ALADDIN (1992) - 9/16/2024
Ranking the Disney Animation Golden Era Movies
Aladdin, without a doubt, is an absolute all-timer of a film. It had the strength to spawn two (straight to home video) sequels, an animated television show, a successful (but wildly overrated) Broadway musical, and a live-action remake that had Will Smith rapping. After The Lion King, it’s probably the other Disney film I have seen the most times in my life, and why not? It’s completely captivating, colorful, magical, has Robin Williams being Robin Williams, and just transfers you away to a world you wish you could visit.
So, after having previously ranked the Top Ten Songs from this era, I will now rank all of the films from this era1.
The Rescuers Down Under - Although I recently remembered the original by rewatching it, any time I hear The Rescuers, the sequel comes to mind. There’s not a whole lot I remember about this film though, which I think speaks for itself and why it is last.
Treasure Planet - A solid retelling of Treasure Island, and really beautiful in its own right, but not nearly as memorable as the rest of these.
The Princess and the Frog - This one probably suffers from being released in 2009, while the rest were when I was a kid which is why it’s this low. The last great 2D Disney animated film with great music and incredible animation.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame - This is where it starts to get tough. I rewatched this last year and forgot how truly amazing it is. The rest of the list will be rough from here on down. But that medieval Paris is breathtaking.
Lilo & Stitch - The legs that Stitch has as a character is insane, and to be fair, this one lives on in my mind for its great animated show.
Atlantis: The Lost Empire - this film is supremely my shit because it had mythology and Atlantis and exploration and treasure hunting. I absolutely love this film and it gets forgotten more often than not.
The Emperor’s New Groove - This was a hard battle between this and Tarzan. However, even though I sang my praises about this film not too long ago, I think it goes here because…
Tarzan - The music in Tarzan is too good and really just elevated this film above a lot of others.
The Little Mermaid - So, it may be controversial to have this one this low, but while I did love the television show, it doesn’t hold a personal candle nearly as much as the rest.
Mulan - Another tough decision between this and the next one. However, Mulan just misses the mark even though it is also a near perfect film.
Pocahontas - Yes, there may be some major issues with a sort of white savior complex, or some of the voice casting2, but at the end of the day, “Colors of the Wind” is an unforgettable and the animation is too beautiful to not have found childlike memories of it.
Beauty and the Beast - For all the reasons I have stated before. This film is amazing.
Hercules - I had to do some deep soul searching here. While I revisit Hercules a lot more frequently nowadays than the next one, it doesn’t hold a candle to it because…
Aladdin - As I previously said, I have seen this one so many times. It’s so important I can’t not have it here.
The Lion King - What else would it be? This is a perfect film. For more, click the link.
To define again, I see this as beginning with The Little Mermaid in 1989 and ending with Treasure Planet in 2002. Although that leaves out The Princess and the Frog, I will add it for good measure here because it spiritually belongs. I am only doing Walt Disney Feature Animation films so that eliminates Pixar films, A Nightmare Before Christmas, and A Goofy Movie. I also won’t include Dinosaur and Fantasia 2000.
While I’m talking about Mel Gibson here, a fun fact is that Christian Bale was cast in two Pocahontas stories.