The animation studio Pixar has an incredible collection of films with the most hardworking, inspirational heroes. But of course, every story needs a less inspirational character for the heroes to bounce off. These characters are generally not hard working at all, or at the very least, have been allowed to not work very hard for the life they have.
Some of these Pixar characters have genuine reasons for their lazy habits, while others are simply rotten to some extent and need to learn how to live a full life of their own. While the more heroic and hard-working characters inspire audiences to do more, these lazy characters remind viewers that they have to try to do something to become a hero.
8 Up: Mr. Frederickson's Goals Are More Self-Serving For The First Half Of The Movie
After the death of his beloved wife, Mr. Frederickson fell into a routine rut. However, as a final farewell to his love and a final adventure for himself, he took their home and turned it into a flying machine to travel to Paradise Falls, where they always promised to travel to together. As honorable as Mr. Frederickson's goal is, he's unable to deter from it for the sake of another person.
Although he welcomes him into his home eventually, Mr. Frederickson rejects the young boy Russel to enter the safety of his home at first, showing how little he cares for others. He tries to push Doug away because he can't be bothered with a talking dog, and he refuses to save the bird Kevin even though he knows the animal's babies would be in jeopardy without her.
7 Toy Story: Mr. Potato Head Takes The Easy Route In Persecuting Woody
Mr. Potato Head sits on the sidelines and sarcastically ridicules everyone else, especially Woody, in the film Toy Story. In his own way, he does care but shows off his bitterness more than anything else. As soon as he has the chance to put down Woody and start making the decisions, he does so in the most half-assed and biased way.
When the new toy Buzz is knocked out of Andy's room window, Mr. Potato Head immediately accuses Woody, who he knows is jealous of Buzz, forcing the other toys to lose faith in their cowboy leader. Granted, when they all see Woody holding Buzz's detached arm, all faith in Woody is lost. Mr. Potato Head takes over but does a terrible job of it as he doesn't have it in him to do all the work of a leader.
6 Cars: Lightning McQueen Is Only Hard Working On The Race Track
Lightning McQueen proves his talent in racing when he just makes it into a three-way tie with two of the best racers. However, off the race track, he's lazy, useless, and especially uncaring when it comes to others. Fame has made him selfish, which leads him to neglect the care of his chauffeur, who is too distracted by his tiredness to see McQueen has fallen out of his secure care.
On his own, McQueen finds himself in trouble in the town of Radiator Springs where he's legally required to perform community service to compensate for damage that he's caused the town. In his time at Radiator Springs, he reveals how terrible he is at anything but racing.
5 Inside Out: Sadness Lacks The Motivation To Follow In Joy's Footsteps
When the emotion of Sadness arrives in the brain of 11-year-old Riley Anderson, the rest of her emotions don't know what to do with her. Riley had always been a happy girl, but after moving for the first time and leaving all her friends behind, she starts to change. Her emotions don't want to see Riley unhappy, so Joy continues to lead and keep the girl smiling.
Sadness has trouble with following the way things are in Riley's brain and appears to lack the motivation that Joy has. What Joy and everyone else fails to realize is that is exactly how Riley is feeling, and she needs to work through all her emotions and not only feel joy.
4 Soul: 22 Lacked A Reason To Live Their Life, Leaving Them Listless And Lazy
Unwilling to give up on his own life after a fatal accident, Joe sneaks his way into the realm where new souls are given their own purpose to start their own lives on Earth. There, he meets the wayward soul named 22 and becomes their mentor.
Many have tried to help 22 prepare for life on Earth, but 22 just doesn't feel any excitement from anything that's brought to their attention. The notion of food doesn't interest them, nor do any activities or career options, so 22 has been stuck as an unborn soul for a long time. It's not until 22 is brought to Earth, taking over Joe's body that they are given the real-life experience, and even though it was only the basics of eating real food, walking, and a bit of social interaction, it was enough to make 22 finally want to live.
3 Finding Dory: Bailey Keeps Making Excuses As To Why He Can't Use His Echolocation
When he's first introduced in Finding Dory, Bailey comes across as a whiner who makes excuses for their own shortcomings. He's a beluga whale who claims that he can't use echolocation due to an injury on his head that still needs to fully heal. However, his friend and aquarium neighbor Destiny states that she's heard the veterinarians say he's perfectly fine.
Although Bailey's character isn't really delved into in the film, it's apparent that, at some point, he just stopped trying to use his echolocation and is now making excuses that make no sense.
2 Ratatouille: Emile Is Too Much Of A Push Over
In the film Ratatouille, rats sneak around for whatever scraps they can find in order to protect themselves from humans, but that's not good enough for the rat Remy. He's not afraid to go for the fresher food inside humans' homes, while his brother Emile is vastly different.
Emile follows the traditional ways of his kind, and yet simultaneously follows Remy into danger all the time. He doesn't try to tell anyone off, even getting his brother Remy into trouble by inviting other rats to enter the restaurant when Remy told him not to tell anyone. He's just along for the ride and doesn't take an active role in asserting himself, even if it's for another's sake.
1 Wall-E: Captain B McCrea Knows Nothing About Earth Or Taking On Real Responsibilities
After life on Earth becomes impossible due to the effects of global warming, mankind has floated through space in the giant space cruiser the AXIOM. When the protagonist Wall-E boards the space cruiser, he sees what a lazy mess humanity has become, especially the Captain.
Since they've been on vacation since leaving Earth, humans know nothing of working hard since everything has been catered for them by the robots on the AXIOM. Even Captain B McCrea has all his basic needs tended to by the robots aboard. His one and only job is to make small announcements to the people and change the time of day – that is until he realizes how amazing Earth is and decides it's time to go back home.