Every Walt Disney Animated Movie, Ranked

In a decade dominated by the emergence of CGI, The Princess and the Frog was hailed as a glorious return to hand-drawn animation — emphasis on glorious. The film has all the hallmarks of classic Disney. There’s a terrific villain in Dr. Facilier (Keith David), a strong supporting cast, and perhaps the princess to beat all princesses in Tiana (Anika Noni Rose). The city of New Orleans comes to vibrant life in this exceptionally fun movie. It’s stunning to watch, especially the art deco sequence for the great song “Almost There,” animated by Eric Goldberg.

Disney’s ingenious marketing promised us something we’d never quite seen before in Lilo & Stitch, and the film delivers. Lilo (Daveigh Chase) is the kind of protagonist we’ve never had before — endearing but an oddball who’s desperately lonely and in need of companionship. She finds it in Experiment-626, a killer alien she renames as Stitch (voiced by Chris Williams, who co-directed with Dean DeBlois). It’s a very funny yet deeply sad movie that explores the idea of family with tenderness and respect. It’s amazing that Disney let two talents like Sanders and DeBlois get away — the pair went on to direct How To Train Your Dragon at DreamWorks, among others.

Disney gave us a tale as old as time in Beauty and the Beast, the first (and only) Disney film nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. It’s not hard to see why. The film is a sweeping and heartwarming romance, even if you must put aside their questionable circumstances to fully buy in. Initially, the film’s production seemed doomed to fail. Walt Disney himself wanted to adapt the timeless tale, but could never get the story right. The project was given new life when lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken, were brought on board, turning the film into a musical. Its set pieces have become an indelible part of animation history, from the ballroom dance to “Beauty and the Beast” to Lumiere (Jerry Orbach) performing “Be Our Guest.”

Disney was prepared to draw its last breath after the disastrous The Black Cauldron, but a mouse saved them. Not Mickey, mind you, but Basil of Baker Street (Barrie Ingham). Henry Mancini’s lively, adventurous score brings The Great Mouse Detective to life. The budget of the film was slashed in half after CEO Michael Eisner saw the storyboards, but that didn’t stop first-time directors Ron Clements and John Musker from smashing it out of the park. Despite being dubbed as part of the so-called Dark Ages, the film bears all the marks of a classic Renaissance film: bold Broadway-style musical numbers, a legendary villain in Ratigan (voiced by a fantastic Vincent Price) — designed by superstar animator Glen Keane — a great sidekick, and fantastic animation (even though its budget means it has a literal roughness around the edges).This is a tightly plotted thrill ride with a fabulous chase inside Big Ben that is one of the most impressive early examples of merging CGI with hand-drawn animation. Credit often goes to The Little Mermaid for starting the Renaissance, but without The Great Mouse Detective, that film may have never happened.

Disney has always been at the forefront of innovation when it comes to animation, and that’s rarely clearer than in Tarzan. The studio developed Deep Canvas, an innovation that effectively allowed artists to paint fully three-dimensional paintings in that a camera can freely move through. The result was Tarzan (Tony Goldwyn) swinging through the trees and vines in the jungle in a level of immersion that was previously impossible. Animator Glen Keane found Tarzan a real challenge to animate as he needed to move believably as both a human and a gorilla, so he consulted with a professor of anatomy — making Tarzan the first Disney character to display working muscles accurately.Beyond the impeccable animation, Tarzan succeeds thanks to a great story overflowing with authentic emotion. Phil Collins delivered a blazingly earnest set of songs, including the end-credit staple “You’ll Be in My Heart,” which won an Oscar. The best Disney movies make us feel, and few accomplish that better than Tarzan, which closed out the Renaissance on the highest note possible.

While Disney’s appeal extends to adults and children alike, few films provide such charming and sincere family entertainment as Winnie the Pooh. The 2011 film was completely overshadowed at the box office (opening against the last Harry Potter movie will do that), but the film, directed by Stephen Anderson and Don Hall, is chock-full of joy. It’s the perfect distillation of the spirit of A.A. Milne’s beloved stories: this is a warm hug in cinematic form. The animation — to date, it is Disney’s final traditionally hand-drawn film — is spectacular, particularly in Pooh’s (Jim Cummings) honey-fueled dream sequence. It’s a breezy 63 minutes, and not a second is wasted.

After Sleeping Beauty, Disney entered cost-cutting mode in the 1960s, ushering in a new process called xerography. The photocopying process led to harsh black outlines on characters but also saved a lot of time and money. Xerography meant the end of the entire ink and paint department. Remarkably, you’d never know One Hundred and One Dalmatians was made with budget in mind, because Ken Anderson’s art direction and edgier style match Sixties London effortlessly.One Hundred and One Dalmatians moves like jazz. Marc Davis’ monumental talent gave us an all-time great villain in the deranged Cruella De Vil (Betty Lou Gerson), who wants nothing more than to turn a group of adorable puppies into a glamorous fur coat. Bill Peet had worked at the studio since Snow White and finally got his chance to take the lead on the story, proving he was one of the great American storytellers. The film also proved Disney was capable of going in new directions — it was their first contemporary picture, and despite having a song (“Cruella De Vil”), it was the studio’s first non-musical.

The Emperor’s New Groove almost didn’t exist. Its tortured development hell rivals that of The Black Cauldron and might be even more dramatic. But unlike that misfire, The Emperor’s New Groove is a bona-fide masterpiece. It’s by a significant distance the funniest Disney film, blending exceptional visual gags, surrealism, and meta-humor into an unmatched package (the scene at Mudka’s Meat Hut is practically the definition of perfect comic timing).Yzma (an outstanding Eartha Kitt) brings down the house as the villain hellbent on Emperor Kuzco’s (David Spade) destruction. Disney struggled to find their identity in the wake of the Renaissance and fierce competition from other studios, but The Emperor’s New Groove held the blueprint for success.