VIDEO PRODUCTION
98 Years of Storytelling
In 1937, Walt Disney Animation Studios released its first fully animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, pioneering a new form of family entertainment. Nearly a century later, we continue to honor our heritage through animated films that combine beautiful artistry, masterful storytelling and groundbreaking technology.
Stories that Transcend Generations
Throughout the film making process, our Production, Technology, and Studio departments work closely to bring our films to life. Learn more about the areas of our Studio and the role they play within Disney Animation.
The Magic Kingdom has no shortage of shining stars, whether they’re classic film actors in the live-action favorites that raised us like Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins and Angela Lansbury in Bedknobs and Broomsticks or modern crossover leads that turned animated characters into pop culture phenoms as Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell so brilliantly did with Elsa and Anna.
And that makes our job of curating a list of the studio’s best releases a very difficult one. So instead of playing critic, we took a more sentimental route with the following criteria: The greatest Disney movies of all times should a) tickle a nostalgic bone, b) be linked to a powerful childhood memory, c) entertain and empower, or d) all of the above. Ahead, our noblest effort to offer a mix of classic hand-drawn animation, 3D computer-generated gems, live-action favorites both old and newer, and, of course, visionary jewels from the Pixar wizards.
History:
Since 1937, the Walt Disney Company has been entertaining us with its charming animated movies, live-action spectaculars and magical computer-animated adventures. In fact, Disney has released around 420 movies since its first release, the classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, with 20 more hitting screens in 2021 alone.
Such a vast catalogue means that choosing the greatest of them is no easy task. However, with our list of the best Disney movies of all time we’ve given it our best shot. Whether your favourites involve Disney Princesses, critically acclaimed Pixar hits or crime fighting bunny rabbits, the movies on this list have your next family film night covered. Featuring classics like 101 Dalmations to recent releases like Raya and the Last Dragon, which is now streaming on Disney+, here’s our selection of the best Disney movies of all time.
Disney Company, in full The Walt Disney Company, formerly (1929–86) Walt Disney Productions, American corporation that was the best-known purveyor of family entertainment in the 20th and 21st centuries. It also was one of the world’s largest media conglomerates, with such notable holdings as ABC, ESPN, Pixar, Marvel Entertainment, and 20th Century Fox. Disney headquarters are in Burbank, California.
Early years and Mickey Mouse
Walt Disney began his career in animation with the Kansas City Film Ad Company in Missouri in 1920. In 1922 Disney and his friend Ub Iwerks, a gifted animator, founded the Laugh-O-gram Films studio in Kansas City and began producing a series of cartoons based on fables and fairy tales. Joining Disney and Iwerks in the enterprise were such noted animators as Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising, and Isadore (“Friz”) Freleng. In 1923 Disney produced the short subject Alice in Cartoonland, a film combining both live action and animation that was intended to be the pilot film in a series. Within weeks of its completion, Disney filed for bankruptcy and left Kansas City to establish himself in Hollywood as a cinematographer. Alice in Cartoonland turned out to be a surprise hit, and orders from distributors for more Alice films compelled Disney to reopen shop in Hollywood with the help of his brother Roy—a lifelong business partner. The Kansas City team soon joined the Disneys in California, and the company produced mostly Alice films for the next four years.
Throughout the 1930s the company, renamed Walt Disney Productions in 1929, produced cartoons featuring Mickey Mouse and his regular supporting players Donald Duck, Pluto, and Goofy, as well as the Silly Symphonies series—semiabstract cartoons featuring animation set to classical music or to the music of Carl Stalling, the brilliant musician who scored many of the best Disney and Warner Brothers cartoons. The Silly Symphonies entry Flowers and Trees (1932) was the first cartoon produced in the three-colour Technicolor process, as well as the first animated short subject to be honoured with an Academy Award. The most popular of the Silly Symphonies cartoons was The Three Little Pigs (1933), which earned another Oscar.
Animated film classics: Snow White to Lady and the Tramp
The continuing success of the studio emboldened Disney to make his riskiest move in 1934, when he began production on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).
Pinocchio (1940), which features complex characters rendered in painstakingly detailed full-figure animation, is perhaps Disney’s grandest achievement.
Mary poppins:
The Incredible Journey (1963). Disney’s finest live-action film, Mary Poppins (1964), was heralded as the studio’s greatest achievement in more than 20 years. The film won five Academy Awards, including a best actress Oscar for Julie Andrews, and was nominated in seven additional categories.
Modern animated movies:
- Ratatouille:
The rat can cook! This sweetly ridiculous movie about a naive, ambitious rodent named Remy (charmingly voiced by Patton Oswalt), who longs to become a great chef is witty, clever, gently moral and dramatically convincing. - Beauty and the Beast (1991)
A pompous prince gets a taste of his own medicine in this ’90s fairytale. An enchantress’ spell turns the royal into a ferocious beast, and it cannot be undone until he falls in love. When the beast kidnaps the town’s clockmaster, his beautiful daughter comes to the rescue…and the beast’s, too. Rated G. - 101 Dalmatians (1961)
It’s true love for Pongo and Perdita! Fortunately for the pups, they’re able to wrangle their owners into a relationship, too. It’s nothing but canine bliss…until the mean-spirited Cruella De Vil shows up. She has her sights set on Perdita’s liter of pups…for fur coats. Rated G. - Coco (2017)
Ernesto de la Cruz—a fictional Sinatra, if you will—is Miguel’s idol. All the youngster longs for is to belt out beautiful ballads like his favorite singer. However, music is strongly prohibited in his family, for reasons unknown. With a trip to the Land of the Dead, Miguel starts to make sense of his family’s ways. Rated PG. - Zootopia (2016)
Judy Hopps dreams of joining the police force and leaves her farm and family for the bustling metropolis Zootopia to achieve this goal. As the first rabbit in the crew, she isn’t taken seriously by her fellow police officers. Tired of writing up parking violations, Judy decides to take on a missing persons case to prove herself. When she enlists the unwilling help of con fox Nick Wilde, the pair find themselves going down a rabbit hole of clues, scandals and close calls. Rated PG. - Wall-E (2008)
Wall-E is an ancient robot and the sole robot left on earth. Naturally, being the only one of his kind isn’t easy, and lonliness ensues…until EVE arrives. Rated PG. - Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937)
Talk about jealousy at its finest. A wicked queen simply cannot stand her young stepdaughter’s beauty and even goes so far as to take the life of young Snow White. But the joke’s on the bitter royal, as Snow White emerges alive and well, enjoying the company of seven dwarves in a cozy cottage. That’s when the queen tries again. She disguises herself as an old lady and offers Snow White a poisonous apple that sends her into a unconscious state that can only be broken with the kiss of a prince. Rated G. - The Lion King (1994)
Equal parts endearing and heartbreaking, the Disney classic rotates around young lion Simba, who must rise to power after the loss of his father, Mufasa. You would think family would be supportive, but one evil uncle has it in for the cub. Hang in there, Simba! Remember: Hakuna matata! (Don’t forget to check out the 2019 live-action reboot!) Rated G. - The Lion King (2019)
This photorealistic film is a study piece of Hamlet-derived musical theater, only with 100 percent more Beyoncé, which is never a bad thing. Set in one of Africa’s most beautiful valleys, today’s Lion King remains a story about talking and singing animals that connect with the tides of the earth—and that create conflict with each other. It’s not only more realistic than the original, it’s darker and more dramatic. Rated PG. - The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
This adaptation of Victor Hugo’s classic novel Notre Dame de Paris stars Quasimodo (voiced by Tom Hulce), a grotesquely deformed but kind-hearted young man who was abandoned by his parents and rescued by the priests of Notre Dame, the massive cathedral in the heart of Paris, and he lives there, earning his keep as a bell ringer. Quasimodo has become the ward of Judge Frollo (voiced by Tony Jay), an outwardly pious but deeply hateful man. Frollo hopes to clear the Gypsies out of Paris with the help of Phoebus (voiced by Kevin Kline), leader of the troops under Frollo’s command. However, Phoebus harbors no ill will against the Gypsies—in particular Esmerelda (voiced by Demi Moore), a hot-blooded but compassionate gypsy beauty. Will love triumph? Rated G.
Upcoming release:
Magical house. Magical family.
Encanto tells the tale of an extraordinary family, the Madrigals, who live hidden in the mountains of Colombia, in a magical house, in a vibrant town, in a wondrous, charmed place called an Encanto. The magic of the Encanto has blessed every child in the family with a unique gift from super strength to the power to heal—every child except one, Mirabel. But when she discovers that the magic surrounding the Encanto is in danger, Mirabel decides that she, the only ordinary Madrigal, might just be her exceptional family’s last hope. RELEASE DATENovember 24, 2021
