Wow. It has been a year since I posted my DreamWorks Review: Conclusion blog post, and a lot has changed since than, and what I mean by that is……….I have gained A LOT more viewers since last year. Literally hundreds more. I just want to thank all of you who have commented, shared, and read this blog, and the WDAS reviews I have been posting for the past year.
I will first show my ranking of each film and see which one I think is the best and the worst.
UPDATED SINCE THIS POST WAS PUBLISHED:
- 1. Zootopia: 86%
- 2: Beauty and the Beast: 85%
- 3: Tarzan: 84%
- Wreck-it Ralph: 84%
- 4:Pinocchio: 81%
- The Little Mermaid: 81%
- Aladdin: 81%
- Mulan: 81%
- 9: Lady and the Tramp: 80%
- Tangled: 80%
- Moana: 80%
- 12:The Lion King: 79%
- Lilo & Stitch: 79%
- Big Hero 6: 79%
- 15: The Hunchback of Notre Dame: 78%
- 16: The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad: 76%
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: 76%
- Treasure Planet: 76%
- 19:Fantasia: 75%
- Cinderella: 75%
- Peter Pan: 75%
- Bolt: 75%
- The Princess and the Frog: 75%
- 24: Sleeping Beauty: 74%
- The Jungle Book: 74%
- Frozen: 74%
- 27: The Rescuers: 73%
- Fantasia 2000: 73%
- 29:Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: 71%
- Make Mine Music: 71%
- Winnie the Pooh: 71%
- 32: Bambi: 70%
- The Rescuers Down Under: 70%
- 34: Melody Time: 69%
- 35: Pocahontas: 68%
- Hercules: 68%
- 37: The Great Mouse Detective: 66%
- 38: Dumbo: 65%
- The Fox and the Hound: 65%
- The Emperor’s New Groove: 65%
- 41: Fun and Fancy Free: 64%
- Robin Hood: 64%
- Meet the Robinsons: 64%
- 44: One Hundred and One Dalmatians: 61%
- Brother Bear: 61%
- 46: The Sword in the Stone: 60%
- The Aristocats: 60%
- 48: The Black Cauldron: 59%
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire: 59%
- 50: Alice In Wonderland: 58%
- Dinosaur: 58%
- Home on the Range: 58%
- 53: Oliver & Company: 55%
- Chicken Little: 55%
- 55: Saludos Amigos: 53%
- 56: The Three Cabelleros: 50%
Wow, there is a lot of ties up in there, but when there is over 50 films, in retrospective, it should have been expected. My list is definitely different than a lot of others, but I am sticking with it.
I knew that I would enjoy going through the canon, and I knew that it would bring a lot more people to my blog, and both turned out to be correct. In January, I wrote all of the reviews up to Lady and the Tramp, and with the Dark era films, it would take me months to finish them. This would cause a pattern for me; whenever a good era came on, I would write them in 2 weeks (Renaissance films and Revival Era). The Frozen review was written by late September, so I write a lot of these reviews months in advance.
I am going to go more into these eras in specific posts about the eras, but I will lightly discuss them now. The Golden Era was when the studio was still in the beginning stages, and while they have been famous for shorts, they were still not a corporate franchise like they are in now. The films in these eras had a lot of creativity, dark moments, and you could tell the studio made these 5 films for themselves, and it showed.
The WW2 Package film eras are very cheap, have almost no creativity, and you can tell that there were rushed products, and with all of the behind the scenes drama going on at the studio during the time, it makes sense. They needed quick and cheap products to give them some revenue to continue the studio, or they would probably close down. I was only a fan of two of these films.
While I like a lot of the Silver Era films, you can tell that after the first few films, these films were a lot more about…..continuing the mega corporation. This was the time that they branched out to TV, Disneyland was made, the studio were creating their own soundtracks, and when they started live action projects. These films seemed like they tended to the audience more than themselves (unlike the Golden Era films), but there is still a lot of heart. Maybe WDAS and the Disney company got too big for their bridges, which is why they entered their next era.
I disliked so many of these Dark era films, because while they tenses to the audience of the time more than the studio themselves, unlike the Silver Era, there was no heart, creativity, and these films were cheap. While the studio was not bankrupt, it is clear that the animation studio was not bringing in the money to the corporation that is Disney. A lot of the older people were dying and retiring in this era.
We all know about the Renaissance. A lot of the new people put their heart and effort into these films, creating films for themselves and the audience, using their creativity to create sensations, etc. They got a lot of money from this era, and a lot of awards, but they put themselves between a rock and a hard place; they continued to use the formula, until the public got sick of it, which would lead into our next era.
The Post Renaissance era is probably my least favorite era out of them all. Disney tried to be anything but what they were known for, to get themselves out of the bind they were in, but this only made things worse for WDAS. The consecutive critical and financial flops were apparent that things were getting worse and worse, and a lot of these films were just ridiculous and insulting to my intelligence. Things got better closer to the end.
This revival era that we are in now is a good er,a and I think that Disney needs to keep on this track; do some new things, but do not forget about the old and what made you WDAS in the first place. While it is sad that they moved from traditional animation, it is what it is. Many things are innovated, and animation is one of those things. I am kind of sick of them trying to be overly feminist, and trying to make fun of the nice, prince charming types. It is old.
So my overall advice is that Disney should continue with what they were doing, and to not waste their time making fun of themselves. If they continue on like this, they will prosper in many different ways. It was fun reviewing the canon this year, and it did expand the blog to a wider audience. I will be having a lot of fun when I cover Disneytoons Studios for 2015. Thank you all for everything.
animatedkid 
I really disagree concerning the Silver Area. I think this was a time during which Disney reached an artistical high it never reached again. Artists like Mary Blair were leaving their marks all over the movies, which are just beautiful to look at – all of them. Even Alice In Wonderland, a movie I never really liked, is artistically so interesting that I would never put in on a worst list.
But I guess, most people don’t really appreciate the artistical aspect as much as I do. Music always works better, and most of Disney’s best soundracks are from the Renaissance Era. Aside from that being the time most people who blog nowadays about Disney grew up with, music just has a more lasting impact than visuals.
I do see your point when it comes to the artistic aspect (in terms of the animation), but when it comes to the story and the overall themes, I felt like they were playing it very safe, to branch out more to the audience in the 50s, and they were becoming a pop phenomenon around this time. Mary Blair did great work in the first 3 films, with Lady and Sleeping Beauty having astronomical animation too. I think you know better than anyone else that the story and the plot elements mean the most, and are the biggest deal breakers to me, which is why I had no issue considering Alice one of the worst movies.
Despite all of that, both music and the animation are extremely important, but I do see your point with people often putting the music of a film on a higher standard than the animation. I was actually born in the late Renaissance, and when I was a kid, it was when in the Post-Renaissance era (though I was watching a lot more Pixar than WDAS), so I felt like I was not praising the Renaissance as much as many other bloggers do.
With the overall rankings list, what are notable differences you have about my rankings?
Cinderella and maybe Peter Pan was playing it safe. But Alice in Wonderland, Lady and the Tramp and Sleeping Beauty most certainly weren’t. Those were all very ambitious projects for various reasons.
Well, You underappreciated some movies I really like (most notable Dumbo and Robin Hood), and have some surprisingly high (Tarzan on place two, really? It’s a good movie, but far from flawless). Also, I still don’t consider the package movies as movies, and if I would put any of them higher than the worst of Disney, it would be Saludos Amigos and The Three Cabbaleros, because they are at least trying to be movies. The others are just a collection of cartoons and short films.
Cool. I do think it’s strange to have nothing above an 85%. I mean what good is a system of grading if even your favorite loses so many points? Isn’t there anything that you just love and excites you and you don’t see much fault in it? No movie is perfect but to not even have your favorite close to perfection is something I cant understand? But each his own. Congrats on finishing your projects and even though we often disagree you are never disagreeable. Look forward to the future on both our blogs
I know I was a bit more harsh on the WDAS films more than many others were. When it comes to the grading system, it is really hard for me to feel right giving a movie a 95 or a 100, because no film is perfect, and that is fine. With Beauty and the Beast, it would have gotten a lot higher if I didn’t give the story a 7/10. My rankings are not necessarily all about enjoyment, since if it comes to my favorites, this list would be a lot different. Yes we disagree a lot, but you are not disagreeable. Thanks. I am definitely looking forward to the future on both of our blogs too. Thanks for the continued support.
It’s kind of like you are professor grading on the curve. 85 is in a sense a 100 because it’s the best of the best in the world of Disney. I would like to hear your favorites if your list isn’t them. That would be a good post. Interesting strategy.
I feel like I actually understand your previous reviews better. I would see things like a 75 and think that was a pretty bad grade (or average at best) but now that I know you gave your top pick an 85 it makes more sense.
I agree that no movie is perfect but I think when a movie really works it makes you overlook those imperfections so I have no problem giving A+’s to movies. But whatever makes sense to you. I just feel like I have a little bit more context for understanding your grades that I see all the grades together.
Yeah, it was never something I considered before. I never thought that Americans have a different grading system, so I would never understand why some would be saddened when I gave a film a 75, but I understand now. I definitely need to be less harsh and more positive though. Thank you for that.
Well you always gave good reasons and the review was fair but then when I would see the score I’d be confused but now I know your high is 85 it makes more sense
Congrats! I too find it strange that no movie garnered an ‘A’ from you and none garnered less than a 50%, but oh well.
Looking forward to your Disneytoon Studios reviews. You’re only doing the theatrical ones?
I honestly do not think I gave any film an A on this blog, but I would have to double check. I think I only gave 3 films below a 50; Bee Movie, Legends of Oz, and The Nut Job. I only give films less than 50 if they are complete trash.
I am doing the Direct to DVD and the Theatrical films. If things go according to schedule, the first Aladdin sequel will be up in a week.
I may be a bit late, but hey, better late than never. Congrats on making it through the WDAS movies. I do think about 3/4 of the DisneyToon movies you’ll be reviewing will range from bad to mediocre, so I won’t be surprised to see you comment negatively on them. But I do think there are a few that you may find not too bad. Maybe not great, but not as bad as some of the other ones. I don’t know how many you’ve watched yet, if at all, but I guess you’ll find out along the way.
By the way, since you are reviewing the DisneyToon movies, I found this one online reviewer who has reviewed some of the movies you’re about to do. I think they’re done fairly well. If you want to check them out, maybe see the review of the movie you’re about to review yourself, then here they are for you to watch.
I look forward to reading your reviews. Have fun!
Late is definitely better than never. I was wondering when you would comment on this. I am sure that there will be a lot of negativity coming from me as I review the sequels, but I have not seen any of them in such a long time, so who knows what my reaction will be like.
I have not watched his videos, but I will watch them soon. Thank you for the link and all of your support.
W00t! BatB comes out on top. Glad to see TLM so high up on your list. Congrats on finishing this project!
At the time I was writing BatB, I REALLY did not want to give it that high of a mark. Thank you for your support this year.
I know this is from a while ago, but I’m surprised you put Beauty and the Beast at the top, considering how you said it was SO not the best Disney film in your review. How’d it become #1?
It’s fine if it has been a while. The only reason why this film is at the top is because they utilized the musical format to overtake the flaws of the plot. If it was not for that, it would have been a lot lower.