RottenTomatoes.com is one of the few places I feel I can go online to get an honest opinion of the latest movie releases. They’re run by real film buffs and know their stuff. Just look at their high rating of Pixar’s films as proof, but I may be biased.
To mark the return of Disney to hand-drawn animation in The Princess & The Frog, RT has pulled together a list ranking every feature animated film from Disney from worst to best. It starts with “Fun and Fancy Free” at #48 which is probably true, but it’s still a great little film and what’s bad from Disney could still be great from others. Sort of the opposite of the Anastasia problem*.
Btw, there is no way “The Black Cauldron” should be ranked above “Chicken Little” or “Brother Bear”…. who’s curating this list?
*The Anastasia problem: When Fox released the animated feature Anastasia they test marketed it a couple of ways. In some theaters they added a ‘Disney Feature Animation’ logo before the title and in others they left the actual Fox name. Those who saw the movie with the Disney name in front of it rated the film better than those who saw it with the Fox logo. The other half of the Anastasia problem is that when any animated feature starts to approach Disney quality many audience members assume that it was made by Disney even if they’ve seen it themselves. Proof? Just go to ebay and search Disney Anastasia.
Hold on a minute here…Snow White and Pinocchio ahead of Lion King and Beauty and the Beast? I know I’m from the latter generation and the first two were epic achievements for cinema at the time but come on!
I agree with Black Cauldron above Brother Bear and Chicken Little. While none of the 3 has a great story, BC at least tries to do something interesting with the stories from the books. Chicken Little left me asleep halfway through.
I agree with Neil Trama’s comment. How could Lion King possibly be number 7 on the list? I was also kind of angry that Pocahontas was number 33…
RottenTomatoes.com ranks all of Disney's animated features – http://is.gd/5cOFa – I might have a quibble or two. Plus the Anastasia Problem.
Where I think they went wrong:
– Peter Pan should be in the top 10, no doubt
– Alice in Wonderland could be a bit higher
– Oliver & Company should be at or near the bottom
What they got right:
– Top 3 (Pinocchio, Snow White, Fantasia) is dead-on accurate.
Chicken Little was AWFUL. Black Cauldron certainly surpasses that, and Home on the Range.
John- I say this in love- a little offended you dissed Black Cauldron so. For some reason I love it more than the average. Personally, it makes my Top 5. Even if it’s lower for most and has problems, I thinks it’s fair to argue it has some amazing moments of animation, some strong characters, and great voice work. Chicken little is personally my #48. The ONLY thing I have good to say about it is Fish out of Water. Everything else was pretty awful in my book. With Frog, I am hoping to be able to forget these last 3 films were made (Robinsons was ok).
Any list that doesn’t have Black Cauldron at the bottom is already suspect in my book. Not that I have a strong opinion on it or anything. :)
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