Disney Through The Years - 2021 and Conclusion
Welcome back to the series of feature articles focused on Disney movies.
For the past year I’ve been going decade-by-decade through the history of Walt Disney Company’s feature films. I reviewed each film from Walt Disney Animation Studios and ranked them.
For details on the perimeters of this series check out this 1980s article that marked the halfway point in the series. But this series does only include movies available on Disney+.
We are left with two movies! So, I’ll review and rank those two 2021 releases and then get on with concluding statements and rankings.
Here are my reviews and rankings of the Disney Animated Studios films of 2021. You will find these movies under the Search tab of Disney+ and under Animated Collection.
Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)
In a post-apocalyptic Asian land a young woman and a water dragon must search the land for pieces of a stone to unite the disparate nations and stop an evil all-consuming force.
What we have with Raya and the Last Dragon is a fantasy adventure that plays with Asian cultural motifs and martial arts. And it is pretty damn cool. So, the studio has, at this point, produced a handful of non-musical adventures. Historically, it has done poorly with science fiction adventure stories with Atlantis, Treasure Planet, and Meet the Robinsons being the most notable examples. It’s really only had any creative success with Wreck-It Ralph, a film about video game characters, and Big Hero 6, a film based on a comic book. Perhaps their concepts lent to their creative success. However, while the studio is famous for its fantasy musicals (especially starring princesses), it hasn’t really done a straight-forward fantasy adventure since 1985’s The Black Cauldron. Raya is actually good.
It’s also, perhaps, the first film about Asian characters to be completely respectful of those characters and devoid of any racial or cultural jokes or reducing characters to their racial identity. Big Hero 6 dabbled in this with its amalgam of San Francisco with Tokyo and multi-racial cast of characters. Mulan fans can say what they will about that movie, but it had its share of Chinese stereotypes and related humor. Not so with Raya and the Last Dragon. Yes, the film is about Asian characters and utilizes Asian culture and mythology, but it honors those things.
The film isn’t without its flaws. For whatever reason, Awkwafina’s voice always fails to cohere with the character in her first few scenes. While Awkwafina does have an excellent voice for animation it struggles to disappear into the role. Also, the primary quest that moves the narrative along does feel like a quest-based video game where you have to travel to different locations to find a MacGuffin or collect gems.
Overall, the film overcomes those issues to become one of the best non-musical entries in Disney canon.
Encanto (2021)
A multigenerational Columbian family, the Madrigals, led by a matriarch whose children and grandchildren—except for Maribel (Stephanie Beatriz)—receive magical gifts from a "miracle" that helps them serve the people in their rural community called "the Encanto". When Mirabel learns that the family is losing their magic, she sets out to find out what is happening, to save her family and their magical house.
Encanto has quite the pedigree: directed by both Byron Howard (Bolt, Tangled, Zootopia) and Jared Bush (Zootopia), written by Bush and playwright/actress Charise Castro Smith, and with original songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who previously worked on Moana. And it pretty much lives up to that pedigree. The animation is colorful, lively, and emotive. The songs are pure Miranda: rapid-fire, fun, and a wonderful blend of Latino and hip-hop.
Encanto also continues this recent trend in Disney movies of being devoid of an antagonist. Since Moana every major conflict in a Disney film has been largely an internal one or righting a wrong rather than defeating a Big Bad. This has definitely made the films more complex in nature and their plots a little more difficult to summarize. There’s a fascinating discussion to be had there about whether or not that’s a sign of the studio growing up or the children and what sort of effects these stories have on those growing up with them.
In any case, Encanto only has one real issue and that is whether or not the magic and its origin is adequately established, especially as it pertains to the film’s final moments. It just never quite makes sense.
Overall, Encanto is the superior film of the two 2021 releases. It might not be quite on the level of the best Disney animated musicals, but it certainly lives up to the best of the 2010s and continues a fairly solid streak the studio has experienced since 2008’s Bolt. Let’s hope that can continue as long as possible.
2021 Ranking
Encanto
Raya and the Last Dragon
Conclusion and Rankings
Sixty movies is a lot and has left quite a legacy and impact on our culture. Disney’s versions of Pinocchio, The Jungle Book, Winnie the Pooh, Snow White, Cinderella, and Beauty and the Beast are so iconic that it is difficult to divorce them from our minds and make room for other versions and interpretations. The journey along the way was mostly consistent, at least until Walt’s death. The first feature-length animated film was in 1937 and the studio wouldn’t produce their first bad film until 1970. That’s a streak that lasted over thirty years. The following 40 years were spotty with over a dozen forgettable or poor films. The past 15 years has bounced back to a consistency in quality much more akin to that of the 1940s and 1950s. With luck, that will continue without reliance on sequels and will continue to broaden our imaginations and perspectives beyond traditional stories.
What I’d like to do now is to conclude by summing up some of the best and worst in the studio’s history. Let’s start by ranking the songs.
10 Best I Wish Songs
10. For the First Time in Forever (Frozen)
9. Almost There (The Princess & the Frog)
8. I’m Wishing / One Song (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)
7. A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes (Cinderella)
6. Just Around the Riverbend (Pocahontas)
5. Waiting on a Miracle (Encanto)
4. Belle Reprise (Beauty and the Beast)
3. I Just Can’t Wait to Be King (The Lion King)
2. How Far I’ll Go (Moana)
1. Part of Your World (The Little Mermaid)
There are 14 total I Wish songs in Disney canon. This is a song that expresses a desire of the main character and dates all the way back to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. As songs some are better than others. Snow White and Cinderella’s are among the most iconic - the latter was actually used in many Disney projects for years. But it wasn’t until the Disney Renaissance from 1989-1994 that the Disney musical was given new life and perfected, along with the I Wish song. Credit goes to Howard Ashman, Alan Menken, and Tim Rice. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s recent contributions have already crafted some of the best in studio history.
10 Best Villain Songs
10. Trust in Me (The Jungle Book)
9. Hellfire (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)
8. Mother Knows Best (Tangled)
7. The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind (The Great Mouse Detective)
6. Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee (Pinocchio)
5. Friends on the Other Side (The Princess and the Frog)
4. Shiny (Moana)
3. Gaston (Beauty and the Beast)
2. Poor Unfortunate Souls (The Little Mermaid)
1. Be Prepared (The Lion King)
As with the Disney protagonist’s I Wish song, there are 14 songs by villains. However, some like 'The Siamese Cat Song’ and ‘Mine, Mine, Mine’ are somewhat problematic. Others like ‘Mad Madam Mim’ or ‘Yodel-Adle-Eedle-Idle-Oo’ are forgettable. The earliest came from Honest John in Pinocchio, a film that doesn’t have a primary antagonist (much like Moana 76 years later). But that song became iconic and, much like the rest of that movie’s songbook, seeped into the culture and is probably the best-known song sung by a villainous character. The villain song wouldn’t be embraced until the aforementioned Disney Renaissance, as 5 out of 10 movies released between 1989 and 1999 featured villain songs. Some are slight and may even be one of only two or three songs in the movie, as is the case with ‘Mad Madam Mim’ and ‘The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind’. But, as songs, these are the best or most significant of this kind.
10 Best Disney Songbooks
10. Robin Hood
9. Oliver & Company
8. Frozen
7. Encanto
6. Aladdin
5. The Little Mermaid
4. Moana
3. Beauty & the Beast
2. The Lion King
1. Pinocchio
This was a difficult decision to make. There are over 20 songbooks in Disney canon. Many have at least two songs that have become iconic or fully saturated in our culture. Some have one song that is culturally problematic today. So, arranging the strongest overall songbooks and weighing against iconography was a difficult task. But no songbook is more significant, influential, or well-known than Pinocchio.
Disney Through the Years Ranked
8. The 2000s (Fantasia 2000, Dinosaur, The Emperor’s New Groove, Atlantis, Lilo & Stitch, Treasure Planet, Brother Bear, Home on the Range, etc.)
7. The 1970s (The Aristocats, Robin Hood, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, The Rescuers)
6. The 1980s (The Fox and the Hound, The Black Cauldron, The Great Mouse Detective, Oliver & Company, The Little Mermaid)
5. The 1960s (One Hundred and One Dalmations, The Sword and the Stone, The Jungle Book)
4. The 1990s (The Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, Hercules, Mulan, Tarzan)
3. The 1940s (Fantasia, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi, The Three Caballeros, Make Mine Music, Fun and Fancy Free, Melody Time, etc.)
2. The 2010s (Tangled, Winnie the Pooh, Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen, Big Hero 6, Zootopia, Moana, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Frozen 2)
1. The 1950s (Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and The Tramp, Sleeping Beauty)
It’s an interesting exercise ranking the decades of Walt Disney Animation Studios. I did not count the 1930s or the 2020s, as neither decade had more than two films. But the biggest factor was considering quantity of quality. The 2000s produced 12 films, but only 5 of them were any good or fondly remembered. The ‘40s and the ‘90s both had strong first halves. But their second halves were riddled with lesser work. I gave the edge to the classic ‘40s for the culturally significant films it did release before the anthology releases. The 2010s produced 9 films with only 2 remotely close to underwhelming and 4 that achieved greatness. The only decade that could rival it in terms of overall quality was the 1950s (surprisingly). Bookended by fairy tale princess movies, it began with Cinderella, a film that isn’t among the studio’s best, but is certainly one of the most iconic. And it ended with Sleeping Beauty, one of its greatest, most artful films ever. And in-between there were three giant classics of near-perfection. It may not be the decade with the most great films (that can be debated between the 1940s and the 2010s), but it had the most iconic and high-quality films.
Disney Princesses Ranked
10. Snow White
9. Cinderella
8. Aurora
7. Jasmine
6. Rapunzel
5. Tiana
4. Vanellope von Schweetz
3. Moana
2. Ariel
1. Belle
The Disney princess is arguably the best-known of Disney characters. But what makes a great Disney princess? It certainly isn’t just being the fairest of them all or having a song. Personality and depth of character are crucial elements to being the best. Belle from Beauty and the Beast rises above all, because she is educated, independent, selfless, and has her own interests. She is not about to marry the town hunk just because he’s interested in her. She’d rather not marry if that is her Prince Charming. Not only is Belle also willing to sacrifice her freedom for the life of her father, but she’s also compassionate, willing and able to see when there is more to someone than how they appear. Belle is the most interesting and honorable of Disney princesses.
Villains
Best: Scar
When considering the best Disney villains there’s a lot that should be a factor: character design, voice performance, personality, plot and motivation, and memorability or iconography. Having a great villain song can help, too. There are those with a great character design, such as The Evil Queen or The Horned King. But they may be remembered primarily for that and not their vocal performance, personality, or anything else. So, my decision to crown Scar from The Lion King as the best Disney villain comes from his ability to represent all of these factors equally. As already determined, he has the best villain song. His motivations are Shakespearean: knock those in power and in line of succession out of the way to become king of the Pridelands himself. Jeremy Irons gives Scar an arrogant and dry voice that can turn menacing and vicious in any moment. He’s a character who thinks he’s above everyone and will manipulate and use whomever he can to get what he wants. For him his scheme is not merely a plot from Point A to Point B. It is a game of chess wherein he must arrange all the players just so in order to achieve his goal. He is the Loki to Simba’s Thor. He is Hamlet’s uncle and Richard III. Also, it can be difficult to make much out of a lion in terms of distinct character design. But Scar’s darker colors, scarred face, and lean, starved physicality is unforgettable and goes a long way to building his character. There are a lot of great villains that combine many of the necessary elements for greatness. Only Scar has the depth and intelligence to rise above them all.
Runners-up (in order): Ursula, Gaston, Captain Hook, Prince John, Shere Kahn, Maleficent, Jafar, Hades, Ratigan, Minister Frollo.
Worst: Edgar
So, what makes a villain the worst? In a lot of ways it is a matter of to what degree they fail at all of the elements that make a villain great. There are a lot of forgettable Disney villains: Shan Yu, Commander Lyle Tiberius Rourke, John Silver, and Alameda Slim to name a handful. While those villains are not very good at all I think in order to be crowned the Worst Disney Villain the character has to have a complete failing on all levels to a nearly upsetting degree. The butler Edgar from The Aristocats fully qualifies. After years of interesting designs from The Evil Queen to Shere Kahn, we get a stuffy white man in a butler suit. After years of incredible voice performances from Captain Hook to (again) Shere Kahn we get a stuttering, stuffy, and forgettable voice here. Only the biggest defenders of The Aristocats can probably remember Edgar’s voice. And his scheme completely lacks any logic and is derivative, as I detailed in my review. Edgar is, by far, the worst Disney villain, made all the more clear in the context of the studio’s releases. Many were lackluster, forgettable milquetoast. But none were as outright unoriginal and poorly conceived as Edgar.
Runners-Up (in order): Governor Ratcliffe, Medusa, Amos, Shan Yu, Commander Rourke, John Silver, Alameda Slim, Sykes, Clayton, and Mother Gothel
The 10 Worst Disney Animated Movies
10. The Fox and the Hound (1981)
9. The Rescuers (1977)
8. Chicken Little (2005)
7. Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
6. Pocahontas (1995)
5. The Aristocats (1970)
4. Home on the Range (2004)
3. Brother Bear (2003)
2. Treasure Planet (2002)
1. Dinosaur (2000)
Unfortunately, you don’t get to 60 movies without any bad apples. Admittedly, it did take 20 films before the studio cranked out a stinker. But none stank more than 2000’s ambitious CG swing, Dinosaur. Not only was majority of its 82-minute runtime an eyesore, but its plot was derivative and its characters were forgettable. The 2000s was an incredibly awful decade on the whole for the studio, cranking out 12 films and having only 5 worthwhile films to show for it. Most of that decade was forgettable (notice the studio hasn’t exactly been celebrating most of them?), but Dinosaur was one giant turd in studio history.
The 10 Best Disney Animated Movies
10. Big Hero 6 (2014)
9. Zootopia (2016)
8. Beauty & the Beast (1991)
7. Aladdin (1992)
6. Sleeping Beauty (1959)
5. Moana (2016)
4. The Little Mermaid (1989)
3. Bambi (1942)
2. The Lion King (1994)
1. Pinocchio (1940)
Declaring the best Disney animated film can be a bit daunting. The inclination is to lean heavily on the classic era during Walt’s lifetime. How can it not be Snow White, Cinderella, or Dumbo? Well, when taken into account overall story, characters, themes, songbook, and cultural sturdiness, some of those great films just don’t hold up as well as others. The crown jewel must be given to Pinocchio, a film that is so iconic and ingrained in our culture that it is taken wildly for granted these days. Any time we think of the story we think of this version. There are few characters as beloved for generations as Pinocchio and Jiminy Crickett. The film is daring, willing to go places that most animated movies for kids and families won’t. It is the story of an innocent youth being faced with the harsh realities of the world, one full of manipulators, human traffickers, rule-breakers, and more - and he must do so while holding on to the goodness inside of him, to be brave, honest, and selfless. It is a noble fairy tale worth going through all of the darkness in order to get on the other side. Not only that, but Pinocchio helped innovate several elements of the animated form. On top of it all, you have the greatest songbook in Disney history with such classics as ‘When You Wish Upon a Star’, ‘Give a Little Whistle’, and ‘I’ve Got No Strings’. All in all, you have one of the best-crafted and greatest films in the entire history of the studio.
There you have it. That completes the Disney Through the Years project. I hope this has been informative and interesting for you. If nothing else, I hope it encouraged you to look at old classics in new ways and to seek out those you’ve yet to see. If you haven’t already, definitely read all previous articles in the series. You can find them by clicking here. Be sure to check out our Disney episode of The Movie Lovers podcast coming soon!
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