From 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to 2023’s Wish, we’ve ranked all 62 films from the dream factory
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Is there a more recognizable brand on earth than Disney? The studio has, of course, gone far beyond the modest dreams of Walt and Roy Disney, who began the company 100 years ago sketching away in a garage. They could never have predicted their humble beginnings turning into an enormous corporation with thousands of films, shows, games, and more under its belt.
Though the company has seemingly infinite facets, Disney is still known for one thing more than any other, and that’s animation. Walt Disney Animation Studios has led the way in animation since its inception, from its Silly Symphony shorts to the first feature-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in 1937, and beyond. Wish, out Nov. 22 and centered on a 17-year-old girl (Ariana DeBose) who wishes upon a star to help save her kingdom of Rosas from an evil king (Chris Pine), marks Disney’s 62nd animated classic.
But which of Disney’s 62 animated movies reigns supreme? Which films capture that Disney magic effortlessly, and which ones make you wish they were never part of our world? Be our guest and dive into our ranking of every single Walt Disney Animation classic.
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Disney’s nadir came at a time when its multi-decade animation reign ended thanks to DreamWorks and Pixar’s rise. Home on the Range follows a group of dairy cows who try to save their farm, but they get lost in this desperately unfunny entry, with Disney’s worst villain ever to boot. Not even a charming k.d. lang song can make up for what a disaster this is. If I made a film this bad, I’d acquire my competition, too.
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You’d be forgiven for forgetting that Dinosaur is a Disney film at all. It’s the studio’s first big foray into computer-generated animation, and while all the characters are CGI, the backgrounds are live-action. Whilst the backdrops are gorgeous, the characters are pretty darn ugly by modern standards. A rare Disney movie without any songs, Dinosaur is devoid of identity, as memorable characters are nowhere to be found.
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The weakest of Disney’s wartime package films, Fun and Fancy Free combines Bongo, the story of a circus bear, and the classic Mickey and the Beanstalk. But it’s the narrative structure that makes this one so uncomfortable to watch. It follows Jiminy Cricket going to some kid’s birthday party, which is attended by the birthday girl, some puppets from your worst nightmares, and Edgar Bergen. Even when Mickey is escaping from a giant, all you can think is, “Who is this girl, and how can we save her?” At just 73 minutes long, it manages to feel eternal.
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Disney is well known for breathtaking animation — none of which can be found in Chicken Little, their ugliest movie. This is the studio losing everything that makes them what people love in favor of a pale DreamWorks imitation. It has its moments — Chicken Little is a genuinely interesting protagonist, and Zach Braff gives a spirited performance — but it’s not enough to make up for what an unfortunate experience this is.
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Inexplicably, Make Mine Music is the only Disney classic not on Disney+, and is also awfully difficult to track down on home video. The package film collects 10 different segments of varying quality, most of which fall into being easily forgettable. The real highlight is Johnny Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet, a story sung by The Andrews Sisters about two hats that fell for each other in a department store and their impossible love story.
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Clocking in at a mere 42 minutes, Saludos Amigos is Disney’s shortest feature film. Commissioned by the American government as part of the Good Neighbor policy to promote relations with Latin America, this package film finds characters like Goofy and Donald traveling to South America. Even at less than an hour, it’s pretty dull, but it culminates in the gorgeously animated and lively final segment, “Aquarela do Brasil,” which introduces the iconic parrot José Carioca.
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A fun concept: Kenai (Joaquin Phoenix) kills a bear unnecessarily and is turned into a bear by spirits as punishment. On the way, he finds Koda (an adorable Jeremy Suarez), a young bear in search of his mother. There’s some sweetness and a strong moral compass, but everything here feels mild. The 2000s found Disney trying to re-establish its identity after the Renaissance, and Brother Bear feels very much like a movie trying to figure itself out. Even the soundtrack, courtesy of Phil Collins, feels like a pale imitation of his previous work on Tarzan.
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The film that launched a thousand furries, Robin Hood is one sly fox. Beyond an impressive cast of characters, however, the film is barely there. It feels more like a collection of vaguely connected sketches rather than a coherent feature, and the film certainly bears the signs of a studio in deep turmoil. That’s too bad, because this should have been something truly special, and features “Love,” one of Disney’s best songs.
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The last of Disney’s Wartime Era package films, Melody Time amuses more than it bores. The seven different stories are an inevitable mixed bag, but for dull segments like Trees (which is exactly what it sounds like), you get Pecos Bill, a total riot, and Slue Foot Sue is a character I still hope Disney revisits one day.
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Most rightfully remember The Fox and the Hound for the heart-wrenching scene that separates best friends Tod (Mickey Rooney), a fox, and Copper (Kurt Russell), a hound. The film explores prejudice smartly, particularly in the way society informs those prejudices. But it’s hard to ignore the fact that The Fox and the Hound is frustratingly slight, with barely-there human characters and a story that fails to justify its feature length.
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The 1960s were a curious time for Disney, which found the company trying to get back on track after the crushing expense of 1959’s Sleeping Beauty. Cutting costs was the name of the game, which is why The Sword in the Stone looks and feels so rough around the edges. Save a fantastical magic sequence between Merlin and Madam Mim, this is one of the least visually adventurous of all Disney movies. The lackluster and threadbare plot doesn’t help either.
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The second and final film commissioned through the Good Neighbor policy, The Three Caballeros is a highlight of the Wartime Era. The film’s seven segments are all over the place, but none are boring — exceptionally rare for the Forties package films. The Cold-Blooded Penguin is adorable, Baía stuns with a dance between Donald Duck and singer Aurora Miranda, and Donald’s Surreal Reverie is magical.
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It’s no secret that 2013’s Frozen is one of the most successful films of all time, picking up well over $1 billion at the global box office. Modern Disney is a very different beast from the early days, where box office success all but guarantees a sequel. Enter Frozen II, which brings back the same lovable characters and excellent songs, and places them in a wildly convoluted story that never comes together in a satisfying way. Not that any of the film’s problems stopped it from earning even more than its predecessor, mind you.
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Yes, this film gave us “The Bear Necessities.” Sure, it gave us Shere Khan, the deliciously camp villain voiced by Oscar-winner George Sanders. It’s one of Disney’s most charming efforts, but underneath that charm is… not a whole lot. Beyond some great scenes and Baloo, The Jungle Book is an undercooked story with retrograde politics that’s far less than the sum of its parts. This was Walt Disney’s final film before his passing in 1966.
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There’s plenty of debate about whether The Rescuers belongs to the Bronze Era or the Dark Age, neither of which is a glowing endorsement. The final film involving a majority of Disney’s legendary Nine Old Men — John Lounsbery, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, Woolie Reitherman, Milt Kahl, and Eric Larson — The Rescuers is a surprisingly grim movie about a young orphan desperate for a family of her own. It’s frequently beautiful (the sequence in the cave is a marvel), but too often feels like a less-impressive, darker retread of previous Disney movies, like a greatest hits album without the best songs.
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A story of a dog actor Bolt (John Travolta) who believes his on-screen powers are real, Bolt marked the directorial debut of Byron Howard and Chris Williams, both of whom have directed a number of big hits for the studio. The film also features Miley Cyrus as Penny, Bolt’s owner. It’s a film with plenty of heart and an enjoyable cast, and provides a satisfying adventure, even if it’s not particularly memorable. But the charm and the decent CGI animation go a long way.
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Credit where it’s due: you can’t fault Disney for trying something new here. Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a science-fiction adventure movie, something Disney had curiously never explored before. Taking inspiration from Jules Verne, there’s a distinct style and energy to Atlantis. There’s fun to be had here, but the film introduces an awful lot of characters in a fairly brief runtime, resulting in more archetypes than believable people. There’s some fantastic animation here, but a boring villain takes the air out of things.
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A dark fantasy movie that almost destroyed Disney forever, good luck trying to find any reference to The Black Cauldron anywhere. That’s not to say it’s been scrubbed from existence — it’s available on Disney+ — but the studio never talks about it. This dark, ambitious fantasy was a colossal failure, but there’s actually a lot going for it. It has a distinct style but dim animation, and it’s the first Disney film to have no songs. The characters aren’t very interesting and its villain, The Horned King, is surprisingly inept, despite a frightening design. It’s not a great sign when the production history is more thrilling than the actual film.
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The last film made before the beginning of the Renaissance, Oliver & Company takes the familiar story of Oliver Twist to contemporary New York City. Oliver (Joey Lawrence) a stray cat is taken in by Dodger (Billy Joel) a charismatic mutt who shows him the way of the streets. The songs are great, with “Why Should I Worry?” delivering a particularly jaunty joy. There’s some impressive CGI merged with traditional hand-drawn animation, and while it’s not as engaging as other efforts, the film was a rare Eighties box office success for the studio.
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The film in the Disney Renaissance that everyone forgets, The Rescuers Down Under is the first official Disney sequel, featuring a new adventure for beloved Rescue Aid Society mice Bernard (Bob Newhart) and Bianca (Eva Gabor). This time, they venture to Australia to save a young boy from a vicious poacher, who’s after his golden eagle. An unheralded film is Disney’s oeuvre, Down Under is an impressive piece of animation, making fantastic use of the expansive Australian outback.
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A real treat for gamers like myself, Wreck-It Ralph took Disney into the world of video games: specifically, a video game villain in Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly) who’s spent his whole life destroying things. But everything changes when he breaks into another game for redemption. The stakes don’t go high enough, and the moral of embracing yourself despite your flaws is ham-fisted. Sometimes it feels more like an opportunity to point out video game references than to tell a story, but Wreck-It Ralph is still a good time at the movies and raked in enough dough to warrant a sequel.
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The final package film featured just two very different stories, inspired by The Wind in the Willows and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. For most of its runtime, it’s satisfying entertainment, but it reaches new heights when the animators blow the roof off of things with the final scene: the headless horseman chase. That sequence is an exhilarating experience. Its use of color and shape feels almost avant-garde. It’s actually terrifying and is a hugely welcome burst of creativity in an era low on it.
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Does anyone remember Meet the Robinsons? Orphaned Lewis wants nothing more than to understand why he was put up for adoption, but his life changes forever when he’s flung into the future by one Wilbur Robinson. The film is one of the more curious-looking Disney films, opting for a distinct style that almost (but not quite) makes up for some considerably dated CGI., It’s a shame that Disney ruined so much of its goodwill with Home on the Range and Chicken Little because Meet the Robinsons is a surprisingly funny, heartfelt story that deserves more love.
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A celebration of 100 years of Disney, Wish struggles with a convoluted plot that feels too much like a collection of references to other, better Disney movies. Thankfully, its new style that blends CGI and hand-drawn elements is a marvel, most of the songs are hugely satisfying. Asha (Ariana DeBose) is a solid addition to the Disney pantheon, and Chris Pine delightfully hams it up as villain King Magnifico. But it’s the sidekicks Valentino (the ever-impressive Alan Tudyk) and Star that steal the show.
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A comic-book adaptation that spawned from the acquisition of Marvel, Big Hero 6 takes place in San Fransokyo, a breathtakingly rendered hybrid of San Francisco and Tokyo. The scale is extraordinary, with over 83,000 buildings and over 100,000 vehicles rendered, with new software Denizen assisting in creating a whopping 700 distinct characters that roam the city. Visually enchanting and with great characters to match — Baymax is one of Disney’s best sidekicks — Big Hero 6 is only really let down by an overly predictable plot (save the first 20 minutes) and a hugely disappointing villain.
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Disney evidently forgot to market Strange World, because a) it bombed, and b) nobody seems to know it exists. That sucks, because this sci-fi adventure in the vein of classic explorer movies is delightful. It fulfills dreams of legitimate queer representation that audiences have been longing for, and its father-son dynamic at its core is handled well — even if it’s often overshadowed by an overly familiar story (and environmental message) that fails to live up to its interesting cast and vibrant visuals.
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The charming Hercules came as a lighthearted effort toward the end of the Renaissance after one of Disney’s darkest in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The Muses are some of the most delightful characters in Disney’s illustrious history, but they largely disappear in the second half when they’re needed most. Alan Menken and David Zippel’s collaboration yields some excellent songs in “Go the Distance” and “I Won’t Say (I’m In Love),” too. Unfortunately, it’s too lighthearted for its own good, lacking the satisfying payoff of its contemporaries. The characters get swallowed up by a story that careens wildly between slapstick comedy and potent drama, which leads to jarring tonal shifts. Hades (James Woods) is also more of a composite of other, better villains than a great one in his own right.
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One of Disney’s zaniest plots, The Aristocats finds longtime servant Edgar trying to kill off a group of cats that stand between him and a vast fortune. It all could have been easily avoided if Edgar applied literally any common sense, but nevertheless, there’s so much fun to be had in The Aristocats. The opening song, performed by Maurice Chevalier (who came out of retirement for this), and the spectacular psychedelics of “Everybody Wants to Be a Cat” are real highlights. The plot barely sustains itself, but there’s so much fun to be had in this cast of characters, with supporters like Abigail and Amelia the geese and Roquefort the mouse providing pure delight.
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One of the strangest Disney movies to rewatch as an adult, as just about everyone besides the crocodile and Smee are pretty nasty (especially the unbearable Peter Pan), and every female character is treated with varying forms of contempt. That doesn’t stop the whole experience from being joyful: It has a wonderful villain in the vicious Captain Hook, and the “You Can Fly” sequence is still one of the most wonderful moments in Disney history. The music is largely terrific, though the song “What Makes the Red Man Red” has aged horrendously — and frankly, was abhorrent even in 1953.
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The biggest box office disaster for the studio since The Black Cauldron, Musker and Clements’ follow-up to Aladdin is undeserving of such a title. Joseph Gordon-Levitt shines as Jim Hawkins, a young man whose life changes forever when he stumbles upon a thought-to-be lost treasure map. The film looks expensive, and it was, using revolutionary new technology to bring CGI and hand-drawn elements together seamlessly, creating an awe-inspiring effect. Why they’d pair it with one of the most obnoxious sidekicks in Disney history, we’ll never know.
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The seventh and final film co-directed by Disney legends John Musker and Ron Clements, Moana follows spirited and determined princess Moana (a fantastic Auli’i Cravalho), who wants nothing more than to explore beyond the confines of her village. Moana is really a two-hander between the titular Moana and demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson), though the film is too happy to rely on the visuals to do the heavy lifting. Great songs courtesy of Lin-Manuel Miranda and the best animated water you’ve ever seen come together for an enjoyable, crowd-pleasing affair.
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The Disney film with the most songs — a whopping 14, though over 30 were written for the film — Alice in Wonderland is a tonally faithful adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s unpredictable novel. Disney artist Mary Blair was responsible for influencing the art direction of Alice in Wonderland, and her whimsical designs and thoughtful surrealistic touches make the film one of Disney’s most beautiful works. The characters, from the tremendously sassy flowers to the Cheshire Cat, are hugely memorable, and there’s nothing else quite like it in Disney’s 100 years — for better or worse.
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Released during the pandemic, there was no stopping Encanto — especially the songs, one of which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (“We Don’t Talk About Bruno”), the first Disney film to pull off that feat since Aladdin. Incredibly, a whopping seven songs from the film placed in the Top 100. That’s every single song in the movie, by the way. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s excellent songs start the film at such a livewire pace that Encanto can’t keep up and comes puttering to a stop rather than a triumphant finish. But Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz) is a fantastic lead, and it’s one of the most thrillingly colorful Disney efforts.
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Nearly 60 years after the first Fantasia came its spiritual successor Fantasia 2000, which brought several new segments linked to classical music. The film was released in dazzling IMAX. Some of the best things Disney has ever produced — namely “Rhapsody in Blue” and “The Firebird Suite” — are here, but so is “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” airlifted from the original and placed here again. Great as it is, it feels especially disappointing in a film that’s only 75 minutes long.
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Speaking of obnoxious sidekicks, the worst thing to come from the Disney Renaissance are the three gargoyles in the otherwise masterful The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Disney’s darkest film since Pinocchio, the film gave us fantastic music, stunning visuals, and unforgettable characters — especially the single most menacing villain, Follow. But the gargoyles aren’t just a thorn in the side. They capsize the entire film for comic relief that nobody asked for and isn’t remotely amusing.
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Though it’s now a warm slice of unabashed nostalgia, Lady and the Tramp was a considerably more contemporary film than Disney’s typical offerings. It’s best remembered for the glorious and often imitated scene where Lady and the Tramp kiss while sharing spaghetti, but the whole movie is a compelling story about the fear of becoming obsolete and finding family in unexpected places. The widescreen compositions are some of Disney’s very best.
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Disney’s most successful franchise began with Frozen, a story of a sisterly bond between Anna (Kristen Bell) and Elsa (Idina Menzel). With the exception of the momentum-stopping “Fixer-Upper,” which needed to be left on the cutting room floor, the songs are brilliant. Every parent may be sick of hearing “Let It Go,” but it’s practically defined a generation. The story is slight, but the emotions are anything but cold.
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The rare sequel that surpasses the original, Ralph Breaks the Internet is Disney’s most modern animation by a long shot: it’s all about the internet. It’s frequently over the top, with things in the background constantly vying for your attention — a clever metaphor for being online. Its surprising meta twist of bringing every Disney princess together manages to not feel gimmicky and sets up the best Disney song of the last decade, the satirical masterstroke “A Place Called Slaughter Race.” The film also has an unexpected and wickedly funny mid-credits scene. This is a film that intimately understands the attention economy and anxiety in the social media age. While so much animation looks at friends getting together, Ralph Breaks the Internet explores how being apart is OK, too.
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Another surprising change of pace for Disney, Zootopia is a delightful, fast-paced buddy comedy meets procedural with an all-animal cast. Bunny Judy Hopps (Gwendoline Christie) dreamed of being a cop her whole life, and she’s finally got her shot — but being a rabbit in the enormous city of Zootopia is far more than she bargained for. Her relationship with fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) is thoughtfully developed, and the film has an effective message about prejudice and racism.
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Determined to capture the spirit of A.A. Milne’s books, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh packaged three previously-released shorts together, including the Oscar-winning Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. The result is an irresistibly lovely time at the movies. So much of the voicework is phenomenal — Sterling Holloway as Winnie the Pooh, John Fiedler as Piglet, and Paul Winchell as Tigger defined these characters for generations to come.
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Keen to repeat the Best Picture nomination of Beauty and the Beast, Disney set out to make a major prestige romance in Pocahontas, the studios first-ever film about a real person. Disney also worked on the film while delegating a secondary team to work on a little film called The Lion King. Despite making a film about a historical figure, there’s little accuracy to be found here. Still, this is one of Disney’s most breathtakingly hand-drawn films, loaded with exquisite detailing, bold character designs, and a masterful use of color. The score is a powerhouse, and the songs, including “Colors of the Wind,” “Mine, Mine, Mine,” and “Savages”, composed by Alan Menken and written by Stephen Schwartz, could make a run for Disney’s finest. The film lacks where it needs it most: the romance. Pocahontas (Irene Bedard) is enormously compelling, but John Smith (Mel Gibson) is dull as dishwater.
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Released in the heat of the pandemic, Raya and the Last Dragon was largely completed at home. That didn’t stop the film from becoming one of the most cohesive and exciting outputs of the last 10 years. Lone warrior Raya (an exuberant Kelly Marie Tran) sets off on an adventure to find the mythical last dragon, who holds the key to stop the evil Druun spirits from annihilating their world. This rollicking adventure is expertly paced, with a loveable cast of characters (Con-Baby!) and some of the richest detail CGI animation can offer, bringing distinct villages to vibrant life. Filled with terrific action, it’s the closest thing Disney animation has to an MCU movie — though it’s better than the vast majority of them.
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To date, with a budget of $260 million, Tangled is Disney’s most expensive animated movie, costing $23 million more than Avatar. The reason? Rapunzel’s (Mandy Moore) hair. It took software engineer Kelly Ward six years to create software that allowed the hair to move the way animators wanted. Rapunzel is delightfully spunky, and Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi) is swoon-worthy — no surprise since the animators had a “hot man meeting,” inviting 30 women from the studio to talk about what they considered most attractive in a man to ensure Flynn was the best-looking male lead in the studio’s history. Their romance is the single most developed romance of any Disney princess movie. It sometimes leans too heavily into cheap humor instead of heart, but Tangled is effortlessly rewatchable and frequently hilarious.
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From here on out, you could make a legitimate claim for any one of these films to be the very best. Walt Disney took an enormous leap with Fantasia, eschewing traditional narratives for a series of shorts set to classical music. The scale of ambition was massive — the studio wanted to install a new sound system called Fantasound exclusively for Fantasia at theaters across America before pesky costs got in the way. All the effort paid off handsomely: Fantasia is both a powerful artistic expression and a deeply entertaining watch. Those averse to classical music won’t be after watching studio-defining sequences like “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”and “Night on Bald Mountain.”
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The first film to be made in Disney’s no-defunct Florida studio, Mulan is a thrilling film about Mulan taking the spot of her father to protect him from military service. Since women cannot serve, Mulan must impersonate a man to take his place. This rousing adventure drew from sketches by production designer Hans Bacher, who honed in on the essence of China, while character designer Chen-Yi Chang brought a curvature and elegance to make the characters work in this world. A unique look at honor, pride, family, and duty,
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Originally considered a second-thought to prestige picture Pocahontas, 1994’s The Lion King wound up becoming the most successful hand-drawn movie in the studio’s history (not adjusting for inflation), raking in $968 million at the global box office. It’s no surprise a movie this electric became this popular. The voice acting is top-notch, with Jeremy Irons giving perhaps the best performance of his career as villain Scar. Inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Disney’s own Bambi, the film features one of the most impactful character deaths in movies, wonderful songs from Elton John, and an excellent blend of high-stakes drama and humor. The Lion King provided an opportunity for a lot of the newer employees to make their mark — and what a mark they made.
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After finding themselves in financial difficulty after poor results for both Fantasia and Pinocchio, Disney cut back the costs on Dumbo, favoring things like watercolor paints and limiting costly special effects. While the result is more cartoonish than previous efforts, that had no impact on Disney’s exceptional storytelling, nor the quality of animation, with the Pink Elephants sequence providing animators the chance to do something experimental and sensational. The tale of Dumbo, an elephant endlessly ridiculed and tormented for his big ears, is heartbreaking, but also inspirational — no amount of torment stops Dumbo from achieving his dreams. At a mere 64 minutes, Dumbo packs in better pacing and more pure emotion than longer films could only dream of.
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After a string of mediocre results with the package films in the Wartime Era, Disney returned to the successful formula of Snow White, delivering their second princess film, Cinderella. The film ushered in the Silver Age, characterized by the return of grand narratives and artistic innovation, and what’s grander than a literal rags-to-riches tale? The film was a smash hit, and Cinderella is Disney’s most underappreciated princess; she’s no pushover and has a wide range of capabilities. Animators used live-action actors for reference to ensure realistic movements. The animation pushed boundaries: the “Sing, Sweet Nightingale” sequence makes innovative use of bubbles, and Cinderella’s dress transformation, animated by Marc Davis, was cited by Walt as his favorite example of animation.
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The next princess film after Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty massively underperformed at the box office, and combined with huge expenses, the film nearly tanked the entire studio. Made to take advantage of the Super Technirama 70, animators had to work with far larger canvases than they were used to, creating exorbitant costs and significant delays. But the results were absolutely worth it. This is unquestionably Disney’s most beautiful-looking movie — no other Disney film looks anything like Sleeping Beauty. Under the guidance of the exemplary Eyvind Earle, whose work was inspired by pre-Renaissance European art, every frame is a work of art, and its unique styling, including square trees, leaves a lasting impression. It doesn’t hurt that it has one of the all-time great villains in Maleficent, who wreaks havoc on Princess Aurora because she wasn’t invited to her birthday party.
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A rambunctious, high-energy adventure, few films are as successfully crowd-pleasing as Aladdin. The Genie is often hailed as Disney’s greatest sidekick and for good reason. Robin Williams’ voicework here is masterful, and the Genie is brought to exquisite life by Eric Goldberg. Everything here works, from plucky protagonist Aladdin, a princess longing for more in Jasmine, and a dastardly villain in Jafar (Jonathan Freeman) — not to leave out his quippy sidekick Iago, voiced by Gilbert Gottfried.
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In a decade dominated by the emergence of CGI, The Princess and the Frog was hailed as a glorious return to hand-drawn animation — emphasis on glorious. The film has all the hallmarks of classic Disney. There’s a terrific villain in Dr. Facilier (Keith David), a strong supporting cast, and perhaps the princess to beat all princesses in Tiana (Anika Noni Rose). The city of New Orleans comes to vibrant life in this exceptionally fun movie. It’s stunning to watch, especially the art deco sequence for the great song “Almost There,” animated by Eric Goldberg.
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Disney’s ingenious marketing promised us something we’d never quite seen before in Lilo & Stitch, and the film delivers. Lilo (Daveigh Chase) is the kind of protagonist we’ve never had before — endearing but an oddball who’s desperately lonely and in need of companionship. She finds it in Experiment-626, a killer alien she renames as Stitch (voiced by Chris Williams, who co-directed with Dean DeBlois). It’s a very funny yet deeply sad movie that explores the idea of family with tenderness and respect. It’s amazing that Disney let two talents like Sanders and DeBlois get away — the pair went on to direct How To Train Your Dragon at DreamWorks, among others.
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Disney gave us a tale as old as time in Beauty and the Beast, the first (and only) Disney film nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. It’s not hard to see why. The film is a sweeping and heartwarming romance, even if you must put aside their questionable circumstances to fully buy in. Initially, the film’s production seemed doomed to fail. Walt Disney himself wanted to adapt the timeless tale, but could never get the story right. The project was given new life when lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken, were brought on board, turning the film into a musical. Its set pieces have become an indelible part of animation history, from the ballroom dance to “Beauty and the Beast” to Lumiere (Jerry Orbach) performing “Be Our Guest.”
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Disney was prepared to draw its last breath after the disastrous The Black Cauldron, but a mouse saved them. Not Mickey, mind you, but Basil of Baker Street (Barrie Ingham). Henry Mancini’s lively, adventurous score brings The Great Mouse Detective to life. The budget of the film was slashed in half after CEO Michael Eisner saw the storyboards, but that didn’t stop first-time directors Ron Clements and John Musker from smashing it out of the park. Despite being dubbed as part of the so-called Dark Ages, the film bears all the marks of a classic Renaissance film: bold Broadway-style musical numbers, a legendary villain in Ratigan (voiced by a fantastic Vincent Price) — designed by superstar animator Glen Keane — a great sidekick, and fantastic animation (even though its budget means it has a literal roughness around the edges).
This is a tightly plotted thrill ride with a fabulous chase inside Big Ben that is one of the most impressive early examples of merging CGI with hand-drawn animation. Credit often goes to The Little Mermaid for starting the Renaissance, but without The Great Mouse Detective, that film may have never happened.
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Disney has always been at the forefront of innovation when it comes to animation, and that’s rarely clearer than in Tarzan. The studio developed Deep Canvas, an innovation that effectively allowed artists to paint fully three-dimensional paintings in that a camera can freely move through. The result was Tarzan (Tony Goldwyn) swinging through the trees and vines in the jungle in a level of immersion that was previously impossible. Animator Glen Keane found Tarzan a real challenge to animate as he needed to move believably as both a human and a gorilla, so he consulted with a professor of anatomy — making Tarzan the first Disney character to display working muscles accurately.
Beyond the impeccable animation, Tarzan succeeds thanks to a great story overflowing with authentic emotion. Phil Collins delivered a blazingly earnest set of songs, including the end-credit staple “You’ll Be in My Heart,” which won an Oscar. The best Disney movies make us feel, and few accomplish that better than Tarzan, which closed out the Renaissance on the highest note possible.
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While Disney’s appeal extends to adults and children alike, few films provide such charming and sincere family entertainment as Winnie the Pooh. The 2011 film was completely overshadowed at the box office (opening against the last Harry Potter movie will do that), but the film, directed by Stephen Anderson and Don Hall, is chock-full of joy. It’s the perfect distillation of the spirit of A.A. Milne’s beloved stories: this is a warm hug in cinematic form. The animation — to date, it is Disney’s final traditionally hand-drawn film — is spectacular, particularly in Pooh’s (Jim Cummings) honey-fueled dream sequence. It’s a breezy 63 minutes, and not a second is wasted.
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After Sleeping Beauty, Disney entered cost-cutting mode in the 1960s, ushering in a new process called xerography. The photocopying process led to harsh black outlines on characters but also saved a lot of time and money. Xerography meant the end of the entire ink and paint department. Remarkably, you’d never know One Hundred and One Dalmatians was made with budget in mind, because Ken Anderson’s art direction and edgier style match Sixties London effortlessly.
One Hundred and One Dalmatians moves like jazz. Marc Davis’ monumental talent gave us an all-time great villain in the deranged Cruella De Vil (Betty Lou Gerson), who wants nothing more than to turn a group of adorable puppies into a glamorous fur coat. Bill Peet had worked at the studio since Snow White and finally got his chance to take the lead on the story, proving he was one of the great American storytellers. The film also proved Disney was capable of going in new directions — it was their first contemporary picture, and despite having a song (“Cruella De Vil”), it was the studio’s first non-musical.
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The Emperor’s New Groove almost didn’t exist. Its tortured development hell rivals that of The Black Cauldron and might be even more dramatic. But unlike that misfire, The Emperor’s New Groove is a bona-fide masterpiece. It’s by a significant distance the funniest Disney film, blending exceptional visual gags, surrealism, and meta-humor into an unmatched package (the scene at Mudka’s Meat Hut is practically the definition of perfect comic timing).
Yzma (an outstanding Eartha Kitt) brings down the house as the villain hellbent on Emperor Kuzco’s (David Spade) destruction. Disney struggled to find their identity in the wake of the Renaissance and fierce competition from other studios, but The Emperor’s New Groove held the blueprint for success.
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The legendary story of true love’s kiss came to light in Disney’s first animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It holds the blueprint for so much of what makes Disney so beloved: a fantasy universe that feels believable, impactful songs, great characters, a terrifying villain, and breathtaking animation. Few villains are as downright evil as the Evil Queen (Lucille La Verne).
This is the one that started it all — adjusted for inflation, it’s still the highest-grossing animated film of all time. The studio’s most ambitious film was its very first, and that’s because not a soul outside the project believed it would work. A feature-length animation was practically unheard of — animation was best left in short form. Who would ever watch such a thing? With something to prove, Walt Disney had a clear answer in Snow White: everyone.
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Ron Clements and John Musker saved Disney from the brink with The Great Mouse Detective, yet they still managed to up the ante and bring the studio back into financial domination just a few years later with their second feature, The Little Mermaid. One of Disney’s most emotionally potent films, it has the finest stable of songs in any Disney picture, and that’s entirely thanks to the brilliant artistic collaboration between lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken. The best Disney movies have the power to transport you to another world, and The Little Mermaid brings audiences straight into the underwater kingdom of Atlantica.
Mermaid Ariel (Jodi Benson), who longs to explore beyond the sea and fall in love, is given more to do than any princess before her, and the emotional payoff of the film is off the charts. The underwater animation is breathtaking, and you have Ursula (Pat Carroll), the Divine-inspired sea witch making an unforgettable foe. Menken’s work with Ashman is some of the most impactful to ever grace the studio — if the studio lives on for another 100 years, people will still point to songs like “Poor Unfortunate Souls” and “Part Of Your World” as the very best Disney has to offer.
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How do you follow up on the immense success of Snow White? If you’re Disney, it’s going bigger, bolder, and even darker. Adapting Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio, this is a film full of wonder and horror. The story follows Pinocchio (Dickie Jones), a puppet desperate to become a real boy. The animation is unparalleled, with effects work that’s never been matched. Critically the film was adored, but children (understandably) found it far too frightening. Pinocchio’s legacy remains unmistakable, with the classic song “When You Wish Upon a Star” opening every modern Disney movie.
Unfortunately for Disney, WWII shuttered access to European markets — a real shame considering the film’s heavy European influence — and the film tanked at the box office. But nowadays, Pinocchio is rightly recognized not just as one of the greatest animated films ever made, but as one of the great films period.
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Walt Disney was an enormous advocate for nature and adapting Felix Staten’s Bambi was very much a passion project for him. Attention to detail and a focus on accuracy were essential: animators studied deer and other animals to make their animated counterparts feel as naturalistic and life-like as possible. The incredible backgrounds painted by Tyrus Wong immersed audiences deep into the forest, while the multiplane camera added remarkable depth and dimension to the animation.
A seemingly simple coming-of-age story of a deer growing up in the forest, Bambi is an unrivaled exploration of animation as an art form. It made such an impact that the film’s most recalled scene — the death of Bambi’s mother — actually happens off-screen, despite it leaving such a mark that most people swear they see the death occur. There’s a surprising lack of sentimentality, which makes the emotional beats land harder than any other Disney movie. Bambi is the purest distillation of the power of animation and Walt Disney’s commitment to boundary-pushing and emotionally-driven storytelling. It creates an exquisitely drawn world of fantasy that feels completely believable. There’s simply nothing else like Bambi.
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