Walt Disney Animation Studios Ranking Part 1

With the release of Disney's newest animation film, Wish, and the 100th anniversary of the Walt Disney Company, I thought it would be fun to go through and share my thoughts and rankings of all 62 Walt Disney Animation films. Sarah and I started this project back when we first got married in 2021. It took us about 6 months to get through but we finally watched through them all. Since then, I never really had a good reason to post about it until now. This studio has put out most of my favorite animated movies and has put out so many classics that it is hard to rank them all. This is also limited to the theatrically released movies from the Disney Animation studio so that means no direct-to-video sequels and no Pixar films. With that being said, here is part 1 of my thoughts and ranking of the Disney Animated movies.

62. Home on the Range

This is the worst of the Disney animated movies. It is such a bizarre story with a toddling cow napper and cows journeying into the West to save their farm. The story itself is quite a mess and is nobody's favorite film.

Score: 4/10 Grade: D+

61. The Three Caballeros

This is tough on whether it classifies as a movie but it was theatrically released so here it is. This movie has a very loose story about Donald learning about different countries in South America. It has some musical numbers but largely serves to educate more than entertain.

Score: 5/10 Grade: C

60. Chicken Little

Chicken Little is a weird movie that loops around to being so bad it's good. This movie takes the basic story about Chicken Little saying the sky is falling and somehow turns it into a movie about public school troubles and alien invasions. It is full of dated pop culture references and bad jokes that you can't help but laugh at. I also grew up with this movie which is why my enjoyment is a bit higher.

Score: 5.5/10 Grade: C

59. Saludos Amigos

This is another film that is a bit of a stretch on this list as it is only 42 minutes but was released theatrically. This movie features multiple shorts of some favorite characters as they experience South American culture. The shorts are fun but this isn't a full-length movie so it's difficult to put high on this list.

Score:6/10 Grade: C+

58. Fantasia 2000

These next two are pretty much equal on this list as they are both compiled of shorts put to classical music. It's not really much in terms of a movie but if you like classical music this will be interesting for you.

Score: 6/10 Grade: C+

57. Fantasia

My thoughts are the same with this one as with Fantasia 2000. I don't really want to watch concert shorts. The only thing I liked about this film is that it features the famous Sorcerer Mickey short.

Score: 6/10 Grade: C+

56. Make Mine Music

This is another movie featuring musical shorts. Still not really my thing but they are slightly more engaging than Fantasia and Fantasia 2000.

Score: 6/10 Grade: C+

55. Fun and Fancy-Free

Yet another wartime shorts feature. This one features Mickey and the Beanstalk which is fairly iconic. The shorts are fun but they really can't compete with actual movies.

Score: 6/10 Grade: C+

54. Melody Time

This is the last of the wartime shorts and out of all of them, these are the shorts I liked the most. It features fun stories about Johnny Appleseed and Pecos Bill. It's cute but not really at the level of the full-length films.

Score: 6/10 Grade: C+

53. Dinosaur

This is Disney's first attempt at the computer-generated movie world. The movie isn't terrible but it isn't exactly memorable either. It has Dinosaurs. They are trying to find a new home. Out of all the movies I saw, this is probably the one I remember the least.

Score: 6/10 Grade: C+

52. The Sword in the Stone

This was an ok version of the King Arthur story. I thought the training aspects were cool but it comes across as a very episodic story instead of a complete narrative. It has some iconic characters and moments but on a story front is just not there.

Score: 6/10 Grade: C+

51. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

This is essentially 2 separate mini-movies released together. Both stories are fun. The Ichabod story had some scary moments and Mr. Toad and his friends are always fun but it isn't a true movie like the rest on this list.

Score: 6/10 Grade: C+

50. Oliver & Company

This was a movie that had no business being as mediocre as it was. On paper, it should have been great. An adaptation of Oliver Twist with songs from Billy Joel. However, the only memorable thing about this movie was the main Billy Joel song. The story itself is very forgettable.

Score: 6/10 Grade: C+

49. Frozen II

I may get some hate for this placement but I was not a fan of Frozen. It tries way too hard to recreate the magic of the original. To me, all of the new songs feel like copies of songs from the first film except for the Kristoff Backstreet Boys cover which was just weird. This movie tries way too hard to copy the original and fails.

Score: 6/10 Grade: C+

48. The Rescuers Down Under

The Rescuers Down Under is the second of the 3 sequels that Disney Animation has down but this one takes place in Australia. I thought the setting was fun and we got some new characters but I don't think the story quite lived to the potential and could have had more fun with the setting.

Score: 6.5/10 Grade: B-

47. The Black Cauldron

The Black Cauldron is a fun little medieval story and one of Sarah's favorites. I thought the world was very fun and I liked the story. I just wished it could have done more. I think we could have spent more time getting to the castle at the end so we could see the world more.

Score: 6.5/10 Grade: B-

46. Alice in Wonderland

This is one of the all-time classics from Disney. Everything about this is so fun. All of the characters and different sequences are so fun to see. What keeps this so low is that the story itself is so disjointed. Everything just jumps around. I understand that this was like the book but I just found it too weird.

Score: 6.5/10 Grade: B-

45. Ralph Breaks the Internet

This is the final of the three sequels. This movie had some very fun moments and a lot of fun references to both the internet at large and different Disney properties. The whole section at Oh My Disney was fun. The big issue with this movie is that the story is just not there. They resolve the main plot two-thirds of the way through and have to jump to a subplot for the big finale which just did not work.

Score: 6.5/10 Grade: B-

44. The Jungle Book

This is another Disney classic. The songs in this are just so great with so many iconic songs and fun characters. The story itself is very thin and just feels like the goal is to move from one song to the next, not tell a good story. Regardless, the highs are so high that it offsets a bit of the thin story and bumps up my score a bit.

Score: 7/10 Grade: B

43. Pinocchio

Yet another Disney classic, Pinnochio is a classic story about a puppet wanting to become a real boy. The individual sequences are all very good. I like the different adventures Pinnochio goes on. The story as a whole feels a bit episodic as we go through the same formula multiple times. Even with this, I still enjoy this film.

Score: 7/10 Grade: B

42. The Rescuers

The Rescuers is very much a mid-level Disney film. The premise was a lot of fun and I enjoyed the characters we met. The story isn't terrible but it isn't super memorable either. This movie is just kind of there in the middle.

Score: 7/10 Grade: B

41. One Hundred and One Dalmatians

Yet another middle-of-the-road movie for me but this one is a bit more iconic. The story is fun but I felt that it started a bit slow. Cruella is an iconic villain and is great whenever she is in the film. Just another iconic movie that's a bit better than I thought it was going to be.

Score: 7/10 Grade: B

40. Bambi

This is the last more middle-ground classic. I like how each act essentially represents a different season of the year. Bambi and all of his friends are so cute and fun. However, just like other films, it is a bit episodic with each "episode" essentially being a different season but this time it works a little better than the previous films.

Score: 7/10 Grade: B

39. Wish

This is Disney's newest film. I thought the nostalgic moments and references to other films were fun. I also enjoyed the songs and the unique animation style. From a story perspective, it is nothing to write home about and probably needs to be a little longer to be effective.

Score: 7/10 Grade: B

38. Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty is one of the most iconic classics. It has arguably the biggest villain from Disney in Maleficent. It has an iconic story and well-known songs and characters. It isn't at the top of my list of Princess movies but it is still a good film.

Score: 7.5/10 Grade: B

37. The Aristocats

The Aristocats is a less famous classic from Disney. It has some fun jazz band elements as well as a few catchy songs. I thought the story was fun as a bit of a fish-out-of-water story. Thomas O'Malley was a fun character and really brought great energy to the film. It isn't the best Disney has to offer but it's still fun.

Score: 7.5/10 Grade: B

36. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

This is a cute little story about Winnie the Pooh and his friends. These characters are just so much to have on screen and are just so iconic and memorable. The movie itself is a bit episodic as Winnie the Pooh is mainly based on short stories but the characters are just so fun that it doesn't bother me as much.

Score: 7.5/10 Grade: B

35. Robin Hood

This is a solid retelling of a classic fairy tale but as animals. There are a lot of fun moments in this much like the tournament sequence and the rescue at the end. I wish we could have gotten more out of this movie than we did but overall it is still very fun.

Score: 7.5/10 Grade: B

34. Dumbo

Dumbo is a short sweet little movie. It tells a very simple story that completely nails what it is going for. There are some iconic songs that are fun as well as a few emotional moments. Disney isn't trying to go big here. They just want to tell a sweet story and that is what they did.

Score: 7.5/10 Grade: B

33. Strange World

Strange World is one of the newest films from Disney. I enjoyed the Sci-Fi aspect of this film. It tries to be like the old classic Sci-Fi films and I think it does a good job at that. There isn't too much wrong with this film, it just doesn't pop like those higher on this list do.

Score: 7.5/10 Grade: B

32. Bolt

Bolt is the last film of the bottom half. This is a fun story about a dog that thinks he is a superhero. It has many moments as well as some great characters. Again, there isn't much wrong with it, I just don't think it's a top-tier Disney film like so many others higher on this list.

Score: 7.5/10 Grade: B

Part 2 of my Disney Animation ranking will come out on December 14th.