Submitted by DarthDocking t3_ydlb2s in movies
My Mother hates animated films, so growing up they weren't something I was ever encouraged to watch. As a child I had only seen 11 Disney movies and over the years as an adult I had made the effort to watch a few more. Being sick of hearing the usual 'OMG you've never seen this movie' I decided to embark on watching all 60 films in release order with my partner. Going into this I had seen exactly 30 of these films and was watching the other 30 for the very first time. Both my partner and I ranked the films separately and I'll provide my list below. After my list I'll go into some depth about why some movies are where they are and the differences my partner and I had. We also made a another list ranking the Villains which I'll expand upon too. Feel free to ask me questions and chuck in where you agree, disagree and how you would rank them. Enjoy
- Lilo and Stitch
- Moana
- Princess and the Frog
- Treasure Planet
- Cinderella
- Zootopia
- Raya and the Last Dragon
- Big Hero 6
- Aladdin
- The Emperors New Groove
- Dumbo
- Sleeping Beauty
- Pocahontas
- Tarzan
- Robin Hood
- The Rescuers Down Under
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- The Fox and the Hound
- Bolt
- The Aristocats
- The Jungle Book
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
- The Lion King
- Winnie the Pooh
- Wreck It Ralph
- Make Mine Music
- 101 Dalmations
- Lady and the Tramp
- Beauty and the Beast
- The Little Mermaid
- The Rescuers
- Mulan
- Brother Bear
- Tangled
- Ralph Breaks the Internet
- Peter Pan
- The Black Cauldron
- Dinosaur
- Chicken Little
- Meet the Robinsons
- Encanto
- Frozen
- Hercules
- The Three Caballeros
- Fantasia
- Saludos Amigos
- Oliver and Company
- Bambi
- The Great Mouse Detective
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire
- Home on the Range
- Pinocchio
- Fantasia 2000
- Frozen II
- Alice in Wonderland
- Melody Time
- The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad
- Sword in the Sword
- Fun and Fancy Free
Lilo and Stitch
This movie is perfect. The water colour animation style, the heartbreaking story the Elvis references. Easily the best in my opinion. My partner ranked it 2nd.
Princess and the Frog
I went into these films believing that Princess and the Frog would be my number one. I was quite surprised that I found Lilo and Stitch better and Moana was easily the shock of the rankings for me. It may not be the best Disney movie but I think its still my favourite. Dr Facilier was ranked 8th on the Villains list and my partner had it number 1 on her list.
Treasure Planet
This is tied with The Rescuers Down Under for Disneys most underrated film. John Silver was ranked 5th on my Villains list and was arguably the most complex character in all 60 films.
Zootopia
Going into this I thought Zootopia would be top 2 and I was a little disappointed it came in at 6th. I love the attention to detail in this movie and I'm a huge Jason Bateman fan. I believe it has the most important message for kids out of every Disney film.
Raya and the Last Dragon
Number 59 theatrically and the last of the films I hadn't seen. I went into this movie expecting nothing and was blown away. What really makes a subject medium for me is world building and this movie did it perfectly. I was really taken aback when I looked into reviews and discussions about this film afterwards to find that the general consensus of people seemed to really not like it.
Aladdin
Aladdin and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs are the only two Disney movies I had on VHS as a kid. These are my childhood favourites and I tried to be as unbiased as possible when ranking these. Jafar was 7th on the villains list.
The Rescuers Down Under
As I previously mentioned in Treasure Planet this film is tied for me as Disney's most underrated. I however felt the need to point out that this film was the largest difference in rankings between my partner and I. She has it ranked at 42 as opposed to my 16th.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Judge Frollo was number 1 on the Villains list. Truly the most evil Disney villain and is what makes this film great.
The Lion King
This is tied with Frozen for Disney's most overrated film. Overrated doesn't mean its bad, because its not but my whole life people acted like its the absolute pinnacle of Disney and its not. Scar ranked in at a surprisingly low 16th on the Villains list. Jeremy Irons is what makes the character great, take that element away and its an average Villain at best. He's lazy, not overly amusing and Disney has some far more eviller villains as well.
Mulan
Disney's most average film. There is nothing bad about this movie, but there's also nothing great about it either. The villain is forgettable and there's a large handful of movies that have better songs, sidekicks and love interests. Nothing about the movie stands out for me. This film however was a childhood favorite for my partner who ranked it 10th overall as opposed to my 33. This was the third largest difference in rankings
Tangled
No Disney film bothered me as much from a pure movie making standpoint as Tangled. Overall the movie was okay and I think I'd like it more with a second viewing but I could not get over how poorly made this film was. Its riddled with plot holes and things that just make zero sense. How did she learn to swim? Why didn't mother Gothel lie about her birthday? Her hair is chopped and ages Mother Gothel but Eugines cut on his hand doesn't reappear? How did Mother Gothel know Eugine would escape? and lastly the one that bothered me the most was how did Max communicate with the thugs to recuse Eugine? This was the second largest difference in ranking between my partner and I who had Tangled ranked 9th opposed to my 35th.
Chicken Little
I believe Chicken Little is meant to be critically the worst Disney movie made. Its not by any means great but I think saying this is the worst Disney movie is pretty harsh. As a 25 year old male I actually found this movie the most relatable of all the films I watched as I've at times had a very similar relationship with my father. I found it to be a really sad story and a film that was actually pretty good until it fell apart because of Aliens.
Hercules
I do not like this movie and I find Hercules himself to be the most unlikable protagonist out of every Disney movie. I really did not like the songs and Danny DeVito and James Woods are the only redeeming factors I like about this film, as well as Pain and Panic. Another thing I do like is the way the Gods are animated.
Bambi
Not necessarily a bad movie, but I found it to be the most boring Disney movie.
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
I'm going to call this film the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy of Disney films. To love this movie I think you have to be one of the kids who grew up with it and I wasn't one of those kids. I tried watching this movie earlier in the year because I hadn't seen it before. I didn't like it then and I liked it even less now. I'll never understand how this movie has a cult following and how people think its similar to Treasure Planet. Not for me
Frozen II
One of the worst movies I've ever watched. I couldn't believe how bad this movie was and it made me appreciate the first movie more. Everything that made the first one special was gone in this film. It moved the characters backwards, Anna and Olaf were annoying, the plot was a convoluted mess, and I knew Olaf would come back to life. It was nothing more than a cash grab.
The Sword in the Stone
This movie was the only one that took three nights to watch because it was so painful we couldn't sit through it. A real waste of a great source material everyone is familiar with.
The only movies that made me cry were Bolt and Big Hero 6. My partner cried in Tarzan and Big Hero 6. I almost cried in Fox and the Hound and we had both previously cried in Princess and the Frog but we held it together on our 100th watch of that one.
Hope you enjoyed my list