5. “Bambi” (1942)
You could probably say that millions of characters have died in movies since the medium’s arrival (even if you limited the number to named characters rather than planetary extinctions, or whatever). But few can have had the impact of the death of Bambi’s mom, who is shot by a hunter when the title character is just a fawn. The kid-traumatizing demise of the character, forcibly dragging millions of children into an adult reality, is still the film’s biggest talking point 70-odd years on, but the merits of “Bambi” go far beyond that. Based on a book by Austrian novelist Felix Salten, it’s a coming-of-age story of sorts, as we see the title character progress from doe-eyed, gangly-limbed innocent to embracing his destiny as the Prince of the Forest. It’s almost experimentally episodic in its narrative (even “The Jungle Book” feels like it has a stronger throughline), clearly building on the success of “Pinocchio” and “Dumbo” before it, but with an even greater sense of humanity —which is ironic, given the villainous role that “man” plays throughout. Quiet, beautiful and pastoral, it’s close to becoming something like “Disney as arthouse movie,” while still appealing utterly to children throughout.
4. “Pinocchio” (1940)
The term “Disneyfication” evokes a reliance on formula, an essentially conservative approach to gender values, a simplistic storyline in which moral blacks and whites are clearly delineated and everything resolves neatly for the happy-ever-after. And yet the studio’s second animated feature “Pinocchio,” which is so firmly embedded in the Disney DNA that its gorgeous song “When You Wish Upon a Star” remains the company jingle to this day, is way, way weirder than that. Without a princess in sight, we get an epic head trip about a wooden puppet who wants to be a real boy, and whose nose grows longer when he tells a lie going on a sprawling Odyssey of self-discovery, mortal peril and grand high adventure. Narrated by Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio’s official “conscience,” the film has a million moving parts: even after being seduced into the circus, Pinocchio goes on a drunken, vandalizing debauch with some other boys, is partially turned into a donkey, narrowly avoids being sold into slavery and then returns home to his father/maker Geppetto only to have to rescue him from the belly of an irascible whale. Then he dies. Some suggest the same year’s “Fantasia“ is the greatest achievement from classic-era Disney era, but “Pinocchio” has just as spectacular an imagination, while being infinitely more thrilling and moving.
3. “The Jungle Book” (1967)
If we’re very quick to point out the times when remaking a classic yields substandard, cynical results, we should also be happy when one beats the odds as apparently has Jon Favreau’s live-action reworking of this beloved and brilliant ’60s film. It’s even more impressive here, because the original is one of the most beloved of all the classic Disney animations, and with good reason: the character and voice work is among their best ever (particularly George Sanders‘ suave, chocolate-voiced Shere Khan, Phil Harris’ “shiftless jungle bum” Baloo, Louis Prima as fire-coveting King Louie, J. Pat O’Malley as Colonel Hathi and Sebastian Cabot as Kaa, not to mention those fabulously Beatles-esque vultures), the animation is artful but also rooted in reality (Mowgli kicking at stones like a disaffected kid would) and the songs —well, they’re simply the best ever. “Bare Necessities,” “I Wanna Be Like You” “That’s What Friends Are For” and even the sappy but sweet “My Own Home” all have the wonderful quality, lost in many later animated musical numbers, of reinforcing character, furthering the story and being damn catchy all at once. Its brilliance is such that not even subsequent revisionist takes which have critiqued its racist and conservative overtones can truly tarnish its legacy.
2. “The Lion King” (1994)
Still the highest-grossing Disney animation domestically at $422m (in 1994 dollars!), “The Lion King,” from directors Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, represented the box-office pinnacle of the Disney renaissance of the 1990s. But it’s also a creative highlight, the exceptionally well-structured story of lion cub Simba (among the most adorable of Disney protagonists, superbly voiced by Matthew Broderick) who is tricked by his cunning fratricidal uncle Scar (who but Jeremy Irons?) into believing he has caused the death of his noble father King Mufasa (James Earl Jones as the Platonic ideal of fatherhood). Fleeing the kingdom, Simba hooks up with Disney’s best-ever sidekicks, meerkat Timon and warthog Pumba (Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella respectively) while evading the clutches of the trio of hyena henchmen (Whoopi Goldberg, Jim Cummings and Cheech Marin) who serve Scar. Growing up in carefree exile with the catchy philosophy of “Hakuna Matata,” he eventually meets and falls for childhood friend Nala (Moira Kelly) who persuades him to return to the Pride Lands that Scar’s rule has decimated and to reclaim his rightful Kingship. The (Circle of) Life Lessons that “The Lion King” teaches may not be exactly groundbreaking, but seeing them executed with such sincerity and deep feeling, and with unparalleled craft in terms of the animation and design of every single character and every single background, is purest, unalloyed Disney magic.
1. “Beauty and the Beast” (1991)
If there’s one quality that marks out the greatest animations, it’s a feel of effortlessness. It’s a sense that nothing is beyond the reaches of the visual imagination, but at the same time, that everyone, down to the person making tea for the background colorists, is having a blast while making it all look as easy as falling off a log. And that’s the quality that Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” famously the first animated film ever to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, has in spades, a kind of liberating storytelling verve that matches their surprisingly liberated heroine. In Belle (Paige O’Hara), Disney has still possibly its best-ever princess —the only one you really believe doesn’t give a damn for that title, as well as being the one whose innate goodness, intelligence, curiosity and sense of humor put her in the position of rescuing her trapped and helpless Prince. The songs are the best in the Disney repertoire since “The Jungle Book” and the supporting voice cast, particularly Angela Lansbury‘s comfy Mrs. Potts, Jerry Orbach‘s suave candelabra Lumiere, Bradley Michael Pierce as the adorable Chip and Richard White‘s egomaniac Gaston, are perfection. Also straddling the old and the new in elegant style with that lovely ballroom scene —the only scene to use CG animation in the whole film, but used to pristine effect— “Beauty at the Beast” is both progressive and classic, and, as those of us with 90s-born nieces and nephews can testify, the most endlessly rewatchable of all the Disney animations. It’s perfection.
No, all you irate Elsas and Annas out there, you did not read it wrong: there is no “Frozen” here. The unstoppable behemoth of two years ago missed out on our list —while obviously it’s good that the story is about sisterhood, it is still about enchanted princesses, and we’d hoped by the mid 2010s we’d have moved on from all that corsetry and crown-wearing. Another relatively progressive film that came close but was just edged out was “The Princess and the Frog” which is charming in its New Orleans setting and features a black princess, but is hampered by an uninspired plot, while “Pocahontas” was a similar near-miss. Others will no doubt lament the absence of classic era staples “Cinderella” and “Alice in Wonderland” but both seem rather anodyne to a modern eye, no matter how crucial they may have been to the building of the Disney brand. “Peter Pan,” “Tarzan” and “Big Hero 6” were all discussed too, as were “The Aristocats,” “Tangled” and the still-in-theaters “Zootopia” but none got the groundswell of support needed for their inclusion. “Fantasia,” by contrast, was on the list for a long time before we actually thought about it and realized that if we were honest, it was there as a legacy pick rather than because any of us truly love it.
Aside from those, we know there’ll be some incredulous “Fox and the Hound” or “Rescuers Down Under” fans out there, so let us have it in the comments. Except if your comment is about not including “Frozen,” in which case (you can see this coming, can’t you?): let it go.
