Best Disney films?

[Sir Perceval of Daventry]

What do you guys feel are the best Disney films?
Personally, I feel that the mix of light/dark that colored a lot of Disney's films from 1988 to 1996--starting with Oliver & Company and ending with the Hunchback of Notre Dame--was perfect. These were films not only aimed at kids but instilled a moral message in the viewers, for children. Each film had a certain message to it. For example, Hunchback gave the implicit message that beauty wasn't simply what was on the outside. They weren't the mindless, child aimed films of today. They were deep, beautiful films, with beautiful art and most importantly, heart.

My favorite Disney films are as follows:
1) The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
2) The Lion King (1994)--Probably the most beautiful Disney feature ever
3) The Little Mermaid (1990)
4) Aladdin and it's sequels (1992, 1994, 1996)
5) Pocahontas (1995)
6) Oliver & Company (1988)
7) Beauty and the Beast (1991)
The Rescuers Down Under (1990)
9) Hercules (1997)
10) Mulan (1998)/The Great Mouse Detective (1987)

Personally, Hunchback and The Lion King switch for the number one spot depending on my mood.

[Blackthorne]

South of the South.  Definitely.


Bt

[Damar]

Song of the South is actually a beautiful movie and looks incredible in how they mixed the live action and animation.  It's equal parts beautiful and brilliantly innovative.  I'd actually consider it one of the best Disney did.  It's also...let me think of the best way to say this...OFFENSIVELY RACIST!  It's a shame that such an important film had to be sullied with such ugly racism.  Then again, it's not as racist a Birth of a Nation, and that film still gets shown on Turner Classic Movies every so often (though it was also a film that defined everything we know in cinema.)

As for my favorite Disney, it's a tough choice, but definitely nothing past Beauty and the Beast.  The following films lost the timelessness for me.  Aladdin was entertaining, but not what I call a great film.  And the Lion King, while visually very good, is one of the most overrated films of all time in my opinion.  Right up there with Forrest Gump.

My favorites, in no particular order would be:

Beauty and the Beast
Cinderella
Mary Poppins
Dumbo (racist crows aside)
Sleeping Beauty
Robin Hood
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

And a special shout out to Black Cauldron which, while incredibly flawed, is a fascinating departure from the Disney formula and kind of atmospheric in its own odd little way.

[Blackthorne]

I love the original classics, "Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs","Pinnochio","Sleeping Beauty","Alice In Wonderland".... but I'll always have a soft spot for "The Jungle Book".   My parents took me to see it in a little theatre in a small town in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State when I was a wee lad - we were on vacation, and we went to this old-school movie theatre.... I remember the smell of the popcorn, and I loved the songs.  I must have sang "Bear Necessities" over and over the rest of that camping trip.   That was, like, 25 years ago for me and I still recall it vividly.


Bt

[KatieHal]

The Little Mermaid will always be my top Disney film...sentimental reasons but I just loved the music, the story, I loved everything about that movie. I'm pretty sure I can blame Ariel for me wishing I were a natural redhead!

After that, Beauty & the Beast, The Lion King, and Aladdin are all close seconds, I'm not sure I could rank them really.

And the Fox & the Hound is another classic that I love, and that makes me cry every time I see it.

[DawsonJ]

Disney has made some great movies. I'm not their biggest fan, but I'm not much for movies, either way. But, it's sad... My step-brother used to work at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. At that time, the management announced that Tangled would be their final 'Princess Movie' because all the little girls have changed - they don't want to be princesses; they want to be "Hot"! So, now, the theatres will be getting fewer good-hearted movies and getting more 'Jailbait' movies! Yuck!

(I'm getting to be too much like Christopher Titus as it is; this isn't helping. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa4ZSym36WM)

[KatieHal]

That seems kinda silly to me. Little girls will always want to be princesses at some point.

I am very much looking forward to learning more about & possibly seeing "Brave" next year, though.

[LadyTerra]

For me:

1. Beauty and the Beast (Belle's pretty, and she's a nerd!  ^_^)
2. The Great Mouse Detective (I'll watch anything that has Mr. Holmes in some form)
3. Aladdin (Eye candy)
4. The Hunchback of Notra Dame (Amazing songs)
5. The Three Musketeers (I'm not sure why, but I loved it as a kid.)

[Haids1987]

My step-brother used to work at Disneyland in Anaheim, California.

Sweet, my mama worked there for thirteen years before we moved to Seattle-ish when I was a toddler, and Grandpa and Uncle Steve retired from Disneyland.

Haids' Top 5 Animated Disney Movies
1.101 Dalmatians.  I've heard many complaints over the years that this movie is boring, that the 2-D backgrounds don't do it any favors, blah blah blah.  But for some crazy reason, it has always been my favorite Disney movie.  When I was little (I mean REALLY little, like younger than preschool age) I would sit on my best friend's dining room table while we ate Top Ramen and barked with the dogs as the movie played. (The dining room table was the best vantage point, since we weren't allowed to eat in the living room.)  Anyway, I don't remember the first time I saw it, or why it's my favorite, but for reasons beyond my knowledge, it simply is.
2. Aladdin. To me, this movie is the epitome of kindergarten and being so young.  I remember the Christmas after it came out, Santa gave my sister and I all Aladdin-themed stuff, including Princess Jasmine pajamas. Woohoo! Perhaps that's the reason Jasmine goes down as my favorite Disney princess...and also, DJ Tanner's boyfriend, Steve, does the voice of the title character!
3. The Lion King. I was the rock star of my second-grade class because I saw this TWICE in the movie theatres. Anyway, I love that this movie is so kid-friendly (Jonathon Taylor Thomas as Simba--OMG!!), yet it has such deep underlying themes that you really don't appreciate until you're an adult. For exmaple, I discovered that it was modeled after Shakespeare's Hamlet. What seven year-old knows THAT?!
4. Hercules. Yes, I know.  There is relatively none of the actual legend included in this movie, and Disney took its own artistic liberties with it.  But I've always loved it!  I've always had a thing for Greek mythology, so when I saw a Disney movie based on a Greek legend at the age of ten, I was absolutely reeled in.  Plus I love the songs: "No chance, no way/I won't say I'm in love!"
5, Mulan. TOTAL girl power movie!  I still cry at the end of the movie every time I watch it, when all the citizens of China bow to her. Gah! Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it!

Honorable Mentions: Beauty and the Beast (the first movie I ever saw in the movie theatre), A Goofy Movie, and Sleeping Beauty.  (For a girl who's as girly and sparkly as I am, you'd think I'd have more than one "princess movie" on my top 5 list.  Hmmm.)

[MikPal]

1) Story of Menstruation (1946)

Well, since I usually have trouble arranging stuff in order (besides good ol' SoM there), I'll just thrown them in random order:

Lovebug (1968), Blackbeard's Ghost (1968), Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972), Dragonslayer (1981), Escape to Witch Mountain (1975), Return to Oz (1985), Emil and the Detectives (1964) and Watcher in the Woods with the original ending (1980).

[KatieHal]

Oh. My. Goodness. 

Wow. While parts of that were educational, the rest was....so not helpful!

I'd like to compare that to Kotex's most recent efforts, which I find hilariously awesome: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpypeLL1dAs

Though there's nothing Disney about it

[MikPal]

A Goofy Movie

I'm stupid for forgetting this! The best and the most sincere "father & son"-movie ever made. Some of the themes usually come a bit too close to home with me. Especially this scene. It's a special feeling, when you realize that you're the only one in the room that is over twelve.

[Haids1987]

Watcher in the Woods with the original ending (1980).

I so thought that I was the only one who grew up on this movie! Rad, man, I'm psyched! "It's the name of the puppy--Nerak!"

I can't check out the mestruation thing right away, but I'll be back later to see what that's all about.

[MikPal]

I so thought that I was the only one who grew up on this movie!

I'm talking about the version that begun with the burning doll face in the background while the titles are rolling and with the best damn creature design ever in the ending. Cellophane will get you a long way if you know how to use it.

[Deloria]

That seems kinda silly to me. Little girls will always want to be princesses at some point.

And some never grow out of it.

(Posted on: 13 August 2011, 23:48:56)

1) Story of Menstruation (1946)

That is strangely hilarious.

[MikPal]

That seems kinda silly to me. Little girls will always want to be princesses at some point.

And some never grow out of it.

(Posted on: 13 August 2011, 23:48:56)

[quote

You know, that reminds something that I heard during Vanhojen tanssit (The Senior's Ball). It's a party during the second year of the upper secondary school, where students dress up in their best and learn to dance 11 old time dances. I found some footage from the same school I danced my dances in 00 and 01. Luckily no footage of my dancing has survived, since I had a long ponytail and all my dancing partners were girls that had lost their boyfriends to unknown activities or early incapacitation by booze. So plenty of sad tearful faces and plenty of flasks hidden in stockings, but hey I could dance the dance then and I can still dance all of them today. Good times, though I'm not going to post any pictures.

Ok, back to what I heard about princesses...

During the very first minutes of the very first rehearsal, our gymnastic treacher, a less than 5 foot tall former ballet dancer with a stick she would use to whip our legs straight, yelled from the top of her lungs that "This is finally the time for you tramps to have a permission to be princesses! To float like butterflies! Some of you may like it and those who don't, get out now! I don't want to waste my time with you!" I think two or three couples left.

[KatieHal]

Haha! I think I want to hear more stories about this dance teacher, and also want to turn her into a character in a story sometime

[dark-daventry]

In no particular order, my favorite disney movies are as follows:

The Lion King
Beauty and the Beast
The Little Mermaid
Aladdin + two sequels
The Rescuers Down Under
Tron Legacy

And just because I can, I'm also going to list my favorite Disney Channel Original Movies:

The Thirteenth Year
Can of Worms
Halloweentown
Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge
Halloweentown High
Return to Halloweentown
Smart House
Minutemen
Read It and Weep
Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century
Zenon the Zequel
Johnny Tsunami
The Color of Friendship (for a DCOM, this is surprisingly deep )
Phantom of the Megaplex
The Luck of the Irish
The Poof Point
Twithces
'Twas the Night
The Scream Team
You Wish!
Kim Possible Movie: A Sitch in Time
Now You See It
Kim Possible Movie: So the Drama
Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior

[Sir Perceval of Daventry]

In no particular order, my favorite disney movies are as follows:

The Lion King
Beauty and the Beast
The Little Mermaid
Aladdin + two sequels
The Rescuers Down Under
Tron Legacy

And just because I can, I'm also going to list my favorite Disney Channel Original Movies:

The Thirteenth Year
Can of Worms
Halloweentown
Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge
Halloweentown High
Return to Halloweentown
Smart House
Minutemen
Read It and Weep
Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century
Zenon the Zequel
Johnny Tsunami
The Color of Friendship (for a DCOM, this is surprisingly deep )
Phantom of the Megaplex
The Luck of the Irish
The Poof Point
Twithces
'Twas the Night
The Scream Team
You Wish!
Kim Possible Movie: A Sitch in Time
Now You See It
Kim Possible Movie: So the Drama
Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior

Where's Susie Q?

[dark-daventry]

In no particular order, my favorite disney movies are as follows:

The Lion King
Beauty and the Beast
The Little Mermaid
Aladdin + two sequels
The Rescuers Down Under
Tron Legacy

And just because I can, I'm also going to list my favorite Disney Channel Original Movies:

The Thirteenth Year
Can of Worms
Halloweentown
Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge
Halloweentown High
Return to Halloweentown
Smart House
Minutemen
Read It and Weep
Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century
Zenon the Zequel
Johnny Tsunami
The Color of Friendship (for a DCOM, this is surprisingly deep )
Phantom of the Megaplex
The Luck of the Irish
The Poof Point
Twithces
'Twas the Night
The Scream Team
You Wish!
Kim Possible Movie: A Sitch in Time
Now You See It
Kim Possible Movie: So the Drama
Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior

Where's Susie Q?

Ah, I forgot all about that movie; that brings back so many memories. I'll add that to the list soonish.