favorites | Running to Tahiti

Reactions to my Disney movie rankings surprised and delighted me. I was glad to see so much love for Pocahontas in your responses. I thought that might be an outlier, especially since it’s so historically inaccurate. But if you look at the film as a work of pure fiction and not historical fiction, it truly is one of the most beautiful animated films Disney has made—I think. I do hope, if nothing else, that my list has compelled one or two of you to give Brother Bear a chance.

I had so much fun ranking the Disney animated features, I simply couldn’t stop there. So here it is; behold the Pixar list. I wonder if perhaps we’ll find our lists match up more closely here. There seems to be a bit more consensus on the quality of Pixar’s canon, but who knows, I think some things may surprise you.

PS, word of warning, just thinking about Toy Story 3 has caused me to start crying at my desk, so if you’re not comfortable crying at work, maybe stop now and read later. You know how Pixar gets you.

Up
WALL-E
Toy Story 3
A Bug’s Life
Monsters, Inc.
Inside Out
Finding Nemo
Toy Story
The Incredibles
Ratatouille
Finding Dory
Toy Story 2
Brave
Cars

I have not seen:

Cars 2
Monsters University
The Good Dinosaur

In today’s edition of not finishing my novel, I’ve decided to rank every Disney movie ever made in order of my favorites. Disney fans, I’m sure you’ve pondered your favorite Disney movies—probably even assembled a top ten—but have you ever ranked all of them? It’s hard. Been wanting to do this for weeks, so here goes.

What does it mean to be a favorite? There are movies that intellectually I can understand are better than others, but I might like the “lesser” film more. Why? Not sure. Only explanation is that art is a two-way street, and half of it is what I bring to my experience of the thing. So while I acknowledge that Beauty and the Beast is a good film, it really had very little emotional impact on me, landing it way down on the list. This is why things like lists and awards are fun, and also really stupid. It takes a special snowflake to rank Brother Bear above Frozen. I am that special snowflake, and the cold never bothered me anyway.

I’m not including Pixar, Amblin, Disney Toons, or Studio Ghibli. Perhaps I’ll make separate lists of those. For now this is strictly Walt Disney Animation Studios.

So here it is—every Disney animated feature in order of my personal favorite, for any weirdos out there who are curious. My top ten might surprise you.

The Little Mermaid
Sleeping Beauty
Lilo & Stitch
Alice in Wonderland
Tangled
Lady and the Tramp
Pocahontas
Pinocchio
The Lion King
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Peter Pan
Aladdin
The Sword in the Stone
Bambi
Brother Bear
Frozen
Mulan
Cinderella
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Zootopia
Moana
Dumbo
Robin Hood
Fantasia
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Beauty and the Beast
Big Hero 6
Oliver & Company
The Jungle Book
The Rescuers Down Under
Fantasia 2000
The Princess and the Frog
The Aristocats
Wreck-It Ralph
One Hundred and One Dalmatians
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Hercules
The Rescuers
Bolt
The Fox and the Hound
The Great Mouse Detective
Tarzan
The Emperor’s New Groove

I have only seen the following in snippets, so did not include in the ranking:

Saludos Amigos
The Three Caballeros
Make Mine Music
Fun and Fancy Free
Melody Time
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (I’ve seen The Legend of Sleepy Hollow which would rank highly, but I’ve never seen Wind in the Willows and definitely haven’t seen them together in this packaged film)
The Black Cauldron
Dinosaur
Treasure Planet
Home on the Range (this is when things got real tough for the Studios)
Chicken Little
Meet the Robinsons
Winnie the Pooh (I know! I don’t know what’s wrong with me)