My Almost Certainly Incorrect Views On Every Disney Animated Film

[Small Man Big Horse]

Well, those that got a cinematic release at least, I'm not watching Cinderella III: A Twist in Time (2007) ffs. Also, let's get this out of the way right from the start – I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever that the following list features films which should either be in a much higher or much lower position than they are. I reviewed the majority of these films over an eighteen month period and while I always try to go in with an open mind and watch them based on their own merits, I've run through the list many times and can't believe that at the time I thought that, say, Meet The Robinsons is a better film than Alice In Wonderland.

Context is everything of course, and my only emotional wellbeing (or lack of any such thing) surely must have played a part in how I reacted to a movie, and there were times where I watched a number of films from a particular era and so when I then jumped either back in forwards in time I might have been kinder about a film than I otherwise would be.

Essentially what I'm saying is that the following should be taken with a very large pinch of salt, and I imagine there are many films below that if I watched them today I might enjoy them far more or far less. But now that I've finally seen Wish I thought I'd place them in the order that I possibly might like them, and that anything over 7.0/10 is something I recommend watching.

Brother Bear (2003) – It's post ice age Alaska and when Kenai (Joaquin Phoenix) and his siblings are trying to pursue a fish stealing bear his elder brother Sitka is killed saving Kenai. So he seeks revenge and kills the bear and then there's a weird psychedelic trip and Kenai becomes a small bear, and eh, what the ****? Anyhow, then he teams up with a small bear and two moose (voiced by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas) and they go for a long walk with some other animals and it's fairly okay stuff but nothing that interesting while the ending is annoying and filled with tedious clichés. There's a number of songs which were written by Phil Collins (some of which he performs, some of which are from Tina Turner, Mark Mancina, and The Blind Boys of Alabama), and as with Tarzan they're pretty awful, lyrically lacking in anything close to subtlety, quite often with Disney the songs are the highlight for me but the opposite applies here. 4.1/10

The Fox And The Hound (1981) – Hopefully both the first and last time the words "Okay Boomer" are heard in a Disney film, this sees fox Tod and dog Copper become best pals, for about five minutes anyway, and then they grow up and everything looks like it's going to change when Tod is unfairly blamed for the old dog Chief being hit by a train and almost killed. There's also some idiocy with birds Dinky and Boomer, the latter voiced by the same guy who portrayed Tigger in The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh and who comes complete with the same annoying laugh, and their caterpillar obsessed antics are tedious. Plot wise not an awful happens, the tone is unpleasant in places, and it's a flimsy work and one distinctly lacking in any real merit. 4.4/10

Saludos Amigos (1942) – Disney had some f***ing cheek releasing this back in 1942 as it's only 42 minutes long, so not a full length feature no matter what they may claim. It feels like one of those educational entertainments you used to get but thankfully rarely do so now as the artists take a trip to South America and make a few shorts based on what they see, but that just results in some minor league daftness with Donald Duck messing about in Lake Titicaca, one genuinely enjoyable short involving a small plane, and then there's a very average bit with Goofy as El Gaucho, an Argentinian Cowboy, and a disappointing ending with Donald Duck meeting up with a cigar smoking parrot called José Carioca. Even at 42 minutes it feels like it contains a lot of filler, it led to a sequel, The Three Caballeros, which is worth watching, but I wouldn't say this is. 4.7/10

The Rescuers Down Under (1990) – Ms Bianca and Bernard are back, but this time they have to head to Australia to save a young boy from evil poacher George C. Scott. Bernard plans to propose to Ms Bianca as she doesn't believe in sex before marriage, but every time he does he's irritatingly interrupted, and he worries a horny Australian mouse called Jake might steal her away from him. It's a very slight film, with a bland script and average action scenes, I have to admit I wasn't a huge fan of the first film but this is even more simplistic, disappointingly song free, and largely dull and predictable. 4.7/10

Wish (2023) – I get it, I do, Disney turned 100 and I do think that is something to celebrate. I mean, not the mega bloated corporation that it has now become, but the hundreds of thousands if not millions of people who have contributed to all of their films, some of which are very special and have moments of beauty and hilarity and excitement and which have brought joy to so many children and adults. But this is a greatest hits package which wants to have all one hundred birthday cakes and eat them within it's slightly under ninety minutes running time, and it's a sickly creation. A story where sorcerer Magnifico (Pine) creates a wonderous island where all are welcome to join, the only thing anyone has to do is give up their greatest wish when they turn 18, and everything seems pretty great for years and years and years, until it's not. And that's because when young Asha (Ariana DeBose) is interviewed for the role of sorcerer's assistant she begins to question if Magnifico really does have everyone's best interests at heart, even if he's convinced he does. Then she wishes upon a pokemon star and the plot kicks off.
There are some good things about it, I thought both DeBose and Chris Pine do some great voice work, and while Pine's voice sounds autotuned in one song he makes for a memorable villain. But the film is absolutely dripping with cameos from and references to Disney's past, at the beginning I found my brain whispering "I feel manipulated" and by the half-way point it was screaming "I'M SO F***ING TIRED OF BEING MANIPULATED THAT EVEN THOUGH THERE'S SOME VERY FUNNY MOMENTS AND SOME NICE SONGS I'M NOT REALLY ENJOYING THIS AND WILL ALAN TUDYK (WHO'S NORMALLY DELIGHTFUL) F*** THE F*** OFF". Eh, ah well, it does at least have a message everyone can get behind, and, um, yeah, that's kind of the only good thing I can be arsed to say. 4.9/10

Chicken Little (2005) – Chicken Little (Zach Braff) appears to cause chaos wherever he goes, the accident prone fella that he is, but after joining the baseball team he manages to hit the winning pitch which wins the game and everyone loves him. And, um, then aliens arrive and lose their kid, and of course no one believes Little because he's normally so ****ing rubbish. I didn't find myself liking Little that much and wondered if it's because he's voiced by the worst human ever born, and that may well be the case but I'd argue it's also because he's fairly whiny and annoying, and the story is disjointed and it doesn't feel like a Disney film, or even a Dreamworks one for that matter, but something thrown together by a lesser studio without much experience in animation. 5.2/10

Strange Worlds (2022) – I really wanted to like this as one of the main characters, Ethan (Jaboukie Young-White), is gay and because of that shitty twats on imdb have downvoted it to ****. But this is one of the worst Disney films I've seen in a long time, as it revolves around Ethan's father Searcher (Jake Gyllenhaal) and grandfather Jaeger (Dennis Quaid) being reunited after decades apart, and it's so clumsily handled it's really bloody irritating. Every time an action sequence ends we're back to exploring the various father son dynamics, except exploring is too kind a word, the film just shouts at us a lot, screaming "Follow your own dreams" and "Stop trying to make your son a clone of yourself" and "I gone done a clever Pixar script, look at all this depth, look at what we're telling you. What, we should show it more subtly? F*** you f***ing ****, we f****ing won't do this". It spoils what's not that great an adventure either, there's the odd nice idea about the new world that they've discovered, but most of it is just very pretty colourful creations without any character. Ugh, it's so annoying as Ethan's so likeable, but he's about the only thing in this film that is. 5.2/10

Make Mine Music (1946) – Another Disney musical anthology, a complete version of this was hard to track down at first as they've cut out a fair bit and I ended up watching a fan made reconstruction. Missing from the one Disney+ air is all of "The Martins and the Coys", a vaguely amusing violence filled effort where two groups of "Mountain Men" murder each other and the punchline is essentially "Haha Domestic Violence", plus there's some extremely brief side-boob and a hint of arse cut from Benny Goodman's "All The Cats Join In" which Disney feared would corrupt young minds. I liked the sequel to this, Melody Time, but thought this was much weaker, All The Cats Join In, Johnny Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet (a bizarre love story between two hats) and The Whale Who Wanted To Sing At The Met (also very strange) are all great, but there are four which are actively tedious animation wise (Blue Bayou, Without You, Two Silhouettes and After You've Gone), while Casey At The Bat is only okay and Peter And The Wolf has decent animation and music but an incredibly annoying voice over from the normally reliable Disney regular Sterling Holloway. 5.4/10

Bambi (1942) – The antics of a newly born son whose mother is then murdered, in what must be one of the most famous Disney moments, and one that's definitely very hard to masturbate to. Plot wise this is very slight, it's mostly Bambi slowly growing up and hanging out with a number of other animals, including Thumper the rabbit who is a right old dick sometimes, before trauma occurs, though said death is off screen so my theory is that Bambi's mum just couldn't be arsed to hang around with her offspring any more and is just, I don't know, interning at google or something. I also wish it was a bit more of a complex tale, the second half is a bit boring at times, and it's the weakest of the supposed classic era for me. 5.4/10

The Sword In The Stone (1963) – I'd been warned that this take on King Arthur's story was an early Disney misfire and it really is an oddity, its not in anyway awful just a bit bland as it ignores the famous tale for all but ten minutes and the majority of it feels like filler as Merlin supposedly educates Arthur, but it's more about turning him in to a fish, a bird and a squirrel (where weirdly Arthur is sexually assaulted by a female of the species) and mucking about with magic. It's amusing in places but the story is weak, the songs quite nothing-y and its definitely one of the poorer Disney films. 5.5/10

Fun And Fancy Free (1947) – Disney anthology where Jiminy Cricket links two stories together, the first involving Bongo, a bear who escapes from the circus and who learns that the way bears display true love is by slapping each other, which yes, is an odd suggestion, but it's also the only highlight of a largely bland segment. The second tale is Disney's take on Jack and the Beanstalk but with Mickey, Donald Duck and Goofy as the lead characters, and this is more fun as it's narrated by Edgar Bergen and his two ventriloquist dolls keep on heckling him, though they stop for the second half of the story and so it's less interesting. The whole thing's not bad I suppose, but it's easily one of the poorer Disney films and I wouldn't recommend anyone seek it out unless they're a completist. 5.6/10

The Emperor's New Groove (2000) – Some say this is something of a lost Disney classic but it didn't really do it for me. Some of the time it works, when it's being surreal or really over the top, but a fair bit is a mundane odd couple sort of buddy movie and rather bland and uninspired. It's a shame as it wastes such a talented cast, Warburton, Kitt and Goodman are all on top form, and the final fifteen minutes are full of inspired lunacy, with the film suddenly delivering on the promise it occasionally hinted at during it's running time, but because a good chunk of it is poor and rather average it falls in to the category of films I don't regret watching but definitely will never revisit. 5.9/10

Lilo & Stitch (2004) – Knowing my fondness for weird animated fare I thought this unusual Disney movie would be my cup of tea, but though its entertaining for most of its running time it isn't anything that amazing. Oddball space alien dog thing Stitch isn't as amusing as the writers seem to think it is, and though the other characters are likeable enough it's an oddly paced and only fairly amusing piece, which starts and ends well but has a second act which is a bit nothing-y. 6.0/10

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) – Quasimodo has been locked up in the bell tower his entire life so it's not a surprise that he's gone quite mad and thinks the statues can move and talk. His life is made even worse by all round evil turd Frollo, but made better by Esmerelda who Frollo also dislikes because he's a racist shit who hates gypsies while Kevin Kline's on hand to be a heroic soldier type who gets to sleep with Esmerelda in the end. It leans in on the nazi allegory rather heavily and is quite bleak in places, what with the way the public treat poor old Quasimodo and the way Frollo treats, well, everyone, and the songs are often drab and only one is catchy, all of which adds up to a Disney movie which is surprisingly bland. 6.0/10

The Black Cauldron (1985) – Disney in the eighties saw them attempt a more fantastical action type of movie, as assistant pig keeper Taran (Grant Bardsley) is a bit fed up with his job until he discovers his pig is magical and said pig is kidnapped by dragons owned by evil bad guy The Horned King (John Hurt, sounding very much like the emperor from those pesky Star Wars movies). Thus Taran heads off on his quest, meeting Gollum sound-a-like Gurgi (John Byner), the Princess-esque Eilonwy (Susan Sheridan), minstrel Fflewddur Fflam (Nigel Hawthorne) and fairy Doli (John Byner, again). It's a pretty odd affair and though I've not seen them all I think it's the only Disney film where a main character gets trapped inbetween the very large breasts of a very horny female witch, and another essentially commits suicide, though annoyingly he's brought back to life in an unsatisfactory manner right at the end. There's nothing particularly wrong with it either, and some of the animation is inventive, yet none of the characters are that memorable or likeable and the story is fairly pedestrian too. 6.0/10

Oliver & Company (1988) – Disney's take on Oliver Twist where Fagin has a bunch of dogs committing crimes for him, Oliver's a kitten, and Bill Sykes is a cigar smoking businessman. At seventy minutes it cuts a fair chunk of the story out and doesn't bother including Oliver's time in the orphanage or at the funeral parlour, or Nancy being violently beaten to death, so yes, naturally I was enormously disappointed. It's sometimes a little ugly looking and the animation is quite rough around the edges, at least if you compare it to the films which followed, and there's only one good song, but it has a certain quaint charm, makes Oliver a bit more spiky and likeable than he is in the live action musical, and the ludicrous subway set finale is amusing, especially as it suggests that Sykes and his two Dobermans met violent deaths. 6.0/10

The Great Mouse Detective (1986) – Little mouse Olivia Flasherham's toymaker father is kidnapped, and so she seeks out the Sherlock Holmes-esque Basil to get him to help. Ratigan (Vincent Price) is behind it all, a right old bastard who feeds his enemies to his cat somewhat brutally and sings about how great he is, so is a fantastic Disney villain. If the film has a problem it's that Basil is a bit too surly and unlikeable at times, but at least the others are decent and Olivia's a very cute character, though this is definitely a very minor Disney movie despite Price's best efforts.6.0/10

Raya And The Last Dragon (2021) – Disney's latest cgi mix of action and comedy is a weird old creation, a mixture of Asian myths and made up madness, which involves a complicated backstory involving dragons saving humanity from The Druun, some weird glowy smokey purple thing that turns people to stone if touched. Five hundred years on from that and all that's left of the dragons is a glowing gem, but soon that's smashed which causes the return of the Druun, and young Raya (Kelly Marie Tran) blames herself after she trusted a young girl who turns out to be rather shitty. Then there's a time leap and six years on and Raya's in the middle of an epic mission to retrieve the smashed gem parts, helped by her discovery early on of the very last dragon, Sisu, voiced by Awkwafina, and some unusual friends she makes along the way. As well as having quite the unusual set up the dialogue contains many a modern phrase or attempt at humour and it only sometimes works, with it feeling quite odd when Sisu refers to "Night Lights" given that she's been asleep for the past five hundred years and this isn't exactly set in the modern era either, and the inclusion of a toddler who can do all manner of impossible gymnastics with the help of some animal pals feels strange too. The moralising is a little more on the nose than usual with impassioned speeches and the way the hero learns the error of her ways feeling forced, with the emotional moments lacking anything that comes close to resembling subtlety. Sure it looks pretty but the script is a quite average, the young will probably enjoy it but unlike many a classic Disney movie there's not a lot here for adults. 6.2/10

Ralph Breaks The Internet (2018) – I was really looking forward to this, but I have to say it was a bit drab. There's nothing intricately wrong with it but I just didn't find myself laughing that often, and it jumps from plot point to plot point without there being anything to be gripped by. Which is a shame as the first movie is a lot of bright and breezy fun but this was fairly bland. 6.2/10

Atlantis The Lost Empire (2001) – Milo (Michael J. Fox) finds in his grandfather's diary the secret as to how to find Atlantis, and after a pal of his granddad's finances a trip they get there relatively easily, albeit bar a brief encounter with a robot lobster thing that kills about 150 people. Once in Atlantis they find Leonard Nimoy's king is distrustful of humans and with good reason as it turns out everyone bar Milo are evil mercenaries, though by the end only two are true villains. And it's okay, vaguely pretty art wise and it is watchable, but the plot is predictable and it does very little that's original. 6.4/10

Tarzan (1999) – After saving him from a violent leopard baby Tarzan hangs out with a bunch of gorillas, all of whom accept him bar Kerchak who hates him because he's different, the racist bastard. Disney made the odd choice to have all the songs sung not by the characters but by Phil Collins, which yes is quite annoying, and even worse is that the lyrics are awful, the most patronising and on the nose I've ever heard in any musical, let alone a Disney one, and it was frustrating as while I normally love musicals each time Collins burst in to song it disrupted the flow of the film and made me wince. At least when Collins isn't ruining the film it's pretty good, Brian Blessed is surprisingly restrained as the villain, Minnie Driver's a great Jane, and the action scenes are often quite thrilling, a monkey based chase sequence when Tarzan and Jane first meet especially, but due to the awful songs this is something I'll never rewatch. 6.7/10

Pocahontas (1995) – Disney takes us back to the good old racist days of the 17th century where Native Americans were called savages by the English and treated appallingly, but luckily for them that doesn't apply with lovely old John Smith (Mel Gibson, and yes, separating the art from the artist when he's all but the opposite of his character was a little difficult for me) who falls for Pocahontas, who in this version of the tale hangs out with a raccoon and a hummingbird who provide light relief for the younger members of the audience. There's a couple of decent songs and though the moralising is a bit heavy handed the way it ends unhappily for John and Pocahontas (but well for Percy the Dog and the raccoon) impressed, but it's a film I wasn't really charmed by. 6.7/10

Frozen II (2019) – Anna and Elsa head off to an enchanted forest with a bunch of side kicks, only for the snowman **** to irritate everyone. Or maybe just me, but either way was I glad when the ****er dies 70 minutes in (though not permanently, sadly). The songs are sometimes Disney by the numbers (ie good but lacking something), many of the jokes are funny but it felt a bit bland, and ultimately disappointed. 6.9/10

Alice In Wonderland (1951) – Walt and co's take on Alice's adventures that's packed with songs and so yes, I did rather like it and then some. Alice is a bit of an arrogant dick at times though, sometimes the insanity feels a bit repetitive and the ending's irritating, but largely this is fun, the song count is high, and visually it's nicely inventive. 7.0/10

The Adventures Of Ichabod And Mr Toad (1949) – A combination of two stories, one about Ichabod Crane and the other based on Wind In The Willows. The latter comes first and is a fun old tale, with Cyril the Horse abley assisting Toad in his motor-mania, while the Legend of Sleepy Hollow sees Ichabod (looking like a mix of Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey) as a prim food obsessed ladies man, This has a couple of fun songs including a great one about the buxom Katrina, who Ichabod and local thug Brom Bones both wish to seduce, yet the ending where shithead gets the girl is dodgy. I guess it's a problem with the source material however, and otherwise it's quite the enjoyable lark. 7.0/10

Home On The Range (2004) – Roseanne Barr's a cow, and no, obvious jokes aside, she, Judy Dench and Jennifer Tilly all live together with the ageing Farmer Pearl, but due to a shitty harvest the bank is foreclosing on the farm, and their only hope is to catch the yodelling cattle thief Alameda Slim (Randy Quaid). And they do, but not before there's lots of hijinks, with Cuba Gooding Jr's horse Buck and rabbit Luck Jack on hand to provide comedic support. It's mostly fun too, there's nothing amazing about it but the jokes are largely amusing, the three lead female characters have strong chemistry, the action scenes are quite fun, and while not amazing this is much better than I'd been led to believe. 7.1/10

Aladdin (1992) – The third of Howard Ashman's Disney movies, though he sadly died during its production so Tim Rice was brought in to contribute a couple of the songs (including the very cheesy A Whole New World). Best known for Robin Williams' highly praised performance, it's a lot more cartoony than Beast or Mermaid even before the genie turns up on the scene, what with the way Aladdin and Jafar have animal sidekicks and there's a fair amount of impossible slapstick. Williams isn't that great either, I like him a lot elsewhere but here he's often quite exhausting, some of his impersonations and pop culture references date the movie badly and aren't that funny. The film also needs about two more big numbers for it to be a classic, and it's yet another romance where the central couple marry after spending about thirty minutes in each other's company. Still, despite these issues it is fun, but for me it's easily the weakest of the three Ashman was involved with. 7.1/10

Fantasia 2000 (1999) – This sequel to the much loved 1940's anthology film starts poorly with some dull colourful shapes nonsense but picks up with a weird bit of flying whales, before hitting a high with Rhapsody in Blue and some New York based shenanigans. Following this is a likeable enough tale featuring an evil Jack in a box who is trying to annoy a tin soldier and a ballerina, but then it disappoints with some rubbish flamingos, and it repeats The Sorcerer's Apprentice for some unknown reason. A surprisingly likeable version of Noah's Ark featuring Donald Duck probably should have been fleshed out as the finale, as the ending we get is a nicely animated but ultimately unexciting portrayal of pastoral beauty as a sprite and an elk muck about, and the musical choice wasn't a great one. Overall this is certainly nothing to be embarrassed about, but it fails to match the original's best sequences. 7.2/10

Bolt (2008) – Fairly quirky effort about a dog who thinks he has super powers as he plays such a thing on a tv show. But when he gets separated from his owner he eventually discovers the truth – and what it's like to be a real dog! It's an enjoyable flick, full of big set pieces and wacky adventures, and while it's nowhere near Disney's best, it's a pleasant enough way to spend a wet sunday evening. 7.2/10

The Rescuers (1977) – Young Penny is kidnapped from an orphanage by the evil Medusa and the shitty Mr Snopes and dragged off to a bayou to search for a massive diamond. The police have given up searching but luckily for Penny there's an organisation run by mice who investigate such matters, and sexy Hungarian mouse Miss Bianca (Eva Gabor) and sexy American mouse Bernard (Bob Newhart) are tasked with finding her. It's a mostly nicely paced affair, there's some strangely haunting songs, ****y crocodiles and a few other cute supporting characters, but the final twenty minutes are a little weak and only contain a couple of amusing moments. 7.3/10

Dinosaur (2000) – A mix of cgi and live action this is rarely spoken about so my hopes weren't high, but it's quite a decent old film, where a dinosaur ends up being brought up by monkeys, and oddly horny monkeys at that, but then a meteor strike all but destroys their home and our dino and a few surviving monkeys meet up with lots of other dinosaurs and go on a long walk. I've probably made it sound a bit odd but it's pretty entertaining fare, the action scenes are well orchestrated and though the cgi is sometimes a little weak and the moralising a bit on the nose largely it still stands up and is a mostly fun romp. 7.3/10

Meet The Robinsons (2007) – Possibly because I had very low expectations for this, and it really does seem to have been all but forgotten by the entire world (or a couple of my friends, anyway) and perhaps it's because I'm uch a fan of superhero idiocy, but I enjoyed this for what it was, and I'm not even sure why I'm apologising for doing this. So I shall stop now and be out and proud, and claim that Meet The Robinsons is a fairly good film. There, I said it. 7.4/10

Winnie The Pooh (2011) – Very short Disney movie that's quite charming but not quite as good as the 1977 version. Jim Cumming's great as Pooh and Tigger but Craig Ferguson's a bit weak as Owl, and a couple of the other voices are a bit off. The plot's a basic one as Owl misreads a note from Christopher Robin and Pooh is honey obsessed, but it's gentle sense of humour appeals, the songs are fun and it's sweet natured in general. 7.4/10

Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937) – Snow White's stroppy step-mother orders her death because she's supposedly pretty, but the huntsman can't go through with it and suggests she just ****s off instead. The queen demanding Snow's heart is surprisingly brutal, the way Snow chats with her animal friends is extremely cute, and her relationship with the seven dwarfs is sweet, but it's lacking a certain something to make it a film I love. 7.4/10

Pinocchio (1940) – Jiminy Cricket introduces this tale of when wishing a star worked for toy maker Geppetto, as he made a puppet called Pinocchio that comes to life. Sadly for all involved Geppetto sends Pinocchio off to school despite his being a wooden boy less than twelve hours old, and it's about twenty seconds (at the most) before an evil fox decides to try and trick Pinocchio and sell him to a showman. In a poll from Time Out voted by animators this came in at number one so expectations were high and probably unsurprisingly it didn't live up to them, but at least it becomes very watchable when Pinocchio and a bunch of other kids are kidnapped, and the ending featuring a monstrous whale is captivating. This isn't even close to being my favourite animated Disney movie let alone the best of all of them, but it is largely engaging and worthy of your time. 7.5/10

One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) – Disney comedy about a woman who hires two men to murder and then skin ninety-nine Dalmatian puppies, and the various animals who team up to save them. It starts off well as Dalmatian Pongo narrates a strangely melancholy and wry tale of bachelorhood and how his life was dull with his pet Roger, but after a bit of matchmaking both he and Perdita are coupled up and ****ing like rabbits and before you know it they've fifteen children. But oh no, evil old **** Cruella DeVil organises their theft, and also steals eighty four others, but luckily Pongo and Perdita manage to save the day in a film which is very entertaining and likeable, but also a little slight and their escape from DeVil and co would have benefited from a couple more fun set pieces, and a bit more fleshing out of Cruella's character too. 7.5/10

Dumbo (1941) – Disney tugs at our heart strings once again, this time by torturing elephants after poor old Dumbo is mocked by other elephants and then humans and his mother sure ain't happy about that. Things get even worse when during a big stunt Dumbo causes all the elephants to die / or be minorly hurt, anyhow, and then a sequence where Dumbo's in clown make up and the house is on fire is both funny and alarming. It's a little light on plot so not up there with Disney's best, but it is great fun, and that little mouse fella and Dumbo make for a great couple. 7.5/10

Fantasia (1940) – Two hours of classical music set to an extremely varied selection of animation, there were parts I loved and parts I was a bit bored by and I definitely could have done without Deems Taylor explaining every bloody thing which is going to happen. Ignoring his bits the film starts really well but then I found the dancing leaves and fish rather tedious, and even considered watching something else, but I'm glad I stuck with it as from Sorcerer's Apprentice onwards it's nearly all strong, a brief bit with the pegasus's (pegasi?) frolicking went on for too long and I have to say that post Satan the finale slightly disappointed, but otherwise it's impressive indeed, though for me it's not the absolute classic some people feel it is. 7.5

Robin Hood (1973) – Robin robs from the rich and gives to the poor, wins an archery competition and the heart of Maid Marion, but Prince John raises taxes and everyone's miserable. Luckily there's a happy ending when Robin does some cool stuff and King Richard comes back, and though this isn't Disney at its best its a cute movie with a great set piece after Robin wins the archery competition, and the songs are pretty fun too, even if three run back to back and there's long gaps without any. 7.5/10

Cinderella (1950) – Out of all of the Disney films this was the one I wasn't looking forward to the most, if only because it's a tale I've seen told a huge amount of times, from faithful film versions to modern stage plays like Soho Cinders. But it keeps the tale fresh by containing a sod load of entertaining slapstick between Cinderella's very chatty mice friends and evil cat Lucifer, indeed Cinders doesn't even arrive at the ball until 49 minutes in but it manages to make it feel like these early scenes aren't filler quite impressively. The songs are nothing amazing but they're very pleasant, and the evil step-mother is a decent villain, but perhaps a little more could have been done with the ugly sisters and Prince Charming, though otherwise this is a strong effort and one much more enjoyable than I thought it'd be. 7.6/10

Peter Pan (1953) – Disney adaptation of the famous children's tale by J.M. Barrie where Peter's a childish sod, Tinkerbell's a jealous psychopath, the mermaids are flirty stroppy types and its treatment of native Americans is problematic and then some, but otherwise its a memorable affair with a memorable villain and some enjoyable songs. Not first class Disney, but a very strong second tier effort. 7.6/10

The Three Caballeros (1944) – Donald Duck gets a bunch of presents for his birthday, all of which is a very minor framing device where Donald watches some cartoons (including a penguin who wanted to move somewhere hotter and one where a boy discovers a flying donkey) and meets some folks from South America that leads to a mix of live action and animation where Donald is very horny for a dancing woman and later on some girls on a beach. There's also a couple of songs and towards the end Donald is a bigger part of the action, including the ending which is a bizarre psychedelic fever dream that made me love the movie a lot. I had to put subtitles on to understand some of Donald's idiocy and it's a shame it wasn't as insane as the ending is all the way through, but I'm much fonder of it than I thought I'd be. Also, what I can only presume happened in 1943: Disney Executive 1: The kids love Donald Duck, but how can we make him even funnier? Disney Executive 2: How about we make him a disturbing sex pest who chases screaming bikini clad women around? Disney Executive 1: Of course! Why didn't I think of that! 7.6/10

The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh (1977) – Very simplistic but very playful and enjoyable telling of the adventures of a bear who may well be learning disabled, but he's also very sweet natured and this is filled to the brim with charm as it tells a number of tales of Pooh and friends, it perhaps over does the fourth wall breaking and Tigger is borderline annoying, but otherwise this is lovely. 7.6/10

Big Hero 6 (2014) – Another great modern Disney film, some of the emotional stuff is a bit forced but visually it's stunning and there's lots of fun to be had in the second half once it becomes a crazy superhero film. My only issue with it was Scott Adsit's voice, I love him in 30 Rock and Neon Joe but for some reason I found it a bit of a distraction, though that's probably just me. 7.6/10

Treasure Planet (2002) – Disney takes the classic tale and transport it in to space, in what's surprisingly one of the best adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson's pirate related antics. The mix of traditional animation and the odd burst of cgi often works effectively and it's quite a beautiful film to look at, while it moves at a great pace and the characters are great to spend time with, this was a bit of a flop upon release but it really didn't deserve to be. 7.6/10

Frozen (2013)– The big problem I have with Frozen is that in its final third it almost completely forgets it's a musical. And at that point I'd been enjoying it so much, it looks fantastic, I thought the themes were gently examined without it being overtly rubbed in our faces, and even Josh Gad doesn't ruin the film, though he does of course try. Oh, and as an aside, this is so much better than the stage musical, which drags the plot out and only one of the new songs was any good. Anyhow, ignore that, the movie itself gets 7.7/10

Wreck-It Ralph (2012) – One of those kind of films that I feel I shouldn't like as it's so reference heavy video games wise but while I didn't love everything about it I was a sucker for it's bright daftness and Sarah Silverman could have been the worst character ever but I ended up really liking her. 7.7/10

The Jungle Book (1967) – Loved this as a kid, found it boring as a twentysomething, now I'm back to really liking it so what that says about me mentally probably shouldn't be examined in too much depth. It's an episodic affair which I didn't mind at all, as after hearing that evil tiger Shere Khan wants to eat young human Mowgli his panther pal Bagheera tries to guide him out of the jungle, meeting a different group of animals from time to time and they all have a lovely sing song, before Mowgli kills the tiger. Yay. 7.7/10

Encanto (2021) – Disney's sixtieth movie, and an original fairy tale where after a family tragedy thanks to a magic candle a big old house pops out of nowhere, and everyone who walks through a special door when they're seven years old gets an amazing ability. Everybody except lead character Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz), but she pretends she doesn't mind, yet suddenly it looks like the house might be destroyed and they'll lose all their powers and she may be the reason why. The songs are by Lin-Manuel Miranda and I was a bit concerned after the first one as it features his trademark singing really fast and then a spoken bit and then a sung bit and then mix all that together, which is starting to get a little dull now. But after that they became a lot more varied, there's some really superb numbers, and it's a soundtrack I plan to own and that's not something which often occurs. 7.7/10

Mulan (1998) – China is under attack but to save her father from having to fight the evil Huns his daughter Mulan dashes off in the middle of the night and takes his place, aided by a tiny sassy dragon played by the famous Chinese actor Eddie Murphy, though to be fair to him half the cast are American as that was apparently acceptable back in the nineties. Mulan has to not only battle the hun but also institutionalised sexism, and it's also occasionally a musical though the fact that he only has a couple of songs feels odd, like they couldn't make up their mind whether it was or not. Despite having minor issues with it this was a film that I liked a good deal, the plot is strong, Mulan's great as the lead and there's a bunch of fun supporting characters, and for me if this had had a few more songs in it then it would have been up there with Disney's very best. 7.7/10

Lady And The Tramp – Posh twat Lady gets all jealous when her owners have a baby, and when they have a brief break and let Aunt Sarah and her two racist Siamese cats stay it's not long before she's suffering from trauma tha will haunt her for the rest of her life. Then after Sarah forces Lady to wear a muzzle she runs off, is spotted by a bunch of rabid dogs who at best want to eat her, though luckily for her Tramp's on hand to save the day in scenes which really are quite horrible. Anyhow, things pick up after that as the two dogs fall in love and **** and have kids. Aww. 7.7/10

The Little Mermaid (1989) – Famous Disney effort from 1989 which saw Howard Ashman and Alan Menken come along and help make their animated fare full of charm, lovable characters and amazing songs again. A fish out of water affair (ahem, sorry) it sees horny teenager Ariel leave the sea behind to try and **** handsome Prince Eric, but there's a problem as she has to give away her voice to the Sea Witch Ursula in exchange for legs and a vagina. Luckily for her Eric prefers the strong, silent type, and though there's one plot twist along the way in the end they engage in sexual intercourse. It's a rare occasion where a film could have benefited by being a little longer (a couple more scenes of Eric and Ariel courting and at least two more songs would have been nice, especially one at the end between the happy couple) and I feel it's mad that a film I love isn't higher up the list, but it really is just a bit too short, and Eric and Ariel really needed to spend more time with each other. 7.9/10

Zootopia (2016) – I really enjoyed this as I was watching it, and perhaps it just caught me when I was in a particularly good mood, but the world building is really strong, I thought it was very funny, it looks stunning, and, yeah, this was one of which really worked for me. And then I started reading up on it and was kind of "Oh, ****, the way it tackles racism and prejudice is really messy and I think those involved probably thought they were doing something important here but it's misjudged and certain aspects are really questionable". So I don't know how to rate this, it was an 8/10 originally, but now? Um, I don't know. So I think I'm going stick with 8.0, but suggest I go back and rewatch it and rerate it some point soon? Yeah, I think that'll have to be it.

Tangled (2010) – Gotta love that ****ing horse, I mean, the film gets 8.0/10 for him alone, but the rest of it was a delight, and this was a real surprise as to how much fun it is, it's a frisky, well made and generally lovely film. 8.1

Moana (2016) – A largely bright and beautiful film and with catchy songs and fun set pieces,.if anything disappoints it's the lack of songs, they could easily have slipped a few more within the running time, though "You're Welcome" is a cracker and visually gorgeous too. It's a bit of a shame a bloke turns up to stop the girl from being murdered right at the end, though I guess she ultimately saves the day so I shouldn't gripe too much. 8.1/10

Melody Time (1948) – Another Disney anthology which contains seven different stories, I wasn't expecting to like this and only watched it as I was close to the end of my project to watch every Disney animated cinema release. But surprisingly it's pretty fantastic, there's the odd weaker moment (the opening Winterland number, and the story of Johnny Appleseed is only quite fun) but the rest are really great, there's some innovative animation going on (especially in Trees and Bumble Boogie), along with a couple of bits of impressive mixing of live action and animation (I groaned when Donald Duck turned up in Blame It On The Samba but it turned out to be one of my favourite segments by the end), and the oddly saucy Pecos Bill sees the lead character drink coyote milk, kiss a horse, and have his fiancé murdered, and it's a combination that amused me a huge amount and which was a great note to end the film on. 8.1/10

The Princess And The Frog (2009) – New Orleans set flick where an evil magician turns a prince (Bruno Campos) in to a frog and when our heroine Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) kisses him instead of transforming him back in to a man she turns in to a frog too. An odd couple road movie sort of affair follows as they go on various adventures, team up with a jazz playing alligator (Michael-Leon Wooley) and a firefly called Ray (Jim Cummings), and eventually a happy ending is found for all, apart from the one character who is viciously murdered. Randy Newman's songs are some of his best, the animation is delightful and the only real downside is that it'll make you miss this style and wish not every single f***ing Disney film was cgi these days. 8.1/10

The AristoCats (1970) – A bunch of stuck up cats muck about in Paris in 1910, but servant Edgar plans to kill them so that he can inherit his boss's mansion and money, in another Disney film where a human wants to brutally hurt cute animals. Luckily alley cat Thomas O'Malley and some geese help them along their way, while the kittens are adorable and then some. It may be simple but it's also nigh on perfect, at least as far as this sort of fare goes. 8.1/10

Sleeping Beauty (1959) – Maleficent isn't invited to a young princess's party and so says on her sixteenth birthday she'll prick her finger on a spindle and die, though one fairy is able to change this to sleeping until true love's kiss comes along. It's a dick move by Maleficent without any doubt, but luckily the three fairies are on hand to try and save her, and they're really fun characters, as are the grown up Briar Rose, Prince Phillip and the pompous Kings, while Maleficent's one of Disney's best villains. Some of the painted backdrops are exquisite and the animation's very strong, especially in the final battle against Maleficent, all of which adds up to making this one of my favourite Disney movies. 8.2/10

The Lion King (1994) – Hey, it's time for a modernises Hamlet, as evil old Uncle Scar (Jeremy Irons) kills Mufasa (James Earl Jones) but Simba (popular murderer Matthew Broderick) thinks he's to blame and buggers off for a bit, makes friends with a warthog and a meerkat, but then comes back and only has violence on his mind, well, violence and sex at least. Simba and Nala (Moira Kelly) are horny as **** for each other in certain scenes, Scar's the best Disney villain in my book, and the hyena's are amusing weirdos. Simba and co make for very strong leads, the songs are endearing, and this has a suitably epic feel and is Disney at their best. 8.3/10

Hercules (1997) – The late eighties and nineties saw Disney revitalised but oddly while everyone goes on about how great Mermaid, Beast, Aladdin and Lion King are this is rarely praised in the same light. It deserves to be though, and for my money is right up there with Beauty and the Beast as the very best Disney has to offer, packed with stunning songs, lovable characters, a very strong plot and some very funny moments. 8.3/10

Beauty And The Beast (1991) – Disney classic where nearly all the men are horrible c****, the beast especially who after imprisoning Belle's father ends up agreeing to free him if she takes his place for the rest of eternity. Luckily for her Stockholm syndrome kicks in and she starts wanting to give him a blow job, and a happy ending ensues for all (except women). Fine, fine, Belle changing her mind and growing fond of him is understandable I suppose, but as with The Little Mermaid seeing more of their courtship would have made the film stronger (even if it were just an extra five minutes) but otherwise this is lovely and charming and deserving of it's reputation. 8.4/10

[sevendaughters]

this didn't reflect the opinions of me, the central character of the world, so I reject it.

(amazing effort and from my limited knowledge, the right winner!)

[Petey Pate]

Was going to post that you forgot Song of the South, but I suppose it falls under the category of 'mostly live action but with some animated bits', as you didn't include Mary Poppins or Bedknobs and Broomsticks either. I guess there is more animation in Three Caballeros and the other films that feature live action on your list, so they qualify.

I recall Song of the South being shown fairly regularly on the BBC even when it was completely banned in the US, where it has never been released on home video. According to the genome project the BBC aired it as recently as 2006. As a kid I remember liking the cartoon parts but found the live action bits very dull, so all things considered, it deserves to be banned.

[BJBMK2]

The Emperor's New Groove (2000) – Some say this is something of a lost Disney classic but it didn't really do it for me. Some of the time it works, when it's being surreal or really over the top, but a fair bit is a mundane odd couple sort of buddy movie and rather bland and uninspired. It's a shame as it wastes such a talented cast, Warburton, Kitt and Goodman are all on top form, and the final fifteen minutes are full of inspired lunacy, with the film suddenly delivering on the promise it occasionally hinted at during it's running time, but because a good chunk of it is poor and rather average it falls in to the category of films I don't regret watching but definitely will never revisit. 5.9/10

Nah.

(This is my amazing, very well articulated defence. Will think of something better to say later)

[Small Man Big Horse]

this didn't reflect the opinions of me, the central character of the world, so I reject it.

(amazing effort and from my limited knowledge, the right winner!)

Thank you! It was four years in the making, though I watched 90% of the movies during the pandemic.

Was going to post that you forgot Song of the South, but I suppose it falls under the category of 'mostly live action but with some animated bits', as you didn't include Mary Poppins or Bedknobs and Broomsticks either. I guess there is more animation in Three Caballeros and the other films that feature live action on your list, so they qualify.

I recall Song of the South being shown fairly regularly on the BBC even when it was completely banned in the US, where it has never been released on home video. According to the genome project the BBC aired it as recently as 2006. As a kid I remember liking the cartoon parts but found the live action bits very dull, so all things considered, it deserves to be banned.

I did watch Song Of The South as I presumed it would be included in the list:

Song Of The South (1946) - One of those "Well, I don't quite see what the problem is, sure it's of its time and...Oh...Ah... Jesus...Yeah, that's fucked up" kind of films. But if you can get past that (not that you necessarily should) it's of some interest as a historical document, and there are some amusing parts like Johnny being teased about "Wearing a lace collar" and being mauled by a bull, his friendships with Jenny, Toby and Uncle Remus are rather sweet natured, and there's a couple of decent enough songs, though the animated Brer Rabbit bits are the film at its weakest. I feel odd rating it given it's content, but ignoring the horrible parts I'd give it 5.4/10.

Song of The South is listed as part of "Related Productions"...

Academy Award Review of Walt Disney Cartoons
The Reluctant Dragon
Victory Through Air Power
Song of the South
So Dear to My Heart
Mary Poppins
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Pete's Dragon
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp
The Nightmare Before Christmas
A Goofy Movie
James and the Giant Peach
Saving Mr. Banks

Out of those I watched:

A Goofy Movie (1995) - Goofy's son Max fears that he's going to grow in to a clumsy fella like his father while dreaming of romancing fellow student Roxanne, and attempts to impress her by pulling a big stunt at school where he runs on stage and sings a song in assembly. The principal is horrified and tells Goofy that his son is history's greatest monster, so Goofy decides to take him on a road trip across the country which Max initially hates but, well, you can probably guess the rest. It starts out as a musical and there's some surprisingly great songs in the first half hour or so, but annoyingly it then it forgets about the songs side of things and just becomes full of slapstick, with some idiocy involving Big Foot and a trip down a river both going on for way too long. The ending sees things pick up a bit, but it's definitely frustrating that the second half of the film is nowhere near as good as the first part. 5.8/10

Pete's Dragon (1977) - Pete's a tragic victim of child abuse with Shelley Winters and her redneck family regularly beating him and leaving him covered with nasty bruises, but luckily Elliot the dragon helps children in their time of need and so comes along and together they escape, though all of the above happens off screen and we only join the story with the duo on the run. Once Pete's free from their clutches he meets Lampie (Mickey Rooney) and Nora (Helen Reddy) and there's not really much of plot here, it's more a selection of silly set pieces often involving Elliot causing chaos, while there's a bunch of oddball characters too including Jim Dale as the classic-era Doctor Who villain sounding (and looking) Doctor Terminus, who plans to murder Elliot and use his bits for medical purposes. The whole things a daft romp and though it's slightly overlong the majority of the songs are charming, and it builds to a big fun climax effectively, and even finds the time to have a slightly bittersweet coda. 7.3/10

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) - Poor old Jack has lost his passion for terrifying others at Halloween, but after discovering the existence of Christmas he plans to hijack it and bring joy to the world. Of course it all goes wrong and a very disturbing time is had by all, as predicted by the very horny Sally who is desperate to jump Jack's bones. Ahem. Sorry, couldn't resist, etc. It's beautifully designed, looks amazing in general, has a fun script and the songs are likeable, but only a couple fall in to the "Hey, I want to listen to that when not watching the movie" category. 7.5/10

Bedknobs And Broomsticks (1971) - Very odd and unusual Disney fare set in 1940 where Angela Landsbury's Miss Price is an apprentice witch, and forced to take three young evacuees from London in to her care. Magical hijinks ensue including a couple of psychedelic journies on the bed, a trip to a foggy London where a villainous Bruce Forsythe is hanging about, and then to a land of cartoon animals before it ends with a fight against some cunty nazis. Part musical, the songs aren't amazing but they fit the piece well, the performances are cute, and the crazy soccer game in the middle of the film is a standout sequence in a film which isn't perfect but which is a great deal of fun. 8.0/10

And have seen Mary Poppins, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and James and the Giant Peach before.

I probably should give Academy Award Review of Walt Disney Cartoons, The Reluctant Dragon, Victory Through Air Power, So Dear to My Heart, DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp and Saving Mr. Banks a watch at some point, just to sate the completist in me

[dissolute ocelot]

Nothing too shocking there. I quite liked The Rescuers Down Under, and Ralph Breaks The Internet is a lot of fun, but basically correct. Treasure Planet is surprisingly moving; Moana, Little Mermaid, Zootopia, Tangled, all great. Although Tarzan, Hercules, and even Aladdin kind of rub me up the wrong way, so that even though there's good stuff and strong songs (actually I hate the songs in Aladdin), I wouldn't choose to watch them again. Frozen is brilliant though, despite the shortage of songs: lots of emotional weight, great comic relief, looks stunning; although I think you were probably too kind to Frozen II which is utterly inessential.

I've never ever seen The Lion King despite knowing everything about it. I don't believe it's as good as Hamlet Goes Business though.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I've never ever seen The Lion King despite knowing everything about it. I don't believe it's as good as Hamlet Goes Business though.

I'm still genuinely surprised at how up the list The Lion King was, I wasn't particularly looking forward to watching it but it quickly won me over (the cast are all on top form) and the narrative was far more layered than most Disney flicks, though I should may have knocked some points of it for stealing its structure from Hamlet.

[madhair60]

i cant be cunted reading all that can you just give me it in a sentence.

[The Mollusk]

Amazing dedication to the list, man. I'm not ashamed to say I only read the ones I've seen myself but some of the higher scoring that I've not yet seen will deffo be considered for future Sunday comfort viewing.

I woulda scored Basil higher myself, like a 7.5? I've got a lot of time for it. Last time I watched it was 2020 lockdown as well, where I was stupidly pissed and apparently insisted on playing For Whom The Bell Tolls by Metallica over the end fight scene inside the Big Ben tower. I don't remember doing this but my mate told me the next day it worked "surprisingly well". I suggest you revisit it and get drunk and do the same for reappraisal okay cheers

Also just gonna throw it out there that I love Robin Williams as much as the next man but for comedy value Gottfried as Iago really steals the film for me.

[Blinder Data]

amazing effort overall but...

Pocahontas has "a couple of decent songs"? it's got one of the best Disney ballads of all time!

lyrics like:

"How high does the sycamore grow?
If you cut it down, then you'll never know"

blew my mind as a child

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Aren't these meant for children?

[Jerzy Bondov]

You did Basil (detective mouse) dirty. His surliness and unlikability are what make him so good. Dr Dawson is really the hero of the film, Basil's just this mad force of nature.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Nah.

(This is my amazing, very well articulated defence. Will think of something better to say later)

I will also stick up for The Emperor's New Groove (what a shame they couldn't save that title for the last Star Wars movie). I was introduced to it recently and found it very enjoyable. It feels more like a Looney Tunes thing than a Disney film.

[madhair60]

[madhair60]

talking some bogus shit about A Goofy Movie. take it back. that movie is great. the songs man come on. also it's funny, that guy is an idiot!

[madhair60]

this kills me every time it's so so so silly. loved this one.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Vincent Price (singing): From the brain that brought you the Big Ben caper, the head that made headlines in every newspaper, and wondrous things like the Tower Bridge job, that cunning display that made Londoners sob, now comes the real tour de force! Tricky and wicked of course! My earlier crimes were fine for their times but now that I'm at it again, an even grimmer plot has been simmering in my great criminal brain

10.0/10.0 and the Academy Award for best thing that has ever happened goes to Vincent Price, Lord of Darkness, King of the Bisexuals

[madhair60]

i'm glad someone else did the ratigan song from memory

[Mr Trumpet]

Sleeping Beauty is an absolute corker. Eyvind Earle's visuals are genuinely incredible, stylised and colourful (so much indigo!). Tchaikovsky's ballet score makes the whole thing seem like an extended bit from Fantasia, and for a Disney film made in the 1950s it surprisingly passes the Bechdel test with flying colours (more than can be said of e.g the Lion King or Aladdin).

[Small Man Big Horse]

Aren't these meant for children?

I prefer the term "family films", motherfucker.

I thought was in for a kicking with Lilo & Stitch, or maybe for rating Encanto so highly, but I never expected so many fans of Basil The Great Mouse Detective! I'm absolutely open to being completely wrong about it however so I will give it another watch when I feel in the mood for sexy rodent shenanigans.

Not having it over A Goofy Movie, I watched that thinking it was in the list and was fucking fuming where I discovered it wasn't and I'd wasted all that time for nothing.

Edit: I think I sounded a bit too angry in that post. I wasn't really though, apart from the bit about family films.

[Oosp]

Tangled, 10/10

[BritishHobo]

Glad to hear your positive thoughts on Home on the Range. It often seems to get lost and overlooked in the early-noughties run. You see a lot of love for Atlantis and Treasure Island, and a lot (rightful) hate for Chicken Little. But this one always disappears in the crack between; forgotten, even though it's very sweet and funny, and feels quite close to the spirit of the '90s films.

[Egyptian Feast]

I really like Hercules too, definitely their most underrated one of the 90s. Ahh, I miss not knowing what a massive knobhead James Woods is. He's great in this, plus I really liked the main female character and enjoyed the Motownesque Greek chorus (and was surprised to find out who was responsible for the songs afterwards). It should've done better.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Glad to hear your positive thoughts on Home on the Range. It often seems to get lost and overlooked in the early-noughties run. You see a lot of love for Atlantis and Treasure Island, and a lot (rightful) hate for Chicken Little. But this one always disappears in the crack between; forgotten, even though it's very sweet and funny, and feels quite close to the spirit of the '90s films.

Yeah, after I posted the above I looked at other similar lists and Rolling Stone put it last on the list which seemed ridiculous, I mean for one thing it's a hell of a lot better than the soulless shit that Wish was.

I really like Hercules too, definitely their most underrated one of the 90s. Ahh, I miss not knowing what a massive knobhead James Woods is. He's great in this, plus I really liked the main female character and enjoyed the Motownesque Greek chorus (and was surprised to find out who was responsible for the songs afterwards). It should've done better.

I really wish they had advertised it with "With music from the creator of Veronica's Closet theme tune"!

[Mr Vegetables]

I don't think The Lion King is all that similar to Hamlet, is it? You can definitely see that it could be inspired by Hamlet if someone pointed it out, but it's as about as distant a relation as Aladdin (movie) is to Aladdin (folk story of complicated origin)

[Small Man Big Horse]

I don't think The Lion King is all that similar to Hamlet, is it? You can definitely see that it could be inspired by Hamlet if someone pointed it out, but it's as about as distant a relation as Aladdin (movie) is to Aladdin (folk story of complicated origin)

There's this 2019 article here which features interviews with those involved: https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/tv-movies/a28376309/the-lion-king-hamlet-comparison/ - The general sentiment seems to be they came up with the story, someone said "Hey, that's a bit like Hamlet", so they included some other bits and pieces, but also based the story on a couple of Biblical tales.

[dissolute ocelot]

I don't think The Lion King is all that similar to Hamlet, is it? You can definitely see that it could be inspired by Hamlet if someone pointed it out, but it's as about as distant a relation as Aladdin (movie) is to Aladdin (folk story of complicated origin)

It's probably not something that should ruin anyone's enjoyment. If Lion King ended in a sword-fight where everybody died, that would be awesome. Other Disney films are far closer copies: Aladdin is a massive rip-off of Korda's The Thief of Bag(h)dad, for instance. And I'm sure Disney's Hercules has some sources in ancient Greek tragedy but don't know enough to pin them down. But Loin King=Hamlet is just a fun easter egg. And it's the differences between e.g. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Hugo's Notre-Dame de Paris that should be criticised.

[A Hat Like That]

Bedknobs And Broomsticks (1971) - Very odd and unusual Disney fare set in 1940 where Angela Landsbury's Miss Price is an apprentice witch, and forced to take three young evacuees from London in to her care. Magical hijinks ensue including a couple of psychedelic journies on the bed, a trip to a foggy London where a villainous Bruce Forsythe is hanging about, and then to a land of cartoon animals before it ends with a fight against some cunty nazis. Part musical, the songs aren't amazing but they fit the piece well, the performances are cute, and the crazy soccer game in the middle of the film is a standout sequence in a film which isn't perfect but which is a great deal of fun. 8.0/10

The extended dance scene in Portobello road is also great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYBECKl0zFo

[BJBMK2]

Nah.

(This is my amazing, very well articulated defence. Will think of something better to say later)

Oh shit, yeah.

The Emperor's New Groove

I've often thought that the reputation this film has, the "lost" classic, the cult classic, the one with all the memes etc, comes from genuine surprise on the part of the audience. Because by all accounts, the film should have been a disaster. On paper, it has a cliché, run of the mill plot. It's got David Spade in it. It feels like a cheapie, a filler episode, after the climaxes and crescendo's of the Renaissance era musical epics. And it's got David Spade in it.

And yet it's a bloody marvel. There's hardly a scene for me that doesn't work. That doesn't have at least ONE brilliant thing about it. Even the parts where the film slows down to make way for exposition and plot (mainly anything to do with Pacha's family), still zips by with enough charm, and don't hang around long enough anyway for anyone to be bored (let alone kids). Everyone cites Aladdin as the wacky, Warner Bros one. But that's only really like that when Robin Williams is doing his thing. Here, that manic, bonkers tone runs through the whole film, it's in the DNA.

Every dramatic moment both works as drama, AND is undercut by something surreal and silly going on, either above or below ground level. Which again, should not work. And yet the tone is exactly right. Kuzco interrupting the film while Pacha's at his lowest moment to remind us who the star is (blew my eight year old mind in that cinema in Bury, that did!). Kronk's little back and forth with his shoulder angel/devil, which works as it's own goofy little set piece, while also reinforcing the internal conflict of a good man having essentially just committed a murder, and having a (literal) attack of conscience. Kuzco arguing with his OWN narration voice over. Silly and surreal on it's own terms, while also marking the point where he finally starts to conquer his own ego, and stop being such a cunt.

As SMBG mentioned, the cast are fantastic. Eartha Kitt just filling every line with that mock femme fatale tone. Patrick Warburton's voice was made for this film, and this film alone, as far as I'm concerned (apologies to fans of Seinfeld/Family Guy/the twenty million over voice over works he's done). David Spade does his thing too, and it's astonishing how much I can tolerate him in this, and not tolerate him in much of anything else (does he play a loveable bellend in essentially every film? Imagine that being your "thing").

I'm going to plagarize here slightly, and quote the Youtube fella Nerrel, who when talking about The Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask, stated that it was good directly BECAUSE of it's rushed development, not in SPITE of it. And I think exactly the same can apply here. Because the film was essentially busked in the space of just under a year, frantically scrabbling in the wake of another film* having totally collapsed under it's own weight. This is why it's so manic, so all over the place. I would argue that they almost had no choice. They had to make SOMETHING. Time was running out. Jobs were on the line. So why not have a laugh?

The amazing thing isn't that they created a fantastic piece of animated comedy. The amazing thing is that they did that, AND still made it feel like a Disney film. Yes, it's the "Warner Bros" one of the canon, more then any other. But I think why it's endeared so much, especially with irony loving kids and there memes (look mum, I'm cool too!), is because they somehow still made it feel like it belongs in the pantheon, with the other heavy hitters. This is genuinely as good as Lion King, as Beauty And The Beast. As all the ones critics and Youtubers tell us are the bee's knees.

Plus it's got a bit with a funny squirrel in it.



_{*Anyone with a slight interest in any of this, should watch The Sweatbox, a documentary centred on Kingdom Of The Sun, the film that Groove evolved from. The story of how this transformation happened is too long and convoluted to fit into a review, and the doc does a far better job of telling the story. You learn a lot about filmmaker pressure under corporate studio glares, the mental and spiritual toll of creativity, and how much of a mardy arse Sting is.}

[Mister Six]

I rewatched The Little Mermaid (original, animated one) a couple of years ago and was shocked by how poor it was compared to my memory of it as a kid - Ariel's an unlikeable spoiled idiot who gets everyone into trouble and almost gets her dad killed, and the only thing stopping everything from falling apart is the true protagonist, Sebastian. It should have been called The Overworked Crab.

Putting it higher than Mulan and Encanto is a crime, @Small Man Big Horse, a crime!

Everyone cites Aladdin as the wacky, Warner Bros one. But that's only really like that when Robin Williams is doing his thing. Here, that manic, bonkers tone runs through the whole film, it's in the DNA.

Big time, and all the better for it. But it's also the point at which you can see Disney starting to lose its nerve and lose its way. After the doldrums of the 1980s, 1989's The Little Mermaid (as much as I don't think it deserves its rep) really kicked Disney into high gear for almost a solid decade: Beauty and The Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995 - a wobble, but the songs are amazing), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996, a dip for sure), Hercules (1997, a return to form), Mulan 1998, maybe my favourite cel-animated Disney flick), Tarzan (1999) and Fantasia 2000 (1999, weirdly).

Then through the 2000s they really seem to lose their way, just shooting off in all different directions with seemingly no coherent vision and lots of misses. You've got the pointedly irreverent and "anti-Disney" Emperor's New Groove (2000) and Lilo & Stitch (2002); a couple of science-fictiony films that feel vaguely like something Don Bluth might have knocked out for Fox: Atlantis (2001) and Treasure Planet (2002); a couple of animal-led things in Brother Bear (2003) and Home on the Range (2004); and then the progressively better CGI flicks Chicken Little (2005), Meet the Robinsons (2007) and Bolt (2008), with only Bolt being the only one that feels like a modern CGI movie in story and tone - but not a Disney one.

Then at the end of the decade they seem to get over this weird mid-life crisis and get back into their old groove, with The Princess and the Frog (2009) being a throwback to the cel-animated princess yarns and Tangled (2010) marrying the princess trope with CGI and kicking off the current format for Disney Animation: a baseline of female-led fantasy films (Encanto, Frozen, Moana, Raya) punctuated with other flicks that broaden the company's creative horizons a little bit (Zootopia, Wreck-It Ralph, Coco).

That said, I wonder if the 2020s will be another troublesome year; aside from Encanto, the other films have been the middling Raya and the shitty Wish - and the only things racked up for the near future are sequels to Moana and Zootopia, which doesn't scream wild creativity.

Don't know why I wrote all that. Just been rattling around in my head a bit and wanted to get it out.