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All main Disney animated canon films are going to be destroyed and you can save five, which five do you pick?
You can pick just your five favorites or whatever you think is "most important" to keep or anything. The criteria is yours to decide!
Edit: Might as well add my own picks.
Hercules
Tarzan
The Emperor's New Groove
Lilo & Stitch
The Lion King (I'm not a huge fan of TLK as a film in general but I can't deny the soundtrack is too good to lose)
If the soundtrack weren't a sticking point for TLK, my fifth pick would be Brother Bear.
Tangled
Moana
Mulan
Aladdin
Lion King
I think the principal strength of the Disney canon is the music and these movies have the songs that I would not want to lose, mostly. That's certainly the case for Tangled, Moana, and Mulan. It's also a contributing factor in Aladdin, but Aladdin also has Robin Williams in, perhaps, his greatest role.
As for the Lion King, there are many things about the story that are, to me, propaganda (for what? You decide!). However, it is, in my opinion, the best movie Disney ever made. Also, Rowan Atkinson, James Earl Jones, and Nathan Lane and Jeremy Irons and Matthew Broderick and Whoopi Goldberg... and Cheech Marin? On the same billing? Cast parties must have been incredible. So, yeah: it makes the list.
I like your picks. Songs from four of those five movies live rent-free in my mind (I break them out for karaoke!) so...
Moana is after my time, so I might replace it with The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which is really underrated and somewhat more daring than other Disney fare.
Lin Manuel Miranda scored a kids movie, so it's kind of required watching since we have kids. So many great movies on this thread...
Funny enough, buying the Moana soundtrack is the main reason why I don't like Lin Manuel Miranda. Most of the newer soundtrack releases from Disney have demo recordings of some of their songs in them. And in most of them they're rough but the songs really shine through anyways, and it's interesting to hear some of the creative changes they've made. But the Moana soundtrack's demo recordings are really really rough. I think Miranda is one of the most talented lyricists of our era, but his composition skills are kind of rough. Without Alan Menken working on it that soundtrack would have been pretty bad.
(Also I skip Shiny every time).
If what you have written is true, I have deep respect for the surpassing appreciation of music that you must possess. In comparison, I must seem a creature of perfect ignorance. I confess that, to me, Shiny is the best song on the soundtrack. I still think it is a great song, but I now see that my rosy assessment is only a sign how little I know of true music. What a gift to know that such rarefied heights of insight exist, albeit I shall doubtless never reach these levels of discernment.
(If I knew how to put in the comment box, like @scroll_lock, I would add that the tone is playful and slightly sarcastic, with both genuine appreciation for such an assessment and a needlessly over-the-top and arch self-deprecating humor.)
I'm interested how you think Lion King is propaganda. I guess monarchism if you squint hard enough?
🦀 Are you trying to get me to talk about myself, because if you are... I will happily do so! 🦀
Many years ago, a friend invited me to go see the Lion King on Broadway. We were living in New York at the time and his wife had to cancel, so he had an extra ticket. This was before kids made the notion of last-minute plans a fantastical make-believe.
The show was great, I highly recommend. However, as I surveyed my fellow theatergoers, I noticed a lot of well dressed fathers seated with their dapper young sons. And I realized: the Lion King is the perfect show for the scion of a Great House.
In that setting, it was as though I had accidentally wandered into some communal rite; a reënactment of a parable wherein the noble ruler of a prosperous fiefdom is preparing to bequeath his land and title to his son when his treacherous brother betrays him with the aid of a mob of miserable, dangerous, animals, throwing the erstwhile peaceful land into ruin.
The Lion King never questions Mufasa's decision to completely deny the hyenas access to hunting grounds, never admits the justified resentment of the hyenas, never suggests that perhaps Scar's coup might have failed if the hyenas had marginally better conditions or owed Mufasa slightly more allegiance.
The Lion King uncritically portrays the poor, not as undeserving recipients of oppression and exclusion, but as an ignorant, dangerous mob whose natural aspirations for a better life should be seen as an existential threat even as it turns a blind eye to the ways in which the decisions of the wealthy and powerful to exclude others lead naturally to a resentment for the order through which they prosper.
Personally, I have no particular complaint with monarchism or capitalism, but I guess I do have a problem with elaborate, expensive productions that provide justifications for why the poor should get nothing.
They do have their own grounds, and it's a graveyard. Scar's reign failed because he refused to migrate with the herds when the weather changed leaving the Pride Lands barren, unable to abandon the land he'd worked so hard to usurp. I took the implication to be the hyenas overhunt their territory, exhausting or driving away their food source, in an example of what happens when you don't respect the Circle of Life.
I guess I had not looked at it that way. Good point!
Ironically I've always (as an adult) viewed Scar and the Hyenas as colonizers and conquerors rather than as him taking advantage of representatives of the poor. The British accent and the goose stepping probably had a lot to do with that, along with the subjugation of the lionesses.
Your perspective makes sense too, I think being a kid obsessed with animals and animal facts definitely left me not really questioning the food chain hierarchy presented. (And to be fair Scar doesn't exactly help the poor either, the populist lying and using people? Gasp never)
I don't know that I agree with the take-away, but I appreciate the different perspective.
Alice in Wonderland
Fantasia
Aladdin
Lion King
and, I know it's cheating, but...
Cool Runnings
Also, I feel like you can dial in on exactly how old a person is by what movies they pick.
I refuse to elaborate, as there is no discussion in this matter. The above list is the definitive list.
:-P
I appreciate that you would readily frisbee-toss a copy of Bambi II, Tarzan, or even Peter Pan -- skillfully deflecting even one single copy of Cool Runnings from accidentally being tossed into the burn-pile. Even though it's not an animated film, and therefore not in contention for destruction, it's a level of dedication I can appreciate!
Similarly, I would also protect the Chuck Jones' short film of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (with Orson Welles!) from being threatened by the fiery-burny danger and it's not even a Disney production!
I think so too. I suspect there's basically two periods when you're primed to really connect with Disney movies: when you're a child, somewhere between kindergarten and the start of puberty (old enough to fully appreciate the narrative but not so old as to be embarrassed or watching it ironically), and whenever your own children are that age.
I don't have a definite list, but it would be a mix of older titles I watched as a kid in the nineties and the ones that were actually released in the nineties. I pretty much stopped watching Disney movies once I hit my teens, initially because I thought it was embarrassing to watch children's movies at that age. As a grown ass adult I'm not embarrassed, I just haven't kept up with them as they released, and I suspect I'll never be able to capture that magical feeling I had watching those movies when I was, like, eight years old. Maybe if I was watching it with a child, or on certain drugs...
Going to also focus on the traditionally animated films over 3D computer animation, in part because I don't think of Pixar as part of the canon, and also because the non-Pixar CG films I've seen haven't left a strong impression on me besides Big Hero Six. That said, this is really hard to narrow down.
Honorable mentions: Hunchback of Notre Dame (Esmeralda is possibly the most gorgeous character in Disney, and I love that Quasimodo gets a happy ending without needing to get the girl); The Little Mermaid (nostalgia and Ursula); Beauty and the Beast (nostalgia and quite possibly the one Disney character who values reading); Mulan (just great action); Fantasia (just for the historic value and iconic images); and Snow White (purely because of historic value as the film that proved to Hollywood that animation could work for a full-length feature film)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Sleeping Beauty
Pinocchio
Beauty and the Beast
Moana
I feel like Snow White is too important to leave to be destroyed. It’s really what started Disney’s grandeur and what led to us getting Wizard of Oz.
Sleeping Beauty nearly bankrupted the studio and looks and feels like a painting that came to life. It was one of the most ambitious film projects of all time and it’s my personal favorite Disney film.
I was trying to decide between Pinocchio and Alice in Wonderland. I think Pinocchio is just too politically important compared to Alice, although this was close and I personally prefer Alice.
Beauty and the Beast was the height of Disney’s renaissance, amounting to being the first animated film nominated for Best Picture at the Oscar’s.
I’m partial to Tangled, but Moana just feels more important culturally and has had a longer shelf life with children. Frankly the music is better too.
Could you expand on this?
I think it encapsulates a lot of the WW2 era. The darker tone, the morality tale, and I think it was used to promote American ideals like The American Dream that anyone could be anything, which is quite the contrast from the original book. The circumstances of which it was released also reflects the effects of WW2, it did not get released in many international markets due to the war. Pinnochio not being a box office success due to these circumstances is what led to Disney making WW2 propaganda.
I'm excluding 3D computer animation, because this gets super hard if I'm considering the wealth of Pixar and some of the recent bangers. Even still, this was much harder than I thought it was going to be, there are so many more than 5 that I would want to keep, but in order my 5 would be...
Runners Up: The Rescuers, The Great Mouse Detective, Aladdin, The Lion King, The Princess and the Frog
re: Robin Hood Whistle Stop >> *
*otherwise, nailed it!
Ha, good point. I added it to my list of potential ringtones.
Special mention: The Great Mouse Detective && Alice in Wonderland
Hunchback, Fantasia, Tangled, Emperors New Groove, Aladdin.
Picture I used for reference in case anyone else wants one
https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fb43az2wkjde21.png
This is hard, so I'm going with two sets of answers!
For My Childhood Self:
For My Children:
Wow - that’s a tough one! I’ll stick with the theme of in no particular order.
Movies that almost made it:
In no order:
Honorable mention:
I will go personal.
Treasure Planet: Don’t see this on anyone’s list but his solar surfing is something that was burned into my brain as a child. This is what also kick started me into loving airships.
Atlantis The Lost Empire: Now that we’ve gone up let’s go down. I was blown away by all the gadgets, contraptions and the world.
These two movies I am sure are what sparked a lot of steam punk related things we saw in other places later.
Treasure Planet will always be my favorite adaptation of Treasure Island. One of the few adaptations where the Muppet version isn't the best! (but is still very good, love me some Tim Curry)
I am really hoping it makes an appearance in Kingdom Hearts one day.
The Emperor's New Groove, because kids need a good gateway drug to stoner comedies.
The Lion King is the Disney movie. Aside from the fact I love it, I ain't arguing with that, it's gotta stay.
The Nightmare Bef- look, it's animated and it's in Kingdom Hearts! It's gonna disappear. Trust me. The Nightmare Before Christmas is the feature claymation movie. It's gotta stay.
The Little Mermaid is my selfish pick. It's such low-stakes conflict, but rewatching the golden era movies it stood way out in terms of scale, music, scenery, and pacing.
Tangled would be a kinda Noah's Ark thing in this scenario to get them making CGI movies again, because lord knows 2D Disney is pretty toast. But this is also a selfish pick, because if I don't my wife will destroy ME.
I'm not sure if it counts, but as it was a Disney movie and there is a Disneyland ride, I'll start with Wind in the Willows. All time favorite as a kid, so they stay. Particularly Mr. Toad.
Robin Hood is another easy one. Oh man, there are few movies where every freaking character is a 10/10. But that movie takes the cake.
In a similar vein to Robin Hood would be The Jungle Book. Can't be losing Baloo!
With those 3 we move onto the death lottery:
Aristocats vs 101 Dalmations: They are both so good with lots of similarities. I do love the jazz cats scene though. That is a movie classic!
Emperor's New Groove vs Mulan: Again a hard choice. One of Disney's greatest comedies against easily the best "musical" of all time. Seriously, how is Mulan not celebrated like Wicked?!?!
I can't pick, it's too tough. So I'm flipping a coin and letting fate decide!
Great question, I never would have guessed how hard that would be.
(Twists moustache) He tried to sell me a stolen motorcar.
Mostly typical millennial nostalgic picks. How much I love the songs are a huge factor in what I need to include.
If you are willing to elaborate, is there something different about this adaptation, or is it just that you enjoy the language in particular?
I don't think I've actually seen Pocahontas, but when I clicked through the Danish link, my mind got stuck on an alternate ending where she picks up the bear cub, the bear mauls them both to death, and the credits roll.
It really just comes down to what I grew up with as those feels right. I have later come to appreciate the original versions of the songs, but it is not the same. Far as I know there are no difference in the actual films.
I feel like nearly everything I would have picked was said aside from Coco and Oliver and Company. Coco is spectacular, and Oliver and company isn't a classic like the others, but still holds charm for me.
I loved Coco. Coco and Big Hero 6 are my favorite "modern" Disney movies. It's hard to pick just 5!
Oliver and Company. 🤦‍♂️ That should have been in my Runner's Up. Super under appreciated.
Fantasia is a landmark, something special, and deserves to be saved. The rest, I can't honestly say I would miss any of them. From my perspective, they all feel samey. Maybe Mulan, just to have one modern example. I think @akir makes a solid case for Mary Poppins.
[edit] I do want to be clear that if you're someone who loves Disney films, I don't want to change your mind at all, please keep loving what you love. We all like and dislike different things, and that's ok.
Fantasia is the film that I think is probably the best bet to label Walt Disney’s magnum opus. Did you know that they had to develop a new sound system to make that film? It might be the first feature film to feature surround sound. They also use some of the first products Hewlett Packard ever made, electronic oscillators.
Sticking with the tech innovation theme, Corridor Crew did a fantastic video on sodium vapor light, and how it was used in Mary Poppins for FX, then lost, then re-created. Fascinating stuff!
TIL what a canon list is https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_canon
Emperor's New Groove and give you guys my other slots.
Maybe Moana for the music and the scenes with Grandma.
Aladdin, Pocahontas, Hercules, The Emperor’s New Groove, and Mulan. Mulan is my favorite and I still watch it every few years. I think I have to go watch the other four soon now, too.
So I put way more thought into this than necessary and ive come to agree that the music is probably the thing that should make the most important guideline to choose which movies to save. Not only for which songs are the best but how well they are integrated. Sadly that concentrates them to around the same era.
The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast are two of the best films Disney has ever made. While I prefer the music and style of The Lion King - The Circle of Life is probably one of the best songs of all time all by itself, which is why Disney’s trailer for the movie was just that sequence cut straight from the movie - Beauty and the Beast has the best story execution and honestly has just a little more polish and appeal overall.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is not a terribly good movie. To me it marks the specific point in time where I got frustrated with Disney’s inclusion of wacky side characters, and this one has a whole chorus of them. But the music almost single-handedly saves it. It’s actually integrated into it better than any other Disney film, and it’s also a lot more high-brow with its extensive use of themes and even has real Latin chanting to really pull you into its world. Did you know that Heaven’s Light and Hellfire are actually the same song? The way it’s put together might even make it a hair better than The Circle of Life.
Then there is The Princess and the Frog. A fun fact about the movie is that by the time they decided to make the film they had already dissolved their traditional animation studio so they had to put them back together to make it, and it was worth it. This movie made me hate Randy Newman because I am just jealous of his immense talent. The song Almost There makes me cry every time because it how it manages to reflect one’s experiences in such a specific way that uses the roughness of life to make it a unique shade of bittersweet.
The last one is a real toss-up. I’m tempted to name Hercules because of a personal weakness for gospel music. And there are movies I want to list for reasons other than their music. Someone else mentioned Aladdin for Robbin Williams, whom I loved and am still sad is gone. I kind of want to say Pocahontas because while many think the film is bland or problematic, it might actually be one of the best quality animation productions Disney has ever done (and the music is indeed underrated).
All of the movies I’ve listed have one thing in common. They are all films made under the creative influence of Howard Ashman, the man who is often credited as being the main force behind the “Disney Renaissance”. But there was a time before he came on scene and I think there are some great films made before then. And so the number five spot goes to a movie with music by the Sherman Brothers. And that honor goes to Mary Poppins.
Honestly even I am kind of surprised to be putting this film in this list. It’s not animated - at least not entirely - and of everything it’s by far the closest to being a “dumb kids movie” instead of the massively appealing family films that Disney is known for now. But to me it really does represent the best of Walt Disney’s company specifically. It was an incredible showcase of all the techniques, technologies, and talents they had managed to accrue. The songs are fantastic and timeless, and I actually think it does a better job of getting adults to empathize with real young children instead of the adults playing children that their animated films show. And beyond that I think there are many components to this film that the giant all-consuming conglomerate that Disney has become cannot reproduce. Though I suppose if the rest of Disney’s films have been lost the reasons for its inclusion might not be very clear.
I know I have just dissed Lin Manuel Miranda for being a hack composer in this very thread but the movies he has worked on the music actually do deserve honorable mention as well. Moana is a banger, Coco is a film that I honestly think is underrated, and Encanto is probably the best movie Disney has made in decades. And as tired as we all are of it, Frozen also belongs here.
I am amused to note that so far, no one has mentioned two of the most iconic Disney titles. First is Peter Pan, which is understandable given how it hasn't aged well. But Peter is highly beloved to this day, and Tinkerbell is Disney's second mascot.
More shocking though... Cinderella. She's basically THE Disney princess, a lot of official artwork places her in the center of the lineup. Disney's old logo has her castle. I think every other princess's film has been mentioned but hers (except Merida, but I don't fully count her because she was made by Pixar, and that still feels distinct from the rest of the Disney brand).
Just a funny little observation I had. This question really is a hard one, though. It's making me realize just how much Disney impacted pop culture for generations.
I think from the main three films from the Golden Age (Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty) Cinderella is the most low-key and the least technically ambitious. That was at least my reasoning when I chose to omit it.
Beauty & The Beast - My all-time fave overall
Mulan - My fave music, every single song is so good
Cinderella - I love that asshole cat too much
Sleeping Beauty - Maleficent is iconic
For my last pick it's a toss-up between Hercules (I love the music) and Emperor's New Groove (it's hilarious).
I'm ok with letting go of all the 3D films. There were some good ones but I really prefer 2D animation.
The Lion Ling
Toy Story
Atlantis
Treasure Planet
Tangled
Also sticking to the 2D/drawn stuff.
Fantasia, Bambi, Snow White, The Jungle Book and Dumbo.