I’m not going to count Pixar movies, because they are all number one in my estimation.
My favourite 2D animated Disney movie is probably Aladdin because it works on every level. Though Lion King and Beauty and the Beast are hard on its heels; it’s only their romantic subplots that don’t work for me.
Lilo and Stitch is adorable, though.
Least is probably Robin Hood, a bizarre messy film that seems to be more of a product of its time than most of them, but I also dislike Pinocchio, which just feels incomplete somehow.
Pinocchio, IMHO, still stands as the greatest animated feature film ever (not just Disney). An easy #1.
Worst? Some pretty dismal 70s and 80s stuff (The Black Cauldron stands out), but I don’t even know anyone who’s see Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Treasure Planet or Brother Bear so those should act as dishonorable mentions.
Robin Hood is my number one pick. That movie just brings out the kid in me like nothing else. The voice acting is just incredible (probably the best of any Disney film) and Brian Bedford’s characterization of Robin Hood might be the most charming and effective one in any movie, including live-action ones; it’s just overlooked because of the animal cast of the movie and the silliness of it. There’s a unique quirkiness in Disney’s Robin Hood which I haven’t experienced from any other Disney animated feature and I’ve seen all of them. It’s filled with stuff that probably went over the top of the heads of most kids, like the bizarre Oedipal issues of Prince John and his emasculation as a character (he’s made to look like a lioness rather than a male lion) and his immaturity (sucking his thumb all the time.) Peter Ustinov’s voice acting is just great too, as is Terry-Thomas as “Sir Hiss.” And there’s this very bizarre, yet effective, juxtaposition of a Medieval English village with a small town in the American South. This has been criticized by a lot of people and even I’ll admit that it’s quite weird, but I find it charming. And finally - Roger Miller’s singing! (The guy who did "King of the Road.) The whole movie is definitely evocative of a certain time and place in American pop culture and I really like it.
Everything made after Toy Story, I think is complete and utter trash. I know that makes me an un-hip, uncool, philistine jerk - whatever. (I’m 23 years old so those are “my” generation’s Disney movies - and I can’t stand them.)
Worst: Hercules. I think it’s highly uncharming and really dumbed down of what could have been. It also reeks of the 90’s.
Best: Press a gun to my head and I’d probably say Alice in Wonderland. It’s hand-drawn, it’s got good characterization and it’s based off one of my favorite books. It’s Disney-fied for sure, but not in such a manner that it’s completely untrue to the source material, unlike, say, the Little Mermaid. I also like Robin Hood a great deal.
I can understand those who like the Lion King, but to me, it is the movie that introduced fart humor to Disney’s animated feature movies. Unforgivable. Not even Jeremy Irons can save that.
Yep. One of my favorite movies, period. I think all my other Disney favorites are also the more modern ones, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Hercules, etc.
Least favorite is a three-way tie between Pinocchio, Snow White, and Alice in Wonderland.
Favorites: Lady and the Tramp, Fantasia, Pinocchio. (hides face in shame) I have never seen Dumbo or Bambi.
Least favorite: Peter Pan. That Tinkerbell was a stone bitch. I saw that movie for the first time when I was about 22 and was totally shocked. That’s what people have nostalgic affection for? Fuck that.
My favourites are Robin Hood, The Sword in the Stone, Sleeping Beauty, Alice in Wonderland, and Mulan.
Though I also have a love for Disney Channel Original Movies, which might technically qualify under the OPs subject line: my favourites are Go Figure, Princess Protection Program, A Ring of Endless Light, My Date with the President’s Daughter, Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior, and Pixel Perfect.
I don’t tend to retain least favourites in memory so I can’t say.
Same for me. I know the Hunchback is a complete bastardization of it’s source material, but that didn’t stop it from having terrific songs, and a really interesting villain with more depth than a lot of other Disney villains. I need to watch this one again.
I also really like Emperor’s New Groove, and was greatly disappointed the last time I went to Disney world that they basically sell no merchandise from it. Makes sense from a marketing perspective, it’s not one of the more popular ones and it’s not as kid-oriented as most of them, but I was still annoyed.
Okay, if I saw it today I’d probably dismiss it as a hippy-dippy PC butchering of history. But it came out when I was seven, and I was obsessed from the start. I mean, she was so pretty! Even prettier than Jasmine! And they had some good songs too. And they were going to kill John Smith, except that Pocahontas stopped them because she loved him…
Confining myself to animated features… I’m going to have to weigh in here and say that I, personally, really hate “The Jungle Book”. The reason is that I love the books, and for me, the main theme of the books is the dignity of the animals… and I felt like Disney completely inverted that theme with stereotypical goofy characters. This is a movie that genuinely makes me want to shoot the TV set. (Not to mention that that general period of Disney animation is relatively dismal, with cheap production values, cornball humor, etc. I also find “Robin Hood” to be one of the few Disney animated features that I really don’t particularly enjoy watching, for the same reasons.)
There is one Disney feature that’s in a category of its own, however – “Victory Through Air Power”. It’s a 1943 mixed live/animation feature that Disney made entirely to influence US military policy in WWII; it’s based on the book of the same name by Alexander P. de Seversky, and features narration by him. As might be expected, it’s almost entirely static, of no interest whatsoever to anyone except fanatic students of Disney and WWII. (I enjoyed watching it – once.)
As to favorites, just to be weird, I’m going to mention “The Three Caballeros.” The live parts are mostly incredibly dated, but the animated segments are among Disney’s best. Another one I like, from just before the “renaissance”, was “The Great Mouse Detective” – if for no other reason than Vincent Price’s wonderfully over-the-top portrayal of the villain, Ratigan.
Oddly enough, I consider the rest of the modern Disney crop to be 76-minute long advertisements aimed at toddlers. But there’s something clever about New Groove that really tickles me.
I like those ones. Alice is weird, Snow White is a technical masterpiece, and the art in Pinocchio is just amazing.
I thought I was the only person in the world who remembered The Three Cabelleros. I saw it when it first came out (1944) when I was 6 years old and for some reason it made such an impression on me that I have never forgotten it; I remember it still, but I have never see it mentioned anywhere.
My favorite, however, is Alice In Wonderland even though I think the best in terms of the animation is Pinocchio. There is one scene in that movie that I have never seen equaled by any other animators: We see Pinocchio and his “friend” from a height walking towards us, under us, and then beyond us and the gradual change from a front view to a top view to a back view is incredible.
I’m surprised, by the way, that* Fantasia* hasn’t received a lot of mentions.
