Friday, October 13, 2006

DISNEY'S BEST AND WORST

This week I have posted about The Fox and the Hound and The Little Mermaid. The response I have received is that Fox is one of the lamest Disney movies and Mermaid is one of the best.

But what do you really think? Which one is really the best? Which one is the worst?

Let's make a rule. You can only comment on movies animated by Disney Feature Animation. We all know that the tv show based movies and direct-to-video sequels are terrible so there is no point in voting for them. Stop motion features don't count and Pixar movies should get a catagory of their own.

Here is the offical list of Disney movies animated by Disney Feature Animation:

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Pinocchio
Fantasia
Dumbo
Bambi
Saludos Amigos
The Three Caballeros
Make Mine Music
Fun and Fancy Free
Melody Time
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
Cinderella
Alice in Wonderland
Peter Pan
Lady and the Tramp
Sleeping Beauty
One Hundred and One Dalmatians
The Sword in the Stone
The Jungle Book
The Aristocats
Robin Hood
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The Rescuers
The Fox and the Hound
The Black Cauldron
The Great Mouse Detective
Oliver & Company
The Little Mermaid
The Rescuers Down Under
Beauty and the Beast
Aladdin
The Lion King
Pocahontas
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hercules
Mulan
Tarzan
Fantasia 2000
The Emperor's New Groove
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Lilo & Stitch
Treasure Planet
Brother Bear
Home on the Range
Chicken Little


Let the voting begin!

25 comments:

Katie said...

Okay I've made up my mind.

BEST: Sword in the Stone
WORST: Pocahontas

(second best: sleeping beauty)
(second worst: fox and the hound)

Reel Fanatic said...

From that list,

The best: The Rescuers
The worst, by a wide margin: CHICKEN LITTLE

A question, however: When I was very small, and not aware of its rather obvious racist connotations, I fell in love with the Disney movie Song of the South .. why is it not on that list? Is Disney simply too ashamed of it now, which would be understandable

Kurtis Findlay said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Kurtis Findlay said...

This list is an offcial Disney list. Check this link for more details.

reel fanatic, why is Chicken Little at the bottom of this list? I found this movie to be far more enjoyable than a lot of the crap Disney was putting out in the eighties.

Song of the South is not on the list because it is not a fully animated movie. It is the same reason why Mary Poppins and Who Framed Roger Rabbit is not on this list either.

Disney is sort of ashamed of the racist undertones of this movie. This is why SOTS has not seen a DVD release yet. Editing and censoring is not an option as they would be cutting out the whole main character of Uncle Remus. Rather, there is talk of this movie being released as part of the Walt Disney Treasures line in the future. This way it will be considered a 'collector' set and will not easily fall into the hands of impressionable children.

coolshades said...

Whoa, now...hold the phone. The Three Cabelleros isn't fully animated..but it's on the list. What gives?

But anyway...

As of now, only one animated film has ever been nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards....Beauty and the Beast.

It's not my personal *favorite* Disney animated feature...but I think it's the best one they've made. So it gets my vote...

Worst? Eh...I'm not too fond of Hercules...even though Hades is one of my favorite Disney characters...

J said...

BEST: Beauty and the Beast
WORST: The Three Cabelleros

And to follow Katie's style:

(2nd BEST: Sleeping Beauty)
(2nd WORST: Saludos Amigos)

I'm a sucker for the fairy-tale-princess-stories...and maybe just a wee bit racist!
(I kid)

Hero Supreme said...

the world war ii compilations aside, I think Home on the Range is a strong contender for the worst. while the little mermaid is probably my personal favortite, the lion king is my vote for best.

i also really like Mulan, and very much think Aristocats is a bore.

Anonymous said...

Ooh that's tough

..

Best = Tarzan

Worst = The Rescuers

Tarzan's art was INCREDIBLE! I haven't seen the rescuers in years but I do remember hating it

-Paul Zeke-

Kurtis Findlay said...

Sorry coolshades, I should have stated my comment this way:

Song of the South is a live action movie with animated segments.

The Three Cabelleros is an animated movie that has a live action scene.

These comments are great folks! Keep 'em coming! Get your friends to vote! And you can vote again too! Which other movies should go in the suck or sweet catagory?

coolshades said...

More for the sweet category:

The Lion King
The Little Mermaid
Aladdin
The Sword in the Stone

Heck...I could go on forever...there aren't many Disney movies I *don't* like...

Adam said...

My 'sweet' category would include:

*Favorite: Aladdin
Mulan
The Lion King
The Little Mermaid
The Rescuers Down Under

Horrible:
Fantasia
The Fox and the Hound

I haven't seen any of the most recent Disney, but I'm sure some of those would make it on my horrible list. Mulan rocks and I want to watch it right now.

Katie said...

I should've been checking this more frequently... now there's so much to respond to.

re Chicken Little: I thought Chicken Little was surprisingly good for Disney's current track record. I thought it was adorable and taught good lessons. Plus there's freakin' aliens. I mean... c'mon. Aliens!

re academy awards: Just because a movie wins an academy award does NOT make it a good movie (ie Titanic, Deer Hunter, etc). Where as I think Beauty and the Beast is a great movie, I don't think that's a good argument for why a movie should be on a "best of" list.

I'm noticing a general trend of people liking the movies they were alive as a kid to see in theaters the best. Which is to be expected. But keep in mind that even though movies like Fantasia were certainly fairly boring, the animation is amazing and was ground breaking at the time.

coolshades said...

Beauty and the Beast didn't win. It was just nominated.

I agree that just because a movie wins (or is nominated) doesn't mean it's necessarily a great movie. But imo, the fact that the actors, actresses, writers, directors, and producers in Hollywood actually chose an *animated* film as one of the best movies of the year (where there aren't even any actors on screen!) says a lot about that movie's quality. Add that to the fact that's the *only* time it has happened in the nearly 80-year history of the Academy Awards...and I think someone would have a difficult time arguing that it was *not* one of Disney's best films.

Now if this were a live-action film we were talking about...well that would be a different story...

Adam said...

Yes Katie. But if Beauty and the Beast can't be on the 'best of' list JUST for its nominations, then why should Fantasia NOT be considered a bad movie if it's only 'technically' groundbreaking? At least Beauty and the Beast was entertaining. Maybe I'm judging these movies with innopropriate criteria for this blog. (i.e. not from an animator's bias)
If that's the case, then by all means disregard my opinions :)

Anonymous said...

Hmm. Are you actually trying to create a list or just asking what other opinions are out there? If you're trying to actually make a list no one is ever going agree. Take me for example; I find most of these comments absurd.

Fantasia, boring? Fantasia is AMAZING. The music and animation, the story lines and how they created the animation to match the music or music to match the animation. Simply amazing.

And how is it that Peter Pan 2 isn't up there? It was in theaters. Yes, it is a sequel, but you have the sequel to the Resuers on there, too.

But to the point.

I haven't seen all of those movies. Most of them, yes, but not all of them. I would rate Chicken Little and Home on the Range as some of the worst Disney animated movies, but for this very reason, I haven't watched them.

So, worst of? In my opinion, of the movies I've seen, I would say Lilo and Stitch.

And I like that movie. But I wouldn't consider it in the same vicinity as the other Disney movies. I just don't like the way the characters are drawn. I'm picky like that, I guess. It's almost TOO cartoonish. -.-

Best of? Well, that's a challenge.
I really enjoyed The Emperor's New Groove. I think it's the only one that could be concretely labeled as a comedy. But when it comes down to it, in my opinion, the best Disney animated film would be one of the following: Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Sleeping Beauty or Alice in Wonderland. Not because I LOOOVE them and OMG such gr8 movies, but because they are representative of different categories you can split Disney movies into.

Here's why.
-The Jungle Book represents most Disney films, although I'm not sure if I've actually seen this whole movie or not. 1.) It takes a kid on a coming of age story (which we find in many many Disney films). 2.) It interacts humans with animals. 3.) Has an amazing musical score. 4.) Like other Disney movies, it takes "us" out of America and puts us into another culture.

-Beauty and Beast takes a different twist than other "princess" movies. 1.) It has a strong heroine. 2.) It depicts an important lesson of true love and inner beauty. 3.) The musical score is classic. 4.) It shows blood (how many Disney movies do that?) which makes it a little more realistic. 5.) It's a very classic tale. 6.) It's "enchanting" like old-school Disney films used to be.

-The Lion King represents another category of Disney movies in that it lacks the human species completely. 1.) It tells not only a coming of age story but a tale of revenge. 2.) Again, great music. 3.) Something both children and adults adore. 4.) The parent figures aren't idiots like in many Disney movies. 5.) It teaches acceptance and friendship for those who aren't like ourselves (I'm talking about Timon and Pumba).

-Sleeping Beauty just because it represents the absolute classic of classic Disney films based on story books. And of course, it's a "Princess" movie.

-And finally Alice in Wonderland because it is simply not like any other Disney animated film at all.

And as a runner up, perhaps Treasure Planet because it takes a crazy twist to a very classic book.

My apologies for this being so long, I'm on Christmas break and have lots of time on my hands. =P

Unknown said...

Best:
It's a tie between Fantasia, The Aristocats and Alice in Wonderland

Worst:
I have to say since 2003, Disney movies (NOT PIXAR) have gone a little boaring like chicken little, home on the range and Bolt but the worst and the ULTIMATE WORST is Purely Pocahontas because the story send me to sleep

P.S Can't wait for Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 to be released on Blu Ray next year!

Anonymous said...

Best: Fox and the Hound and Brother Bear...who doesn't love a good animal movie? Plus I love disney movies where they randomly burst out singing! ;)

Worst: I love just about all disney movies...but the worst would have to be Fantasia...UH! Its just like being in school, but more musically.

LoghanZ said...

Best: Cinderella
Worst: The Little Mermaid

Anonymous said...

my disney favorites are
snow white
cinderella
black cauldron(because its not so sweet and innocent like most disney)
aladdin
mulan
disneys worst
MARY POPPINS
CHICKEN LITTLE
HOME ON THE RANGE
ALL DISNEY SEQUELS

Anonymous said...

i also like the blabk cauldron because it has the best disney villain. bastard raised an army of the dead. C'MON!!!! THATS BADASS!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Instead of Just one I have a top 10best and bottom 5 worst
First the Top 10
10: Pocahontas
9: Oliver & Company
8: Pinocchio
7: Princess and the Frog
6: Tarzan
5: Cinderella
4: Atlantis: The Lost Empire
3: Aladdin
2: The Lion King
AND NUMBER 1 WHICH MIGHT SURPRISE YOU...
1: The Hunchback of Notre Dame(Great Characters, gripping story, and for once a culturally accurate Disney movie)
NOW FOR THE BOTTOM 5 WORST
5: Hercules(Overrated)
4: Treasure Planet
3: Tom and Jerry: The Movie(Yes Disney was involved with this)
2: The Wild
1: Chicken Little
I HOPE I DIDN'T DISAPPOINT YOU GUYS(SORRY ABOUT HERCULES)

Anonymous said...

BEST: The Lion King
WORST: Chicken Little

(2nd Best: Beauty and the Beast)
(2nd Worst: Home on the Range)

Anonymous said...

Guess this list hasn't been updated recently to include Tangled and the Princess and the Frog.

Best: Lilo and Stitch
Worst: Chicken Little

Just gotta say, two of my childhood classics were The Sword in the Stone and The Rescuers, but I think Lilo and Stitch was a bit better.

By the way, Chicken Little's at the bottom since it was the most recent movie released.

Anonymous said...

best:chicken little(SO SO SO UNDERRATED,WHY?)
WORST:the black couldron
(2nd best:the emperors new groove)
(2nd worst:home on the range)

Anonymous said...

best:chicken little
worst:the black cauldron