The best Disney movies of all-time

Our band of film critics named Pinocchio the best animated film of all time, but you don’t need to be a historian to see why the tale of the little wooden boy seeking to become real is the high water mark for Disney. From the puppet’s ever-growing nose to the climax within a whale, the Blue Fairy to Jiminy Cricket singing ‘when you wish upon a star,’ nearly every minute is iconic and awe-inspiring. Rated G. 

The sequels sharpened the humour, upped the emotion and the sense of adventure, and improved on the CGI, but for pure joy and charm, nothing beats the original. It’s hard to believe there was a time when Woody and Buzz weren’t BFFs, but that’s the case here, as the two initially butt plastic heads before coming together to defeat the real enemy: toy-destroying problem child Sid. Rated G. 

Whatever Brad Bird’s animated action-comedy lacks in deep emotionality relative to other Pixar classics it more than makes up for in creative zip. Set in a retro-futuristic 1960s, where superheroes are legally prohibited from crime-fighting, a family of ‘supers’ are forced to live a mundane suburban existence – until a villain with a long-held grudge draws them out of hiding. It’s a blast from start to finish. Rated PG. 

Disney’s first animated feature completely changed the face of cinema, but even in the age of eye-popping computer animation, it remains a stunning achievement. It's also equal parts thrilling, scary, funny and whimsical. Few films hold up as well as Snow White, and decades’s worth of ho-hum remakes, reimaginations and adaptations only prove how impressive Disney's achievement really is.  Like the fairytale that inspired it, this is a timeless piece of entertainment. Rated G. 

Up is so much more than its famous opening montage, which will leave even the most curmudgeonly viewer drowning in tears. It's a master class in emotional storytelling. But once widower Carl's house becomes skybound, Up transitions into a rolicking adventure, one packed with exotic locales, talking (and flying!) dogs, colorful birds and one very, very dedicated boy scout. Want more once the credits roll? Disney+ also has a canine-focused series of shorts called Dug Days. Rated PG.

After taking a financial hit on Pinocchio and Fantasia the year prior, Disney decided to play it safe for its fourth feature with a simple, straightforward cartoon about an ostracised circus elephant, and still came away with a stone cold classic. The scene of young Dumbo tearfully locking trunks with his imprisoned mother will rip your heart out, while the hallucinatory ‘Pink Elephants on Parade’ sequence will make you wonder what the animators were getting into in their off-hours. Rated G.

Arguably the apex of Pixar’s imperial era, this near-wordless environmentalist parable pushed the boundaries of what animated storytelling can accomplish. Left alone on Earth to clean up humanity’s mess, the titular sentient trash compactor wiles away the centuries crushing garbage into cubes and watching old Hollywood musicals, until the arrival of an Alexa-like droid gets his gears grinding in unexpected ways. Rated PG. 

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. Who doesn't love Linguini (voiced by Lou Romano), a hopeless human moppet controlled by the supremely talented Remy? Will they win over the power-crazed food critic Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole)? We won't spoil the fun! Rated G.

Iconic villain Cruella De Vil got some image rehabilitation thanks to Emma Stone, but in this original feature she makes good on her name as she obsesses over making coats out of Pongo and Perdita's pups. The villains here are a riot, as are the old-timey London locales. And don't worry, this is a Disney film... no puppies lose their fur. Rated G. 

Fans may still argue over which of the three major films representing the Disney Renaissance is the best, but The Lion King has indisputably left the biggest mark. No wonder: it has the best songs, the best story and the strongest emotional core – many of us still haven’t gotten over the Mufasa death scene. The ‘live action’ remake was wholly unnecessary, as was the 2024 prequel, but nothing can dilute the impact of the animated OG in the hearts of ’90s kids. Rated G. 
 

Mowgli can't seem to find his place in this world. In Disney's rendition of the Rudyard Kipling story, this young orphan is set out on a quest to learn more about his identity, with the help of animal companions, all while warding off Shere Khan. Rated G. 

A pompous prince gets a taste of his own medicine in this '90s fairytale from Disney's Renaissance... the first animated film to score an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. 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. 

The first Toy Story was a fun, inventive, hilarious-on-multiple-levels adventure with a simple message about the importance of friendship (and not abusing your toys). The second one is where the series starts to devastate us. It explores some strikingly mature themes related to self-worth, abandonment and letting go; the musical montage detailing the heartbreaking backstory of peppy cowgirl Jessie ranks alongside the Up opening for the most emotionally brutal sequence in Pixar history. Rated G.

Other Pixar movies may have broken more ground, but when it comes to pure adventure, this undersea odyssey is at the top of the reef… er, heap. After his rebellious son swims away from home, a nervous-nelly clownfish must face his many, many fears to find him. Helped along by a forgetful blue tang named Dory, he navigates a jellyfish forest, evades ‘vegetarian’ sharks, chills with some groovy turtles and gets sucked into a whale’s stomach. Kids loved it: Nemo was, for a time, the highest-grossing animated film ever – and it’s still the best-selling DVD of all-time. Rated PG.

Endearing and emotional, Bambi is the story of a super-cute deer who comes into his own with help of family and friends in the forest. Yes, the famous demise of Bambi's mom is still heartbreaking. But the sequences with Thumper, Flower and Bambi getting all twitterpated helps balance the mood nicely. Rated G. 

With Inside Out, a studio famous for manipulating emotions makes an actual film about emotions personified. In diving into the mind of a tweenage girl Pixar takes what could have been a shameless attack on the heartstrings and emerges with a hilarious, beautiful testament to the things that make us human (or, at one point, cats). Don't worry though: Yes, you'll be crying throughout, but many of those tears will come from laughter too. Same goes for the mega-blockbuster sequel. Rated PG.

The sequels are usually never as good as the original, although that's not the case for the Toy Story franchise, which seems has continually built upon its foundation with great success. While not as existential as Toy Story 4, this emotional threequel up touches on what it means to grow up and face your own mortality. The last 15 minutes might just be Pixar at its most emotionally resonant... which it really, really saying something. Rated G.

Cinderella is probably one of the most patient Disney princesses out there. Despite her bad fortune, she remains hopeful, even when her wicked stepmom and stepsisters give her a run for her money. But the young woman gets the last laugh when her fairy godmother helps her reunite with a handsome prince at the ball. You'll replay this one faster than you can say ‘bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!’ Rated G. 

It’s hard to imagine a time when Disney was in need of a ‘revival’, but the company’s fabled Renaissance period kicked off with this loose adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fable. Ariel is a starry-eyed young mermaid who enters into a Faustian bargain with an evil sea witch to fulfil her dream of marrying a human prince. What everyone remembers, though, are the songs: even if you haven’t seen it since the VHS era, you can still recite ‘Under the Sea’ from memory with 100 percent accuracy. Rated G

Is Maleficent Disney’s scariest villain? The Angelina Jolie live-action films might have softened the horned queen a bit, but her animated counterpart remains the high water mark for animated baddies. This classic is one of Disney animation’s most gorgeous hand-drawn achievements, marking a huge leap forward in the artwork while solidifying the Mouse House’s rep as the premiere place for fairytale princesses. Rated G.

Anyone surprised by the box office returns for the live-action remake must not have been a kid in the early 2000s, when this Hawaii-set caper became the closest thing zoomers had to a Renaissance-era classic. Lilo is a lonely orphan who forms a bond with a little blue alien she mistakes for a dog. It’s sweet, simple and, for the House of Mouse, quite irreverent – and the remake isn’t half bad, as far as those things go. Rated PG. 

Like Inside Out, Coco finds Pixar flirting with emotional exploitation: This is, after all, a film about a kid who reconnects with his family roots in the Land of the Dead while chasing after a long-dead musical idol. Yet the film delivers a colorful, funny, touching meditation on Mexican culture and family legacies complete with great songs and fantastic beasts. No film about death has ever felt so alive. Rated PG. 

A sophisticated cocker spaniel and a pup from the wrong side of the tracks fall in love in this pawsitively irresistible canine romance. Generations later, we'll still swoon for the classic spaghetti-slurping scene between the two doggos. Rated G. ​ ​

This oceanic adventure puts the spotlight on young Moana, a Polynesian princess who sets sail on a raft (with her googly-eyed pet chicken in tow) to save her island from a terrible curse. Sporting some wonderful songs by Lin Manuel Miranda and a tremendous vocal performance from the Rock as the cocky demigod summoned to assist in her journey, it’s one of the liveliest modern Disney flicks, and the 2024 sequel keeps up the energy. Rated PG.

With this update of The Frog Prince, Disney pulled a last and a first: It's the studio's last hand-drawn feature, and the first to feature a Black princess. But benchmarks aside, The Princess and the Frog is a blast, balancing New Orleasns jazz music with exciting river-based adventure, fun characters and one of the scarier villains to emerge from the pens of Disney's artists. It was the end of an era and the dawn of a new one, and it remains one of Disney's most underrated efforts. Rated PG.

In a fun, meta twist on the Disney Princess formula, the delightful Amy Adams stars as a royal songstress who is wrested into the real world. The fish-out-of-water comedy is golden as Princess Giselle finds that New York isn’t exactly the type of kingdom she’s used to. Bonus points for having future Elsa Idina Menzel pop up for a smaller role and Mary Poppins herself, Julie Andrews, as the narrator. 

In this hip retelling of Rapunzel, we find our princess in the same unfortunate situation: Isolated in a tower with no escape, and naturally, extra-long locks straight out of a shampoo commercial. She's almost given up hope about leaving the tower...until a hunky prince shows up. This is a new era for Disney, but its slapsticky comedy and crowdpleasing songs help bridge the gap between timeless fairytales and modern sensibilities. Rated PG. 

The Banks’s certainly need a chill pill. When their magical, sweet-natured nanny, Mary Poppins, arrives, the kids hope that some of her positivity will be contagious. This film was hugely influential in combining old-school musical charms and animation, making it a timeless classic. The 54-years-later sequel starring Emily Blunt wasn't bad, either! Rated G. 

Never-ending adolescence seems like a dream come true for Wendy and her two brothers. They're immediately intrigued when the magical Peter Pan and Tinkerbell fly into their home, discussing the forever youth they achieved in Neverland. Naturally, it's only right for Wendy and co to take a peek at what all the hype is about. When they do, things take a turn, largely thanks to Captain Hook. Rated G. 

Though some of Aladdin's characterisations have aged poorly, the Arabian Nights story of a street-smart kid kid granted three wishes remains one of Disney's most enjoyable '90s efforts. A big part of that is Robin Williams' motor-mouthed genie, but even beyond the comedy, Aladdin's action, songs and heart make it soar. This opened up a whole new world for Disney, and animation in general thanks to its embrace of celebrity voices and computer-assisted art. Rated G.  

In off chance you're unfamiliar with Disney's most popular sisters, let us get you up to speed: Anna and Elsa have melted even the coldest of hearts upon their rise to fame in 2013. In Frozen, Elsa struggles with wicked-cool powers (literally) that send her town into a never-ending winter. Whoops! Will help from her little sis be able to rectify the situation? Oh, and best of luck getting the film's beloved song, ‘Let It Go,’ out of your head! Rated PG. 

The Jack Sparrow schtick has gotten stale, but Disney’s first oddball adaptation of its popular theme-park ride remains a rollicking good time. Ghosts, pirates, swashbucklers and spectral monkeys converge on a film that could never be matched, no matter how many sequels Disney churned out. Jungle Cruise may have borrowed the template, but the original Pirates is still the king of Disneyland on the big screen. 

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, close calls... and surprisingly layered commentary on racism. Rated PG.

Mulan doesn't let anything stand in her way. She's fearful that her ailing father will be forced to serve in the military. That's when she gets the idea to go undercover as a man – a highly forbidden act. In true Disney fashion, there's also some romance along the way, but this is also a stunning example of the wonders old-school Disney could muster when they work in action-movie mode. Rated G. 

Disney’s latest is a vibrant celebration of family with a collection of tunes from Hamilton and Moana songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda. The story follows Mirabel, a young woman struggling with the fact that she is the only ‘normal’ member of a family overflowing with magical abilities. Set in lush Colombia – and thus featuring lovable capybaras – the film is an explosion of color as much as it is a celebration of individuality. 

Disney and Pixar have gotten a lot of mileage out of lovable blue-collar monsters Mike and Sully, including a hit prequel about the pair’s college years and a spinoff series recently added to Disney+. But the first adventure remains the best outing for Monstropolis’s most dedicated scarers thanks to its big laughs and tender heart. If you don’t tear up when Boo and Mike say goodbye, you might just be a monster yourself. 

All it took was one summer to completely sabotage Nick and Elizabeth's plan. After a nasty split, the two decide to go their own ways, separating their twin daughters in the process. Who would've thought that the girls would unite at sleepaway camp 11 years later? Once the red-headed sisters unravel their parents' past, they devise a plan of their own to switch places. Will their efforts result in a successful family reunion?​ ​Rated PG. 

Once upon a time there were dragons and now… well, not so much. That’s the starting point for a joyful adventure that delivers Disney’s first ever south east Asian princess – Raya (Star Wars’ Kelly Marie Tran) – and sets her on a quest to restore harmony to a kingdom riven by seriously bad vibes. Along for the ride is sassy last-dragon Sisu, voiced enjoyably by Awkwafina. Rated PG. 

Most of Disney’s live-action remakes have been pale imitations of the originals. Pete’s Dragon, meanwhile, improves drastically on the uneven original, ditching the musical numbers for a more heartfelt take on the journeys of an orphan and his dragon pal. Curiously, this comes from David Lowery, the director of The Green Knight and A Ghost Story, two decidedly adult films whose visual inventiveness and emotional resonance seem right at home with this Disney revamp. 

Without a doubt, your kids will be nagging you for a loveable inflatable healthcare robot after watching this action-packed but surprisingly emotional movie. Based on the Marvel comics of the same name,it follows Hiro Hamada, a teen prodigal robotics expert, who forms a superhero team with his late brother’s healthcare provider robot, Baymax, and a group of highly skilled whizkids. Together, they must take down the bad guys who are responsible for Hiro’s brother’s death. Rated PG. 

Before Tim Burton made it a billion dollar live-action nightmare, Lewis Carroll’s curiouser and curiouser tale of a daydreaming little girl tumbling down the rabbit hole into a world of talking caterpillars, cantankerous queens and worried hares was pure Disney. The story’s a little episodic – such is its nature – but this remains a dazzler that reveals something new and spectacular in every frame. 

Disney’s groundbreaking musical anthology contains some of the studio’s most hallucinatory images, from the birth of planet Earth to hippos in tutus. What it’s most remembered for are two segments: the delightfully trippy ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’, in which Mickey Mouse battles an army of anthropomorphic broomsticks; and the frightening ‘Night on Bald Mountain’, by yards the most metal thing in the company’s catalogue. All of it is stunning, though, and in some ways invented music videos 40 years before they became standard. Rated G. 

When Disney bought the rights to Jim Henson’s daffy cast of puppets in 2004, it’d been a long time since the crew were considered au courant. It took avowed fan Jason Segel to make them cool again. Call the gang’s first feature film in over a decade a comeback, but don’t call it a reboot. These are the same Muppets children of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s know and love, with a winkingly boilerplate plot existing merely as an excuse for wacky jokes, some truly hysterical musical numbers and a few heartfelt moments. Rated PG.

Disney takes on a historical figure in this musical romance. Journey back to the 17th century with young Pocahontas, an empowering Native American heroine who falls for colonist  Captain John Smith – a love interest that her father strongly disapproves of. The movie plays fast and loose with the real story in this decidedly less-breezy film, but its messages of acceptance and environmentalism ring true. Rated G.  

Everyone’s favourite superpowered family, the Parrs, return for this sequel that puts Elastigirl front and center. After a mission goes disastrously awry, the government shuts down the Superhero Relocation Program, cutting off our heroes’ financial assistance. In a bid to make some money and rehabilitate the superhero image, Elastigirl is recruited by a media and telecoms company. Naturally, things aren’t what they seem, and the rest of the family must come to her aid. Rated PG

In some ways, Brave is Pixar’s most traditionalist film yet. Set in medieval Scotland, it’s a fable about a rebellious young princess named Merida and features run-ins with witches, excursions into deep, dark woods and some highly expressive bears. In other ways, though, it’s also very far from Snow White et al. Ain’t no Prince Charmings here – every one of her male suitors is a total square. Instead, the movie uses Scottish folklore to explore the unique bonds and tensions of mother-daughter relationships. Rated PG

Wayne Szalinski is convinced that his inventions are worthless. He throws out his shrink ray, not realizing that it did in fact work... and turned a few kids into bite-sized versions of themselves. Come for the giant ants, stay for the delightfully weird Rick Moranis performance. Rated PG. 

With an ode to Greek mythology and a soundtrack full of gospel-tinged bangers, Hercules follows the story of a young man who's half human, half god. This causes him to lose his immortality, but if he's up to the challenge, he can get it back and score a place among the gods of Mount Olympus. This is late-period Disney at its weirdest, a rare film from the world's most prolific studio that can truly be called underrated. Rated G. 

Ralph (John C Reilly) is the building-demolishing antagonist of a rudimentary 8-bit video game in the ‘Donkey Kong’ vein. Yearning to be a hero, he sets forth into the complex inner universe of the arcade to find an alternative game that can cast him differently. But he finds himself mired in the hot-pink purgatory of girly go-kart race Sugar Rush Speedway, where he joins forces with fellow outcast Vanellope (the delightful Sarah Silverman) to play the system at its own game, as it were. There’s a lot more than that to this rule-ridden story world—you'll have to watch it to see! Rated PG. 

Nobody has it easy at age 13, but at least you presumably didn’t transform into a giant red panda whenever you experienced a new emotion. Canadian animator Domee Shi’s madcap coming-of-age parable blends Chinese folklore with a relatably modern tale of secret crushes, boy bands and roiling internal turmoil. (Also, Billie Eilish songs on the soundtrack.) Overseen by Pixar’s first solo female director, it’s a victory for representation on several fronts, and a heck of a lot of fun to boot. Rated PG.