Was watching Tarzan today and thinking to myself that this is the tightest, best soundtrack slash score to any Disney animated movie. Phil Collins really nailed it with the theme song. Of course Elton John kind of changed the game with Lion King, bringing legitimacy to animated movie soundtracks.
Clearly Phil Collins wins this but which Disney animated movie has the best soundtrack?
I liked the Little Mermaid’s soundtrack actually.
Jungle Book
Aladdin, I think I still have it on tape somewhere.
Little Mermaid
Hunchback of Notre Dame
Beauty and the Beast
Howard Ashman beat Elton John to the legitimacy punch.
Beauty and the Beast, hands down.
I’m guessing Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 shouldn’t count, as they weren’t written for the movies.
Pinocchio has the best Disney song, IMHO, “When You Wish Upon A Star”.
For a whole soundtrack, I’d say Aladdin, with Beauty and the Beast a very close second.
That was my first thought as well.
Also, Gnomeo & Juliet, but that’s essentially a bunch of Elton John songs with a couple of new ones tossed in. I was a bit surprised a year ago or so when I was in the car singling along with Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting and my daughter said “Daddy this is the song from Gnomeo And Juliet”.
A much, much lesser offering, but I am very fond of “The Rescuers” and both the opening music (following the message in a bottle) and the trip cross-country aboard Orville. Very nice music.
(Even the “Rescue Aid Society” hymn is nifty!)
Hm – all new movies.
I grew up on Mary Poppins. Whatever you may feel about what the Disney crew did to Travers’ story, The brothers Sherman produced one fine soundtrack, with “Chim Chiminee”, “A Spoonful of Sugar”, “The Old Bird Woman”, and “Let’s Go Fly a Kite”, among others. I don’t think I’ve liked a higher proportion of songs from any other Disney film.
That said, I really do like a lot of the songs from the more recent Disney featires – ever since the Little Mermaid, there’s been more than one good song from Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, andAladdin
Mary Poppins is primarily live action, so out of the realm of the OP.
I can’t think of a single Disney movie where the soundtrack as a whole stuck with me. Alice in Wonderland, Aladdin and the Little Mermaid win for the most songs I could sing if asked (2 each*). Tangled, Alice in Wonderland, Lady and the Tramp, and Lion King for single songs I really love**.
** Mother Knows Best, The Unbirthday Song, The Siamese Cat Song (even with it’s slight racist aspects, it’s fun), Hakuna Matata.
I like the soundtracks of Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, and Lion King. But the best song in the whole of Disney animation is Hellfire from Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Hands down, Pinocchio, not just because of the terrific songs, but the underscore through the rest of the film (especially the Pleasure Island sequences) is magnificent.
Props to Dumbo, which won the score Oscar and Jerry Goldsmith’s incredible work on Mulan (note: again, talking about the score; the songs are only so-so).
I’ve gotta go with “The Incredibles.” The final credits perfectly capture the sort of 60s/70s brass-heavy themes the cartoon is set in. My favorite, and the only soundtrack I liked enough to buy.
I like all of those sound tracks, but none of them is recent. The newest is 19 years old.
I say a lot of nasty things about Hunchback. But the soundtrack, and especially Hellfire and the opening number (Bells of Notre Dame), are marvelous.
The Little Mermaid marked an era-shift. It was kind of a rebirth of sorts after about a decade of floundering (ha!) in the dissipating wake of the Nine Old Men era.
Considering that the Nine Old Men era lasted for 50 years, it’s not so out of place to call The Little Mermaid one of the “newer” films. I think many people do count from that starting point when discussing the newer era.
I mispelled “40” but the point remains.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1937 to The Rescuers 1977.
FWIW, it is hard to beat the Lion King soundtrack in units sold.
Aladdin IIRC is in second place for Disney.
Of those I’ve seen, I’m going to have to go with Aladdin. I can’t guarantee that one I haven’t seen might not be better, though.
Now, granted, “A Whole New World” got way overplayed, but it seems like every decent movie soundtrack ends up with at least one overplayed song.