It should come as a surprise to no one that the greatest era in Walt Disney's Feature Animation department is arguably the most beloved era of a single company's film making in motion picture history. After all, not only was Disney at the height of their creative development, but the studio continued to release hit after hit, without any glaring failures in anyone's eyes. To many who are reaching adulthood today,. these films are what we grew up on. My first film watching experiences were at least five of the top movies pictured above. These films have had a profound impact on how we act, how we think, and how we tell our life stories.
But which of these high ranking movies is the most superior? How can one masterpiece be better than another? That is what I will be focusing on for the next several posts. Which film was the most structurally sound, which was the most superior in one area, and ultimately, which was the best. Feel free to argue for one of your movies on this list or if you think my list is incorrect, but please understand that this is all opinion based, so it doesn't make someone stupid if they agree or not.
Here is how the list will be determined. All 10 films of the Disney Renaissance will be judged on the following categories:
Hero
Heroine
Villain
Supporting Cast
Songs (The Rescuers Down Under gets a pass here)
Musical Score
Animation
Story
Special Effects
Theme/ Message
Each film will be scored on a 1-10 scale. The higher points you score for a category, the greater the chance is that film is ranked the best. But please note that just because a film could get two or three 10's in a row, doesn't mean that it is guaranteed a victory. Keep a close eye on the consistent films.
This Round: The Supporting Casts
Simba could not have become King without his father and his friends. Mulan would have had a really boring journey to heroism without Mushu or her army buddies. Aladdin would have been hauled away into the dungeons without Abu, the Carpet or Genie. The Beast's Castle would be so much more gloomy without the enchanted objects. Get the point?
10. Hercules
+1 point
9. Tarzan
And yet, Tarzan's supporting cast is only marginally better. In fact, the only reason this group of oddly constructed yet colorful characters manages to beat out the almighty clusterfuck of Hercules is because of Tarzan's adopted parents, Kerchak and Kala, who were probably as far from equal parents to their young charge. Kerchak would not have minded if Tarzan vanished out of his life altogether until the very end, while Kala was the female equivalent of Mufasa, providing Tarzan with enough nurturing love and care a growing boy could use. While moderately funny, Terk and Tantor and the rest of the supporting cast aren't nearly funny enough to carry the film comedically, which is why some of the humor in Tarzan fell flat. It had a good parent, though...
+2 points
8. Pocahontas
While Pocahontas's supporting cast may not commit any serious crimes like Hercules or Tarzan, it's cast is almost as bad as their lead characters. For example, half of the film's comedic moments take place between Meeko the raccoon and Percy the dog, who do not have a single line of dialogue. It doesn't help that we only get to know the bare minimum of both John Smith's fellow settlers or Pocahontas's tribe men. But from what we did get with the three pictured men, I think I was pleasantly pleased. The two Scottish settlers are amusing, while Thomas (Christian F***ING Bale!!!!) gives us the one wide eyed and curious character we can relate to in the movie. Meanwhile, Chief Powhatan serves as a good but distant father to Pocahontas, while Nakoma makes sure that Pocahontas isn't too much of a stick in the mud. But when a third of the movie has these boring antics of non talking animals, should I really care?+3 points
7. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Unlike other films in the Renaissance, The Hunchback of Notre Dame really does keep the focus on Quasimodo, Esmeralda, and Frollo. But for those few moments when they don't, the film loses most of it's sinister tone, which is purely frustrating. It would be okay that the gargoyleswere comic relief if the comedy was in the same sort of vein as the rest of the movie. But on their own,. they are incredibly annoying. Phoebus is a basic hero that says stupid things, and Clopin is a very good narrator, but the movie keeps it's focus where it's needed. Good thing, too. Any more of the gargoyles could put someone in an insane asylum.
+4 points
6. Mulan
There is a difference between too much unfunny comedy and too little really funny comedy. I absolutely despise Eddie Murphy as Mushu. Whereas all the other actors in Mulan were of Asian descent, Eddie Murphy is not only completely out of left field as a choice to play the little dragon, but also the fact that he is unable to act like himself in this role. The role of the Genie was made for Robin Williams. Mushu was made for just comic relief. Which is why you won't hear me complain about Murphy as Donkey in Shrek. That being said, I think the rest of supporting cast of this movie is actually pretty damn amusing. Mulan's grandmother, the Emperor's majordomo, the Fa family ancestors, and of course, all of Mulan's fellow soldiers. Specifically, Yao, Ling and Chien Po. They all have their own personalities that are allowed to show up on screen. My single favorite scene of these guys is when they go to attack the Huns, stop to stare at the avalanche Mulan and Mushu caused, and run away screaming. It shows not only how brave they are, but how cowardly at the same time. They also evolve as Mulan does, becoming more accepting of women and their roles in society. When the supporting cast changes alongside the mains, you know you have something good.
+5 points
5. The Rescuers Down Under
As Jeffery Katzenberg tried to bring in more of an audience to see his studio's animated epics, he began casting bigger names in his movies. Oliver and Company ended up having Bette Midler, Huey Lewis, Richard Mulligan, Cheech Marin, Dom DeLuise and Billy Joel in it. For The Rescuers Down Under, the studio president brought in famed comedian John Candy to provide an extra bit of special to an original film devoid of anything special. The result was a highly comedic and sensational performance right up there alongside his role as Barf in Spaceballs. Alongside Wilbur, the writers wrote in several more interesting characters, such as a koala voiced by the Sultan, Joanna the egg obsessed iguana, and an assortment of psychotic hospital mice that torment the crap out of poor Wilbur. Like I said in the review, Down Under improved drastically upon a film that had almost nothing to offer. And the best part, was the fact that we still had more films with even greater casts to go.+6 points
4. The Little Mermaid
Something the Disney Animators new they needed to keep up with in their Fairy Tales was the addition of engaging side characters. Snow White had the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella had the misadventures between the mice and Lucifer, and Sleeping Beauty had the Three Good Fairies. For The Little Mermaid, had it not been for the great genius of Howard Ashman, we would probably be talking about the missteps this film took in another spot on this list. Ashman had the historic idea of changing Sebastian from a stiff British butler, into a reggae jamming crustacean with a passion for music. But the rest of the cast of The Little Mermaid is also strong. You had that crazy ass Chef Louie, Scuttle and his hilarious misnaming of various human objects, even King Triton is a great character, moving away from the stereotypical nonexistent Fairy Tale dad and becoming a real father to Ariel, even learning to let his daughter go. While this film may not have the most engaging cast, had it not been for this colorful cavalcade of delightful denizens of Atlantica, we might not have had the top 3.
+7 points
3. The Lion King
The enormous and colorful cast The Lion King had over Pocahontas gave the film a significant advantage over it's opponents. And each of these side characters had a significant importance to the plot, which is also fairly unique for the film. You had the great comedic characters of Timon and Pumbaa and the Hyenas, who stole the show each of their scenes on the screen. Timon and Pumbaa especially, because they had the daunting task of brightening up the movie after Mufasa's death. But the single greatest character who didn't star in The Lion King was Mufasa himself, who was probably Disney's first really great parental character. It's a shame that he had to die half way through the movie, but the film would not have been the same without Scar murdering him, now would it? Rafiki is hilarious and wise, Zazu gets a few good jokes in, but the stars of the comedy world are Timon and Pumbaa, and of course: the hyenas.
+8 points
2. Aladdin
I honestly thought everyone would equate Robin Williams memorials to his roles in Good Will Hunting or Dead Poet Society. I did not expect all of the internet to equate Robin to his famous portrayal of the Genie, until I watched Aladdin on the Disney Channel the first Saturday after his passing. It just goes to show you the magnificence of Williams's electric performance as the big blue guy. Williams shows off his acting prowess by not only portraying Genie as a psychotic fourth wall breaker, but also as a sympathetic dreamer who dreams of being free from his magical entrapments. Genie's humor is also balanced out between Jafar's own miniature Gilbert Gottfried, a bumbling and beffudled Sultan, and the rest of Aladdin's menagerie, who stop at nothing to put on an absolute spectacular show every time we watch the movie.
+9 points
1. Beauty and the Beast
But when an animated film manages to give almost all of it's supporting cast a decent, if not solid amount of character development, it would take 10 Genies just to dethrone Beauty and the Beast from #1. The film takes it's careful time to make us care not just about the budding relationship between Belle and her Beast, but the rest of the world they encounter, from Belle's gossipy village, to Belle's eccentric inventor father, to Gaston's admiring lady fans and Lefou, to the entire castle filled with enchanted objects. We get to learn about each of the objects in detail. Mrs. Potts is a very nurturing and motherly figure to not only her son Chip, but even to the Beast, who often looks to her for advice. Cogsworth often panics about disrupting the Beast, and spends so much time worrying about what's going on in the castle that he never takes the time to relax and enjoy life, like his counterpart Lumiere does. Lumiere makes every single day of his life like a party, often womanizing and charming his way to becoming the life of the party, but the candelabra is fiercely loyal to his friends and the Beast. The musical number "Human Again" is arguably the best in the entire show, because it allows us to see just how eager they are for Belle and the Beast to get together, and the lives they all wish they could live should that day come. With such a wonderful group of such splendid characters, how could Beauty and the Beast not win this category too?
+10 points
Standings
1. Beauty and the Beast 33 pts
2. Aladdin 33 pts
3. The Hunchback of Notre Dame 30 pts
4. The Lion King 27 pts
5. The Little Mermaid 25 pts
6. Hercules 18 pts
7. Mulan 17 pts
8. The Rescuers Down Under 16 pts
9. Tarzan 12 pts
10. Pocahontas 11 pts
Next round, we have the following BIG TIME heavyweights clashing:
Howard Ashman and Alan Menken vs Alan Menken and Tim Rice vs Tim Rice and Elton John vs Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz vs Alan Menken and David Zippel vs Phil Collins vs David Zippel and Matthew Wilder
Here's to the BEST SONGS....
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