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)
So? Are you surprised by my list? Anything you would bump out of the top ten? Would love to hear all the ways in which you think I’m crazy.