You are able to either see it as a sign of increasing creative bankruptcy, is actually not totally clear what else there is certainly to see it as. Although if the new versions can be as good as or (hopefully) better still than Favreau and Branagh’s renditions (and Disney’s trend toward hiring honored independent directors as copy writers is unquestionably an interesting unanticipated twist), perhaps we’ll be forced to eat our words.
But if our company is a little wary of this live-action, CG-infused future, it’s because we have so much love for numerous 2D, often hand-drawn animations that Disney are now revisiting. So to mark the release of “The Jungle Book” and remind you just how great original units of so many of these soon-to-be-remade stories are, here’s manjit jhita sharing personal ranking of the top 5 Disney animations of all time.
We understand discover little that raises equipment among cine-literate adults more than a listing of kids/family films (here’s our Miyazaki feature and our Pixar feature for comparison), and there are certainly some inclusions and exeptions that are likely to raise hackles. But please believe we’re not seeking to “destroy” any “childhoods” here. This is merely to celebrate what we imagine are, without regard to nostalgia, the best good examples of Disney’s signature genre and justify the plus of joy-tears shed during the research with this feature.
1. The Little Mermaid (1989)
It’s a somewhat predictable take on the Disney princess formula, a straightforward romance between pretty mermaid Ariel (Jodi Benson) and handsome sailor prince Eric (Christopher Daniel Barnes) which is only given dramatic stakes by the intervention of Ursula (in fairness, an excellent villain voiced by Pat Carroll) and her dastardly plot to wrest dominion over the underwater realm from Ariel’s dad Triton (Kenneth Mars, the Nazi playwright in “The Producers“!). Where later, more sophisticated stories from Disney’s second Golden Age would make their heroines’ psychologies a bit more complex, the 16-year-old Ariel has few qualms about leaving her home, friends and family forever for love, which strikes a slightly discordant note in an otherwise sweet and harmonious confection.
2. Winnie the Pooh (2011)
As adults (albeit in various stages of arrested development), we’re in danger of including picks that work better for the grown-up audience than for kids, especially very young children. The stories remain slight and sweet and faithful to AA Milne‘s originals, but under Stephen J. Anderson and Don Hall’s direction, and populated with a wonderful voice cast including Jim Cummings, Travis Oates, Bud Luckey, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Craig Ferguson, they engage in a way that both evokes and transcends the printed page. Essentially, they put a new-fangled, metatextual sensibility at work to promote the most old fashioned of values: that reading is cool, kids!
3. The Emperor’s New Groove (2000)
The disappointments of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and “Hercules” had convinced executives that the formula perfected with “Aladdin” and co. was tired, while former head Jeffrey Katzenberg had set up rival Dreamworks, and Disney’s own Pixar was demonstrating an increasing appetite for CGI animation among audiences.
4. Bolt (2008)
Disney’s current creative and commercial renaissance didn’t begin with current megahit “Zootopia” or its billion-dollar Oscar-winning predecessor “Frozen” but with 2008’s “Bolt” Overlooked by those who confused it with Disney’s lackluster early CGI fare like “Chicken Little” the film was the first released after John Lasseter took creative control over the parent studio as well as Pixar, and it shows: far more so than most of the subsequent films, this has a blend of spectacle, thrills, gags and heart that puts it on the top tier.
5. Aladdin (1992)
These days, every A-list star at some point gets the phone call to voice an animated character (or, if you’re Seth Rogen, you get twelve phone calls). It wasn’t entirely new at the time —think of classic Disney’s use of Peggy Lee or Louis Prima, among others— but most of it can be traced back to Robin Williams’ movie-stealing turn in “Aladdin” which helped to make the movie a far bigger hit than “Beauty And The Beast” and “The Little Mermaid” the two earlier movies in the Disney renaissance.
Reteaming the “Little Mermaid” duo of John Musker and Ron Clements the film’s based on the classic Arabian Nights tale of the title character (Scott Weinger), a street kid tricked into retrieving a magic lamp and who finds his fortunes transformed as a result of the genie residing therein.
Manjit Jhita | irvine California 