Students cast their votes for best animated Disney film
The number one movie in the nation right now is Disney’s “Moana,” a musical adventure featuring the company’s first Polynesian princess. Starring Dwayne Johnson and newcomer Auli’i Cravalho, the movie also includes music by “Hamilton” composer Lin-Manuel Miranda. As of this writing, it has grossed over $150 million worldwide according to Box Office Mojo, and is “certified fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 97 percent approval rating.
“Moana” is the latest in the Walt Disney Animation pantheon, which consists of more than 50 films, both hand-drawn and computer-generated, and dozens of memorable titles, all of which helped make the name Disney synonymous with “childhood.”
All too often, I hear people argue over which film is the “best” Disney movie ever. While I don’t think it’s possible to find a “best” one, as the majority of them are praised for different reasons, I decided to do the next best thing and find the most popular one.
So I polled 55 Saint Joseph’s University students, asking them to pick their five favorites from the lineup of over 50 theatrically released films (let’s face it—you can’t just pick one!). The top five were as follows, including the percentage of votes:
5. Tie: “Peter Pan,” “Aladdin,” “Hercules” (21.8 percent)
4. Tie: “Beauty and the Beast,” “Lilo & Stitch,” “Tangled,” “Frozen” (25.5 percent)
3. “The Little Mermaid” (30.9 percent)
2. “Mulan” (32.7 percent)
1. “The Lion King” (36.4 percent)
That’s right, the winner was “The Lion King,” with a little more than a quarter of the vote. Given that the film was close to the most profitable animated movie of its decade, spawning a Broadway musical and several catchy earworms (looking at you, “Hakuna Matata!”) the win was definitely anticipated. “Mulan,” however, was more surprising to me. Sure, I know people like it, but it wasn’t a major hit when it came out. Then again, do you know anyone who doesn’t burst into song when “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” starts playing?
When it comes to “The Little Mermaid,” the less I say, the better. I can’t say I’m surprised by the popularity of “Tangled” and “Frozen.” I know girls from high school who are still singing those songs.
To be honest, though, I was disappointed that my own favorites weren’t higher on the list. It would have been nice to see “Beauty and the Beast” place at third, or see “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “Pinocchio” or “The Princess and the Frog” place at all.
Even so, all of those movies received more votes than the one I love most of all, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” If you could call any Disney animated feature a “cult film,” it would probably be “Hunchback.” It is darker and more mature in tone, content, and design than anything put out by the House of Mouse. I mean, there’s a song where an old priest sings to God about his lust for a young woman while imagining her in his fireplace. As a result, the film wasn’t financially successful in North America, but it’s still held in high regard by its fans for the fact that it took risks—comic relief gargoyles and unnecessary Kevin Kline-Demi Moore romance notwithstanding.
In fact, one could possibly say that “Hunchback’s” risk-taking led to a more creative (but aesthetically varied) output from studios in the early 2000s. True, audiences got “Home on the Range” out of that deal (Ladies and gentlemen, Roseanne Barr as a cow!), but without “Hunchback” we never could have seen the vibrancy and vision of “Wreck-It Ralph,” the clever subversion of “Frozen,” or the controversial subjects tackled in this year’s “Zootopia.” Then again, popularity in the moment really doesn’t matter in the long-run.
The one word that always comes up when one describes the Disney Company is “timeless.” As long as the message is one that anyone can relate to, and the story one that we all can recognize, there is no limit to the stories out there for Disney to tell.
How’s that for a fairy-tale ending?
