I have to confess, I almost wanted to give Animation Week a pass. I mean, we're in the middle of NaNoWriMo, and I'm hauling butt on the greatest novel ever known to man. Well, no, not really, but I'd sure like to believe it. When I'm trying to bang out over 1,667 words of fantasy a day, it makes squeezing in reviews hard. Whine, whine, whine, I know. But at the same time, it's animation week. I love animated movies, and even more than that, I have a toddler. Animation and reruns of Battlestar Galactica or Firefly are about all that are ever in my DVD player these days. Well, and Sesame Street, but I'll save that one for another time.

Being a conscientious parent, I'm very picky about what my kids watch. A lot of children's programming is, well, Justin, can I please say it? Complete s**t. (Ed: I have NO idea where the asterisks came from!) They're hour long commercials for toys or patronizing or shrill, and a lot of it I really, truly can't stand. But at the same time, let's face it - it's nice to let your kids watch a little TV. You can be all high and mighty at me about using the TV as a babysitter if you want, but on the rare occasions I decide to clean the bathrooms and mop the kitchen floor, the TV is a godsend. Not to mention those rainy cold days where going outside is just NOT an option.

Anyway, thank God for Pixar.

We all know that Pixar rocks. And it really, truly does. They tell fascinating stories without scarring a child for life, creative stories that a kid can really enjoy, and entertaining plots with plenty of adult humor that the movies can actually stand up to repeated (and good Lord, do I mean repeated) viewing. It's that dual nature that makes them so much fun. And in an attempt to demonstrate that, allow the Ducklet and I to bring you our favorite moments from each Pixar movie.

1. Toy Story

Ducklet's Favorite Part: This is pretty easy. Ducklet has three big passions in life: trucks, dinosaurs, and space. The part where Buzz sees the Pizza Planet truck is easily the best thing in the world to him. The only way it could possibly be better is if Rex saw it, too.

My Favorite Part: Go a little bit further to the three-eyed aliens. Don't get me wrong; Woody and Buzz are incredibly entertaining. But I still come close to laughing myself sick every time I hear them talk about The Claw. I don't think most kids get why it's so funny, but it is.

2. A Bug's Life

Ducklet's Favorite Part: indeterminate. This is my least favorite of the Pixar films, I think. I say I think because I haven't watched it in ages. Ducklet has yet to see it.

My Favorite Part: Flick recruiting the circus bugs in the bug bar has got to be a classic. Especially the lady bug. It's an old joke, but it never fails to amuse me.

3. Toy Story 2

Ducklet's Favorite Part: Any time Rex appears. He likes Rex because he's a dinosaur. I just think Rex is funny because of his earnest approach to life.

My Favorite Part: The toy store tour always cracked me up, especially when the toys made it to the Barbie aisle. And the second Buzz (and the regular Buzz's self awareness) is pretty classic as well. But I guess the best part of Toy Story 2 is the realization that the sequel might be even better than the original, and that's saying something.

4. Monsters Inc.

Ducklet's Favorite Part: Sully training. I have no idea why, but that big hairy purple and blue monster doing the twins in a bunkbed thing used to make Ducklet scream with laughter. He's also very fond of Boo. Me, I can't figure out how old Boo is supposed to be. She's not terribly coherent, but her drawings are far beyond the scribbles my kid manages.

My Favorite Part: Anything with Roz. Roz's deadpan delivery and secret identity are fantastic. Because everyone knows the secretaries are really the ones in charge.

5. Finding Nemo

Ducklet's Favorite Part: The sharks. Clearly not my genes at work here, but he loves the sharks. I have to admit, I find the shark therapy group pretty funny, but it can't be my favorite part because they're sharks. I. Don't. Like. Sharks.

My Favorite Part: This is tough. I really like the stuff with Crush, but it is a bit heavy handed at times. But I think I'm going to have to cite the moment where, at the end, after all the stuff they've gone through, Dory finally finds a crab who refuses to tell her which way Marlin's gone and threatens to throw him to the seagulls. The look on her face right before she does that is pure genius.

6. The Incredibles

Ducklet's Favorite Part: I haven't shown this one to him yet. I think he's a little young- too much talking, not enough silliness on his level. Kyle once called it something like an animated Atlas Shrugged, and he's totally right.

My Favorite Part: I do get a kick out of the animated Atlas Shrugged aspect, but I think my absolute favorite part is Edna showing Helen the family's uniforms. Aside from the fact that Edna is just hysterical, I love how they considered what sort of things a superhero mom and kids would really want in a costume (right down to machine washable!).

7. Cars

Ducklet's Favorite Part: Easily the tractor tipping. We used to come downstairs to find he'd tipped all his plastic cars up on their ends, like in the movie. But no matter what he's doing, that part always makes him stop and watch. And, for the record, T2 seems to agree.

My Favorite Part: I've gotta go with Ducklet on this one. It's a good movie, but the tractor tipping is pure gold. As Mater says, "I don't care who you are- that's funny, right there."

8. Ratatouille

Ducklet's Favorite Part: This is another one where I haven't shown it to him because I think there's more talking than would interest him. Maybe I'm wrong, but I do notice that my two favorites (The Incredibles and Ratatouille) are the two that probably would bore kids the most.

My Favorite Part: Tough, because all the parts about food make me happy. The runner up favorite part is Anton Ego's speech about being a critic, but the part that seriously made me cry was when he took his first bite of ratatouille and flashed back to his childhood. It was such an eloquent expression of what food can mean, and how much we really associate with food. I'm not joking about the crying part - that scene really did completely touch me.

9. WALL-E

Ducklet's Favorite Part: He hasn't seen this one, but I can tell you. It's the appearance of the Axiom. Why can I tell you? Well, a few months ago I let Ducklet watch a few minutes of Battlestar Galactica. Just a few minutes, mind you. The aborted battle between the Galactica and the Pegasus. And he fell in love with spaceships, right then and there. He also started talking a lot about Cylons. So, in an effort to channel him towards something a little more age appropriate, I bought him a book based on WALL-E. He liked it, but as soon as he saw that spaceship, you would have thought the Phillies won the World Series or something.

Oh, wait, they did.

(Sorry. Couldn't resist.)

My Favorite Part: Okay, I just loved WALL-E, all right? He was just so darn dorky and sweet and loveable, you really couldn't not like him. But the cleaner bot amused me, too, if nothing else because I just do NOT understand such a fanatical devotion to scrubbing the floor.

After looking at their home page, I see Pixar's next effort will be about flight. I very enthusiastically await Up, and I'm sure we'll be seeing it as soon as possible. (Maybe we'll even risk the theater!)

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