Top 5 Animated Disney Movies

Some ground rules for this list:

1) Only films produced by the Walt

Disney Animation Studios (this means
no Pixar films)
2) No short films
Honorable mention:

Destino (2003)

This short film is a result of a collaboration between

Walt Disney and surrealist painter Salvador Dali.
The project was shelved for years and was
completed in 2003. Since this a short film it could
not qualify for the list but is so fantastic it is worth
mentioning. This is the most artistic work (besides
arguably Fantasia) that the worlds greatest
animation studio has ever produced. Also, its on
YouTube!!!
5) Moana (2016)

The latest in the John Lasseter era is its the best. The
first foray into CGI animation for directorial team of
John Musker and Ron Clements (The Little
Mermaid, Aladdin) will prove to be a classic. The
film has great lead characters and a wonderful
soundtrack written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the
creator of the Broadway sensation Hamilton. Moana
ultimately beat out Frozen for this list because of a
subtle environmental message and its stronger
storytelling. And come on, it has The Rock and
Jermaine Clement!
4) The Little Mermaid (1989)

The film that jumpstarted the Disney

renaissance. Musker and Clement directed this
adaptation of the Hans Christian Anderson
Story. The Little Mermaid would go back to the
old school Disney formula, princesses and
musical numbers. The memorable soundtrack
written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken
contains some of the most beloved songs in the
studios history (Part of Your World and
Under the Sea). It has the best scene in the
history of Disney animated features. Also, major
points for basing the design of the villain on
Devine.
3) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
(1937)

The first animated feature film had to have a

place on the list. Walt Disney decided to make a
film that was like the vaudeville shows of his
youth. Those shows would make the audience
laugh, sing and cry. The vaudeville formula set
eighty years ago still appears in Disney and
other animated features to this day. Also, this
would set the trend of Disney adapting classic
tales and then becoming the cultural
embodiment of these stories. Seriously, when I
say Snow White you dont think of Kristen
Stewart and if you say you do, you are lying.
2) Fantasia (1940)

A bomb upon its initial release, Fantasia is what

you get when a millionaire gets to indulge
himself. Walt Disney chose to use the worlds
greatest animation studio to create music videos
for his favorite classical music pieces. Whether
its Mickey Mouse causing havoc to Dukas or
hippos dancing to Beethoven, there is pure
imagination on display in every segment of this
movie. This movie is a rare example of a
corporation making a pure artistic statement.
The medium of film is better for it. (Also it
made me so angry when I got Nic Cages face
when I google image searched The Sorcerer's
Apprentice).
1) Beauty and the Beast (1991)

To this day, its the only hand drawn animated

film to be nominated by the Academy for best
picture. This iteration of the tale as old as time
is Disney at its best. Ashmans and Menkens
music is pound for pound the best any animated
Disney film has ever had. Belle is one of the
most positive female characters ever drawn. The
film combines elements of romance, adventure
and horror seamlessly. Finally, it was the
beginning of Disney subverting its tropes.
(Gaston would most likely be the hero in any
Disney film before this). This film is simply
wonderful in every aspect and is the best the
Disney Animation Studio ever produced.