Frozen: Fun, Sweet, And All Around Fantastic

Frozen 

Directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee 

Produced by Peter Del Vecho 

Written by Jennifer Lee 

Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures 

From Walt Disney Animation Studios 

(Warning: This Review Contains Some Mild Story Spoilers!!! Read NO Further If You Haven't Seen The Movie!!!)

After a few efforts that seemed a little too closely resembled to the likes of Pixar and Dreamworks, Disney Animation seems to have found a a unique, fitting, and relevant identity. Starting with Meet The Robinsons in 2007, Disney has seemed to have found themselves in a new Renaissance under the wings of John Lasseter. Does Frozen continue this trend? I'm happy to say, it does just that. 

The film opens with two young sisters playing in their spacious residence. Elsa, can create ice, frost, and snow from her bare hands, a power that keeps her younger sister Anna entertained. But their fun innocent recreation goes awry when Elsa accidentally strikes Anna with some of her magic. Their parents, the king and queen of the kingdom Arendelle, bring the wounded Anna to some stone trolls, who think it's best to remove any memory she has of her sister's powers. The only remnant of this is a white streak in Anna's hair. The two girls eventually grow up with more of a distance for either of them would like, to keep Elsa's powers hidden from the kingdom and Anna restrained within the castle. 

A few moments later, their parents die in a vague shipwreck, setting up the coronation of the now presumed late-teenaged Elsa. It's clear this early in the film that the platinumed-haired queen is not out film's protagonist. That honor belongs to Anna, her down-to-earth, friendly, slightly clumsy younger sister. On the day of Elsa's crowning ceremony, Anna meets Prince Hans, a sweet, handsome, mutton chopped young man whom Anna immediately takes a liking for. Within a few hours, Hans proposes to Anna, who immediately accepts. When they bring their marriage plans to Elsa, she refuses to give them her blessing since she doesn't believe her sister is wanting to marry a guy that she just met. In the process, her long-kept secret is revealed to the entire kingdom at the reception. 

Elsa's unintentional ice-slinging puts the entire kingdom of Arendelle into an eternal winter. She storms off, prompting Anna to go out on a quest to find her sister, while leaving Hans temporarily in charge of the kingdom. Before Anna can reach her sister, she encounters a hunky blonde ice vendor Kristoff and his loyal trusty reindeer Sven, and Olaf, a largely indestructible and upbeat snowman who tag along for the adventure. 

The film's story is very well-crafted. In a nice twist, instead of starting off in eternal winter, and have the flashback scene in the second act, like I imagined at first, which I thought told a better story. While the parent's death feels a little too cliched, it's still very sad. The morals and messages told here were great; the thing about not falling in love instantly and letting it blossom was an anvil that really needed some dropping. The atmosphere was great too and how it conveys the emotions of the characters; the scene where Anna gets frozen solid, with the silence only broken by Elsa's sobbing and the howling wind, was like a punch to the gut. I think the moral of love and family was really presented well during that scene. Disney knocked it out of the park with the fairy tale story told here. 

The characters are equally as memorable as the story. Anna is atypical Disney princess; she isn't incredibly smart or proper, she's goofy, she's quirky, and she's silly. But Anna has such strength of heart that comes out so many times in the film and you can't help but love her for that. Her strength of character and convictions is what drives the plot forward and I loved seeing her encounter all the turmoil that she faced during the journey. Elsa is someone who I'm able to relate with. I can emphasize with someone who has been forced to hide their true selves from others because of what's deemed as "right". That's totally understandable, as you could go a little overboard after you unleash your true self. Elsa feels the most human out of any of these characters.

Then there are the other characters. Hans is the "perfect" or "ideal" man, especially considering the Disney princes of yore, and Kristoff is, well, kind of the male version of Anna, funnily enough. Both characters are both utilized well and serve as appropriate foils to our heroines. Olaf was always going to walk the thin line of being funny or just incredibly annoying. Luckily for Frozen, Olaf works in every way that counts. He has some of the best one-liners in any Disney film, helps keep a lighter tone in some of the film's more dramatic moments (and there were quite a bit of those), and is given some honest to goodness emotional lines. That also never happens with the comic-relief sidekick. He is a pure delight. 

Something that the typical movie-goer probably won't know about Frozen is that it's a musical. The songs are written and composed by husband-and-wife team Kristen-Anderson Lopez and Robert Lopez, whose past collaborations included Disney's Winnie the Pooh and Tony Award winners Avenue Q and The Book of Mormon. The songs as a whole are fantastic for the most part. 

Frozen Heart is a very nice introduction piece to the story and the chorus reminds me much of Happy Roundabouts from Dumbo. The lyrics are nicely done and the orchestrations captures the essence of the Norwegian culture. Do You Want To Build A Snowman is a great song and one of Disney's more emotional ones. Kristen Bell's performance on that last verse is very teary-eyed to listen to. Lovely music though it tends to get emotional later on. First Time In Forever is the traditional "I Want" song that this film does right what Tangled and even Princess and the Frog to an extent did wrong. Both Bell and Menzel did a great job with the duet finale, foreshadowing the later reprise. The song sounds very Menken-esque, as his influence does appear to be permanent on the studio. Love Is An Open Door is probably my least favorite of the musical numbers. The song feels a bit too over-the-top and the lyrics are strange, but I assume that's the point of it. Do appreciate how it's supposed to be a tongue and cheek parody of classic Disney love ballads. Let It Go is the film's best song and definitely the highlight of the movie. The lyrics and music are very personal and powerful, and expresses a great message in forgetting about the past and starting anew, stronger than ever. Menzel literately has a voice to die for! The stunning visuals also help elevate the song. Reindeer Are Better then people, while short, is still a a sweet little piece. Groff's performance is very lullaby and smoothing, and his reindeer voice is hilarious. In Summer is a funny little song, and this is where the Lopez's strike the funny part with their talents. The puddle line was absolutely brilliant. The reprise to FTIF is fantastic, and very powerful. The actresses have great chemistry during the song and the ending is quite striking. Fixer Upper is one of the more funner of the Disney songs, and the lyrics are very catchy. I loved how the song gets all crazy energetic at the very end from the Gospel sounding chorus. 

A lot of the critics seem to point criticism towards the twist that occurs during the movie's third act. I've read some reviews stating that it "wasn't earned" by the critics. I haven't quite made up my decision on that, though I currently don't agree with that sentiment. If their goal was to shock the audience, I say it worked. The audience at my screening where quite shocked during the reveal.

This shouldn't be surprising, but the animation here is absolutely gorgeous. From the falling snow, to the blizzard frozen lake, and especially Elsa's ice palace, everything here was incredibly detailed and polished. When it comes down to animation techniques, I'm a huge nerd, so when I was watching Elsa build her ice castle, I got goosebumps and started to welled up. It was that stunning! I love the attention to detail that doesn't matter in the scheme of things but are still there. Anna's dress is an example of this. The embroidery designs could of have been solid colors instead of the individual threads with black fabric peeking out between them if the animators wanted too.

A+ In short, Frozen is a great mix of warmth, sadness, and great laughs. Not only is it my favorite animated film of the year, but it's also quite possibly one of my favorite Disney films of all time. Definitely check it out! 

Trailer Recap: 

The Boxtrolls: Laika's next animated feature. It's really astounding how much effort that they put into their features, and this is no exception. It was awesome to see how the film was made and how each little detail had to be handcrafted. Opens September 26th, 2014 

The Nut Job: To be honest, this looks to be a disaster. Nothing about the trailer was remotely funny and the animation looks very subpar. Also, does the design of the rodent character remind you of anyone? Opens January 17th, 2014 

Muppets Most Wanted: This was a hilarious trailer, the badge gag involving Sam Eagle cracked me up. Here's hoping for a great sequel to a movie that I absolutely adored. Opens March 21st, 2014 

Walking With Dinosaurs: Looked pretty meh to me. Expected much better CG to come from a major studio like Fox. Opens December 19th 

The Lego Movie: Really excited to check this out. You can really see the Lord-Miller styled humor from this trailer. Opens February 7th, 2014 

Maleficent: I'm currently on the fence about this project. Looks like another episode of Once Upon A Time from ABC. Opens May 30th, 2014

An Alluring Dazzler

That's right, folks! The newest trailer for Disney Animation's upcoming film, Frozen. What did I think of it? Lets find out... 

For starters, the animation looks wonderful. The kingdom of Ardenelle and the other different sets look extremely lush and fluid in their overall detail and presentation. A couple bits here and there look very photorealistic. I remember being extremely critical on the initial character designs when they were first unveiled months ago. Now that I've seem them in motion and looked at them more closely, they aren't bad. Looks like we got another visual marvel on our hands from the Mouse House! 

I have to give Disney marketing props for staying out of spoiler territory. The trailers and television spots for the recent Pixar films (namely Brave and Monsters University) went too deep with that and tended to spoil a few things. This trailer and the recent ones for Disney films avoided this trend and gives you focus on the story without giving away too much about the plot. I actually read a few spoilers for the movie from some of the storybooks. And aside from a couple minor little plot details, nothing major is revealed here. 

But like most trailers, you have your fair share of stinker bits... 

Too much focus on the comedy is presented here. I do, however, see where they are going with this though (more on it later). Olaf is shoved down our throats with different jokes in the trailer's second half. The character could very well be funny comic relief character, but I'm just not buying into him yet. It also doesn't help that the awkward editing made some of those jokes fall flat. 

A minor complaint here, but some of the dialogue felt a bit too "meh", for my tastes. It might be the way the dialogue doesn't really fit with the mouth movements (which I mentioned with the editing), but it's possible that those scenes are presented out of complex. Again, nothing major to point fingers at. 

You can pretty much get from the marketing that the marketing wants this to be another Tangled-sized success at the box-office. Like Tangled, they might be underplaying some elements (i.e. the female-centric plot and the musical numbers) to garner interest in young boys. This does, however, has a better chance to clear $200 million domestically given the lack of direct competition holiday season. I seriously doubt Free Birds will be a viable threat to this. The film opens a few days after the highly-anticipated Hunger Games sequel, which might take away some of its teenage audience and even adults. Though I don't really see that film hurting Frozen too much. 

All in all, I'd say this is a pretty satisfying trailer. It gives you a good glimpse at the story, and it's a visual darling to look at from start to finish. Bring it on! 

What are your thoughts on this trailer? Let me know your opinions down below in the comments section! 

A Return To Sea?

It's official, folks. Disney and Pixar have announced yesterday that a sequel to their 2003 smash-hit Findng Nemo is indeed happening. But here's the kick. It's not exactly Finding Nemo 2, but rather...

Finding Dory!

The sequel is slated to open on November 25th, 2015. Now, there's a chance that this could potentially move to 2016. Pixar has said numerous times that they would be adapting to a two-film-a-year plan, but they never became a reality. Will this be the first time that they release two films in one calendar year? Maybe, but I don't really see them moving this just yet. We'll have to wait and see when more announcements start rolling out.

So, what is the plot synopsis you might ask? Well, set a year after its predecessor, Finding Dory takes place off the coast of California where the blue tang reunites with her parents, and features such returning characters such as Marlin and Nemo, while introducing others. Director Andrew Stanton explained that "One thing we could not stop thinking about was why she was alone in the ocean when she met Marlin. In Finding Dory, she will be reunited with her loved ones, learning a few new things about family along the way".

Come to think of it, I generally feel warm to the idea of the sequel. We didn't know much about Dory and her origins or anything about her life before she met Marlin. This idea could potentially be good since it doesn't harm the original's story in any way. Remember the two Toy Story sequels? Those did the impossible and equaled the high level quality of the original, while also fleshing characters that we all came to know and love. I believe that this film will do the very same. I'm not trying to say that Dory needed her backstory explained in Finding Nemo, but it's rather a fantastic and very heartfelt idea for a Pixar sequel. They aren't rehashing the plot of the original, but rather someone finding out who they really are.

You have to give Pixar credit where it's due. All of their sequels aren't a complete rehash of their predecessors. Both Toy Story sequels and Cars 2 expanded upon the characters while introducing them to all new worlds and locations. At least Finding Dory isn't a complete retrend of the original, as I know the Brain Trust would not go that route for the sequel.

There are films whose endings can stand alone without a "need" upon any further story. I believe that this is the case for every Pixar film with a sequel to date. Toy Story, Cars, or Monsters Inc. could all stand alone perfectly well. Those films didn't "need" a sequel, but most importantly, they aren't necessarily hurt by one, either. Pixar can continue to stop or continue with those respective franchises if they choose.

So, in all honestly, do I think Finding Nemo fits in that category? Yes. That film ended so perfectly, but it didn't necessarily close up the universe. The lives of those characters continue forward and we can witness them without staining the original.

Any further news regarding Finding Dory will probably have people feeling overwhelmed, and that would be coming from those who think "Pixar is dying", but it seems like general audiences are going to like the idea of a Finding Nemo sequel happening. Ellen DeGeneres is beyond excited for it, and I see some enthusiasm coming from the folks at Pixar. Lee Unkrich on his Twitter page excitedly announced the project, too!

So, here's hoping that Finding Dory turns out to be a great sequel. We can feel a little bit skeptical, since the original is so good. The sequel does have a lot of expectations to live up to. Those Toy Story sequels did it, and Monsters University could very well be a good sequel that lives up to the original! I feel very skeptical about the sequel like a lot of other folks do. You never know how it could turn out. Finding Dory could very well be one of those rare sequels that actually lives up the original. And I think if you're worrying about the sequel, I say relax until more has been announced.

"Rise of the Guardians": Magic, but You Better Believe! (Includes an Update)

Rise of the Guardians 

Directed by Peter Ramsey

Produced by Christina Steinberg and Nancy Bernstein 

Written by David Lindsay-Abaire 

Composed by Alexandre Desplat 

Distributed by Paramount Pictures

Studio: Dreamworks Animation

Like Disney, Dreamworks has been on an uphill streak for quite some time now. Films like Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon were miles ahead of anything Dreamworks has put out from 2004-07. Down were the pop-culture references and toilet humor as the studio focused more on the storytelling which plagued the films released from the aforementioned years. After the release of Bee Movie in 2007, the company was about to change their approach on their films for the better. Fast forward five years later into the year 2012. This is where we enter into Rise of the Guardians...

Told briskly in 97 minutes, this movie tells the tale of Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny, The Tooth Fairy, Sandman, and Jack Frost who ban together to fight the common enemy known as Pitch (The Boggeyman). This group known for being the heroes of imagination of children around the world will be put to the test when they have to defend everything they know against this despicable villain.

As you could tell from the marketing, Rise of the Guardians looked essentially like The Avengers, but with holiday characters. Each of the holiday characters are treated like heroes that are assembled together to fight off a menacing villain. There is a origin story for Jack Frost, which is parallel to that of Wolverine from the original X-Men movie. Jack is a loner with no memory of his past who gets brought into a team of heroes and must accept his place with his new family. The plot, at its core, works due to the holiday setting.

This movie is absolutely gorgeous in the visual department. Del Toro's influence is very vivid in the design of the fantastic elements, from Pitch's lair or to The Easter Bunny's or Santa Claus' homes. The animation is very smooth, and picturesque, with a wonderful balance of color, lighting, and tone. The use of snow and sky was absolutely breathtaking.

Like Wreck-It Ralph, the casting here is solid. While I wasn't too crazy about Chris Pine providing the voice of a teenage character, he makes the character charming, roguish, and free spirited. A very likable lead here. Hugh Jackman is hilarious as The Easter Bunny. Alec Baldwin is wonderful as North. His Russian accent is a bit hard to get behind at times, but it's never distracting. Jude Law provides a creepy and marvelous performance as our antagonist, Pitch. Isla Fisher also provides a solid performance as The Tooth Fairy.

Rise of the Guardians has an almost perfect balance of dark/tearjerker moments along with some more comedic bits. The marketing made this movie look like one of Dreamworks' darker films, which it was. Though I could of done without the final battle being played for laughs, it proves to be an okay finale.

Before I went into this movie, I had never heard of director Peter Ramsey, whose background was as a storyboard artist on several different projects. He did a fantastic job in guiding this project and I hope we see more from him in the foreseeable future. He certainly comes close to topping Pixar at their own game with his directorial debut.

As I mentioned before, what made the recent Dreamworks movies work was their storytelling. While Rise of the Guardians is okay in that department, it's a step down from their previous efforts. Some of the plot tends to become a bit too confusing such as Jack's fulfillment. This isn't the only mistake writer David Lindsay-Abaire makes. There's a major plot development that takes place off-screen, which makes the rest of the movie confusing which is a bit too much of a distraction.

Aside from that, there were a couple minor problems I had with Rise of the Guardians. The sub-plot with Jack Frost wasn't very interesting. Once you realize how he becomes Jack Frost, it hits hard but his moping around for about 80% of the film feels a bit out of place with most of the hijinks that assures at Santa's North Pole. Also, the stuff with The Man on the Moon is a bit clunky in the story.

B- While it isn't up to par with some of Dreamworks' recent efforts, Rise of the Guardians is still a very good film in its own right. A definite holiday classic in the making.

Trailer Time

I caught a 2:35 matinee showing with my aunt. The theater was packed but not too much like Wreck-It Ralph. The audience seemed to really enjoy it as they applauded at the end. We got five trailers before the movie began.

Despicable Me 2: The same teaser with the minions singing their rendition of Barbra Ann. When will we get a new trailer?! Opens July 3, 2013 

Monsters Inc 3D: Already mentioned this with my review of Wreck-It Ralph, but I'm interested to see how the conversion turns out. Opens December 19

The Croods: This trailer was great. While I wasn't too crazy about the human designs, the animation on the different creatures looks wonderful. The visual designs of the scenery look very colorful. Chris Sanders really knows how to do work wonders in the visual department. Opens March 22, 2013

The Smurfs 2: The reason for this sequel is because the original was profitable. Not looking forward to this one. Opens July 31, 2013

Jack the Giant Slayer: An upcoming adaptation of some fairy tale. Looks pretty good. Opens March 1, 2013 

That concludes my review of Rise of the Guardians. Did you folks enjoy this movie or think it was a misfire? Also, what do you think was the best animated film of 2012? Sound off! 

Update: I'm currently planning on doing a a series called Animation Look Back where I review animated films from the past. I will have a poll consisting of five animated films listed for me to review every couple of weeks. Another series I'm thinking about is a monthly Q&A, where you folks email any questions you want me to answer. Let me know what you think in the comments section. 

"Wreck-It Ralph": Funny, Clever, and Full of Nostalgia

Wreck-It Ralph 

Directed by Rich Moore

Produced by Clark Spencer

Written by Jennifer Lee and Phil Johnston 

Composed by Henry Jackman

Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures

Studio: Walt Disney Animation Studios 

Warning: If you have not seen the film, please DO NOT read any further. There are some mild spoilers below. 

Ever since 2007, Walt Disney Animation Studios has truly gotten better. Meet the Robinsons was a pretty good movie and a step in the right direction for the studio. Bolt was great, too. Princess and the Frog and Tangled were certainly worthy of Walt's classics. Winnie the Pooh, while only being a gap filler, was still a fantastic movie. There was a lot of enthusiasm surrounding Wreck-It Ralph after the first trailer premiered, even from myself. Some even thought that Disney only made this movie to reel in the dough. As a Disney fanatic, what do I say? I'm happy to say, this movie blows expectations away. 

Wreck-It Ralph is the story of a video game villain who is fed up about being the bad guy in the game Fix it Felix Jr. Ralph's job in this game is to demolish the building. Felix and the player's job is to fix the building that Ralph had demolished. The game is won after Felix fixes Ralph's damage all the way to the top of the building. After this, Ralph is swarmed by the game's residents, the Nicelanders, and is unceremoniously tossed off the top of the building into a bed of mud. 

Determined to prove he can be a good guy, Ralph abandons his game. This causes a real problem for Fix-It Felix and the Nicelanders. With no bad guy, the game is placed "Out of Order" by the arcade's owner, Mr. Litwak. Fearing this fate, Felix, with some encouragement from the Nicelanders, sets off to find Ralph. 

Ralph's adventure takes him through a modern first-person shooter game called Heroes Duty and an candy coated racing game called Sugar Rush. During this adventure, Ralph quickly learns that all is not well in the arcade. 

The voice casting in Wreck-It Ralph is wonderful. John C. Reilly gives the right amount of bad guy angst and is lovable as the title character. Jack McBrayer is pitch perfect and is also squeaky clean as Fix it Felix Jr. Jane Lynch is solid as Sergeant Calhoun. Sarah Silverman was a pleasant surprise as Vanellope Von Schweetz. She comes off as annoying at first, but she becomes tolerable once we get to know about her and her past. In fact, she holds the key to the emotional core of the movie. She is a loner, like Ralph because she is a glitch in the game. No one remembers why she's that way but they know if she finishes the race, the game will meet its end. Since her backstory caries the emotional core of the story, it was important for her character to be likable and she was. Of course, the person who stole the movie was Alan Tudyak as the film's antagonist, King Candy. The character is a complete hoot and an awesome throwback to The Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland. 

This film is very funny. The video game references (particularly in the film's first act) were hilarious. I had a huge grin on my face after every joke. The sweet references were funny too, which got more of a reaction then anything else. Most of those references are just laugh out loud funny, like the Oreo reference. I think it's enough to rival the likes of Emperor's New Groove and Shrek as some of the most funniest movies I have seen. 

The different video game worlds in Wreck-It Ralph are incredibly conceptualized. One does not simply underestimate Disney's attention to detail. Every world in this movie is unique and deviating. Heroes Duty has a more realistic feel to it like a modern first person shooter game would, while Sugar Rush has a more cartoony look to it while being a visual showcase. Fix-It Felix Jr. has a more retro feel to it, especially with the movements of the Nicelanders. The character designs are also well done. They fit in extremely well with their environments. 

As you could tell by the trailers, this film was going to be loaded with lots of cameos and references. My eyes had a field day trying to spot the different games and all in the opening montage. There were even some cameos I didn't even expect like Frogger and Pac-Man. Seeing all of the different cameos in Game Central Station put a huge smile on my face. 

The moral of the story was also a lovely bonus. It's all about acceptance, and how you have to accept yourself, flaws or not. No matter if you were destined to be the bad guy or have glitches, because you never know if those flaws will become your strengths. 

There were a couple minor flaws I had with this movie. The first one was with some of the more crude humor. I mean, "Heroes Doody" is one thing, but the writers tend to overuse this kind of humor with Vanellope and the other characters. Thankfully, some of that humor is toned down in the film's third act with some somber moments. 

Like other animated films, the story tends to be familiar. The whole premise of a bad guy wanting to be a good guy sounded a bit too much like Despicable Me and Megamind. Thankfully, the other elements of the story aren't a complete re-trend of those mentioned movies. 

A While it's funny, clever, and nostalgic, Wreck-It Ralph is a lot of fun and continues the rebirth of Walt Disney Animation Studios. It's worthy of  some of Walt's finest achievements and definitely worth another go at the theater. You don't have to be a gamer to appreciate this movie. Don't miss out! 

Lets not forget about the short film that was attached to the movie, Paperman. Paperman was a lot of fun and a nice little treat before the movie began. The art direction was fantastic, and I hope the upcoming Ron and John project uses this style. It will certainly help bring back hand-drawn animation to the studio who defined it here in America. 

Trailer Time: I saw this at an 8:25 showing with my father and the theater was packed. The video game references seemed to go over the audience's heads, but they laughed at most of the sweet puns. They even applauded at the end. We got six trailers before the movie began. 

Monsters Inc 3D: I'm not sure if I'm going to check this out or not. I wasn't too crazy that this trailer focused more of the comedy, but we already know how great the movie is. Opens December 19th 

Rise of the Guardians: Never a big fan of trailers being attached to movies when they're only a couple weeks away from release. Anyway, we got a more recent trailer. It looks great, and I'm definitely willing to check it out. Dreamworks is truly getting better. Opens November 21st 

Oz: The Great and Powerful: It looks fantastic. Got a Tim Burton vibe while looking at the visual style. Here's hoping it turns out to be a great movie. Opens March 8th, 2013 

Despicable Me 2: Finally, we got a new trailer for this movie. The trailer was just harmless fun, which I'm hoping the movie will turn out to be. This one got the most reaction out of the audience. Looking forward to checking this one out next summer. Opens July 3rd, 2013 

Escape from Planet Earth: Not too sure about this one. It looks like it could be fun, but this looks like something that'll appeal to the younger demographic. Then again, I could be a bit biased since I'm not a fan of anything Weinstein has released. Opens February 14th , 2013 

Dino Time: Screw this crap. That's all I have to say. Should of been released straight to video. Opens December 7th 

So there you have it. Next review? Probably Brave when that comes to Blu-Ray next week. After that, maybe Rise of the Guardians if I get around to seeing it. 

Animation Celebration: Ranking the Disney Animated Features

Update: Now that I've seen Wreck-It Ralph, the list has been slightly altered.

With Disney's Wreck-It Ralph on the horizon, I decided to take a look back at the previous 51 Disney animated features.

Note: Please keep in mind that this list is strictly opinion based. Also, no films from Pixar, DisneyToon Studios or Studio Ghibli are on this list.


1) Pinocchio
2) Beauty and the Beast
3) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
4) Dumbo
5) The Lion King
6) Fantasia
7) Aladdin
8) Cinderella
9) The Hunchback of Notre Dame
10) The Little Mermaid
11) 101 Dalmatians
12) Wreck-It Ralph
13) Sleeping Beauty
14) The Princess and the Frog
15) Bambi
16) Winnie the Pooh
17) Tarzan
18) The Jungle Book
19) Tangled
20) Lady and the Tramp
21) Mulan
22) The Rescuers
23) Alice in Wonderland
24) Peter Pan
25) Hercules
26) The Emperor’s New Groove
27) Fantasia 2000
28) Lilo and Stitch
29) The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
30) Bolt
31) Ichabod and Mr. Toad
32) The Three Caballeros
33) Treasure Planet
34) Saludos Amigos
35) The Great Mouse Detective
36) The Aristocats
37) Make Mine Music
38) The Rescuers Down Under
39) The Black Cauldron
40) Atlantis
41) Meet the Robinsons
42) Pocahontas
43) Brother Bear
44) Melody Time
45) Fun and Fancy Fee
46) Fox and the Hound
47) The Sword in the Stone
48) Dinosaur
49) Oliver and Company
50) Robin Hood
51) Home on the Range
52) Chicken Little


There you have it. What do you think of this list? Do you think it's fantastic or not so good? Also, how would you rank the Disney animated features? Fire away!