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Friday, September 15, 2023

My Ten Favorite Animated Disney Movies

This list has only animated movies made by Walt Disney Studios.  No Pixar.  Why?  Because this post is part of the 100 Years of Disney Blogathon hosted this weekend by Silver Scenes, so I wanted to focus solely on Disney's animation studio.  

Titles linked to my reviews, where applicable (but I haven't reviewed that many animated movies, it turns out...).  Are any of these favorites for you too?


1. Robin Hood (1973)  Ye olde story of Robin Hood robbing the rich to feed the poor and battling Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham... except, they're all animated, talking animals. Hilarious and heartwarming and swashbuckling and wonderful. I have loved this movie so long I can't remember the first time I saw it.

2. 101 Dalmatians (1961)  Two dogs and their owners stop the evil Cruella de Ville from turning 101 sweet puppies into a coat. Much less grisly than it sounds but, at the same time, so dark it terrified me when I was very young.  But now, I love it!

3. Tangled (2010)  Rapunzel paints, sings, wields a mean frying pan, and dances her way into the heart of an errant knave and the audience.  I love the way this movie exudes -- and celebrates -- joy and enthusiasm.

4. Aladdin (1992)  A humble thief finds a genie, gets turned into a prince, and tries to steal a princess's heart. I was very nutty about this movie when I was in my early teens.  

5. The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh (1977)  Actually, three adventures of a lovable, bumbling teddy bear whose brain may be stuffed with fluff, but whose heart is made of very sturdy stuff indeed.  When my brother was very young, this was his favorite movie.  When my son was very young, this was one of only two movies he ever wanted to watch.  So I have seen it many, many times, but I'm not tired of it!

6. Cinderella (1950)  Classic fairy tale princess story about a sweet, kind, hardworking young girl whose fairy godmother gives her a chance to go to the royal ball.  The rest is princess history.  When I was a kid, I really didn't care much for this movie, but watching it repeatedly with my daughters when they were younger gave me a real appreciation for it.

7. Frozen (2013)  Do I even need to tell you what this is about? Princess Elsa accidentally unleashes an eternal winter and nearly kills her sister, but it turns out all you need is love, just like the Beatles said. Visually stunning AND heart-warming (pun totally intended).

8. Lady and the Tramp (1955)  A prim and proper Cocker Spaniel tames a hound dog with her innocence and loyalty to her humans. Sweet and sentimental, yes, but sassy and funny too.

9. The Jungle Book (1967)  Mowgli just wants to live in the jungle forever, but his bear and panther guardians know he is in terrible danger there.  They are sure it would be much better for him to live in the man village... but I am never quite convinced they're right.  I do much prefer Kipling's Mowgli stories, especially for how they end, but the movie is a lot of fun too.

10. The Aristocats (1970)  A pampered cat and her mischievous kittens are cat-napped and must find their way back home to London with the help of an alley cat, some geese, and their own good sense.  I first saw this in college, and it quickly became a favorite.


Like I said, this is a contribution to the 100 Years of Disney Blogathon.  Come back later this weekend for my top ten list of favorite live-action Disney films!

15 comments:

  1. My two faves on your list are "The Jungle Book" and, of course, "Robin Hood." Another favourite of mine is "The Lion King." But my all-time fave Disney animated movie is "The Sword in the Stone." I was 6 years old when I saw it and it was the start of my lifelong fandom for the Arthurian Legends. I remember that I had a Sword in the Stone colouring book and my auntie told me it had ugly pictures -- wouldn't I prefer one with Cinderella or Snow White in it. NO, I WOULD NOT!

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    1. Debra, somehow I just can't get into Sword in the Stone, even though I love the Arthur legend and have read and watched many variations of it. I think the trouble is, I didn't watch it as a kid. I first saw it in college, but I bet if I had seen it as a kid, I would be more of a fan. Those early watches are so formative!

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  2. I loved your list! Robin Hood is seriously underrated! I can't put myself on your shoes and do this task of ranking the Disney animations. I grew up with so many of them, and choosing a favorite would be torture - a good kind, as I'd want to revisit them all.
    Fun post! Cheers!
    Le

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    1. Thanks, Le! Yes, Robin Hood deserves to have more fans than it does these days. Glad you enjoyed the post! :-)

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  3. Early watches are formative, indeed – – as a kid, I watched "The Jungle Book" and "Aristocats" (maybe it had something to do that I always went with my Dad and that he was such an animal lover). My favorite was the Aristocats, I also found the music so captivating, I even asked my parents to buy me the record (yeah, we had records back then ;-) ) with the music score. Unfortunately, I had to watch the movie in German, since my English was rather shaky when I was 8 yrs old... (What I disliked was O'Malley belting "Gee-useppe Casey", when, with Italian as one of our official languages in Switz., I knew it should've been "Jooo-seppe"). I loved that film so much, I named our baby rabbits Marie, Toulouse and Berlioz. Only I got the gender wrong (very hard to tell with baby rabbits), so Marie was a male and Berlioz a female, and Toulouse was black, furry and so cute. Oh happy memories...

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    1. Andrea, I had records as a kid too! In fact, I had Disney storybook records, which is how I experienced most classic Disney movies first. By the time VCRs were common enough for us to be able to rent videos, I already had memorized lots of the songs from movies like Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book thanks to those records. I loved listening to them so much, that I knew how to flip over a record by the time I was 3 years old. My parents had an old portable turntable that they let me use because if I broke it, I would not be breaking their good hi-fi system. But I was a very careful toddler, and most of my Disney records never even got scratches!

      I didn't see The Aristocats until college, but it is enchanting :-) So funny that O'Malley's pronunciation irked you as a kid! It probably would have bugged me too -- I've always been a stickler for correct facts and pronunciation and names. Anyway, how sweet you named rabbits after the kittens!

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  4. Cinderella was my favorite movie as a kid. I wore the VHS tape out. It wouldn't be on a top ten favorite Disney list I'd make now, but it still has a special place in my heart.

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    1. Nitrate Glow, I know what you mean! There are movies that will always hold a special place in my heart simply for how much they meant to me at some past time, even if they are not my current jam. That can be important!

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  5. Frozen brings me so much joy. I love Frozen II as well, especially the ending they gave Elsa.

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    1. Katie, I still haven't seen Frozen II. I know, I know, I live under a rock. A rock that even has Disney+, so my only excuse is... that I loved the ending of Frozen and kinda don't want to go farther!

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    2. No, that's totally valid! Frozen does stand really well on its own, so there's no need to watch the second movie if you don't want to. But I loved seeing Elsa continue to find her own path.

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  6. What a great selection! I never took the time to think about what my favorite Disney animated films are, but will have to do that now. In seems like Snow White and Cinderella should be the top-choices but, like you, on any given day I think I would pick Robin Hood to watch, if I had to choose between the two. I always enjoyed Ichabod and Mr. Toad as well. But what's this? No Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, or Sword in the Stone on your list?

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    1. Thanks, Metzingers! I have never seen Ichabod and Mr. Toad, I'm afraid -- mainly because the book The Wind in the Willows annoys me a LOT. But it also isn't one our library had when I was growing up, so that's probably the real reason I haven't seen it.

      I do like Sleeping Beauty enough to own it. I have seen both Peter Pan and Sword in the Stone several times, both of them within the past year, and I just... am not enchanted by them. Sorry!

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  7. I'm delighted to see 101 Dalmatians ranked highly as your list, as I consider it Disney's finest animated film. Nice to see the under-appreciated Tangled get some love. I would add The Little Mermaid and Beauty & the Beast in lieu of Robin Hood and Aladdin.

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    1. Rick29, it really is hard to beat 101 Dalmatians. And Tangled is absolutely delightful -- and really deserves a lot more love :-)

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