Top Dozen Disney films + Thoughts on them as a company

Disney is by far the most popular and most successful entertainment business in the world. They've been around for a century now, creating numerous cartoons and films that people have grown up with, and it would be a tough task finding out someone who hasn't watched a Disney movie in their life. I myself grew up with a lot of Disney's intellectual property as a kid.

That being said, they are also a company of which I have quite a conflicting view of.

First obvious point is that they have arguably become a monopoly, regarding how much successful intellectual property they have acquired over the last ten or so years and how suffocating they have been of smaller film studios with their business practices, plus them shutting down Blue Sky Studios and their lawsuit against Deadmau5, and they are lobbying Congress to maintain this monopoly as well. Disney should absolutely be broken up, no question about it.

Second, a lot of their classic and Renaissance era films do not tell good stories, and are only heralded because of their music and animation. The romances portrayed in these movies are very often demeaning and promote bad messages regarding romantic relations to both boys and girls. Not only that, but The Lion King is quite literally masqueraded fascistic propaganda.

Overall, I am not fond of Disney as a company. That being said, I still do like a lot of their intellectual property, just not them as a company.

So, to sweeten this thread, I'm going to list my Top Dozen Disney films. I'd like to know what your favorites are in the comments below, as well as your opinion regarding them as a company.

So, without further ado, let's get on with the list;

This entry is admittedly primarily for the nostalgia. This was the very first movie I remember seeing in theaters, me having been only 3 years old at the time, and being that young I was drawn to this movie because of the character designs.

Even going beyond my nostalgia though, this is a very fun movie with a really neat premise. Monsters in the closet are a common fear trope amongst young children, so a movie detailing these monsters like actual people who live normal lives is an excellent idea in theory, and it's also executed very well as well regarding the conflict that arises in this movie with the Boo character entering the monster's workplace.

Spoiler alert, but this going to be the only mainline Renaissance film to make the list. I've already stated in the first paragraph of this thread my grievances with the Renaissance era films.

But as for Aladdin itself, though this movie also features a lot of these same flaws, it is at least less offensive compared to other entries from this era. Aladdin is a likeable quirky character, Jasmine is quite strong-headed for being a Disney princess, the animation of this movie is so fast paced and fun to look at, and the Genie was hands down the best part of the movie, bless you Robin Williams. 

As someone who loves ocean and beach locales, this movie had to be on the list somewhere. Not only that, but the dynamic between Marlin and Dory was fun to watch, and it's excellent how the ending of the movie features these two remaining only as friends rather than becoming a romantic couple, subverting the cliche of friendzone relationships. The adventure through all the dangers and hazards along the way was fun to watch as well, same with the subplot with Nemo in the fishtank with other seacreatures.

This was my favorite Disney movie as a kid, primarily because I was drawn to the dalmatians at such a young age. Some may consider this the beginning of Disney's dark age, but I honestly don't.

Even as an adult, I really do enjoy this movie. The key plot of the movie is a bit like The Incredible Journey in featuring dogs trying to make their way back to their owners while avoiding numerous hazards along the way.

Also, Cruella Deville is easily one of the best Disney villains of all time, and seeing a female Disney villain of her profession, in the conservative world of 1961 nonetheless, was way ahead of its time. Horace and Jasper were also funny side-villains as well, and are very likely the inspiration behind Marv and Harry in the Home Alone movies.

This is another movie I have a lot of nostalgia for. My favorite part of this movie is hands down the soundtrack, in fact I am looking to eventually buy a music CD for this movie's soundtrack, because it's just so beautiful, and fun to listen to.

The plot of the movie itself is also executed very neatly as well, regarding the plots with Lilo and Nani, with Jumba and Pleakley, and with Lilo and Stitch (roll credits). The Hawaiian locales and Elvis music was fun to see and hear as well.

Stitch is also just a really cool character in both design and in attitude, and he helped make this movie as well. This movie also spawned a fun cartoon series I was a big fan of as a kid.

I was already a preteen when this film came out, so naturally I have less nostalgia for this movie than I do with others. But that works to this movie's benefit, as it allows me as an adult to appreciate this movie even more.

The lore at the beginning of this movie regarding the married life of Carl and Ellie up until Ellie's death, the way that it presented this lore solely with animation and music without any dialogue in the background, was so beautiful to see, and it does an excellent job in making you sympathize for Carl as well. The dynamic between Carl and Russel, as well as how the movie showcased how much Carl is learning from Russel, despite him being the elderly person and Russel being a child, showing how despite his old age Carl is still maturing, it's a nice detail that truly humanizes the elderly, that they too are still learning and maturing despite their age.

Nothing against Toy Story 4, but this movie should've been the conclusion to the franchise. The way it concluded Andy's time with these toys, which has been the main focus of the first two Toy Story movies from the 1990s, and the overall high note that this movie ended with, this movie was easily the best place to end this series. The lore of this movie is sad, with themes of growing up and leaving the past behind, but this movie still features a lot of comedy on top of all of this to sweeten the deal, including the relationship between Barbie and Ken, Mr. Potato Head becoming Mr. Tortilla Head, and Buzz Lightyear's Spanish mode. A fantastic ending to what should've been a trilogy.

When this movie first came out, I was primarily drawn to it for the video game references. This movie features tons of them, primarily from classic video games, including a scene where the Contra code is used.

What I like most about this movie as an adult is how well it humanizes and makes you sympathize with a character that is chosen to be the bad guy. A lot of entertainment mediums have this very black-and-white and honestly demeaning portrayal of good guy vs bad guy, that you're supposed to root for the "good guy" and root against the "bad guy" because the movie tells you to. This movie subverts this trope by featuring a protagonist who is the primary villain in his own game, but doesn't want to be seen as a bad guy. His dynamic with Vanellope von Schweetz, who is having troubles of her own with her being a glitch, and how they try to help each other out, was also really cute to see. Plus, the romantic tension between Fix-It Felix and Calhoun was just hilarious, all around.

What I like the most about this movie is that it's essentially a subversion of The Lion King. Whereas The Lion King has a very fascistic lore which promotes oppressive hierarchies and the message of "might-makes-right", A Bug's Life on the other hand is about the oppressed taking back control away from their oppressors. Not only that, but the primary protagonist of this movie is a quirky ant named Flick, who's main drive is to create new inventions and ideas for the bettering of his species, which don't turn out well at the beginning of the movie, but do end up changing his colony for the better by the end of the movie. The locales visited, the way the insects make cities and bars out of trash left over by humans, is also fun to see as well. Also, the caterpillar with the German accent was just hilarious all around, and the adult jokes also got a laugh out of me as well, such as the one about "pollinating with real bugs".

It is highly underappreciated the impact that the book that this Disney classic was based on has had on numerous entertainment mediums, and this movie has done an excellent job at adapting this book to the big screen, much better than other Disney fairy tales have done, and it has truly allowed for this story to come to life in such a fantastic way. The term "going down the rabbit hole" is a popular expression that has numerous meanings for various people. Many video games take heavy inspiration from this story, including Super Mario with how he eats mushrooms to grow, as well as a lot of adventure games with how they enter worlds of nonsense. This is also one of the most influential stories of all time regarding the adventure genre, for all entertainment mediums. Plus, this is a story without an apparent moral as the story was originally just written to be fun, but it still features a lot of personal morals that anyone can discover for themselves, the "going down the rabbit hole" is one key example that resonates with many people, including myself.

Also, it's a breathe of fresh air that despite being in the mold of an innocent human girl, that Alice is not a Disney princess, that she is the one on the adventure, and that she doesn't have any romantic interests in the story at all, it's refreshing to see especially from a classic Disney film, in an era filled with the likes of Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty.

Hands down the greatest movie Pixar has ever released. The main protagonist is a primarily silent one with one a few voice lines, with a love interest who is similar in this regard. The romance between Wall-E and Eve, the way it's done primarily free of dialogue and just with animation and music, is just beautiful to watch. It also does a fantastic job in showcasing the dystopia we are headed towards, with the Earth being a literal trashpile, and with humans having moved to space, having become reliant on technology and with their whole lives being dictated by a large company. Not only that, but the primary villain of this movie is more of the institution itself rather than a separate being, the Auto character is essentially just the personification of the entire system itself, a monster that the captain and his descendants have created over the course of hundreds of years.

Coming out in the midst of the Renaissance Era, yet having such a dark overall theme compared to the rest of what Disney was doing at the time, Disney heavily shunned this movie, and there's a reason this is not considered a Renaissance film despite coming out in the midst of that era. However, this movie is also subversive of numerous tropes that Disney had been abusing during that era. Despite the primary antagonist of the movie being Oogie Boogie, it is the protagonist Jack Skellington himself who causes the most trouble, both for his town and for the wider world. Going back to what I said regarding the moral of the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland, Jack falls down a rabbit hole himself in this movie in the form of his love for Christmas Town. In fact, the song "Making Christmas" can be interpreted as a metaphor for indulgence. Plus, his romance for Sally is driven by him discovering that Sally all along was the only one who truly understood how hurt Jack was on the inside, how she was the only one who saw what he was going through internally, as opposed to everyone else who just went along with Jack's plan's because they only saw the surface.

The hidden morals and metaphors in this movie are excellent.Furthermore, the stop-motion animation is very smooth and feels honestly like CGI, and the gothic theme of the movie which Tim Burton and Henry Selick films are known for is in its prime form in this movie, it's no wonder the emo and edgy kids wore Jack Skellington gear a lot in the '00s. 

Also, the music in this film is just fantastic, I even own a music CD for this film that I have listened to a few times. 

So there is is, my Top Dozen Disney films.

Let me know your list in the comments down below, as well as your verdict on Disney as a company.