The 25 Best Disney Animated Movies

25. Encanto

Encanto was Disney’s sixtieth animated movie and it stays one among its brightest. The movie is ready in Colombia and is a celebration of not solely that lovely nation and its individuals, but additionally how we are able to overcome household trauma and be taught there may be a lot extra happening within us than we might present on the floor. Although this movie leans into magical realism and offers with characters with tremendous energy, shape-shifting talents, and extra, these are all stand-ins for various members of most households.

In step with that, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s implausible songs assist reveal a lot about Encanto’s Madrigal household and preserve us singing and dancing lengthy after the credit roll.

24. Alice in Wonderland

Based on the surreal mid-Victorian period novels by Lewis Carroll, 1951’s Alice in Wonderland wasn’t obtained effectively by critics when it was first launched, however has since been hailed a triumph of animation far forward of its time. With daring and vibrant colours, trippy characters voiced by luminaries like Sterling Holloway and Ed Wynn, and an summary journey that attracted the ’60s counterculture some years later, Alice in Wonderland has turn out to be a considerably subversive cult basic among the many Disney canon.

Combining the Carroll books Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, this enjoyable and flashy movie utilized iconic artist Mary Blair to create a story stuffed with popping wonders and dreamlike oddities.

23. The Emperor’s New Groove

More of an out-and-out comedy than most Disney choices, and approaching the heels of Disney’s ’90s resurgence, 2000’s The Emperor’s New Groove was a slight detour from extra conventional studio fare in favor of a slapstick-driven mismatched buddy journey that includes a extra markedly Chuck Jones cartoon-ish animation fashion.

Featuring the voices of David Spade, John Goodman and Patrick Warburton, New Groove is a redemption story centered on an smug teenage Incan emperor named Kuzco who’s remodeled right into a llama by his ex-adviser. The curler coaster manufacturing for the movie – which started as a extra mature and conventional Disney story known as Kingdom of the Sun (that includes six songs by Sting!) – noticed all the challenge change packaging and change tone after the field workplace disappointments of each Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Though New Groove is purposefully much less grand and epic than most of Disney’s choices, it is nonetheless a hearty and hip hero’s journey crammed with unabashed silliness and nonsense.

22. Cinderella

Though not the primary adaptation, or re-telling, of the well-known fairy story (which has origins relationship again to a Greek story from the first century BC), Disney’s 1950 field workplace smash Cinderella is really iconic. As one of many greatest dangers of Walt Disney’s profession, Cinderella would repay large time, turning into his most profitable movie since Snow White and serving to to save lots of Disney Animation after a string of under-performing movies that saddled the studio with a $4 million debt.

With a tighter preliminary funds that pressured filmmakers to shoot in live-action first, Cinderella would overcome quite a few obstacles, delighting movie-goers with imaginative artwork, glowing colours, mischievous humor, memorable songs (“A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes,” “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo,” and so on) and an endearing rags-to-riches story about unjust oppression and triumphant reward. The glass slipper, the Fairy Godmother, Jaq and Gus – Cinderella is a parade of majestic moments.

For extra, take a look at our seventy fifth anniversary retrospective of Cinderella to be taught the way it saved Disney from closing its doorways effectively earlier than its time.

21. Sleeping Beauty

As the final of the basic animated fairy tales produced by Walt Disney himself, 1959’s Sleeping Beauty was initially a disappointment on the field workplace, however has come to be acknowledged as one of many biggest and most beloved of Disney’s golden period. This is the studio at its most iconic, with frolicking woodland creatures, a warbling princess, an evil sorceress and a good-looking prince on an imposing steed.

Filled with vibrant coloration, fashionable designs and music primarily based on the Tchaikovsky ballet, it seems to be and sounds completely different than any of the movies that got here earlier than. The meticulously hand-painted cells impressed by medieval artwork have a stylized look to them and a placing palette crammed with uncommon combos of violet, inexperienced, ochre, indigo and fuchsia. The last climactic battle between Prince Phillip and Maleficent within the type of a big dragon stays probably the most lovely and thrilling sequences ever animated.

20. Lady and Tramp

With a shared spaghetti string kiss that will turn out to be a landmark second for each rom-com to observe it, Lady and the Tramp was a large hit for Disney again in 1955 – a love story that also endures the take a look at of time. Based on the antics of story developer Joe Grant’s personal English Springer Spaniel Lady, mixed with Ward Greene’s brief story “Happy Dan, the Whistling Dog,” Lady and the Tramp created mismatched magic set to songs co-written by pop singer Peggy Lee (who additionally voices one of many canine).

As the primary animated function filmed within the (brand-new, on the time) CinemaScope widescreen course of, Lady and the Tramp captivated crowds with the story of the refined and correct Lady falling for a stray street-wise mutt known as Tramp. During manufacturing, Disney workplaces had been crammed with reside animals for the animators to reference in order that the story might be advised solely from the standpoint of the animals. The story might not have the dimensions of different Disney classics, however the easy attraction and richly coloured animation make it among the finest of the bunch.

19. Tangled

This prompt basic from 2010 featured Disney’s charming tackle the German fairy story “Rapunzel.” With the corporate momentarily centered on gender-neutral titling, as we’d see once more with 2013’s Frozen, Tangled advised the story of a younger princess with magical lengthy hair, voiced by Mandy Moore, who’s held prisoner by a lady who makes use of the woman’s innate powers to cheat demise.

With 3D artwork impressed by oil-on-canvas Rococo-style work, Tangled was a compelling and sophisticated mixture of journey and romance that introduced collectively each fashionable and basic components of Disney. Tangled, whereas wildly cherished by followers, additionally holds the unusual distinction of being the costliest animated function of all time because of an especially lengthy improvement course of in addition to intensive testing finished for the animation processes (because it was the corporate’s first-ever absolutely computer-animated movie).

18. The Princess and the Frog

Loosely primarily based on a narrative that, in flip, is loosely primarily based on the Brothers Grimm fairy story “The Frog Prince,” Disney’s The Princess and the Frog took the “fairy story” out of Europe and completely positioned it in America – Twenties New Orleans to be particular.

Taking cues from studio classics like Lady and the Tramp and Bambi, 2009’s The Princess and the Frog would dip its toe into the previous as the primary Disney movie after a six-year break to be a standard hand-drawn function. It would additionally look forward to the longer term, nonetheless, as Anika Noni Rose’s Tiana – a 19-year-old waitress who goals of proudly owning her personal restaurant – could be the first-ever black Disney Princess.

The movie’s old school Bayou attraction harkens again to the studio’s golden period – serving to it stand out throughout a time when animated options had been riddled with pop-culture gags and goofs – whereas the story enchants with sensible and candy swampland critters, evil voodoo sorcerers, and ageless themes.

17. 101 Dalmatians

One of probably the most witty and entertaining Disney movies of all time, with probably the most memorable villains in cinema historical past, the quasi-musical 101 Dalmatians from 1961 gave audiences a scrappier, sketchier animation fashion – because of new Xerox expertise (and a modest funds in comparison with predecessor Sleeping Beauty) – coupled with a enjoyable household journey a few litter of Dalmatian puppies who’re kidnapped by a rich, fashion-obsessed heiress who desires to make use of their fur to make into coats.

It’s the Betty Lou Gerson-voiced Cruella de Vil, and her famend theme tune, that steal the present nonetheless. Rumored to have been modeled after Zsa Zsa Gabor, Cruella’s look, aptitude, and crazed cackle immediately infused her into the ranks of probably the most malicious film evil-doers of all time. Though not a luxurious spectacle, 101 Dalmatians runneth over with coronary heart, humor, and hu… dogmanity.

16. Dumbo

Despite World War II spelling out field workplace doom for many of Disney’s movies within the ’40s, the basic Dumbo, from 1941, which was purposefully designed to be brief and bare-bones easy, managed to be probably the most profitable image for the studio in that decade. At 64 minutes, Dumbo was a nice, straight-forward different to the ambition of Fantasia from the earlier 12 months.

Though modest in supply, Dumbo, a few lowly circus elephant that is consistently and cruelly ridiculed for having comically over-sized ears, stands as probably the most valuable and endearing animated movies of all time. With less complicated animation than its predecessors, and watercolor backgrounds, Dumbo is a small story that delivers a giant-sized emotional punch, instructing us that whereas all of us may yearn to be like everybody else, it is our variations that outline us and make us particular.

15. Robin Hood

Using amiable anthropomorphic animals to inform the legend of Robin Hood, this offbeat oddball gem from 1973 featured acclaimed folksy songs and a Butch and Sundance buddy film tone that helped it turn out to be, on the time, Disney’s highest grossing movie thus far.

Robin Hood takes some knocks as a result of it options some recycled bits of animation and its low-key typical attraction is means completely different from the majesty showcased in different firm classics, however generally less complicated designs and humbler approaches make for probably the most beloved tales.

14. Tarzan

Disney’s rollicking 1999 adaptation of “Tarzan of the Apes” by Edgar Rice Burroughs capped off the studio’s ’90s win streak with an animated feast of sweeping 3D backgrounds, utilizing a then-new approach (known as “Deep Canvas”) that enables CGI to resemble a standard portray.

With a revolutionary visible stream and magnificence that pushed the envelope of all the medium, and Academy Award-winning music from Phil Collins (“You’ll Be In My Heart” took house Best Original Song that 12 months), Tarzan is a spirited, thrilling spectacle that includes wealthy storytelling and colorfully conceived artwork that put a brand new particular spin on the much-told story of a younger man raised by gorillas within the jungles of Africa.

13. Hercules

Hercules is unquestionably a movie that’s grown in notoriety and appreciation within the years since its launch in 1997. Generally not within the dialog when the Disney ’90s Renaissance is introduced up, Hercules, loosely primarily based on the legendary “Son of Zeus” Heracles, is a enjoyable mixture of Preston Sturges-style screwball comedy from Hollywood’s bygone period and ’90s popular culture beats. It’s a rollicking hero’s quest – seasoned with a rating impressed by gospel and R&B music – about an unlikely do-gooder torn between two worlds.

A enjoyable mixing of pluckiness, fast-paced motion, and animation primarily based on English cartoonist Gerald Scarfe, Hercules options memorable songs, an impressed wisecracking villain, and a feisty heroine immune to being the basic “damsel in misery.”

12. Bambi

Bambi. It’s unusual that such a sweet-sounding, playful work needs to be synonymous with childhood trauma. The 1942 movie’s most memorable scene sees Bambi’s mom murdered by “man” and the younger fawn desperately trying to find her within the snow. It’s the type of factor that stays with you. But Bambi is extra than simply that scene. It’s a story in regards to the lack of innocence, but additionally one about rising up, accepting obligations, and discovering out that whereas family members can’t get replaced, you may construct a household of your personal.

And it’s not all somber both – in Thumper, Disney created one among its finest, most beloved comedian characters. Unlike Disney’s different films of the period, Bambi doesn’t function magic or overly fantastical components. The animation is delicate, extra fable-like in high quality, and all of the stronger and emotional for it.

11. Pinocchio

Disney’s defining animated function, primarily based on Italian kids’s novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, was hailed by critics as a superb and masterful follow-up to Snow White. Audiences disagreed nonetheless and the studio’s second outing was nothing in need of a field workplace catastrophe when it was launched in 1940. Pinocchio would get re-released a number of years later and recoup most of its losses, solely then turning into the popular culture phenomenon we all know it as at present.

The basic story of a wood puppet boy named Pinocchio dropped at life by a blue fairy, and out to earn everlasting humanity by being “courageous, truthful, and unselfish,” is essentially thought of to be the apex of animation, Disney or different. With smart-aleck silliness and sinister scariness, together with a nostril that grows with every lie and a singing “conscience” cricket named Jiminy (the Oscar-winning “When You Wish Upon a Star” remains to be the tune most related to Disney), Pinocchio is a superbly crafted saga.

10. The Jungle Book

The final movie Walt Disney himself labored on, 1967’s The Jungle Book (impressed by Rudyard Kipling’s e book of the identical title), is a energetic and hilarious romp following a 10-year-old boy named Mowgli. Raised within the Indian jungle by wolves, he navigates via an journey with panthers, pythons, tigers, and a care-free bear named Baloo.

With pleasant tunes by Robert and Richard Sherman (Mary Poppins, The Enchanted Tiki Room) and a chic story that we might see echoed a bit in a while in each The Lion King and Tarzan (“Hakuna Matata” owes an incredible deal to “Bare Necessities”), The Jungle Book emits a cool, trippy vibe that is helped it stay a household favourite for 50 years – much more so than a few of Disney’s extra well-known status tasks. It’s a blessed blue-sky basic.

9. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

As the primary ever full-length animated function, 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is the film that launched a dynasty. While it actually wowed audiences on the time who had been nonetheless accustomed to brief, simplistic cartoons, Snow White nonetheless retains its enchantment even among the many glitzier, flashier animated movies of the twenty first Century.

All films, be they live-action or animated, are supposed to enchantment to the viewer’s feelings. Snow White is one among Disney’s most heartfelt and interesting efforts, remodeling the basic Brothers Grimm story right into a rousing, family-friendly journey. Here, all a princess wanted to search out her real love was a useful band of dwarfs, a number of catchy tunes, and high quality animation that also holds up at present.

For extra, take a look at the story of Snow White in our Disney one centesimal anniversary retrospective and our overview of the Snow White live-action remake.

8. Frozen

At a look, 2013’s Frozen seems to be commonplace Disney fare: fairy story castles, lovely princesses, household secrets and techniques, dashing princes, plucky sidekicks. But it does a lot to mess around with these components, subvert expectations, and inform a way more fashionable sort of Disney story.

There’s a good chunk of X-Men folded in right here, too, as Elsa’s cryokinetic powers (she will be able to freeze something) alienate her from her household and society. She spends most of her childhood locked away in her bed room, unable to play together with her sister. The overarching love story right here isn’t about Elsa or Anna discovering their prince however the two sisters rebuilding their fractured relationship. Smartly, the previous Disney trope of a Prince’s kiss breaking a spell is reworked right here – it’s the sisters’ love for each other that’s able to thawing a frozen coronary heart. In so some ways, Frozen seems like basic Disney, however its story is refreshingly fashionable. (Also, it has this little tune known as “Let It Go” which proved to be highly regarded.)

7. Mulan

Coming on the heels of Disney movies like The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Hercules, 1998’s Mulan took on the tried-and-true Disney coming-of-age story strategy with a twist. As a important character, Mulan has extra in frequent with the struggles of Aladdin or Simba than the feminine Disney heroines who got here earlier than her, and as such it is simple to label her Disney animation’s first motion heroine.

Mulan’s driving ambition was to deliver honor to her household and save her nation, shirking romantic obligations within the course of, in a theme that Disney Animation Studios did not actually revisit once more till 2016’s Moana. Between Ming-Na Wen and Eddie Murphy’s glorious voice performing performances and the movie’s beautiful animation and catchy songs (from Christina Aguilera’s “Reflection” to “I’ll Make a Man Out of You”), Mulan was a standout in a decade loaded with standout Disney animated movies.

6. Moana

Featuring hovering songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton) and Opetaia Foa’i, Moana is the newest movie on this checklist – launched again in 2016. With energetic and layered characters, and awe-worthy 3D animation, Moana is an inspiring and impressive addition to one of the best Disney has to supply.

The story of Moana, the strong-willed daughter of a chief of a Polynesian village who’s chosen by the ocean itself to reunite a mystical relic with a goddess, is one among heart-in-hand heroism, calling for peoples of the world to embrace their household and neighborhood. And who can resist Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson because the Demigod Maui? Myths, mirth, and majestic musical numbers – Moana has all of it!

5. Fantasia

A Disney masterpiece and a milestone in animation as a complete, there may be nonetheless a lot to reward about 1940’s Fantasia, even now virtually 80 years because it was launched.

The episodic, largely non-narrative epic is after all set to numerous items of well-known orchestral music, leading to sequences just like the climactic “Night on Bald Mountain” (that includes the superior demon-creature Chernabog) which might be hallmarks of the style. Technically peerless, that includes animation that’s nonetheless among the many finest ever created, the movie was an experiment that superbly blended popular culture with classical music, bewildering and dazzling viewers for generations.

4. The Little Mermaid

The Seventies and ’80s had been lean years for Walt Disney function animation. After mainly inventing the style and perfecting it to an artwork type, the studio’s repute suffered from a string of forgettable movies like The Black Cauldron and The Great Mouse Detective. But that every one modified in 1989 with the discharge of The Little Mermaid, a return to the fantastic musical fantasies of Disney’s previous.

Telling the story of a mermaid named Ariel who goals of turning into human and falls in love with a prince, the movie had all of the qualities of an extravagant Broadway musical and delightful animation to match. Its numbers from the good group of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman – songs like “Part of Your World” and “Under the Sea” – turned prompt classics worthy of the Disney legacy. And the movie’s success would usher in a renaissance for Disney animation that dominated the last decade to return.

3. Aladdin

Boasting one among Disney’s catchiest soundtracks – courtesy of composer Alan Menken and songwriters Howard Ashman and Tim Rice – plus an iconic efficiency from Robin Williams because the Genie, it’s no shock Aladdin turned the highest-grossing movie of 1992, beating hits like Batman Returns, Sister Act and The Bodyguard for a home whole of $217 million, and $504 million worldwide.

The story of a scrappy “road rat” turned prince is predicated on a Middle Eastern folks story from One Thousand and One Nights (higher generally known as Arabian Nights in English), and was initially pitched in 1988 by Ashman, who sadly didn’t reside to see the completed product. The challenge had a surprisingly tumultuous historical past contemplating how iconic it turned; studio head Jeffrey Katzenberg reportedly didn’t look after the primary draft of the screenplay by administrators John Musker and Ron Clements, and in April 1991, requested the duo to utterly rewrite the story, with out pushing again Aladdin’s scheduled November 25, 1992, launch date. The time crunch clearly didn’t have an effect on the standard – Aladdin stays probably the most beloved movies from Disney’s renaissance period, spawning two direct-to-video sequels, an animated sequence, a Broadway adaptation and an upcoming live-action remake from Guy Ritchie.

2. The Lion King

Coming on the peak of the Disney animation revival of the early Nineteen Nineties, The Lion King was an enormous hit – the truth is, it stays the highest-grossing traditionally-animated movie ever launched.

Today, Simba and Scar and Mufasa are family names because of the large reputation not simply of this movie, but additionally of the sequels and soundtracks and Broadway performs and all the remainder of it which have been primarily based on the unique. But again in 1994, who might have predicted that these characters would enter the lexicon of Disney’s hottest creations?

Simba’s journey to maturity, retribution, and his rightful place because the Lion King is not an particularly new or groundbreaking story – quite the opposite, it is stuffed with tried and true Disney hallmarks (tragic origin, comedian animal sidekicks, life classes realized, and so on.). And but, it really works amazingly effectively, maybe due to the distinctive vibe given the proceedings by the artists’ African landscapes and the percussive beats of composers Elton John and Tim Rice. The movie combines conventional ideas with new and fascinating angles – let’s name it the Disney Circle of Life.

For extra, take a look at our thirtieth anniversary retrospective of The Lion King to be taught the way it was the film “nobody was alleged to care about.”

1. Beauty and the Beast

There’s a purpose Beauty and the Beast turned the primary full-length animated function movie to ever be nominated for Best Picture on the Academy Awards: It’s a surprising murals. As a part of Disney’s ’90s animation return to glory, the film takes a “story as previous as time” and spins it right into a well timed story of acceptance that transcends its style. Beauty and the Beast is bolstered by its attractive animation, implausible voice performing and Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s music, which has since turn out to be a few of Disney’s most iconic.

Though we might take it with no consideration now, Beauty and the Beast marked a serious shift in how Disney approached its “princess” tales, and searching again we are able to see this movie is an apparent departure from the times of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. Indeed, its influence can nonetheless be felt from Mulan to Moana. Beauty and the Beast set a brand new bar for Disney Animation Studios when it was launched in 1991, and it is a regular nonetheless felt throughout the board within the films they make within the present period.

Note: This checklist was up to date in March 2025 with the newest Disney releases thought of for inclusion. It was initially printed in 2018.