15. “The Emperor’s New Groove” (2000)
Perhaps the greatest crisis for Disney came in the early ’00s. The disappointments of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and “Hercules” had convinced executives that the formula perfected with “Aladdin” and co. was tired, while former head Jeffrey Katzenberg had set up rival Dreamworks, and Disney’s own Pixar was demonstrating an increasing appetite for CGI animation among audiences. The result was a series of unsuccessful course corrections that lasted nearly a decade without a real hit. Nevertheless, there were gems to be found in this period, and perhaps the most fun of those gems was “The Emperor’s New Groove.” Initially meant to be a musical epic but retooled late in the game as a sort of gonzo comedy utterly out of step with most other Disney pics, the film sees arrogant, spoiled Incan emperor Kuzco (David Spade) transformed into a llama by his evil advisor (Eartha Kitt), and forced to team with the kind peasant Pacha (John Goodman). It’s both atypically small in the scope of its story (there are really only four major character, including Patrick Warburton’s all-timer of a dimwit henchman Kronk), but pleasingly loose in its interests, with an anything-goes sense of humor falling somewhere between Chuck Jones absurdism and Golden Age “Simpsons.” It’s admittedly minor, but it’s also far, far more enjoyable than most.
14. “Bolt” (2008)
Disney’s current creative and commercial renaissance didn’t begin with current megahit “Zootopia” or its billion-dollar Oscar-winning predecessor “Frozen,” but with 2008’s “Bolt.” Overlooked by those who confused it with Disney’s lackluster early CGI fare like “Chicken Little,” the film was the first released after John Lasseter took creative control over the parent studio as well as Pixar, and it shows: far more so than most of the subsequent films, this has a blend of spectacle, thrills, gags and heart that puts it on the top tier. In arguably his most likable role of the last twenty years, John Travolta plays the title character, a dog who believes he has superpowers, but is in fact the sheltered star of a TV show. He’s accidentally sent to New York and believed lost, separated from his beloved owner (Miley Cyrus), and with the help of a cynical cat (Susie Essman) and a fanboy hamster (Mark Walton), he tries to make his way home. It is not wildly original —as you might have guessed, it’s the exact midpoint of “The Truman Show” and “The Incredible Journey.” But for the first time in a long time, it displays the kind of storytelling nous that Pixar were known for, its airtight writing and likable characters making it utterly satisfying and legitimately moving in a way that had begun to feel rare from Disney.
13. “101 Dalmatians” (1961)
Disney’s practice of pillaging their animated back catalogue for live-action remake fodder may be amping up, but it’s not a wholly new phenomenon. By 1996, the studio made “101 Dalmatians,” a hugely successful but largely pointless live-action version of their 1961 classic which is most notable for Glenn Close‘s portrayal of villain Cruella De Vil being marginally more cartoonish than the hand-painted antecedent. The spectacle of Close treating the scenery as her own personal chew-toy aside, there’s really no comparison, as the gorgeous animated version remains one of the most touching and beautifully drawn films of Disney’s classic era, despite or perhaps because of ingenious solutions to budgetary cutbacks necessitated by the underperformance of the costly “Sleeping Beauty.” Based on Dodie Smith‘s novel, it follows dalmatian couple Pongo (Rod Taylor) and Perdita (Cate Bauer) —because in this version, the dogs talk— whose first litter of puppies is stolen by gaunt, obsessive furmongerer De Vil (Betty Lou Gerson), as they heroically expose Cruella’s whole horrible operation and, with the help of every other dog in the city it seems, rescue 99 puppies. Car chases, frozen river crossings, disguises, narrow escapes, and an Underground Railroad-style network of conspiratorial canines —if you’re not a dog lover before it begins, you will be by the end.
12. “Lady & The Tramp” (1955)
Patenting a certain kind of adorable-animals-have-an-adventure formula that continued on to “101 Dalmatians” and “The Aristocats” (the latter being all but a remake), “Lady & The Tramp” may not be Disney’s greatest romance, but it at least provides its single most romantic moment, thanks to the classic, much-repeated spaghetti kiss moment. But the film’s appeal last far beyond that. Based in part on a dog belonging to Disney artist Joe Grant, and how it was ignored after the birth of his first child (he was still working at Disney when he died aged 97: “Up” is dedicated to him), it sees posh cocker spaniel Lady (Barbara Luddy) forced out on to the streets by a pair of Siamese cats (Peggy Lee), where she’s aided by the streetwise, rough-around-the-edges Tramp (Larry Roberts). Breaking away from well-established fairy tales for the first time since “Bambi” gives the story a certain room to breathe and makes the film feel pleasingly organic: a sweet, low-key meld of “It Happened One Night” and more child-friendly animal fare with classic characters that go beyond the title characters (even if some, namely the Siamese cats, haven’t aged well).
11. “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (1996)
Unfairly consigned to the “minor Disney” category, this Gary Trousdale/Kirk Wise rendering of the Victor Hugo classic is actually one of the Mouse House’s most complex films, in which magic is largely forsworn in favor of traditional religiosity. That might seem obvious, being as the setting is a rather famous Parisian church, but all the talk of God and Hellfire, as well as ethnic persecution, religious hypocrisy, infanticide, abuse of power, the sin of lust and even distrust of female sexuality (seriously!), combine to make it one pretty dark and grown-up cartoon. Of course, all that is subtext while the main story, of Not Judging By Appearances and Being True To Yourself is Disney handbook 101: Quasimodo (Tom Hulce), the deformed bellringer of Notre Dame raised in secret by the evil, archly pious judge Frollo (Tony Jay), finds in his illicit friendship with the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda (Demi Moore) and her beau Phoebus (Kevin Kline) the courage to go out into the world. It’s an overt simplification of the epic novel, but one that actually introduces some new, interesting elements, so while the songs are a little forgettable and sidekick detail is muted (Jason Alexander, Charles Kimbrough and Mary Wickes), ‘Hunchback’ is a heady brew nonetheless.
