Wouldn’t Lilo and Stitch count as a no-song movie? Nobody breaks into song inexplicably, and the only person who sings in the film is Elvis Presley.
Another vote for Mulan (primarily for Jerry Goldsmith’s brilliant contributions), followed by the funny Aladdin–the only two recent Disney (non-Pixar) films I can see myself re-watching.
I hope you’re not talking about me because I didn’t. Nor do I see anyone else in this thread that did.
I don’t think they sang in the Rescuers Down Under. Certainly it wasn’t a musical.
Sorry Zebra, I must not have been clear. In the 1946(??) Disney flick “Ichabod and Mr. Toad”, the “Ichabod” in question is Ichabod Crane of the “Headless Horseman” story. A big, loudmouthed creep named Brom Bones is the antagonist…and Brom Bones in that 1946(???) feature is clearly the model the animators used when they did Gaston. So not only is Gaston a wimpy bad-guy, he’s not even an original bad-guy.
Fenris
I don’t think Hunchback is misunderstood at all. You’re right that it’s not a children’s film. It’s also not a film for adults. The real problem with Hunchback is that it never found a focus… it couldn’t decide whether to be a cute kid’s movie or a serious animated film for adults. I saw it trying to be a serious movie, then it would drop in a scene with the three dumb-ass gargoyles or tell a lame joke. The sexual tension of the judge, done so perfectly in the novel, is glossed over and watered down so that kids could watch it. The songs are among some of Disney’s worst, and if anything even more of a distraction from the already muddled storyline. The ending is nothing short of a travesty. Hunchback is the worst of animated films; it didn’t know whether it was an adult-oriented film trying to appeal to kids or a child-oriented film trying to appeal to adults. In the end (the cheated, butchered, tepid, meaningless end of the movie, that is), it’s neither.
Now, I will agree that Disney’s Hunchback has a few excellent scenes in it, chief among them the first scene. The “sanctuary” scene is also good, but the same thing was done better and more dramatically in Tarzan. However, the really good scenes in Hunchback are few and far between, and they do not fit together to form a cohesive whole.
In a word, Disney’s Hunchback flat-out sucked. It’s probably Disney’s worst film, in my estimation.
Then you must not have seen Pocahontas. Not that I disagree about Hunchback; it was so disrespectful of its literary namesake that it was pathetic. But Pocahontas made a travesty of actual historical personages and events.
You’re absolutely right… Pocahontas was every bit as bad, and for most of the same (or similar) reasons as Hunchback.
Though it has to be said, the worst Disney films are really those awful straight-to-video sequels they keep cranking out. If Pocahontas is a travesty (and oh my, yes it is), then Pocahontas II is an outright abomination, and Hunchback II should be expunged from the face of the Earth. I don’t even want to see Return to Neverland.
My favs are Lion King and Alladin. And although The Return of Jafar was not that good (though still better than other straight to video sequels) I heard that King of Thieves (the third Aladdin film) was good. Having never seen it, I can’t comment.
Hi, MamaHen! <waves>
Beauty and the Beast has been my favorite ever since I heard the reprise of title song by the chorus at the end of the film, and the camera panned back from the stained glass mosaic to show The Rose blooming again in all its glory. sigh
Unfortunately, the DVD isn’t going to be released until October 8th of this year. However, the laserdisc came out several years ago, and I’ve owned it ever since and, thus, I can watch it at 60% better resolution than a VHS tape any time I want to. Heh heh heh. One of the few advantages of still owning a laserdisc player in this day and age. Mua ha ha ha ha!
1.* Lion King* - as a story (But then again I was a big fan of Tezuka-sama’s Jungle Tatei back when…)
2.* Aladdin* – for Robin Williams, mostly
3. *Emperor’s New Groove *-- very, VERY good when you want just simple silly fun
Lilo and Stitch is still to be seen
B & B gets a special achievement award for quality of the filmmaking. But the story as such was ho-hum.
Dishonorable mention: Pocahontas. Goodness gracious what were they thinking…
And BTW Disney, through a subsidiary, were indirectly responsible for the US release of Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke and Kiki’s Delivery Service, themselves high quality fare.
Yes, JRDelirious, a higher fare than Disney’s, at least for me. 
I liked Little Mermaid when I saw it back when I was…erm…8 or 9?
Then I didn’t see any Disney animated stories until The Emperor’s New Groove. Aaaah, I watched it in a movie theater and was the only teenager. I think I got the jokes that were lost on the kids.
I recently saw Lilo and Stitch. Very good, too! Even better than The Emperor’s New Groove because of the plot, serious yet very funny.
Oh, we get to vote for worst also? I haven’t seen Pocahontas II, but Lady and the Tramp II is worse than Pocahontas. I can’t believe I watched that whole movie.
I love Disney animated movies, but, as a rule, I never watch any Disney direct-to-video sequel of a theatrical movie. I have already learned that they are all bad news (if they were any good, they’d be released to the theatres…).
Zev Steinhardt
I was almost, almost, enticed into seeing the Peter Pan sequel since it was released into theaters. But changed my mind since it was wierd that it wasn’t part of Disney’s Full Length Animated Feature list. Very suspicious in my mind.
[hijack]
As long as the subject was brought up, does anyone know Disney’s rules (assuming that there are any to begin with) for which films end up on it’s vaunted DFLAF list? I’ve also noticed that certain films make it while others (A Goofy Movie, being a recent example) don’t make it. Any ideas?
Zev Steinhardt
[/hijack]
I have a question about Atlantis. How old was the main female Atlantean? I remember thinking “If she is this old, and she was a child when it sank, then Atlantis shouldn’t be a mystery. It would be in history books as fact.” I was surprised by such a galring error. Does anyone know what I’m talking about?
She was 3000 years old or around that age…
Zev. It’s probably something to do with which division makes the movie.
Although looking at the production companies for Lilo & Stitch and Return to Neverland this doesn’t appeat to be true. Both were under Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Disney Animation. Lilo & Stitch was also under Walt Disney Television Animation whereas RTNL was rather under Walt Disney Animation Australia and Walt Disney Animation Canada. Red herring I guess.
I have to give my #1 vote to Beauty and the Beast. Fantastic music, beautiful animation, and a well done fairy tale story line.
Closely following for me is The Lion King.
I loved the humor in the Toy Story series, and The Little Mermaid and Aladdin were also excellent. Overall, I don’t think I can think of a recent Disney film that I didn’t enjoy…
Jman
Ok, so I saw Monster’s Inc.. I wasn’t impressed. It was kind of tedious. For a Disney/Pixar project, it was subpar. I even watched it again (after watching Mulan, of course) just to give it another chance. 'Twasn’t as funny as Toy Story or Toy Story 2.