So this is specifically a ranking of the 60 films made by Walt Disney Animation Studios or "the Disney Canon", no direct to video sequel films and no Pixar films. This was long enough already.
I'm a pretty neutral person in general. I feel neutral about most things. I've given maybe a dozen films I've ever seen more than a 7/10. But I've also given maybe a dozen less than a 4. What I'm trying to say is, most of these films I don't feel strongly on, and think are somewhat similar in quality. The order is prone to be rearranged, and if you have a different order, I don't really mind.
The Disney canon is sort of like the MCU to me: I liked it when I was younger but my tastes changed and now I feel generally neutral on the property as a whole. I'm not a huge Disney person though I have nothing against it. I just saw that there was 60 films out now exactly and I thought to myself "That's a nice round number to make a ranking on. I have to do it before they release another." So these are just my opinions, obviously I am going to be somewhat biased towards the period I watched as a child.
Spoilers for any of these movies
60: The Three Caballeros (1945):
For the majority of the 1940s Disney was understaffed and underbudgeted due to the War, a distinct period of Disney where they cobbled together "package films", films comprised of several smaller films. These films had little talent and money going to them...and to be honest, you can tell. I don't like this style of film in general, and this is probably the worst of them.
The Three Caballeros feels like a fever dream, not helped by bizarre metafictional imagery. Most notably to me is that Donald Duck spends half the film lusting over live-action women in a rather bizarre sequence. The film dips in and out of its various segments more naturalistically then the other package films but not quite naturalistically enough to make it feel like a cohesive film, instead creating a worst of both worlds scenario where the film goes in and out of plots arbitrarily. These are some films that are probably worse made then this film on this list but none I would enjoy re-watching less.
59: Fun and Fancy Free (1947):
Fun and Fancy Free is another package film, one of two package films near the end that have only two films, though Fun and Fancy Free also has a framing device of Jiminy Cricket setting up the two stories. You'd think this would make them feel at least a bit more cohesive, though the problem is neither here is that good.
The first is easily the worse. Bongo is basically just readapting Dumbo with a bear instead of an elephant and contains the odd musical sequence "Say it with a Slap" teaching children that bears say they love each other by slapping each other. It's pretty bad. The other is an alright retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk starring Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, that would be fine...except it's told inexplicably by a puppeteer to a little girl and the puppets break the story to "funnily" comment. Between the two worst package films, Fun and Fancy Free has a bit nicer of an atmosphere, not as oppressively surreal.
58: Chicken Little (2005):
I kinda feel bad about this as a dear friend of mine likes this film however in total honesty I did not enjoy this film. The first large section of the film has the characters and world being relentlessly cruel towards characters that don't deserve it, creating a rather painful experience to one's empathy. I also found it very troubling that for the horrid crime of being a school bully it was viewed as morally acceptable for Foxy Loxy to have her personality altered without her consent to be a love interest for Runt. In-universe I have no idea why that would be his call to make, but out of universe the implications I find far more distressing. The Experimentation Age of Disney was the period after the Renassaince ended when they tried a lot of new things. Some really worked and some really didn't. I will say in its defense, the modest box office success of Chicken Little was what allowed Disney to re-incorporate Pixar and lead to the Revival Period so that's a plus.
It's rather hard to compare a package film to a non-package film. but I think this is roughly where it would go, if only because I think there were a few ideas I enjoyed in Chicken Little such as the Adam West Chicken Little film the characters watch at the end, or the designs of the aliens which I can not think of any idea I would wish to see replicated in Fun and Fancy Free.
57: Home on the Range (2004):
Home on the Range is basically the stereotype of what a "children's movie" is from someone who uses "childish" as a blanket insult. The characters, themes, and plot, are so stock and the humor is limp. The villain's not the worst, the film does try to make him threatening despite his concept as a cow-hypnotizing yoddeler and "Will the Sun Ever Shine Again" is a pretty decent song. In some ways I wish it's badness was more out there so it would be at least interesting to think about. It's odd it came out in the most experimental period of Disney's.
Comparing it with Chicken Little, I'd probably prefer to watch something incredibly stock and pretty dull compared to someone that feels mean-spirited.
56: Raya and the Last Dragon (2021):
So Raya and the Last Dragon is kind of an outlier. It's technically competent far above most of the films this low would seem to be but it's big problem to me is that it's theme is completely and utterly broken and that's the most important thing to me. The theme Raya and the Last Dragon is about is "trust." Trusting someone that consistently does the right thing is good and healthy. Trusting someone you don't know very well is intimidating but sometimes neccesary and would be a good theme. Trusting someone who consistently tries to kill you, and which has brought about essentially the end of the world...twice...is not a good theme. Namaari gives Raya literally zero reasons to trust her throughout the entire film yet is completely forgiven for everything and the fact that Namaari basically gaslights Raya into thinking that the death of Sisu was somehow equally their faultt even though Namaari actually killed Sisu and Raya's big crime was trusting Namaari as Sisu wanted...
Technically speaking the film is mostly fine. It has fine visuals, good world-building, it has fast pacing which I like but I can't overlook just how massively self-contradictory the film's theme is. I get that Namaari is more complex and has reasons for what she did but she never takes responsibilty for killing Sisu, she never apologizes, it's like the film legitimately thinks that Raya being suspicious of her DOES make her equally accountable even when Raya was proven right. And while the film is mostly technically well made besides that, that's certainly not its only problem. Early on in the film Raya is chastized for thinking of the kingdoms as broad stereotypes but most of the fight is her going to each kingdom and the people basically act like their kingdom's stereotype. And the side characters are insanely tone-breaking. This is supposed to be a relatively more grounded film yet one of the side characters is a con artist baby. Some people think the last two films in the Disney Canon form their own new 8th Era, and they do stylistically different but whether you think Raya is part of the Revival Era or the "Streaming Era", it's the worst of its era.
Comparing it to Home on the Range, I'd probably rewatch it if only because it has action scenes and some alright drama when Raya goes for revenge for Sisu, and it's world is a lot strong enough that a sequel for it might be good as opposed to Home on the Range but I really don't care much for either.
55: Make Mine Music (1946):
This is another one of the Package Films and this one has I think some better short films in it, most notably Peter and the Wolf, which is a classic musical composition and the whale who wanted to sing at the met. I still don't really like this package film formula, but here there were at least some sections I can say I enjoyed.
I'd also say it has a bit more of a theme. This one has a more cohesive through line of music which is a more explict theme and gives it a slightly stronger sense of self. Generally Make Mine Music seems more consistent to me, with less glaring problems, even if it's still not really my taste.
54: The Black Cauldron (1985):
The Black Cauldron is the worst film from the Bronze Age, widely considered a low point for Disney after the death of Walt. It's sad because I really like the High Fantasy type story, but this is just a bad story in general. The characters, especially Gurgi are annyoing. The best of them is the villain the Horned King who gets beaten rather easily at the end. The main character is a sexist which is an incredibly unendearing trait for a protagonist to have. It's also annoying how the characters seemingly deus ex machina their way out of each situation in the film. They always have something convenient to get out of the danger and never do anything out of genuine cleverness or valor.
The Horned King by himself would put the Black Cauldron above Make Mine Music, and that's because good because that's almost all it has.
53: Saludos Amigos (1943):
Another one of the package films, and in fact the first. Saludos Amigos is the shortest film in the Disney Canon by far at 42 minutes but you will feel each of those minutes. The US Goverment actually commissioned Disney to promote Latin America and what follows is a live-action/animation hybrid that feels half the time like you're just being shown the animators vacation photos from Latin America.
Some of the animated segments are pretty enjoyable however like Pedro, the Little Airplane. That was pretty cute. Or Goofy as a Gaucho Sketch with the slow-motion gag. This is definitely one of the higher Package Films having a competitive number of good points at a vastly reduced time requirement. I would certainly rather waste 42 minutes re-watching this then 80 re-watching The Black Cauldron when theh have roughly the same amount of good stuff in them.
52: Dinosaur (2000):
Dinosaur is one of the films in the Disney Canon that is argued to be worst, so I feel I should give it a mild defense to being this high. The big complaint about Dinosaur is that it's dull and....yeah it's pretty slow-moving. It also has Zini the "love monkey" which is a pretty unfunny comic relief. With that said people say Dinosaur has no plot or themes and that's not right.
Dinosaur does have a plot and themes that naturally outcrop from the plot, mostly it's a story of the needs of the many vs the rights of the few. Kron wants to sacrifice the slow moving members of the herd so that the people will get to the water site, while Aladar wants to value the individuals. Likewise Bruton, probably my favorite character in the film, a defector from Kron's side pays some lip service to the themes of fate and hope. It's not hugely in-depth stuff, and the characters do tend to drop it for rather long lengths of time, but it does have themes to it, and fairly reasonable themes for the plot too.
It also had a fairly exciting fight against the Carnotaurus and the opening segment by itself is better than some of the lower films on this list. I am not saying Dinosaur deserves to be very high, but it's certainly not last place. I think I would definitely say I got more out of it then I did Saludos Amigos, even if it is a bit less efficient.
51: The Sword in the Stone (1963):
The worst film from Disney's Silver Age, the Sword in the Stone has a problem that haunts a few of Disney's Silver Age films in that it's basically a sequence of disconnected vignettes that aimlessly wander along. In this case it's Merlin trying to "educate" a young King Arthur on various matters through transformations. A lot iof it is trying to be funny, and it....just isn't. There's a part of the film where the humor is supposed to come from Merlin and Arthur having been turned into squirrels and being aggressively sexually advanced on by female squirrels....I'm fairly sensitive to sexual harrasment in fiction and very much didn't find it funny. It also has a villain, Madam Mim, thrown in at basically the last minute, with a bad villain song.
With that said, Merlin and Madam Mim get into a shapeshifting duel and it suddenly becomes really fun, and maybe an inspiration for one of my favorite scenes in anything ever the shapeshifting battle in the Sandman between Dream and Chronozon...so that was good. That scene alone is really good. Comparing The Sword in the Stone to Dinosaur, both of them have one particularly good scene but I think the Sword in the Stone has more original ideas and better pacing in general.
50: Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018):
Possibly the worst film of the Revival Era, if you think Raya is part of a new era. Ralph Breaks the Internet has the biggest discrepancy between a film on this list and its sequel, of which the Disney Canon contains four. I don't need to talk about continuity errors between this film and the original, because this film has continuity errors with itself. The big conflict in this film comes become Ralph thinks Vanellope is his only close friend, but not only did we see in the last film he had befriended the other characters in his game and other games, but we see that at that start of this film too.
The biggest flaw for this film to me is it's lack of positives. It represented some internet concepts in interesting ways and that's where I got stock thinking for positives. After finishing each of these films I wrote down what I considered the two biggest strengths and weaknesses for each film to remind myself later what I thought right after finishing the film and I was struggling to think of what I liked about this film. I really hoped that after watching literally every Disney film in order I'd get new appreciation from the Princess scene but if anything I like it less now seeing just how shallow it goes into the Disney princesses, even if seeing them together is kinda neat.
While the film doesn't have any flaws I consider that bad individually, it's got a lot of little things I don't like. Ralph and Vanellope are at their worst here; an insensitive dumb man-baby and a bratty impulsive child, and we're supposed to see Vanellope as totally in the right when she wants to abandon her game for a new game literally one day after seeing it. For a film about the internet it also doesn't understand the internet and why something gets popular.
49: The Rescuers Down Under (1990):
The worst film of the Disney Renaissance, though I kinda don't think this should be considered one. It's a film right near the start of the Renaissance, right after the first Renaissance film, is a sequel to a Bronze Age film, and is far closer stylistically to a Bronze Age film. This film really lowers the Renaissance's average.
I heard lots of good things about this film but....I just don't get it. The vast majority of the midsection is spent on what I can generously describe as filler. Scenes with the albatross surgery or the cages scene that do nothing for the plot but give the chance for not very funny side characters trying to be funny. The Rescuers themselves barely do anything for this film, save for Bernard repeatedly trying and failing to propose to Miss Bianca who misses all his signs repeatedly, which I guess is supposed to be funny. The villain is a Beta Clayton from Tarzan and isn't very interesting imo. The thing everyone praises about it is the animation. I'm not good at telling, but from my amateur viewpoint the start and end do look pretty. With that said, I don't value animation that highly when the story is boring. At the very least the heroes aren't annoying and it seems internally consistent so I'd put it better then Ralph Breaks the Internet. It doesn't annoy me really at any point, but I don't see any reason to watch it again.
48: The Rescuers (1977):
Apparently it's mild controversial whether you like the Rescuers or the Rescuers Down Under more. Personally I like them about the same. The Rescuers has a much darker more melancholy tone than the first one, taking place mostly in a swamp and focusing on the captive little girl's hope and despair more while Down Under takes place mostly in the Sunny Outback with a lot of "humor" scenes. Which one you like more will probably come down to personal preference though I don't really have a strong preference between them.
While the animation is worse in this film, there is I think a bit more "heart" to it. It focuses more on the Rescue Aid Society, a society of mice that rescue people which is cute and I rather liked Penny, the captured girl, and Miss Bianca one of the two mice rescuers in this film, and their scene together was sweet. The villainous sidekick this film isn't as funny as in the sequel but the crocodiles are much more generally intimidating. Overall it's still kinda dull, but I like it a bit more.
47: Fantasia 2000 (1999):
This is a Package Film though unlike all the rest this does not come from the War Period but instead the Revival Period as an attempt to bring back Fantasia. I appreciate the shorts in this one all have more plot then in prior package films, though including live-action humor bits between them feels kind of...tone breaking.
The Firebird Suite, the final segment is a pretty beautiful piece of animation and music, even to my untrained eyes and ears. That said the segments seem a lot less elegant then before and a lot more...goofy. Things like space whales, and Donald Duck on Noah's arc. Like I said it's hard to know how to compare package films with non-package films, but I think I'd probably prefer to watch this then the Rescuers just because it moves on at a much quicker pace.
46: The Aristocats (1970):
The Aristocats feels like Disney trying to take their two big Dog movies from the Silver Age; 101 Dalmations and Lady and the Tramp and trying to make a cat version of both put together, making something less than their sum of their parts. It has the "cute pet animals must journey home after the villain brings them far away" from the former and the "elegant high-class lady has romance with rogueish low-class boy." The problem is both of those films have a conflict associated with those parts. 101 Dalmations has Cruella and minions constantly hunting down the puppies trying to stop them from getting back in a way Edgar simply doesn't at all. In Lady and the Tramp the differences in how they viewed humans and their different social classes made up relationship difficulties that Duchess and Thomas never have. As such there's almost no conflict for most of the film, it's mostly just watching the cats be cute and return to their home with directions.
I really don't mind cutesy stuff, I like it well, but having only cutesy stuff is like having a movie where the only good thing is action scenes. You have to ask why would you watch this instead of something that has that plus actual good plot and characters. I didn't hate watching Aristocats the way some people seem too, but it doesn't compare well to Disney's other "cutesy" movies. I liked it more than Fantasia 2000 just because it was a single cohesive narrative that kept my attention the whole way, but I wouldn't recommened it over the two dog films I mentioned above unless you're just a big cat person.
I will say at one point Thomas says "I'll fly you back to Paris on a magic carpet!" ... Top 10 Anime Foreshadowings.
45: Melody Time (1948):
Melody Time is another package film, and one I think starts pretty slowly. That said I really liked the Johnny Appleseed short film and I also thought the Cowboy Pecos short film was pretty interesting. I think because of that I'd probably put it here just because I thought those films quality was enough for me to say I liked it more than the bottom quarter.
In general of the Package films, this is the first where I would say I liked a majority of the short films, even if it was disconnected, and there's something of a connecting theme of nature.
44: Big Hero 6 (2014):
I'm a big fan of superhero stories so I was quite excited for this film. That said this film was pretty disappointing. I liked Baymax....like everyone does. But it felt like such a route superhero film most of the time and the one thing they really tried to focus on the theme of loss they messed with at the very end by actually having Baymax come back. I get it, he's a loveable character Disney can sell merchandise off, but his death was a touching moment that was majorly important to the film's theme of loss and moving on. It's not quite Raya and the Last Dragon's theme of trust level of thematic contradiction but it really sours the best thing the movie had going for it.
I also thought most of the other characters were fairly stock, it felt basically like a more childish MCU origin film. I don't dislike the MCU as a whole but it's not really not my taste, and I don't consider "childish" an insult but making it more childish also drives it away from my particular taste. The villain's alright but it was fairly obvious if you've seen enough superhero films.
I do like it just slightly more than Melody Time. The Johnny Appleseed segment is better then any similar length period in Big Hero 6. That said, Melody Time is much more inconsistent and part of the reason I don't like package films is I value consistency highly. Big Hero 6 while no part of it was really great to me, no part was that bad either, it was fairly even all around, even if I disagreed with it's ending as I thought it contradicted the theme.
43: Winnie the Pooh (2011):
This is obviously a series made for an even younger audience then most of the Disney canon and you go into the film expecting that. That said I don't like it as much as the original Winnie the Pooh film which presumably was for the same age demographic. This film tries to be I suppose "zanier", the humor is more chaotic and characters act more wildly. That said I found the humor in the original to be wittier, more often to do with wordplay then just the characters acting weird.
I will say this film did have a really sweet moment. All throughout the film Pooh is hungry and trying to get some honey, as he is wont to do. The characters have also been the whole film looking for Eeyore's tail, and the climax of the film has Pooh choosing to bring Eeyore his tail back instead of getting honey. Most of the film isn't that good, but it's a fairly good adventure for small children. It's also pretty decently funny. Not everyone joke lands obviously, and I don't think it's as funny as the original, but I think it still had a decent amount of jokes an adult would still find humorous. I'd probably say I enjoyed it more than Big Hero 6 just for having an innocent childish charm to it. We're getting to the point where I'm describing films more for why I like one's aspects more than another film's, rather then why I find one's negative aspects less unpleasent.
42: Bambi (1942):
The weakest of the Golden Age films to me. Bambi is cute. A lot of is cute, but it suffers from a similar problem as the Aristocats. Lots of cuteness, not a lot of actual conflict. I do like Bambi noticably more than then the Artistocats even with similar lack of conflict, and even less plot, as I think the film has a more clear theme, and it's a personal favorite of mine; that being the universality of love, and love's ennobling power. The biggest theme of the film's second half recurring is that love exists in all creatures in nature, and love inspires to greater heights, seeing Bambi defend Faline is quite sweet.
Ironically the one species this allowance is not given to is man. I get it's from the animal's perspective but personally I find films that propandadize nature=good and human=bad somewhat insuffering. One of my favorite films is Princess Mononoke and one of the reasons is it showcases that humanity and nature exist in a duality, neither is good and neither is bad intinsically. Beyond that, as mentioned, it's mostly just watching cute animals for a large portion of the runtime.
While Winnie the Pooh and Bambi are both fairly innocent pleasent experiences for most of their runtime, and Winnie the Pooh has clear characters and plot, I think Bambi's versatility in showing more dark themes as well the theme of love, puts it slightly the final golden age film just slightly above the final 2D animated film for me.
41: Alice in Wonderland (1951):
Alice in Wonderland is mostly a straightforward telling of the novel of the same name. It's fine, it has some clever wordplay and obviously a lot of really interesting ideas. I do find it somewhat alien...it's a vignette film of just going to strange places, seeing the strange people and moving on and is purposefully illogical. That's not really my tastes.
In general thing I prefer the films that feel more cohesive and purposeful and Alice in Wonderland is deliberately the opposite of that, it's constantly going astray and everything is meaningless fun. I liked it a bit more than Bambi just because more actually happens in it, there's way more ideas. It's just not ideas that congeal in a way I'd want them to do.
40: Fantasia (1940):
The original Fantasia is interesting to talk about. It's technically a series of unrelated animations set to music like package film shorts but it's a Golden Age film so it has far more time, money, and effort put behind it. Fantasia has far more clear through lines then most segmented films and have some that do speak to me, specifically the mythological themes in "The Pastoral Symphony" and of course the beautiful "Night on Bald Mountain" and "Ave Maria." People say Maleficient was the first great disney villain, but personally I think it was Chernabog who without a single word of dialogue is probably the most convincing Disney devil of them all, perhaps because he does not try to excuse his evil with a human facade of desires for power or money, he simply desires evil for the sake of badness.
I do think Fantasia takes a while to get going for me, and I don't like that the narrator basically spoils each section before it happens. I know some people this at like number 1, but this style of film just doesn't really speak to me even if some segments I can somewhat see the beauty off. I think the best qualities of Fantasia spoke to me more than Alice in Wonderland, and the rest of both feel roughly equivalent.
39: Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001):
So there were two films people kept hyping me up for in the Experimentation Age. One of them I loved, and one of them....was Atlantis. I don't really get the appeal of this film. I mean I understand the visuals look good, but that's not a big draw for me.
The characters are memorable enough but I didn't feel particularly attached to any of them, and the fact that they all sold Milo out, even temporarily over something insane and irrational really annoyed me. I thought a lot of things about this movie didn't seem to make sense. If you're going to become rich literally just off the scientific finding of the century, why does the villain (and most of the characters) think they need to blow it up for money, it's such a transparently evil motive. How is that if everyone in this society is immortal that they lost the ability to read? The fact that this ancient super-advanced society of immorals requires a regular nerd to use their OWN tech gave me a headache.
This film does have visuals that can rival Fantasia's, and even if I don't find it as beautifully enriching, it is a more coherent story with more interesting characters so I probably would prefer to rewatch it. I do think maybe I missed things watching it the first time, it felt like the first half was both really slow and really fast. That said I feel like I got more out of Fantasia. I put it above tentatively atm.
38: The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949):
This is the best of the War-Era films....although technically it's after the war. It is the other one of these films with only two segments as well as actual dialogue along with Fun and Fancy Free. The first segment is a pretty middling section about proving Mr. Toad's innocence of car thievery.
The second segment however is good, it's the headless horseman story. The headless horseman despite having no dialogue is intimidating villain. The second segment also has perhaps the darkest world Disney had made tonally, save maybe CL. However in this case it's all people with selfish motives and jerkish means so seeing them mess each other up feels much more fair. It's a departure from most of Disney's feel-good catalogue. I don't even know if I like it, but it's refreshing. This film along with Atlantis are both bisected into two parts and the first part is the more boring part. That said I was just as excited with Ichabod's story as I was with the Atlantis mythos, and I thought it made signifigantly more sense.
37: The Jungle Book (1967):
The final Silver Age film, The Jungle Book is alright. It's another vignette film, and a lot of the vignettes are pretty simplistic. Its simplicity feels to me somewhat of its strength and its weakness. It has a lot of potency in how archetypal it is, sorta like a golden age film, but the scenes do tend to go on a bit when you have the feeling "alright I get the idea already"
The best part of the film by far to me is Shere Khan. He's a great earlier Disney villain, and his talk with Mowgli is my favorite part of the film. "Why should I run?" "Why should you run?" That said the ending kind of comes out of nowhere. Mowgli is all happy with his animal friends and he sees a human girl and...that's it. He just goes and becomes part of the human village. Was that simple. All the stress and the conflict earlier about Baloo wanting to take Mowgli to the humans and Mowgli running away and feeling all alone because of it...if only there was a human girl there, problem would have been instantly solved I guess. I get it's archetypal, it goes back to Epic of Gilgamesh, but it still feels rather unsatisfactory with the presentation.
I think I like the Shere Khan sections of this film as well as the Ichabod part of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, but I think this film's other segments were more interesting and fun than the Mr. Toad section which was mostly pretty middling.
36: Dumbo (1941):
Dumbo is pretty interesting to compare to the other Golden Age films. It's a lot faster paced I felt, partially due to barely being over an hour. That said it's story are much like The Jungle Book almost too simplistic. Dumbo reads like a sadfic, everything bad happens to Dumbo and it's never his fault, which builds up an overwhelming sympathy for him.
On some level I wanna put the Jungle Book over Dumbo, it has a much better villain, it's less overbearingly sad, it's got more nuanced characters, Dumbo has the really weird pink elephants scene which is somehow filler in a one hour movie. That said Dumbo delights in being cute in a way the Jungle Book doesn't, it's also very efficient with its time in a way I quite respect and which the Jungle Book with all its tangents does not do, and most importantly Dumbo has a legendary ending, while the Jungle Book has a rather weird one. I feel like could go either way depending on the day but at the moment I think I'd prefer Dumbo a little bit more, it's just really heartwarming seeing him fly and show his naysayers who was wrong.
35: Pocahontas (1995):
So a lot of people really dislike Pocahontas, as in think it should be bottom 5, maybe the worst Disney film, and that seems a bit...extreme to me. The thing people seem to mostly heavily dislike about this film is it being racially insensitive. A lot of these films are and racial elements have to be tempered by when it came out and how much of the plot it's in. This film came out all the way back in.....1995. And it's just....part of the whole plot.....being more serious I'm kinda seperated from most racial issues so I don't really know how to factor that in. I get some of the song lyrics especially are preachy and I don't like that but it's not the end of the world to me.
The other things people complain are true enough but not deal breakers for me. Pocahontas and John Smith are kind of on the dull side but I don't know their relationship seemed kind of cute to me. I do think the film is really over the top on its message, and I think it's characterization and its fantasy elements could both stand to have some of the time devoted to being fleshed out. But like at its heart it's trying to be a forbidden romance story and I have a soft spot for those. This is the worst of the Renaissance films I'd actually consider a Renaissance film, and the formula is at its worst here, but it's a decent enough formula. Ratcliffe is a pretty bare bones villain, and it was not a good idea to give him three songs. But overall I enjoy watching it.
It's interesting to compare Pocahontas and Dumbo for me because to me they sort of have the same problem: they both take an issue and run it to a melodramatic extreme; for Pocahontas it's racial issues and for Dumbo it's the sadfic elements. That said a comparison of them to me favors Pocahontas. It's not exactly a multi-layed saga, but it has the romance, it has more songs even if not all gems, it's got some spirituality in it.
34: Snow White (1937):
The first Disney film, older than Superman and Batman. I heard that going into this that this film is only ever liked for historical reasons. That it's super boring and that Snow White does nothing of her own volution. Much like with Dinosaur these claims seem true-ish but exaggerated. The film does drag in places without question, the dwarves talk to each other about who could be in their house for like 10 minutes of this 80 minute movie. Likewise I'm not going to say that Snow White is a particulary active heroine, but surprisngly I don't think she's the least active protagonist Disney has ever had. She very much starts civilizing the dwarves and taking charge, demanding they do things like wash up for dinner.
That's the part of the film I liked the most really. Snow White is endearing feminine and I loved the way the dwarves immediatly started acting all chivalric around her and how she started civilizing them and turning their house into a home. Maybe I'm just a romantic about this but the old-style of there being gentle ladies and chivalric men inherently acting on their best behavior in her presence just to not offend her sensibilities. In that way the film makes me feel nostalgic for a time I never lived in. I also mentioned that I love the High Fantasy stuff and the High Fantasy stuff in this I thought was great. The Evil Queen making her wicked potion was a really cool scene. Granted the ending does come absolutely completely out of nowhere. It's a film very much a product of its time.
Comparing it to Pocahontos I really like the vibes of both films though I think I like Snow White's High Fantasy vibe a little bit more than Pocahontas's vaguely spiritual vibe. Pocahontas doesn't drag nearly as much, but I do think the characters in Snow White have more clear character, even if they are basically just caricatures.
33: Brother Bear (2003):
Brother Bear is another film where I like the vibe, the tone of it more than anything, or at least part of it. Brother Bear feels completely different whenever there's humans on screen. When there are humans, it's a more emotional serious narrative with some spiritual elements. When it's just animals it becomes much more goofy, right down to the color scheme changing from harsh black and whites to more secondary colors like oranges and greens. I much prefer the human part of it. Denahi is a villain I think with a really good understanding motive, and is an intimidating force when he's on screen (even if in real life a human with a spear would get demolished by an adult bear.)
I also like Koda pretty well. Some people find him annoying but I found him pretty likeable. My biggest problem really is with the protagonist. Early on Kenai is just so mean and hot-headed, and I get it's character development I just didn't think he was likeable at first. Comparing it to Snow White, I feel both reach points I really likes at times. As I said I loved the old-fashioned parts of Snow White and I loved the human drama parts of Brother Bear, but I didn't like the more goofy side of Brother Bear or the more boring parts of Snow White. While I think I liked parts of Snow White more than I liked anything in Brother Bear I much prefer some mildly childish comedy over being minutes on end of nothing so I think Brother Bear is more consistent for me. Plus its ending doesn't come from nowhere, so that's a plus.
32: Peter Pan (1953):
Once again Peter Pan is kind of known for having a certain racial element...and once again I don't really know how to take it as someone whose not from a member of that group nor really close to the issue. I did find it somewhat more distracting here than Pocahontas for what it's worth, but it's only not quite as large a section of the film so trade-off.
Peter Pan definitely seems like a more "Boyish" type film than one of the Princess films. It's a film with mostly male protagonists and is about adventure and fighting pirates and the like. With that said I though the maternals themes were quite sweet and rather liked Wendy. I also thought that it has a lot of interesting concepts like the shadow manipulation or the Crocodile with a clock inside it, which is pretty interesting symbolism imo. Just as I thought Brother Bear was more consistent then Snow White, I thought Peter Pan was more consistent than Brother Bear. It melds action and comedy in a way I found more effective, and its quality is more evenly distrbuted across the film.
31: Robin Hood (1973):
Robin Hood is an interesting film for me because I really like the heroes but I really hate the villain and not in the way you're supposed too. Prince John is my least liked Disney villain from any film that actually has a villain, sapping away the fun from scenes he's in. I get some people find him entertaining but I found his whiny tendencies annoying.
I know a lot of people are interesting in this film for adult reasons. I'm not one of these people. I look at it pretty much as a straightforward adaptation of the Robin Hood story. Robin Hood is a very cool hero in this film and I like the cast of heroes pretty well. That's really the film's biggest benefit to me, I think it has good heroes and a decent, if somewhat unoriginal plot. Comparing it to Peter Pan I think it's a more focused plot and while I prefer Captain Hook notably to Prince John, I generally like Robin Hood's cast more. Both are fairly action-adventure type Disney films so they make a fairly intuitive comparison.
30: Oliver & Company (1988):
Much in the same way Robin Hood is a fairly straightfoward telling of Robin Hood as animals. Oliver & Company is a fairly straightfoward telling of Oliver Twist as animals. This is the last film of the Bronze Age and I thought it was pretty alright even if Tito gets a little bit annoying at times. I thought the villain Sykes was quite surprisingly intimidating for this film, although that's probably just source material.
I don't know if I'm putting this film unfairly high because it's mostly from one scene, and a lot of people put this film fairly low. That said the scene where Fagin makes his decision to reunite Oliver and Jenny even though he knows it probably means his death is I think my favorite scene in the Disney Canon Bronze Age. I get strongly moved by moments showing the basic decency and nobility of common people. Maybe I'll rewatch this film at some point and re-analyze but that scene I think I liked more then every scene in any film lower on this list and it's why I'd put it above Robin Hood.
29: Meet the Robinsons (2007):
Meet the Robinsons is a very fun family science-fiction story that I think really takes advantage of its genres. I like pretty much all the characters, and I especially think the villain is an underratedly funny villain. It's got a bunch of weaknesses but all of them are not that big to me; its "quirky" comedy can be a bit much, its characters are sometimes a bit under utilized, it's rather on the nose with its message. It's also a time travel story, which is against my tastes.
The core of the story however I think is a really good plot and has some good characters, realistically flawed yet quite likeable, even the antagonist. It's strengths are quite strong, comparable but more numerous than Oliver's greatest attribute.
28: The Great Mouse Detective (1986):
The Great Mouse Detective is a Sherlock Holmes story for children with mice substituting the characters. I certainly enjoy a good Holmes story, and while the actual mystery element is pretty light in this one, I really like the rivalry between the protagonist and the villain. Ratigan is an underrated villain imo, he's a pretty strong presence and a magnificient ego type villain. I do tend to like characters that are arrogant but it's somewhat justified because they ARE at least very good in their domain. Basil makes for a good competition being himself a strong ego motivated almost as much by his desire to prove his superiority as he is catching a criminal.
I also enjoy the other characters pretty well, and I think the ending is a more interesting final conflict. Really my biggest's conflict is it's not really a mystery story. Comparing it to Meet the Robinsons, I like the characters overall roughly the same but I feel the Great Mouse Detective uses them a little better. While both have some flaws with their genre, a time travel story and a mystery story, I personally prefer investigation type stories in general, and the Great Mouse Detective doesn't really try for "quirky" type comedy much.
27: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977):
The original Disney Canon Winnie the Pooh film surprised me. I expected it to be a pretty light film for young children and while it was, what I didn't expect was the sheer degree of metafictional humor. For instance the film added a character called Gopher who was not in the original book and they actually comment about it and his sudden departure saying "afterall he's not in the book you know" which made me personally crack up. I found the sudden bouts of metafiction to be refreshing and really funny. The film is filled with wordplay and meta jokes like that without losing a childish sense of whimsy.
This is a vignette film, and it's one of the best of the vignette films. Its innocent fun was enough to entertain me the whole way through though as a result of its genre it does still feel a little disconnected with a bizarre dream sequence of Pooh's. I liked both it and the Great Mouse Detective well, but I felt The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh took better advantage of its genre, oddly and was enjoyable across a wider section of its runtime.
26: Lady and the Tramp (1955):
One of Disney's two Silver Age cute dog films, Lady and the Tramp is about an archetypal romance structure the lady of high birth seeing the potential in a guy of low-class and the two having a relationship across social classes. I must admit a particular weakness for this set-up, I think it's so sweet. Lady and the Tramp has several rather notable flaws; it moves pretty slowly at the start, it has a particularly weak villain, and it has the "Siamese Cats" scene. With that said I think the focus of the film, the romance and the devotion of the heroes is particularly strong.
I particularly find moving the Lady's devotion towards the baby, the human child of her owners, and how it moves the Tramp despite his initial irresponsible mindset to giving of himself to save the baby. I believe the best of this film eclipses the best of any of the films I have lower then it. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is an entertaining childrens' animation but it doesn't move me the way the Lady and the Tramp does.
25: One Hundred and One Dalmations (1961):
The other of Disney's two Silver Age cute dog films, comparing 101 Dalmations and Lady and the Tramp was one of the most difficult comparisons for me. 101 Dalmations's plot feels a bit more repetitive, and it can be a surprisingly cold film for a film about cute puppies, much of it is watching the puppies in a state of distress as they struggle to return home, it doesn't have the same romantic warmth abounding.
With that said, 101 Dalmations has both a far larger amount of cute things paradoxically, as well as I think a sense of maturity and dignity that Lady and the Tramp reaches at its high points but not on its average. At the start of the film they think one of the puppies is stillborn. The film goes into a respectful silence in the moments before the puppy comes awake. The parent dogs Pongo and Perdita are truly the main characters and the story is the slightly older story of parents trying to protect their children then a story of young lovers of a forbidden romance.
What I think puts 101 Dalmations above for me is the villain. Cruella de Ville is one of the most popular villains, and while I don't like her that much personally, she's way better than Aunt Sarah who lacks much in the way of the presence. While I like the Lady and the Tramp as characters more than anyone in 101 Dalmations, I prefer 101 Dalmations' cast overall.
24: Moana (2016):
I don't think I really have to justify Moana being this high, instead I have to justify it being this "low." Talking about the film's strengths, Moana has a pretty engaging cast all of whom I like with the only exception being HeiHei whose comic relief shtick I found mildly annoying. It has a pretty engaging plot, a great sense of scale, a fun roster of songs, good animation. In the Revival Era, Disney became interested in recreating the Renaissance formula, and I feel that while I don't like them on average as much as the Disney Renassance films, they're still quite enjoyable.
In terms of faults it has some vignette film elements, with some parts kind of unconnected to the larger plot like the Kakamora scene, and its themes and animation style don't particularly appeal to me. It also feels a little bit boiler plate, it's hard for me to say a degree Moana is the best disney film in any regard. Regardless I do like it quite a bit and probably preferred it to 101 Dalmations for being more solid and having more elements to enjoy.
23: Cinderella (1950):
The first Silver Age film, it's amazing how much more modern Cinderella felt then films prior to it. Cinderella can be emotionally affecting to me in spite of how well known it's plot is. It has jokes that made me laugh more than a lot of the modern films (in particular I like when the mice all shout "Surprise" but one gets it wrong and says "Happy Birthday!" which strike me as a pretty modern styled joke or many of the scenes with the king especially when he in an angry fit shouting treachery and sabotage tries to stab his advisor.) Likewise despite the film having a relatively smaller scope, Lady Tremaine, a normal human, manages to be one of the more intimidating villains in the Disney Canon, and the scene where the stepsisters tear at Cinderella's dress was heart-wrenching.
I was somewhat confused about the magic. All of Cinderella's magically created items are supposed to disappear at midnight. The clock strikes 12 while she's still at the party and she runs away, being far down the road when it disappears, and all but her shoes disappear.
Comparing Cinderella to Moana, Moana obviously has the advantage of being over 65 years more recent. With that said, Cinderella I thought evoked a stronger reaction from me, if only because its charaters are so archetypal and especially because Cinderella is such a pure hard-working soul, seeing it undone unfairly is heart-wrecking. Modern films tend towards more character complexity.
22: Tarzan (1999):
The final Renaissance film is a pretty decent addition to the Renaissance roster. It focuses a lot it seems on animation quality, a fixation of Disney in the late 90s to early 00s which admittingly isn't a huge appeal to me. What does appeal to me greatly is the emotional core of the film, Tarzan's relationships with his adopted mother Kala or his strange relationship with Jane. From these come the film's happiest moments, such as Kala reconciling her son that he belongs as one of them.
I do wish the film didn't diverge so often with extended scenes like the wrecking the camp scene, and Clayton is a bit dull as a villain, but I think Tarzan's emotional moments and humor are comparable to Cinderella's, and far more frequent. A lot of people from what I understand don't like it's a non-diegetic musical, as in the songs are played over the events rather then being sung by the characters, and while the soundtrack isn't one of my favorites, it doesn't particularly bother me and I think works with the plot better then it was in Brother Bear by same musician, as the music is used to express emotions when direct words aren't as important as the emotions conveyed such as a mother's love in "You'll be in my Heart" or the joy of finding companions like yourself with "Strangers like Me"
21: Frozen (2013):
When Frozen came out it was extremely hyped, and then there was a predictable backlash, as there is against anything that becomes too popular too quickly. With that said I thought the backlash was a little harsh on this film, and why I don't consider it one of the best of the Disney canon, I liked it pretty well. My least liked section is the part, as is my general least liked part of the Revival Age is when Disney gets all self-conscious about its past and criticisms. Self-deprecation, either comedic in the form of ironic "self-aware" humor or serious in the form of trying to deconstruct a prior element, are strongly against my taste, it feels awkward and uncomfortable to me. For that reason I don't like Prince Hans's arc in the story, which feels like Disney trying to deconstruct their own tropes.
With that said I greatly enjoyed the primary story of two sisters alienation from each other and their reconcilation, and think the film would be liked even more then it is if it focused even more on it. Elsa is a different type of protagonist for Disney, not driven by a dream for something in particular like most Disney Princesses, but instead in fear of something and a desire to prevent it from happening, losing control of her emotions. Anna on the other hand is the sweetest thing and I enjoyed the entire time she was on screen. The scene with Anna huddled outside Elsa's door wishing she could once again be with her sister again touched me greatly. Elsa and Anna form a dichotomy very important to me, the dichotomy of being too closed and having too strong boundaries, and being too open and have too loose boundaries. While I don't think the Hans storyline best illustrates this dichotomy, the theme in general is one personally important to me.
The one thing that does genuinely bother me is that Elsa gains control of her power at the rather...conveniently. The primary struggle for the film is the uncontrollability of Elsa's powers, and at the end she just sort of gains control it because...power of love. I'm a Magical Girl fan so I'm used to power of love explaining some pretty far-fetched thing, but for something that's been the central conflict so far, it feels a bit unsatisfying.
20 Frozen 2 (2019):
So um...I think I like Frozen 2 more than the first. From what I can tell this is a rather unpopular opinion, and tbh I don't really have the strongest argument more than I just enjoyed it, but I'll do my best to express why this is the only Disney Canon sequel I liked more then the original film. Some people object to this film because it's clear Disney made an unnecessary film just because sequel to supermassive hit, and that doesn't really bother me. When people say the worldbuilding is pretty uninspired...yeah I'm inclinded to agree. That said what I really like about this film is Anna's heroism in this film.
My favorite song in this film isn't actually "Into the Unknown" it's "The Next Right Thing" a song I found especially moving. I have somewhat of a defeatist attitude, and especially given the inspirations the creators cite for this song, I just find it such an emotional piece of how to push on even in the face of horrendous tragedy, both pragmatic and inspiring. And that's roughly how I think of Anna's role in this film. I love in superhero films where they show the heroism of the common people striving to help the heroes, and the climax of this film is Anna, the "normal" sister saving her superpowered sister. When Anna is crowned Queen of Arendelle it felt earned because she saved it in its darkest hour.
I also love just how mature and reasonable everyone is in this film. When the soldiers from Arendelle and Northuldra appear prepared to fight from the past, they stop quickly at Elsa's words. I completely thought the captain of the past Arendelle forces, Mattias would turn out to just be fantasy racist against the Northuldra for their magic and be the villain but no he immediatly accepts the queen's desire for peace and cooperates with the Northuldra. This is a film that doesn't have a villain because it doesn't really need it. People actually view it as a fault that the people of Arendelle are totally spared any wrath from King Agnarr's actions, but to me that's something I love it for. Not even remotely are the common citizen or his granddaughters Anna and Elsa implicated in the old King Agnarr's actions, we are not responsible for our anscestors' or our countrymens' actions. The Northuldra are presented as a wise mystical people and that they don't hold grudges against innocents associated with Agnarr to me is just another way everyone acts mature and rational this film. Even Olaf's whole arc this film, as he tries his hand at amateur philosophy, shows a level of maturity. Frozen 2 for it's issues, feels very fitted to my particular tastes.
This film probably has more problems then Frozen 1, it goes into "Into the Unknown" too early, the first half drags at points, it's a bit deus ex machina-y at the end, it's worldbuilding is kind of lazy, but none of the problems bothered me nearly as much as the two big problems of Frozen 1 to me, so I actually think I liked it more.
19: Pinocchio (1940):
Pinocchio is the best of the Golden Age Disney films to me. It's still rather disconnected and like all the Golden Age films, thinks sometimes just happen without really being connected to anything else. With that said I think the film has the most thematic depth of the Golden Age films by far and I think Disney wouldn't really match it in terms of thematic depth until...maybe the Lion King. Pinocchio is enjoyed moreso as a work of art then it a story.
Not to say there's nothing to enjoy as a piece of art. It can be quite funny, surprisingly so for how old it is. "What does an actor want with a conscience anyway?" indeed. Likewise Pinocchio becoming all heroic in the final bit diving into the ocean after the great whale Monstro is pretty cool. I can somewhat understand why it's sometimes considered the best film in the canon. With that said, and potential hot take I suppose...for the first 50 minutes, the vast majority of the film, Pinocchio is the most passive protagonist Disney has ever had. He spends most of the film just doing what other people tell him to do, generally being a naive little boy with absolutely zero suspicion conned by criminals. I actually thought for most of the film he was more passive then Snow White.
Comtrasting Pinocchio with the Frozen duology, I enjoy Frozen much more as a story, but Pinocchio thematically is such a infinite well. It's hard to compare Pinocchio was more modern films. I feel if I had to rewatch one right now, I'd prefer to rewatch Frozen 2 because I'd enjoy more, but I feel if I had to pick just one to watch for the rest of my life I feel I'd pick Pinocchio because I think I'd get more out of it. At the moment I'd probably put Pinocchio above slightly for being more even and not having as notable shifts in quality.
18: The Fox and the Hound (1981):
The crowning piece from the Bronze Age to me, the Fox and the Hound is a type of story Disney doesn't try for usually, it's a tragedy. Somewhat similar to 101 Dalmations and Frozen 2, The Fox and the Hount impressed me with its sense of maturity, the ambition to tackle an adult topic, and here it's an even more outside context type film for Disney, a story of two friends torn across by circumstances of birth. It's a very efficient film, and I do enjoy things with good pace, perhaps to the point of being TOO efficient, with the film spending honestly pretty little time on young Copper and Todd's friendship. It's a relentlessly evocative film, recreating the tragedy of fate wedging division 'tween friends.
The biggest issue with this film to me is that the childish elements this film maintains cling to its mature plot worse then it does most films. The comedic sidekicks even as they thematically parallel the film's main plot detract from the tone and Chief only being injured when he's clearly set up to die, makes Copper's motivation seem like a dramatic over-reaction and take from the tragic tone of the film. With that said even despite that the final chase is one of the most dramatic sequences Disney has produced, and the climactic scene where Copper stands over the helpless Todd protectively remains massively heartwarming.
Most films are hard to compare to Pinocchio due to Pinocchio excelling in a specific area but the Fox and the Hound is one of the few that can be due to itself excelling in a specific area most of the films don't tread, the field of tragedy. Both are masterful to me in their area of expertise, but Fox and the Hound is also still a compelling narrative in general, if a clearly flawed one, while Pinocchio striped of its thematics is far more dated feeling and very disconnected.
17: The Princess and the Frog (2009):
The Princess and the Frog is the first of the Revival Era and it certainly feels it with its very clear attempt to recreate the Renaissance formula. In there is its best strength and weakness in my opinion. Recreating a successful formula will always somewhat limit ones potential and also, if one is competent, guarentee a certain level of success, and from what I can tell this film got a corresponding response for a modernization of the Renaissance formula.
I really like the main character Tiana. She is probably emblematic of the way to modernize a formula. She has the same heart as a classic Disney protagonist but enough of a distinct identity more suited to her time to feel distinct and like a good evolution. The sidekicks to me are a bad example of how to modernize a formula, taking something that was already feeling kind of worn out and changing an irrelevant part, the humor to be more modern. Between the two is the villain is Dr. Facilier who is a bit of a sidestep to the Disney Renaissance villains not feeling especially more modern or evolved in any way, but not feeling any worse.
My thoughts on this film are generally pretty positive. While it moved kinda quickly I liked how the relationship between Tiana and Nazeem began to improve his character, and I really liked Tiana's friend Charlotte, which seems a good example of how take a cliche character idea; the ditzy heiress and make it more fun and pleasent just by making her a genuinely nice person rather then a bully.
The Princess and the Frog has more things I dislike compared to the Fox and the Hound; the hunters scene is pretty eh, I don't like Nazeem at the start, the romance moves kinda quickly, but none of its faults are that detrimental but the Fox and the Hound's biggest fault really detracts from its potential to be great, holding back on the tragedy. While the Fox and the Hound feels like a lateral genre shift from most Disney Canon films, the Princess and the Frog feels like an evolution of their genre, a modernization of their primary genre, the musical comedy adventure. It feels more in-line with Disney's strengths as a company.
16: Sleeping Beauty (1959):
The pinnacle of the Silver Age and Walt's finest film work in my opinion, Sleeping Beauty can fairly compete with films made decades after it. Sleeping Beauty even relative to its time had rather simplistic characters including a passive princess and a rather simplistic story, those aren't it's strengths. Its strengths lie in the sense of majesty imbued in the film.
I love the High Fantasy type worlds and Sleeping Beauty takes full advantage of it. Maleficent is a great Disney villain, menacing and entertaining in every scene she's in and her duality with the good fairies evokes the well the tradition of the Seelie and Unseelie fairy. All of that stuff is very engaging, and the way things like the kingdom being put to sleep gives a real sense of scope and fantastical ideas. I also loved the joke "Father, you're living in the past. It's the fourteenth century!"
Comparing it to Princess and the Frog, one is the quintessential classic film fairy tale, and one is the quintessential modern film fairy tale. The former focusing on archetypal depth, on a sense of majesty and grandeur. The latter focuses on characterization and evoking a sense of setting; time and place. I have a personal preference for the former, in terms of Scott McCloud's "four campfires" I definitely identify as a Classicist. I slightly prefer Sleeping Beauty here.
15: Bolt (2008):
Bolt is a pretty low-stakes film compared to most films this high, or indeed most films in the canon. It doesn't have that much of a sense of scale. It's probably unusual to rate it this high, that said I just thought the film was really cute and full of heart and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of the film. The film's premise is that Bolt the dog has lived his entire life on a film set so thinks he's a superdog and when he gets out he's exposed to a world he doesn't have powers. I don't really get how this premise is supposed to work, if you look at the first scene taking place on the TV show I have no idea how this is supposed to be special effects, but whatever all films get one gimme due to suspension of disbelief. The premise is accepted categorically.
I really liked the main trio of characters. Bolt's devotion to Penny is so really sweet and his continual drive to get back to her even when he understands he doesn't have powers and she's not really in danger really reflects why people love dogs so much; their sheer undying loyalty. Mittens is a funny snarker whose cynicism grounds Bolts' naivety. Apparently some people found Rhino the hamster to be annoying but honestly in terms of "funny animal sidekick" in these films he's one of my favorites. His humor is the type I really like of character takes non-serious thing more serouisly then they should, and he's constantly trying to be helpful and positive. He's also pretty funny I thought. The three have good chemisty.
I don't like that this film has the...I don't know what to call it but the "friendship breakup" scene that all of the modern Disney Canon films seem to have where the friends get into a disagreement and get angry at each other and mope around for a bit, which is especially when like here one character is basing it off misinformation. These conflicts don't add anything except pointless drama, nothing can really be taken from it other then I guess "know what's going on." That scene aside I like every scene in this film and I also like pretty much every character in this film. I definitely think Sleeping Beauty is a better piece of art, but honestly this film just puts me in a good mood, maybe due to my own experiences.
14: Encanto (2021):
The latest Disney film, Encanto is a huge breath of fresh air. Encanto is not a sweeping journey, pretty much the entire film takes place in one sentient house, it's a story focused pretty much on familial drama and honestly after that's refreshing for Disney when I've been seeing Pseudo-Renaissance films and prior to that the actual Renaissance films follow a similar formula for over half the amount of films Disney has produced. I feel like this film has an emotional depth not unparalleled by any other Disney film but definitely near-so, and I think it does it without sacrificing a lot of the elements people like Disney for, including charming characters and good music.
I do feel like some elements of the film I was interested in weren't explored as much as I'd want. My favorite character in the film was Luisa, such a good humble person who strives to protect her family and take on her family burdens while still being a relatable flawed person, and her song is one of my favorite songs of the entire Revival Era, assuming you think this is still a Revival Era film. That said, she impacts the plot less then I'd like.
Encanto and Bolt are both relatively small-stakes for Disney and while Bolt is definitely cuter, I think I appreciate Encanto's greater emotional depth with the characters, and the fact that it incorporates more of what usually what makes a Disney film good.
13: Wreck-It Ralph (2012):
Wreck-It Ralph is a film that's good but I don't really think I can comment anything on it you haven't heard a million times. It's a fun innovative world and a sweet story about a lonely guy finding a better place in the world for himself. It's fun and sweet and pretty much what you'd want from a children's animated film.
I will say I like Felix probably moreso than most, he's my favorite character in the film. My favorite joke is when he's locked in a prison with the bars slightly insecure so he tries to break them with his hammer only to accidentally fix it and reinfore it. It's not only a funny joke, it's a joke that subtly reflects just as how Ralph's ability to destroy is not always evil, Felix's ability to fix is not always helpful.
On the other hand the friendship break-up scene is the worst most painful in the entire Disney canon for me. On some level I applaud how emotionally effective it is, but on another level it feels so unnecesary especially given again it's based on misinformation, it's not a conflict born out by any different ideals or thoughts, it doesn't encourage thought about is it right to risk safety for development, it's "Bad guy manipulated good guy into doing bad thing."
I really liked Encanto but Wreck-It Ralph is just...really really fun. And I do think it takes advantages of its characters really well. I feel like Felix was used well in WIR, while I wanted more of Luisa in Encanto, though you could argue Felix is more of a central character in WIR so....eh. I also think WIR progresses more naturally then Encanto, even if it progresses very frustratingly in one scene. Encanto's pacing was a bit uneven I thought while I thought WIR progressed at a pretty good pace.
12: Zootopia (2016):
I really don't want to talk about Zootopia es metaphor because I don't think it's a metaphor for something specific and trying to do creates unfortunate implications. Taking it as a fantasy story with a broad allegory about bigotry I think it's really good.
Officer Judy Hopps is maybe my favorite character in the entire Disney Canon. She's endlessly likeable and sympathetic while never being an overly perfect character. She has a large presence without overpowering other characters, she's entertaining without it being so over the top you can't take her seriously. And she's an adorable little bunny rabbit whose a lawful good police officer. It's like they tried to design a character to appeal to me. In fact one of my few faults with the film it at times it feels overly cruel to Judy. I get it's over the top to evoke a feeling, but it feels too much to me personally. That may just me be overly empathetic. Her struggle of trying to be taken seriously when she's a small cute thing is relatable and charming. I like her partner Nick as well, but Judy is definitely my favorite character. I especially love the joke where she says "I mean I am a dumb bunny, but we are good at multiplying."
I really liked the message of the film and thought it was mostly well-integrated, though I didn't like the villain that much, felt pretty bland, and I'm not super big into the "buddy cop" movie formula. That said I thought the world was very well built around the themes, especially with fun animal themed sections of Zootopia such as the point where Judy goes into a shrew town and everything's tiny so it briefly becomes something like a giant monster movie.
Zootopia is a film I felt as fun as Wreck-It Ralph and both create a really fun interesting world around their themes. That said I feel Zootopia feels more natural, has themes more well-integrated into the story and the dialogue, and I also just really love the main character.
11: The Lion King (1994):
So I feel like I don't have to defend why the Lion King is above 49 films, it's why it's below 10 other films. The Lion King is probably the single most popular film to put as the best film in the Disney Canon and I think I can see why. Much like Frozen the Lion King has an absolutely immense sense of scale and majesty, but it also has maybe the best more well-integrated themes in the entire Disney canon. The scene where Mufasa talks to Simba after rescuring him from the Elephant Graveyard and the scene where Rafiki advices Simba are among the best Disney has ever made because they reach a level of wisdom most films in general would envy.
With that said, I have to admit outside of Mufasa and Rafiki, I'm not that fond of the characters of the Lion King. They're obviously not bad or anything but they're more of a lower high tier then a top tier to me. Simba and Nala I thought were pretty impulsive and reckless, I didn't find at all relatable. I was the kid that tended towards being too safe rather then too reckless. Scar is a really well loved villain and while he's a good villain I didn't like him that much. 90% of his dialogue and actions are just "I'm evil" or "I'm a bad king." People say he got worse in the second half but to me he always seemed pretty ridiculously over the top evil and basically the same unsympathetic narcissist and latent Saturday Morning Cartoon villain the entire time. I get maybe people are impressed he's so effective but the entire climax of the film is resolved for Simba because Scar at the last second admitted he killed Mufasa for no reason other then vanity, which is the opposite of effective. He literally would have won if he was not so transparently narcissitically evil that he just confessed for no reason. Yeah he caused Mufasa's death but my childhood was spent watching Sailor Moon where the Guardian Senshi all die violently in one episode, so it wasn't that big a deal to me. I get it's presented really well and I'm not trying to say it was bad but he had basically one achievement that to me was just another example of how he was unrepentedly evil.
I don't wanna sound too harsh on Lion King because I did really enjoy it, just for how thematic and mystical it gets, how it is a film that likes to go deep. I enjoyed it even more than Zootopia which has again maybe my favorite character because I value thematic depth even more then characters, but I prefer a film where I like both a lot to a film I love one and only just "like" the other.
10: The Little Mermaid (1989):
I thought when starting this "You know the Disney Renaissance is probably overhyped. We were all children what it came out and even if it is good they'll probably be a slow climb up to it in quality and a slow descent out of it...." nope. Not even a little bit. Going from 1988's "Oliver & Company" to 1989's "The Little Mermaid" in one day was an experience, I'll tell you. During the Bronze Age Disney was trying to make films more cheaply and you can tell. The Little Mermaid was the first time in 30 years Disney was pouring all it's time, effort, and money into a film and the sudden shift is huge.
Everything about this film is good, and that's really what I like about the Renaissance films in general, their overall solidity. Films from outside the period can compete in an area or two, but the Renaissance films are typically at least average and often good or great in animation style, music, humor, romance, characters, plot, AND themes. For the Little Mermaid in particular I thought the relationship between Ariel and King Triton was really sweet and nuanced, I thought the romance was beautifully done, I loved Ariel's desire to explore the human world, and the final fight was absolutely awesome, even if admittedly Ariel didn't do that much to actually resolve the conflict she started, though you could, and I probably would argue that Triton actually caused the problem for being so authoritarian with his daughter and the climax of the film really hinges on Triton finally giving Ariel her freedom.
I do think the humor is a little eh, and while it's important for the plot and themes, Ariel and Eric not being able to converse for the majority of the film does kinda run against my tastes in romance. With that said I think it's a really good film and compared to Lion King, I prefer slightly eh humor to slightly eh characters overall.
9: The Emperor's New Groove (2000):
The Emperor's New Groove is a fanbase darling now, and I can see why, it's very funny, especially the villains. It is a road trip movie so it kind of lacks the grandeur I personally look for and Kuzco is a bit too over the top jerkish in the first part for my tastes, I would have preferred if they at least hinted he had hidden depths earlier on but I get that's just me being more sappy.
The film's villains are definitely where the film shines brightest and I think most people agree on that to the point they're probably more popular than the heroes. Kronk is the best character and his interactions with Yzma are probably the funniest villain dialogue in the canon.
I don't really know what to say on the Emperor's New Groove, it's a very funny comedy, my favorite scene is the Dinner scene, it's very quotable. But I tend to like films I can think about and analyze a lot and The Emperor's New Groove is pretty direct, you don't need to think about it very hard to get it.
Comparing it to the Little Mermaid, the Little Mermaid I preferred in a lot of ways, it's obviously a much grander story in scope. With that said The Emperor's New Groove is definitely a film I'd much more prefer to randomly watch, it's a much more fun casual viewing experience. It reminds me of the comparison between the Frozen Duology and Pinocchio, I prefer the Little Mermaid as art, but I prefer The Emperor's New Groove as a film. With that said in contrast to the prior comparison I'd probably prefer the Emperor's New Groove slightly because in this case I think the Little Mermaid has more noticable dips in quality, while the Emperor's New Groove's biggest crime is just being a bit lacking in ambition for my tastes.
8: Hercules (1997):
Two of my favorite genres are Mythology Fantasy and Superhero Stories. Hercules isn't that much a mythological fantasy story as it takes masive liberteries with Greek Mythology. It's more of a superhero story that happens to take place in a Fantasy World inspired by Greek Mythology. And in that light I actually do really like it.
Hercules is a film I like a lot about it, I especially like the characters of Meg and Hades. Meg is probably the most complex love interest type character in any of these films to the point think, rightfully, could have her own film and she's very fun and sassy. Hades is an absoltuely amazing villain. Most Disney villains are either threatening or funny and Hades really manages to bridge the gap and be both. And while most Disney villains are pretty unsympathetic and Hades isn't a super fleshed out three dimensional character, he's got a little bit of sympathetic moreso then most Disney villains; he's angry he was sent to rule over the land of the dead for all time. That makes sense.
I will say, it does have the annoying friendship breakup thing and while it's not the worst in the canon, it's maybe the most contrived. Phil hears Meg after she's decided to no longer work for Hades and hurt Hercules and just because he hears her say only one thing at a very specific time and doesn't pick up her sarcasm he thinks she's still working for Hades. Also Phil's general skirt-chasing tendencies is a joke not really to my taste.
With that said I do love superhero stories and think is a pretty cool one, even if the ending part is kind of predictable. It's interesting comparing this to Emperor's New Groove because of the Disney Renaissance films, this is probably the closest to it tonally, being more a quick-paced comedy then most Renaissance films save maybe for Aladdin when the Genie is on screen. I think I like it more because I feel like I really get the best of both worlds from it; it's both funny and dramatic, quick-paced and elegant.
7: Beauty and the Beast (1991):
Beauty and the Beast is a film that I think focuses more then any other on elegance and romance and for the most part it pulls it off obviously absolutely amazingly and it might be my favorite Disney romance. So the reason I say might is I think my biggest problem with the film by far is I think Belle is....a bit too perfect. Like I saw people saying Belle is still too passive and weak a protagonist because she's the Beast's captive and I was shocked. I don't know if it's because she's not an "action-y" character but Belle...BELLE is not perfecte enough? She reads to me like a 13 year old's OC. "Belle is smart because she likes to read books and she dreams of adventure and she's SOOOO deep and all the dumb shallow people in her town don't understand her and she's perfectly selfless and compassionate and suffers in her father's place until she turns the bad monster into a handsome prince with her love." I'm exaggerating for effect but not that much. I don't think she makes a single error over the course of the film and that's a problem too me because for me the ideal romance is one where the two characters mutually improve each other. Belle obviously improves the Beast, but I can't think of anyway the Beast made Belle a better person. There's no scene where Belle judges the Beast as a monster just from how he looks and in fact it's almost strange how she has no reaction to him looking like a monster and instead just continues to immediatly implore for her father. There's no scene where Belle guilty says "everyone saw me only for how I looked, and I saw you only for how you looked. " Belle treats Beast perfectly fairly and with an appropriate amount of forgiveness proportional to how he acts, treating him like a monster when he acts like a monster and like a person when he acts like a person.
People say Belle is an example of the Heroine's journey, district from the Hero's Journey and I'd concur. But with most modern examples of the Hero's journey, the Hero is generally a flawed protagonist that rises to hero-dom. Belle doesn't rise to Heroine-ism, she just is a heroine. That's not the worst thing in the world, and there are examples of heroes that are a little too perfect but it's the reason why it's only possibly the best romance. With that said the fact that is still possibly the best romance in the entire Disney Canon certainly says somehing. It's a romance that threads the needle between feelinig natural and organic, and feeling abstractly beautiful, aided by all the elegant art in the Beast's home and the unspecified timeframe things happen in allowing the viewer to fill in the details with their imagination. It is a dramatization of the ennobling power of love, probably my favorite theme in fiction, and it's done beautifully and archetypally in this film.
This film like the other Renaissance films is also pretty good in most regards in general. It's funny, especially the villain, it's got obviously legendarily good music, it's got fun side characters. It's maybe got not as large a scope as the more adventure-y type films but is maybe the most elegant of all of entire Canon, every detail feeling perfectly in place. Comparing it to Hercules, in both cases I think the protagonist is slightly underwhelming for the film they're in, Hercules for a bit bland, Belle for being a bit perfect. I think Hercules is more fun but I think Beauty and the Beast is just so much more an elegant film and I got so much more out of it. I also feel like the rules are a lot more clear in Beauty of the Beast, whereas in Hercules it does feel like the rules are a bit arbitrary.
6: Treasure Planet (2002):
People hyped me for two films I hadn't seen in the 00s. One was Atlantis which I was a bit eh on. The other was Treasure Planet and Treasure Planet...was really damn cool. The obvious gimmick is its aesthetic, space victorian pirates...it's not something I particularly am interested in but it's also not something that detracts anything for me, it's fine. What I liked was the story. I get it mostly's just an adaptation of Treasure Island but it was done really well.
Treasure Planet is a pirate story and I don't know what is with this and Pirates of the Caribbean but Disney does pirate films really well. I think because it forces Disney to be a bit more morally grey then normal, but Disney makes a pirate film that has a bit more charm then usual so it's a nice balance. Jim is a really cool protagonist. He's kind of a broody angsty teen boy but um...I really don't mind, that's a very realistic archetype so he feels not just like a really driven motivated protagonist but also realistic. His reationship with Silver is really the heart and soul and John Silver is a fantastic character. I like villains based on three metrics; being threatening, being entertaining, and being compelling and Silver is the one time Disney managed to nail all three. The film does have a friendship breakup scene between Jim and Silver but it's one of the most understandable and least painful of them.
The other characters aren't as good as Jim and Silver but they' range from decent to quite good, I especially liked Captain Smollet es a very reasonable authority figure and ship captain. It's also a really good science-fiction concept. The big reveal near that planet itself is really a giant machine that leads to the treasure was great, I had seen a reveal a few times like that before but never in a children's movie so it really shows just how mature the film was for it's age demographic.
Beauty and the Beast is obviously way more iconic and Treasure Planet doens't beat it at it's own game, it's not as elegant and it doesn't have a romance to speak off, but it plays an entirely different game it's as good at, being this really cool sci-fi pirates story and has a protagonist I think balances being a likeable competent protagonist while still making bad decisions.
5: Lilo and Stitch (2002):
The best film from the Experimentation Age....ironically given that Stitch himself is an "experiment". Lilo and Stitch is one of those rare pieces of fiction that can express well both reality and the fantasic. Lilo and Stitch expresses a painfully realistic story of two orphaned sisters just trying their best in a harsh world while also remaining a fun colorful story. At it's best these two sections come together to make something incredibly moving such as the film's climax when Stitch describes his new family.
I love how cohesive this film. It's parts could so easily feel like they belong to two seperate movies put together, that's this case with say Brother Bear which aired not too far after it but right down down to the aesthetics the film keeps everything flowing into each other with even the aliens biology and spaceship design meant to evoke the tropical aquatic wildlife of Hawaii. This continues into the characters especially the film's protagonist Lilo who is a perfect bridge as a strange rebellious little girl with odd beliefs to blend the fantastical and the mundane, and all the way up into the film's ethereal theme of family. The film masterfully merges a science-fiction story of an alien monster made to destroy coming to a change of heart, and a little girl without her parents struggling to fit in and finding a kindred soul to friend.
At the same time the film does sort of delight in chaos and destruction a bit for my tastes. There's a lot of scenes showing Stitch destroying things or things just going wrong, whereas I am a person prefers things generally orderly and elegant. This isn't really a complaint, just a matter of tastes I sympathetize most with Nani and Bubbles as Nani desperately struggles to create order and show that she can be a responsible caregiver for Lilo. And likewise I sympathetize with arguably the antagonist of the film Bubbles as he tries to be lenient and gives Nani understanding for her situation but also encourages her to face reality, he's not a villainous person like a lot of Disney films he honestly cares about Lilo's well-being in a different way.
Comparing it to Treasure Planet, they're the two best Experimentation Era films to me, but while Treasure Planet is a great adventure film, I just feel Lilo and Stitch is more broadly applicable to me and more of a versatile film that gives me a wider array of emotions. I think Lilo and Stitch that does create characters with as much depth and versatility as Silver, and it does it multiple times.
4: Tangled (2010):
Tangled is my favorite film from the revival period and technically my favorite princess film, I'll explain later. It's difficult for me to even explain why because everything about it is just good. Tangled has beautiful visuals, I love the way Rapunzel's hair looks, and the bright Summery-aesthetic to everything. Tangled has wonderful music, not my favorite per se of the Disney Canon but high up there for me especially with the emphasis on lights a visual metaphor I really like. Tangled has great characters. Rapunzel is such a cute funny loveable personality and I actually relate to her desire to at one both see the world and also be scared too. The villain Gothel is a painfully realistic but important message to children about abusive relationships,
Maximus and Flynn make for a great comedic duo and speaking of the romance between Rapunzel and Flynn felt really sweet and like the two really were on an equal footing despite Rapunzel's naivety to the world. It does have the friendship breakup scene which is really annoying, but I love it's plot and its themes too.It's hard to talk about what I like in general because I like everything about but I love how warm it is, how everything about it symbolically reflects the light of the Sun and the stars and the lanterns, and how Mother Gothel represents darkness in contrast. Gothel is way more realistic then I would have expected Disney to go especially in all the little ways she tears at Rapunzel's self-esteem even as she pretends to be nice to her.
I also love how funny the film is and the way the film has a much more high fantasy plot then is typical for Disney, the magic imbued into the baby, the good child stolen away and raised by a witch like an evil fey. My only real faults is I feel some parts could have been taken more seriously, and as mentioned it has the cliche scene where Rapunzel is lied too, to make her think Flynn has betrayed her and she has to get all heartbroken and sad for a part.
I feel like this film is generally a film more pleasent then Lilo and Stitch. Lilo and Stitch is a bit chaotic for my tastes while Tangled is a bit light-hearted. I'd prefer to watch characters be a bit too goofy then watch say Lilo and Stitch's house get destroyed. I also just generally like the High Fantasy plot. With the exception of Rapunzel I do think I prefer Lilo and Stitch's characters over Tangled's, but I prefer the plot and tone of Tangled more.
3: Aladdin (1992):
Aladdin is technically not a princess film, it's a prince film. That said because it's basically a princess film, that's why I say Tangled is technically my favorite princess film. I love Aladdin a lot, and to be honest, it wasn't a super hard pick putting it above Tangled not because I think it's dramatically better then Tangled but because I think it's just a little bit in like every area.
Aladdin's romance with Jasmine is possibly my favorite in the Disney canon, where both sides help the improve as a person and is also a classic example of a high class lady showing understanding to a man of low birth who has potential and nobility or as the film puts it "A diamond in the rough." I love the characters of Aladdin pretty much universally. Aladdin is a fun interesting protagonist who drives the plot, and is realistically flawed while still being likeable. Jasmine is one of the best Disney princesses without question being clever, funny, likeable having a clear motive and reason for the motive without being too perfect. Jafar is a really good villain, really high up there in my villain ranking for the Disney canon. Genie is still really funny as well as tying into the movie's plot about having power but no agency to use that power taken to a cosmic extreme and even the side characters like Abu and the Carpet are pretty endearing. I love basically every song in the film, especially "A Whole New World."
Speaking off, I love how the film is at once so elegant yet so animated, a world of mystery and mystique and style. In the early Renaissance, Aladdin was actually, if I understand correctly, initially thought to be the least of them focusing more on jokes and pop culture references then the elegance and dignity of Beauty and the Beast or Lion King. With that said, I actually think in retrospect it's a much more balanced film mixing elegant segments like "a Whole New World" with fast-moving more goofy segments like "Prince Ali" making the two feel like parts of the same world. Aladdin feels like a more playful film then the other films of the Disney Renaissance, the film that more then any other anticipates the Experimentation Age, ironically given how early in the period it came out, and dips as well between childishness and maturity.
Comparing Aladdin with Tangled, I love both but Aladdin is just a little better in most areas. Rapunzel is a character I prefer to any character in Aladdin, but Aladdin's major characters are all on that tier of quality. It's plot is as interesting and fantastical, but more complex. Its songs are on the same tier of quality but more diverse. Aladdin also just doesn't have a friendship breakup scene; with Genie Aladdin legitimatly betrays Genie's trust and is scorned appropriately. While Aladdin's nature is revealed to Jasmine, that's not the focus of any scene in particular and there's no sad mopey scene.
2: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996):
For a while I said this was my favorite Disney Canon film, and while it's not quite anymore, it's still very high obviously. This is after Lion King probably the most popular film to call one's favorite of the Disney Canon and I feel the appeal of this one moreso.
Hunchback is a film with more notable downsides then some of the films before it but such strong upsides it stands out immediatly. It's music is perhaps the greatest of the Disney Canon, it has songs of theological majesty like God Help the Outcasts or The Bells of Notre Dame, maybe the best "I want" song Out There, of course Hellfire just as it has fairly neutral songs like Court of Miracles and Topsy Turvy Day, as well as lesser songs like a Guy Like You showing it's polarizng nature. It's characters also run the gamut from Frollo one of the best Disney villains, fairly well good characters like Esmeralda and Quasimodo down to the Gargoyles which are rather poor for the film overall. This is everything about the film, it has some of the best elements of the Disney Canon in seemingly every regard brought down by a few incongruent elements.
If Hunchback reminds me of any other Disney film it reminds me of Fox and the Hound, a film trying to go outside the bounds of what Disney normally does with a darker storyline, held back only by the fact that the remaining childish elements kept in cling poorly to the material. And while Hunchback's good points go to a far greater end then Fox and the Hound, showing all the ways Disney grew in 15 years, the childish elements remained the same showing the ways they stagnated.
Probably the best aspect of the film are it's themes which are immense and grandiose enough to give Lion King a run for it's money, and integreated similarly well into the film. For someone who the themes are the best part of the story, this is a very satisfying experience.
Comparing Hunchback to Aladdin, Aladdin definitely does a much greater job at integrating its comic relief which threatens to be as tone-breaking into its world, and feels more cohesive. With that said Aladdin for all the scope presented in things like the genie's power, doesn't build to much in the way interesting themes, and while it's a great story in general, I feel Hunchback can rival it's appeal on a base story way, while also having far more applicable messages to real life.
1: Mulan (1998):
This might be a bit of an unconventional choice. While people seem to generally like Mulan, it usually seems to be viewed as a Top 10 or Top 20, rather then a Top 5, and even less so the best film in the Disney Canon. That said, I'll say while I like it and this might run on a bit long.
The big reason I love Mulan is not one thing per se but just how completely solid it is in every regard. I mentioned that films outside the Renaissance can often challenge or surpass a Renassiance film on one or two regards, but the Renaissance has such a high reputation because the films were so solid in all regards and Mulan to me is the epitome of this idea, the Renaissance to the Disney Renaissance.
Animation wise I really liked Mulan's world, Ancient China is a pretty interesting setting to me and I like the visual designs of the characters. Music-wise, Mulan has probably my favorite song list. It only has 4 but while most of the Disney Musicals have 2-4 Good Songs, 1-2 Meh or Bad Songs, and maybe 1 Great song, Mulan has 2 songs I consider good and 2 songs I consider great. Hunchback may have more great songs in totality, but I prefer this level of consistency.
Character-wise I greatly enjoy all Mulan's characters. Mulan's not my favorite protagonist (Judy is), but she's really close and I love all the side characters. The villain Shan Yu is my pick for most underrated villain. He's not the best per se but to me he's definitely a high tier. I get he's not funny and is maybe a little on the generic side, but he's one of the most intimidating coolest villains who takes every chance to show he's a powerful intelligent ruthless warrior. The humor of Mulan is a bit hit or miss but overall I definitely think it tends towards hit and its hits are big hits, some of the jokes I thought were hilarious.
Plotwise Mulan has probably my favorite plot in the entire Disney canon. I don't think there's any drag, all the scenes are used to good effect. Everything furthers the plot while also feeling organic and giving a good chance of showing the characters. It also has my favorite scene in the entire Canon, the scene where Mulan disguises herself and takes her father's armor to go off to war. It was the scene for me that everything; animation, music, emotions, characters, plot, and themes came together. It's not a major decision, it's beautifully tragically inevitable. What is a devoted daughter to do, let her loving brave father get himself killed trying to prove his honor? Yet despite this it is still a showing of Mulan's bravery and inner strength to perform this act. I could make a full blog on just the scene but it is so meaningful that Mulan takes on the masculine role and its greatest responsibility, going off to potentially die in war, to protect her father.
Speaking off, Mulan's themes are perhaps not quite as ambitious as Lion King or Hunchback but they speak to me on a more personal level. I'm very interested in the theme of gender roles in general and so the film appeals to me greatly.
I could go on but I think it's clear why this is my favorite. Compared to Hunchback or indeed most of the other high tier movies in the Disney Canon, they can usually compete or beat Mulan in 1 or 2 categories, but I love Mulan in such a comprehensive versatile way that it has to be my favorite. Hunchback has a theological beauty that Mulan doesn't, and might be stronger thematically and it might have more great songs, but Mulan has characters I like more, a plot I like more, a visual style I like more, and can compete in both those regards.
Ranking the Seven Disney Eras:
I did this via statistical analysis, giving an era 1 point for the 60th place film, 2 points for 59th place film, all the way up to 60 points for 1st place film, then divided by number of films the era has.
Wartime Era:
This era was by far the worst period for Disney in my opinion. The package films were very much not to my taste and I didn't their segments were particularly good regards. The best film segments, Johnny Appleseed and Ichabod were alright but weren't amazing and the worst segments were downright mind-numbing. I'd be curious what kind of person would say this is their favorite period, I imagine someone who doesn't enjoy conventional films and wants more then anything ideas rather then plot and characters.
Bronze Era:
After Walt Disney's death, the company ran out of creative energy and began creating darker, more melancholy works (and Winnie the Pooh). Some of these films are pretty alright, and this era's score was much closer to the others then the Wartime Era, but it's clear Disney lacked much of Walt's creative imagination for a while making very straightfoward adaptations or copying their prior ideas. If someone said this era was their favorite, I'd guess they're probably more of an animal-lover given nearly all these films feature animals or perhaps they want films that are more somber and melancholic.
Golden Era:
The original Five Disney films are all Classics but are very noticably dated, much moreso then the Silver Era films. These films often didn't follow conventional storytelling conventions; things would often just sort of happen, regardless of the film tone, and the films were often most explictly moralizing tales rather then embeding, if shallowly the morals within the character actions. If someone said the Golden Era is their favorite era, I'd imagine they miss perhaps the cozy feeling of being read bedtime stories, perhaps they enjoy the nostalgic feeling of cozy morality tales, which I certainly don't judge at all. Or perhaps they're really into analyzing these works as art pieces moreso then they are interested in "a story" from the modern idea.
Experimentation Era:
The era by far with the widest spread of films so it feels appropriate it would occupy the middle space. It has films near the bottom of the list, near the top of the list and pretty much every intermediate space. The Experimentation Era after the Renaissance ended was a period where Disney really wanted to recreate the success of the Renaissance after popularity shifted to Pixar and Dreamworks and trying many different strange ideas, some of which worked well, some of which didn't. Few things are universal this era, though if I had to applaud anything it was trying to move away from pure good heroes and pure evil villains and make characters more three-dimensional, sometimes literally. If someone said this was their favorite period of the Disney canon, I would assume they're someone who values creativity highly, and are prone to looking for novelty as a value. An interesting different idea I imagine would intrigue them more anything.
Silver Era:
Just narrowly beating out the Experimentation Era, the Silver Era is the era of most of the Disney Classics, and is probably Disney's most iconic era, despite not having been the status quo for decades which makes it somewhat frustrating when Disney itself acts as though it's still the nature of most of it's films. The Silver Era more then any other Era established the conventions by which Disney is known for, establishing itself as a film company guided by values of heart, classical beauty, and childish whimsy. If someone said the Silver Era was their favorite era, I'd assume they're probably a Disney loyality who loves the idea of Disney and what the franchise represents in the popular conscience, or they're interested in being blown away by the majesty of iconic imagery and music.
Revival Era:
Disney's gotten rather self-aware lately and this is an era that seems to be focused on trying to rectify the complaints of prior eras. The films in this are somewhat self-aware and try much harder to be modern while often still trying to reconcile the Experimentation Era formula. At their best they manage to take the best of both worlds creating a modern Disney fairy tale that is more well thought out, but at their worst they create a deliberately stock storyline that tries to excuse it with a camera wink. This era got much higher rated then the last one, while there are some painful exceptions, the company is returning to a certain standard of quality, hopefully capturing both the ability to recreate their strengths while also, if Encanto is to be taken as indicator, branching their ability to make other types of stories. If someone said this was their favorite era, I imagine they enjoy the Disney style formula, but maybe prefer it to be a bit more self-aware and maybe are more interested in playing with a formula, maybe slightly less romantic in temperment then other eras.
Renaissance Era:
My favorite era by a wide margin, and that's even taking into account the Rescuers Down Under, which I don't really consider it as part of the era. Without it, it has about 5 times the points of the War Era films. It's perhaps a bit repetitive but I like it for it's overall solidity. In exchange for the high degree of innovation, Disney instead did what it felt comfortable was doing and so generally ensured a solid level of quality and consistency with each film. These films are typically at least average and often good in every category I wanted to assess them. I think if this is your favorite era like me you're basic you probably take into account a lot of factors when you're watching a film, you're not just looking for novelty or for artistry or for animation quality, and you're probably more okay with things being slightly repetitive, or even find it comforting in exchange for a certain minimum level of production values on things.
If you count it as different, the Streaming Age comprised of Raya and Encanto is between the Bronze Era and the Golden Era.
Ranking Every Villain:
Just as a little bonus wanted to rank every Disney villain. Generally I like villains for three reasons. A villain doesn't have to be all three, but they do have to be good in at least one or I won't like them. Just a quick explanation of what I consider:
Threatening: How intimidating and how much presence does the villain have in the story. A villain whose is highly threatening seems like an unstoppable force of nature. A villain doesn't have to be strong obviously; they can be smart or have much social power or lots of money, they just need something to make it hard for them to be overcome. A villain who is low in threatening is a pushover the hero didn't need to try hard to beat.
Entertaining: How fun it is to watch the villain in their normal actions. A good test I heard for this was "The Breakfast Test." Would you want to watch the villain just make breakfast? A villain who is highly Entertaining is one who is fun to watch even do normally mundane actions. This doesn't neccesarily mean funny, it can also mean something they're just interesting to watch. A villain who is low in Entertaining is boring and can't carry a scene alone.
Compelling: How realistic does this villain feel? Do they feel like they could really exist or are they just an obvious bad guy? Villains who are highly compelling feel very real and relatable, and maybe even sympathetic. Villains who are low in compelling are just bad people and aren't very fleshed out as characters.
Most Disney villains don't tend to be very compelling but they are usually either threatening or entertaining and on rare occasions, both.
60-51: None
I had to use my discretion for some films as to who the villain was, usually picking whoever the final antagonist was, and in 10 of them there really isn't any kind of central villain. These were Make Mine Music, Melody Time, Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh, Fantasia 2000, Bolt, Ralph Breaks the Internet, and Frozen 2.
50: Man (Bambi)
I wasn't sure if this counted as a different villain then "none" so I put it just above to be safe.
49: Prince John (Robin Hood)
Poor in all three dimensions. Had a repetitive annoying gimmick. Was easily beaten constantly. Is a self-centered jerk with zero redeeming qualities.
48: Aunt Sarah (Lady and the Tramp)
You may not remember Lady and the Tramp had a villain. There's a reason for that. She's marginally compelling because she thinks the Tramp is a threat to the baby she's watching but other then that, really boring.
47: Edgar Balthazar (The Aristocats)
A butler who tried to get rid of the cats so he could inherit the madam's fortune. Mildly entertaining at the start, but not much to speak off.
46: Willie the Giant (Fun and Fancy Free)
A big childlike giant that is beaten Jack and the Beanstalk style. Mildly threatening for being a big giant but has the personality of an overgrown child.
45: Bellwether (Zootopia)
The worst part of Zootopia, though that's not saying much, Bellweather is a rather boring twist villain whose true personality is only seen near the end of the film and seems neither to be a particularly fun villain to watch nor a compelling villain that ties into the species-ism theme. She's also not that threatening.
44: Prince Hans (Frozen)
Pretty similar villain to Bellweather, a twist villain that afterwards becomes a rather boring character, but is more threatening then her and slightly more compelling with his backstory of being the youngest brother with no route to the throne.
43: The Elephant Matriach (Dumbo)
Partly due to Dumbo's short time frame, doesn't have much screentime and mostly just makes Dumbo's life hard. Some threatening but not much in either other category.
42: Melvin (Chicken Little)
Kind of has a compelling motivation, to reclaim his son Kirby, though for the most part it's generic members of the aliens attacking Earth and the characters don't meet Melvin specifically until the very end. How much credit you want to give him depends on how much you want to give him the positive traits of the aliens as a whole which have a kind of interesting design and are a major threat.
41: Kron (Dinosaur)
Has a fairly interesting motivation abstractly, representing a Utilitarian drive to sacrifice the weakest members of the group to save the majority. That said it isn't focused on much so has a degree of compelling but not a huge amount.
40: Madame Medusa (The Rescuers)
Disney has a fair bit of villains who just want money and tend to blur together in my brain. Madame Medusa has the special caveat for being especially unintimidating not being able to do much herself, relying on her crocodiles and being a bit crazier then normal.
39: Percival C. McLeach (The Rescuers Down Under)
Bounty hunter trying to hunt an endangered eagle. Pretty boring.
38: Alameda Slim (Home on the Range)
The best part of Home on the Range, though that's not saying much. Has a slight edge in being a bit more unique, being a cow-stealer using yodeling to hypnotize them. The film also TRIES to make him intimidating.
37: Mad Madame Mim (Sword on the Stone)
A quirky crazy witch with one of the worst Disney villain songs. Completely superfluous to the film she's in. Despite that is directly responsible for it's best scene, the shapeshifting duel between her and Merlin. If you remember anything from the film, it's her segment.
36: John Ratcliffe (Pocahontas)
Greedy governor who wants to get gold from the land. Is mildly more threatening.
35: Lyle Rourke (Atlantis: The Lost Empire)
Commanding officer of the expedition to Atlantis, willing to destroy the civilization for money. Is a more realistic and developed example mildly, even though his motive didn't make sense to me.
34: Clayton (Tarzan)
The best of these "I just want money" types for being a bit more threatening and entertaining then average
33: Monstro (Pinocchio)
Giant monster whale. Only shows up near the very tail end of the film. Fairly threatening.
32: Cruella DeVille (101 Dalmations)
Over the top and fairly threatening if only because the characters are puppies and she wants to skin them. Don't consider her that high in either other category.
31: The Red Queen (Alice in Wonderland)
A mad queen with a tendency to slice off heads. Similarly fairly threatening due to sheer power compared to protagonist. A bit more entertaining due to her insanity.
30: Amos Slade (The Fox and the Hound)
A fair bit threatening and compelling, a hunter protective of his animals, and hunts Tod along with Copper in one of the most dramatic sequences in the Disney Canon. Eventually repents at Copper's protection of his friend.
29: Bill Sykes (Oliver & Company)
A powerful loanshark, a fair bit threatening and entertaining. Has a very strong presence over his film and an air of non-nonsense control.
28: The Evil Queen (Snow White)
A fair bit threatening and entertaining. The high fantasy sequences of brewing potions and invoking dark magic are the best scenes in her film.
27: Namaari (Raya and the Last Dragon)
I don't agree with how the narrative tacitly supports her actions and that trusting her is somehow correct, but that's not really a fault I have with her character. Fairly threatening and compelling, a regular constant threat to Raya, and a troubled princess burned by the weight of her nation's defense torn between belief in dragons and desire to live up to her mother's standards.
26: The Headless Horseman (The Adventures of Mr. Ichabod and Mr. Toad)
High in threatening, spooky seemingly unstoppable occult force built up for a while in it's film segment before appearing.
25: Chernabog (Fantasia)
High in threatening, the Devil himself and it shows with his presence causing scary otherworldly imagery and a sinister visage throughout.
24: The Horned King (The Black Cauldron)
The biggest defense people have for the Black Cauldron. High in threatening, being an undead sorcerer king over an army of monsters and undead.
23: Te-Ka (Moana)
High in threatening being a giant angry lava goddess that intimidates the heroes from pursuring their goal before even reaching her. More compelling then the other villains thare high in threatening and don't express much personality due to her reason for turning enraged.
22: Lady Tremaine (Cinderella)
High in threatening but in a social rather then a physical sense, having familial power over Cinderella. Slightly more complex and more grounded then the prior entries.
21: Yokai (Big Hero 6)
Moderate in compelling, whole goal is vengeance for his lost daughter, and moderate in threatening with his scary in appearence and powers in combat.
20: Captain Hook (Peter Pan)
Moderately entertaining and compelling, torn between fear of the crocodile that ate one of his hands and vengeance on Peter Pan who caused it.
19: King Candy (Wreck-It Ralph)
Moderately entertaining and moderately threatening as the candy-themed ruler of Sugar Rush with manipulation of its code.
18: Dr. Facilier (The Princess and the Frog)
High in entertaining with an entertaining over the top personality and strange otherwordly voodoo powers, and moderately threatening.
17: Gaston (Beauty and the Beast)
High in entertaining, and moderately threatening with his comically over the top personality and ego and his physical strength and social influence over people.
16: Ratigan (The Great Mouse Detective)
Similar to last two, high in entertaining for his over the top ego and presentation as the greatest rat mouse criminal. Moderately threatening, managed to trick Basil and break his self-confidence at one point and physically was seemingly monsterously strong (in comparison to mice.)
15: Michael Yagoobian (Meet the Robinsons)
Wasn't sure if the villain should be him or Doris as he's the villain for most of the film but Doris is the villain at the end of the film. I liked him more so I picked him. High in entertaining, is a very funny interesting character to watch. Moderate in compelling, has a fairly unique and sympathetic reason for his hatred, though misguided by Doris.
14: Denahi (Brother Bear)
High in compelling, feels like a failure after he saw his older brother get killed by a bear, and then to his knowledge, allowing his younger brother to perish to the same bear by his cowardice. His desire for vengeance is realistic and well fleshed out. Moderately threatening, a human with a spear isn't really a threat to a bear, but the film presents a spear as an unstoppable weapon.
13: Shan Yu (Mulan)
This is higher then I think he usually gets and I honestly think he maybe should still be higher. High in threatening, and moderate in entertaining, and actually fairly compelling. Is a ruthless warlord that takes every opportunity to show that he's a fearsome vicious warrior. Not actually in the film that much but shows respect for his men, no prejudice against Mulan's capabilities for her gender, and a competitive drive to challenge the strongest. Maybe a little on the generic side, but I think he's a really good villain.
12: Scar (The Lion King)
High in entertaining, moderate in threatening, conniving and cunning, constantly alluding in the first half to his resentful malicious designs. I don't think he's as deep as people give but he's certainly a character. Lion King takes inspiration from Hamlet but Scar reminds me more of a Richard III then a Claudius.
11: Shere Khan (The Jungle Book)
The best part of The Jungle Book, but that's no insult. High in threatening, moderate in entertaining. A symbol of pure power constantly alluded to and feared in the jungle, every action is indirectly motivated not even from his will but from his presence. His awareness leads to a moderate ego that is entertaining to watch, along with his more playful attitude.
10: Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty)
High in threatening, moderate in entertaining. Maleficient is a witch evoking the idea of the dark fey, a seemingly unstoppable force of nature with "all the power of Hell" at her grasp. Her dark sorceries are quite entertaining and seemingly inevitable, even literally as she commands fate. I also generally like the High Fantasy stuff.
9: Abuela Alma Madrigal (Encanto)
High in compelling, moderate in threatening. The most complex and nuanced antagonist in the Disney Canon, a woman suffering from trauma and realistically coping with it poorly. Threatening to her granddaughter due to her immense social power over their family. Tragically beautiful in the details of her personality.
8: Mother Gothel (Tangled)
High in compelling, moderate in threatening. A similarly realistic personality though far less sympathetic, a chillingly realistic depiction of an abusive controlling parental figure, with a cruel exploitative nature who manipulates Rapunzel's misplaced filial love.
7: Ursula (The Little Mermaid)
High in entertaining, moderate in threatening though high during the climax, Ursula the sea witch is a murky sea witch representing the black abyss that exist deep within the ocean, its dangerous mysteries even as Ariel the mermaid represents its captivating song of mystery. She's fun to watch at the end of the film briefly becomes a divine power with absolutely immense presentation of her power.
6: Jafar (Aladdin)
Similarly high in entertaining, moderate in threatening though high during the climax. A cunning sorcerer apprentice manipulating the Sultan taking on various disguises or enacting various schemes to become Sultan. Fun to watch with his manipulations and near the end manages to secure control of the all-power Genie, gaining essentially unlimited magic.
5: Captain Gantu (Lilo and Stitch)
Seems to be the antagonist at the end of Lilo and Stitch. Moderate in all three categories. An alien paramilitary captain focused on the capture and retrieval of Stitch. Easily captures Stitch which his own mad scientist creator failed to do the whole film, and even after escaping Stitch struggles to free Lilo from him. Demonstrates, during the movie, an admirable loyalty to the Galactic Armada and demonstrates a ruthless mission-focused personality.
4: Judge Claude Frollo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)
High in threatening and compelling. A powerful arch-deacon with control of Paris, driven to exterminate the gypsies from bigotry and a confused lust for Esmeralda amoung the number, sparking an existential religious despair. A complex motivation moreso then the vast majority of the villains on this list and a brutally effective villain.
3: Yzma (The Emperor's New Groove)
High in entertaining and compelling. Fairly threatening. The vain sorceress and former advisor to the Emperor Kuzco before he thew her out after decades of service and practically raising him for basically no reason. With a fairly sympathetic reason for desiring to kill Kuzco and take his throne, even though she is clearly evil regardless, and the funniest main villain of the Disney Canon.
2: Hades (Hercules)
High in threatening and entertaining, moderately compelling. The exiled lord of Darkness, ruling over the Dead. The perfect balance of intimidating and funny in the canon. An incredibly powerful divine being whose plan to overthrow Olympus almost succeeded and can turn on the intimidating at a moment's notice, without being easily brought to rage. Funny and entertaining with his comical rage and also his sly way of speaking. Pretty good even in compelling, wanting to take control of Olympus because he was exiled into ruling the gloomy land of the dead.
1: Captain John Silver (Treasure Planet)
The only villain in the Disney Canon to be high in all three threatening, entertaining and compelling. Captain Silver is the dreaded pirate captain grappling with paternal feelings for Jim. His actions are consistently unpredictable; when he offers to Jim to take the treasure for just the two of them, you don't know if his emotions are genuine or trickery. Every treachery hurts Jim more than most villains could ever manage yet at the same time Silver protects Jim even outside his knowledge. The pirate is a major threat from both power and cunning, always manuever situations to his will. He is unpredictable and animated and his relationship with Jim is at once the sweetest part of the film, and the part that puts the viewer most on edge.
