by dancing and saving them from the water trap.
When he finally does get the chance to talk with Barley after Ian sacrifices himself to
stop the dragon, he’s more than proud of him and Ian, and asks Barley to give Ian a
hug for him, as well as tell him his wizard name would have been “Wilden the Whimsical”.
Considering just how much pride he took in his life with how much of a goofball he is,
from his laughing to his dancing, it’s a title we think he earned.
Even if he may have already been well beyond dead at first, and even when we get to see
him, he’s just a pair of legs, it easy to see just how good of a parent he is.
Our next entry goes to the first of our two skeletal parents, Imelda Rivera.
Now, we’re counting the parents of Coco, Imelda and Héctor, separately due to their
good deeds being quite different.
On the lesser of these two good parental figures, Imelda originally comes off as someone who
just wants to send Miguel home and stop his love for music.
However, there is a bit of a reason for this.
It’s not an excuse, but an explanation.
Her husband, Héctor, was a musician who left on tour and never came back.
Now raising Coco, despite loving music herself, she decided to just focus on Coco and become
a shoemaker.
As the film goes on, her motivation goes from trying to stop Miguel from being a musician
to just trying to send him home.
Even as he tries to avoid and deny her the chance to do so, it’s clear that she still
has a great deal of love and respect for him, despite the harshness he feels for her.
She just wants him to realize that music is less important than family.
When Miguel decides to put family first before music, even willing to give up his dream if
it meant she would help him and Héctor, she allows him to become a musician... saying
that his family will love him no matter what.
She may look a bit tough at first, but she truly is a good parental figure deep down.
Up next is Queen Elinor, the mother of Brave’s Merida.
In comparison to her brash and immature daughter, Elinor is much more calm, collected, mature,
and in our opinion, better.
Being the more intelligent of Merida’s parents, she’s often the one maintaining peace in
her land and amongst other kingdoms, even dragging the clan leaders, including her own
husband, by the ears.
With her daughter, she hopes that Merida will take after her, only for Merida to get angry
with her and turn her into a bear with magic from a witch.
Even as a bear however, she still retains her royal and dainty side, even if the magic
of getting turned into a bear is starting to affect her mental state.
She may have snapped a bit in her bear state, but as it’s the magic at work, we aren’t
going to be too harsh with her.
Regardless, even after what Merida did, Elinor has nothing but love and respect for her daughter,
even saving her from the monstrous bear Mor’du.
Even as a bear, she still tries to help Merida still become a better person, being extremely
patient and friendly with someone who just turned her into a bear.
After getting back into her human form, she even starts to loosen up a bit, not being
as much of a perfectionist as she once was.
Overall, we can say we definitely are fonder of Elinor than we are to her daughter…
She’s an incredibly strong parental character.
Onto Wilden’s wife, we have Laurel Lightfoot.
The mother of Ian and Barley, she’s the single mother raising them, having a new relationship
with Police Officer Bronco.
As their parents, she is more than understanding of her sons and what they treasure and value,
even speaking in Bartley’s role-playing language, and being proud of how Ian fits
into his late father’s college sweater.
She was the one that gave them the magic staff and spell to bring back Wilden for a day,
even trying to constantly reassure the boys how much their dad loves them and would love
to spend the day with them.
What puts her this high up however is that after hearing from The Manticore that her
sons would be in danger thanks to a curse the phoenix gem had, she is more than willing
to hit the road with her and go after them, wanting nothing more than to keep them safe.
She was even willing to face off against a dragon just so they could meet their father.
It’s pretty easy to see just how she is so high up.
Just right outside our top 3, we have the father of Coco herself, Héctor Rivera.
When we first meet him, he’s a skeleton desperate to not be forgotten by the world
of the loving.
Making a deal with Miguel, he would give him his picture to return it to his family to
put it up on the ofrenda, the table having pictures of everyone’s family members.
It’s been shown that despite not being able to cross to the land of the living, he still
hasn’t given up and tried every year just to see his daughter again, even if he kept
on failing due to literally not being able to cross over.
Throughout the course of the film, he would later treat Miguel like his own son, joining
with him during the concert and singing with him, showing great concern for him after Miguel
runs off on his own, and comforting him after he and Miguel get thrown into a pit by Ernesto.
With how much he cares for the kid, it’s pretty easy to accept the revelation that
he is actually Miguel’s great-great-grandfather.
He’s just as great of a parent to Coco, even writing her a song meant to be played
for just her, “Remember Me”.
Sure, he never returned to the family after his concert, but given how he was trying to
return home before dying thanks to being poisoned, we think we can let it slide.
Overall, he may be a skeleton, but he still has a big heart for his family.
For our bronze medal for parental goodness, we have the poster child for good parents
in Pixar movies, or rather the poster fish, Marlin.
Having lost his wife, Coral, right in front of his eyes, he decides to name the one surviving
child after a name she wanted, Nemo.
With him having a bad fin, he becomes something of a helicopter parent, or I guess in this
case, a submarine parent, making sure that Nemo is always safe.
It may be annoying, and he may have pushed Nemo away because of his overprotective nature,
but when Nemo gets taken by a scuba diver, Marlin proves his worth by tracking Nemo all
the way from the Great Barrier Reef all the way over to Sydney, Australia, all just to
get his son back, with nothing more than himself and his friend with short term memory loss,
Dory.
He ended up having to survive a wild shark that is addicted to blood and wanted to eat
him, an anglerfish trying to bait him into his jaw, and a field of jellyfishes, even
going back in there to save Dory.
Tales of his bravery get so widespread that it even spreads to Nemo himself trapped in
a fish tank.
He would later end up joining Dory on her quest to reunite with her family, going to
the Marine Life Institute in Finding Dory.
He even ends up calling upon a friend he made in the first movie, Crush the sea turtle,
to help take them there.
Despite initially coming off as harsh to her, it's a bit understandable as Dory’s antics
did put Nemo at risk, almost getting eaten by a giant squid.
Even then, he does end up not only giving a genuine apology to Dory after reuniting
with her, but also admitting that without Dory, he wouldn’t have found Nemo in the
first place.
And even then, he’s still very kind to his own son, making sure he is ok after the chase
with the squid and always putting himself in front of him in dangerous situations.
He is willing to swim coast to coast for his son and Dory, and despite his arrogance at
times, he truly does have the best intentions in mind for everyone.
However, he ends up getting overshadowed by Dory’s own parents, Jenny and Charlie.
Living inside the aquarium, they are the proud parents of Dory, even if they realize her
mental disability.
However, they take it with absolute sincerity, doing their best to help Dory grow and learn,
teaching her how to find her way back home, what to avoid, and even teaching her the “Just
Keep Swimming” song to help her stay motivated.
They are obviously meant to represent actual parents who are going through trouble with
their own disabled children, and they are portrayed in as good of a light as possible.
From worrying about the idea that Dory could be ok on her own, to escaping from the institute
and going out to sea just to look for her, and their deed that put them this high up,
setting up countless seashell trails from their new makeshift home in the ocean just
to help Dory find her way back home.
Keep in mind, they did this when Dory was just a kid, and now, they were still going
out to collect shells to help Dory get to them.
Their extreme dedication and long work has more than earned them the silver trophy.
Finally, at the top of the chain, we have Mr and Mrs Incredible.
Now, just what makes these two stand out above the rest?
Well, it’s rather obvious; unlike the other parents on these lists, these two are literal
superheroes.
Being married to each other and giving birth to three kids, they are forced to hide their
secret identities beneath the law.
Mr Incredible however still has a great desire for justice, loving to help people out, even
bending the law in the insurance company he is at to help a elderly woman, and being so
mad at his boss for preventing him from saving a mugged man that he threw him across several
walls.
Mrs Incredible however is much more happy just being a stay at home mom, raising her
children to try and stay hidden as well, while her husband wants them to express themselves
with their powers.
Despite their conflicting viewpoints on their superpowers, they both still love each other
and their family, with Mr Incredible willing to fight Syndrone’s robots by himself if
it means that his family will be safe, and Mrs Incredible jumping at the chance to save
her husband once she realized he could be in danger.
In the second movie, they managed to not only stop Evelyn Endeavor’s plan of permanently
getting superheroes banned, but also managed to save a cruise ship filled with superheroes,
getting them legalized once again as well.
When it comes to the best of the best amongst parents, you really can’t top literal superheroes.
But what do you think?
Who are the most good Pixar parents?
Let us know in the comment section below.
Don’t forget to hit that notification bell and binge our Good-to-Evil playlist.
Where we break down the morality of the characters in your favorite cartoons, shows and movies.
But most importantly, stay wicked!