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Top 10 Disney Classics

By Cassiah Joski-Jethi · February 11, 2014

I grew up watching Disney films, and they have a close place in my heart. I see the original, hand-drawn animations as Disney ‘classics’. Even though Disney’s had a string of successes in computer animated movies, such as Tangled and Frozen, nothing can beat the timeless stories told through hand-drawn illustrations. For me, a Disney classic has adventure, love and a lesson learned. I’ve watched Disney films my whole life, and of course I am slightly biased to the movies I grew up with. Any obvious ‘classics’ that are not in the list are most likely because I’ve never watched them. For instance, I have never ever seen Bambi. It’s terrible, I know, but I endeavour to watch it soon! I have heard it’s a true classic, but I haven’t experienced it yet. One day! Anyway, below is a list of my top-ten Disney classics and why, out of all of the many classic Disney animations, they are the best. 

10. Cinderella (1950)

I thought it was important to get at least one traditional love story in the list. I’ve never been a big fan of ‘Disney Princesses’, as you will soon go onto see I am far more partial to animal stories, but Cinderella is the first Disney ‘romance’ I ever saw. I remember begging my mom to get me a Cinderella dress up kit and I used to dream of the day I would meet my ‘Prince Charming’. Granted, that phase didn’t last long, but the simplicity of the story made it easy for me to imagine it eventually becoming my reality. And while it is the classic fairy tale we’ve all heard a million times, the cute, tongue and cheek humour of the Mice makes the movie. Seriously, now that you’re older, watch it again. You’ll find so much more comedy in it than you ever realised was there! Yes, Cinderella is a victim of circumstance who has almost no personality, but hey, there’s nothing wrong with having a brief idealistic girly idol as a young child, and now being much older, I far more idolise little Gus Gus!

9. Peter Pan (1953)

This was the one Disney film my family didn’t own on VHS. Man, I sound old, don’t I? Whenever I went to my friends’ houses, if they had Peter Pan on video, we were watching it! If there was one character that I always wanted to be, it was Tinkerbell. I recently re-watched Peter Pan, and I have no idea why I would have wanted to be her. To be honest, she’s an absolute… Well, just not very nice person. Well, pixie not person, I suppose. I guess she is redeemed when she saves Peter from the clicking time bomb, but I know it was just because of her (far too short!) glittery, pixie costume. I digress, Peter Pan is the ultimate’s children’s adventure because it plays on a child’s ultimate fantasy – never having to grow up. Sometimes I still wish that I could fly away to Neverland and never have to get older.

8. The Emperor’s New Groove (2000)

Whenever I mention that The Emperor’s New Groove is one of my favourite Disney films, I get one of two responses; “Really?” or “What’s that?” When it came out in the cinema, I went to see it five times. I fell in love with it – the movie is fast paced and hilarious with many memorable moments, my favourite is Yzma’s planning death rant:

“I'll turn him into a flea, a harmless, little flea, and then I'll put that flea in a box, and then I'll put that box inside of another box, and then I'll mail that box to myself, and when it arrives… [laughs] …I'll smash it with a hammer! It's brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, I tell you! Genius, I say! [knocks over bottle of poison on flower, which shrivels up and dies] Or, to save on postage, I'll just poison him with this!”

The film also pokes fun at itself, which I love. When Kuzko asks Yzma “how did you get here before us”, Kronk replies, “I don’t know, by all accounts it doesn’t make sense”. Yzma brushes this off saying “Oh well, back to business”. The mocking the unrealistic journey of characters in film reflects that of film in general, that it doesn’t matter if things don’t make logical sense, the film will do what it needs to to keep that action flowing. The Emperor’s New Groove has everything you could want in a Disney film, with the exception of romance, which is GREAT!

7. Lady and the Tramp (1955)

Lady and the Tramp is a classic love story, and the fact it told through the lives of dogs, is even better. All the dogs have different personalities, and see you see a collision of worlds; Lady’s high end, fancy lifestyle versus Tramp’s wild and unrestrained life on the streets. Their friends reflect this, Lady’s close friends Trusty and Jacques, and Tramp’s mates locked away in the dog pound. It’s the classic playing out of ‘opposites attract’, not just in personality, but in all aspects of their lives. Their ability to journey through the story as they learn to appreciate one another for who they are (sounds cheesy, but it’s true) is idealistic, and gives you something to aspire to as a child. It encourages against discrimination, and proves the power of love (even more cheesy). It’s one of the fewer Disney films, however, that doesn’t have one distinguished villain. The Dog Catcher isn’t someone we particularly like, and we definitely hate those Siamese Cats “we are Siamese if we please”, but that’s what’s fresh about Lady and the Tramp. It really is a relationship-driven story, making it stand out as special amongst the Disney classics. 

6. 101 Dalmatians (1961)

Another dog centred Disney classic, 101 Dalmations hosts one of the most evil and infamous villains from any Disney film; Cruella De Vil. Now that I have written that, you won’t be able to get her theme tune out of your head! You might be surprised why another animal films dominate the list, but dogs are a good shout for Disney. There is something instantly lovable and innocent about them, which draw on our human heartstrings. The film really plays on the idea of unconditional love; Pongo’s love for Roger, Pongo and Perdita’s love, their love for their children, and dogs’ love for each other. It highlights such a warm, sentimental message whilst intertwining quite a dark adventure. Cruella’s desire to murder and skin all hundred and one puppies is very disturbing, something you again don’t really pick up on until you’re older. It’s this match of darkness and light that Disney is able to balance so well, and 101 Dalmations is one of their best examples of that.

5. The Jungle Book (1967)

Set in the Indian Animal Kingdom, the mergence of human and animal interaction in The Jungle Book sets up for lots of comedy but also tension. We all know and love the songs, like the ‘Bare Necessities’ with lovable Baloo and man-cub Mowgli. The story also brings important attention to the reality of tension between humans and the jungle; humans destroying the jungle and hating the animals that inhabit it. This fear is present throughout the whole film, with everyone’s fears, including Bagheira and Sher Kahn, that Mowgli will grow up to become a hateful, violent man. The ending is not prescribed, with this question not being answered, seeing Mowgli walk into the man village. This leaves the question for the audience to answer, prompting them to think about it and encouraging them to act on what they hope it Mowgli’s future actions themselves. As a child, I didn’t think about this film at this amount of complexity, but looking back now, it is very cleverly crafted while involving the great match of adventure, humour and moral lessons.

4. Dumbo (1941)

If there is one Disney film I’m guaranteed to cry at, it’s Dumbo. There are so many heart-breaking moments, from moments like Dumbo being taken away from his mom to his daily ridicule. I feel that the film is so beautiful because of the fact Dumbo does not speak. Everything is told through his eyes and actions; In Baby Mine, when Dumbo hugs his mom through the bars and a doesn’t want to let go provokes more of an emotional response than any dialogue could achieve. Not only are their sorrowful moments, but also scary ones. The ‘pink elephants on parade’ scene terrified me – which looking at now is an odd moment for the film. Dumbo is looking at twisted, creepy ‘versions’ of himself, making him aware for the first time the cruelty of what he is around him. Yet, it seems he doesn’t learn from this moment. Thinking about it, it’s odd when I think about how much I liked this film when I was younger. I know that at the end, everything’s happy and he’s reunited with his mother, but the journey to get there is a lot darker than most Disney films. 

3. The Lion King (1994)

Not only a Disney classic, but a film classic, The Lion King is a wonderful story of the trials and tribulations of an animal kingdom ruled by lions. Loosely based on Hamlet, the narrative has lots of twist and turns, engaging us in Simba’s journey. It is also one of the only Disney movies where you actually see the death of a parent, not just hear about it. We see Scar throw Mufassa into the stampede, which is absolutely traumatising as a child. When Simba finds Mufassa on the ground, Simba nudges Mufassa telling him to get up, growing in frustration, biting Mufassa’s ears and pulling them, my eyes start to well up. Yet, the dark moments are perfectly balanced with comedy, namely the characters of Zazoo, Rafiki, Timone and Pumba.  Zazoo’s dry humour, and intertextual references throughout, e.g. in the scene where he is trapped in the cage in Scar’s lair singing “it’s a small world after all”, Scar replying “no, no, anything but that”. Rafiki’s manic behaviour is refreshing and surprising, and we all love him beating up Simba when he’s still refusing to go back to Pride Rock. And I don’t have to talk much about Timone and Pumba, who are probably the best comedy duo in all Disney films. The mixture of story, music and character make The Lion King one of the best Disney classics of all time.

2. Mulan (1998)

Mulan is probably my favourite Disney ‘princess’. She is tough, stands up for herself, is selfless and witty, and goes through the story fighting to protect her family and country, not chasing after a boy. Huzzah! As you can see, the list has missed out a lot of films people would deem as Disney ‘classics’ such as Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but the all the women in those films are victims of circumstance with little fighting and charismatic personalities. It sounds like I’m heading towards a feminist rant, but I’m not, I just like women in films to be more than simply functional. Mulan as a story is daring and dark, with the villain Shan Yu is particularly cruel. The image of an innocent doll he holds in his hand is haunting, exploiting the doll to instigate burning down a village in hate and anger. Again, the comedy relief of Mushu, the scrawny little red dragon, balances the darker elements.  He is instantly likable, being direct and out-going. The first exchange between Mulan and Mushu sets up their relationship, “my ancestors send me a little lizard?”, “hey! Dragon. *Dra-gon*, not lizard. I don't do that tongue thing”, to be one of banter. Again, this balanced is perfectly struck and places Mulan as an original Disney classic.

1. Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Beauty and the Beast is a romantic adventure, which has the perfect mixture of music, comedy, horror and romance. It firmly stands as my favourite Disney classic, mainly because of the incredibly colourful host of characters that exist in the story. Belle is headstrong and a ‘bookworm’, disgusted with the idea of being Gaston’s wife. The Beast reveals his cheeky, boyish qualities from below his angry and brash exterior. All of the household items have their own personalities, which compliment each other so well, driving the story forward with revealing new details and undeniable humour. You’ve got to love Mrs Potts’ cleaning OCD, Cogsworth’s grumpy nature and Lumiere’s smoothness and sexual exploits with the feather duster, “I’ve been burnt by you before”, “Oh! Monsieur!”. The cinematography and direction also feels more sophisticated than any other Disney film; it has a real sense of cinema and ‘epic’. Fun fact, it was the first animation to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. The moving story, interesting and developed characters, and imagery makes Beauty and the Beast the ultimate Disney classic.