A few years ago I ranked all the animated films Disney made in the modern era, from 2006 to present. Now, because I've been revisiting a lot of these films lately, I want to do the same thing with the films of the Disney Renaissance, from roughly 1986, when Michael Eisner and friends took over the ailing Disney animation studio, to 2005, when the studio temporarily went kaput. This list is limited to the films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, not any of their subsidiaries or acquisitions. So no PIXAR, no Tigger or Goofy movies, and no "Nightmare Before Christmas." That's still twenty-one films, so this list will be split into two parts, and some entries will be significantly shorter than others.
Here we go. Minor spoilers ahead.
20-21. Dinosaur (2000) and Chicken Little (2005) - Officially, these are Disney's two first CGI features. I've seen them once apiece, and they're so forgettable I regularly don't remember that they exist. "Dinosaur" is entirely built around the concept of photorealistic dinosaurs, and presents a weird fusion of nature documentary and Exodus narrative. "Chicken Little" is a clumsy sci-fi retelling of "Henny Penny," with a father-son story grafted on. It's hard not to think of it as Disney's response to "Shrek," which cleaned up at the box office three years earlier. Both are far more interesting for their technological advancements and stylistic deviations from the Disney norm than anything else.
19. Pocahontas (1995) - After "Beauty and the Beast" made history as the first animated film to receive a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars, Jeffrey Katzenberg is rumored to have gotten a little obsessed with repeating the feat. "Pocahontas" is easily the most obvious piece of Oscar bait the studio ever produced, an unforgivably dull piece of historical fiction that reimagines the meeting of Pocahontas and John Smith as a tepid romance. Individual sequences are perfectly lovely, like the "Colors of the Wind" musical number, but the whole project is so self-serious and so tone deaf in many respects that I consider it one of the least successful Disney films ever made.
17-18. Brother Bear (2003) and Home on the Range (2004) - Both of these films have their charms and remain very watchable today, but they're both hampered by being rushed out the door during a very rough period in the studio's history. The characters aren't very memorable, and the stories need more work. I love the throwback '60s style character designs and animation in "Home on the Range," but it's all awfully derivative. "Brother Bear" is more successful, featuring a touching central relationship between Kenai and Koda. The film's only real deficiency is its lack of scope and limited resources - it had about half the budget of any other Disney feature from the same period.
16. Mulan (1998) - I have a long list of complaints about "Mulan," which mostly boil down to the movie being so underwhelming to look at, and indulging in culture and gender stereotyping to a regrettable degree. I know it was 1998, and we weren't all so enlightened about any of this, but it still grates. It doesn't help that this was a film I was really hyped for, and sadly disappointed by. After years of looking forward to a Chinese dragon in a Disney feature, I got Eddie Murphy wisecracking in tiny red reptile form. This is also the Disney Renaissance musical with the least impressive songs and music. Mulan herself is a wonderful heroine, and a great role model, but I was hoping for something more.
15. Atlantis: the Lost Empire (2001) - I don't have any particularly strong feelings toward this one. It's another of Disney's attempts at making a boy's adventure movie and straight action film that didn't really land with audiences. I love the distinctive Matt Mignola designs and the Jules Verne approach to technology. However, everything kind of falls apart when it comes to the actual Atlanteans, and the mix of oddball characters never quite gels right. Disney succeeded in making a film that didn't really come across as a Disney film, and I suspect that it's probably a big reason why it didn't do as well as they hoped. I'm glad "Atlantis" has its fans, but the film made it clear that it's not one aimed at me.
14. Fantasia 2000 (2000) - I admire the ambition that it took to get a new installment of "Fantasia" made, but this one feels severely compromised. First, the celebrity introductions to each segment are intrusive as hell. Second, there are signs of executive tampering all over the place - the cartoon eyes on the whales in "Pines of Rome," the happy ending to "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," and the Donald Duck short that doesn't really let Donald be Donald. I enjoy some of the individual pieces, like Eric Golberg's take on "Rhapsody in Blue," and the Brizzi brothers' spectacular finale, the "Firebird Suite," but frankly I was hoping for better. The original is still one of the high water marks for Disney.
13. Oliver & Company (1988) - There's been a long history of Disney animal films, and these make up the majority of the studio's features set in the present day. In the case of "Oliver & Company," its specificity in capturing 1980s New York has turned it into a period piece over time, a fun melding of an animal-lead "Oliver Twist" with the kind of slightly scuzzy comedy that Eisner was known for shepherding along at Touchstone, like "Down and Out in Beverly Hills" and "Ruthless People." It's an easy watch, with some catchy contemporary songs - the first time big pop stars were courted for a Disney feature - but feels very much like a warm up for the bigger projects coming a few years later.
12. Treasure Planet (2003) - Here it is - the film that once killed traditional animation at Disney. Directors Ron Clements and John Musker finally got to make their long-gestating dream project, and it was a financial bust. It's a shame, because "Treasure Planet" has good characters, good spectacle, and an appealing mix of naval adventure and space fantasy. Some of the swashbuckler trappings don't work, and there's evidence of a lot of last minute rejiggering of various characters. However, I love how ambitious the film is. The Long John Silver cyborg is fantastic, and the ensemble is especially strong. Execution could use some work, but the Millennials love this one for a reason.
11. Lilo & Stitch (2002) - This is a weird one. It's a science-fiction comedy that features dysfunctional family dynamics, a Hawaiian setting, and a lot of Elvis Presley. It is a very good kids' film, and I had the misfortune of watching it when I was not a kid, so I never really developed much of an attachment to it. I appreciate that it's another film, like "Oliver & Company," that acknowledges the socioeconomic divide, and features a collection of characters who are struggling to get by. I sympathized so much with poor Nani. However, the real star of the show is Stitch, and he's the kind of loveable nightmare troublemaker that has never appealed to me. Full points for taking some big risks, though.
Next time, the top ten. Stay tuned.
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