10. John Lasseter - Cars 2
As revolutionary to animation as Walt Disney, John Lasseter could have stopped with Toy Story and still been an all time great. Instead he and Pixar continued to prove to the world that it wasn't cutting edge CGI that made their debut work, but a devotion to story and character. The thing is, while Lasseter did certainly prove the most influential director from Pixars brain tank, hes never been the best. Next to the double of Monsters, Inc. and Up (Pete Docter) and Finding Nemo and Wall-E (Andrew Stanton) his non-Woody output is lacking; A Bugs Life and Cars are serviceable, but far from classic Pixar. Still, he had a good eye for what makes a good movie and has since worked wonders as head of animation at Disney. Its just a shame his return to directing was the terrible Cars 2. The first film was always Pixar at its most sell out, but here things were taken further. Lasseter is clearly a petrol head, but doesn't seem to realise hes the only person over the age of seven who can stand Mater.
Did he pull it back? Too early to tell, although he is one of the team shepherding The Good Dinosaur after it lost director Bob Peterson, so thatll be a good barometer.