5. The Lion King
What I love about this movie is all the heritage and culture it conveys. It is obvious just by the names of the characters that there is a uniqueness to this creation. Many of the characters names actually have meanings in Swahili.
Simba means lion; Nala means gift; Pumbaa means foolish; Shenzi (hyena) means uncivilized; Rafiki means friend and Sarabi (Simba’s mother) means mirage.
4. Alice in Wonderland
The story of Alice is bizarre in itself, but the Disney version of the movie did a great job of adding the perfect imagery for this strange and peculiar animation. There is not a dull moment of the film which makes it one of my top selections of Disney movies.
Kathryn Beaumont was only 10 years old when she was chosen to voice Alice in “Alice in Wonderland.” Disney liked her so much that they even used her image as the model to create Alice.
3. Beauty and the Beast
I can never get enough of this movie. I think I watched it until the videotape fell apart when I was young. Here’s a fun fact. Belle is the only person in her town that wears blue. Later on when she meets the beast, he is also wearing blue. Art Director Brian McEntee color keyed the two characters to highlight them as unique compared to the rest of the characters and especially the townspeople.
Disney was originally going to have Jodi Benson who voiced Ariel from “The Little Mermaid” also voice Belle but later decided a more European voice would better suit the character, so they went with Paige O’Hara.
2. Aladdin
It is unbelievable how much money this masterpiece ranked in. “Aladdin” was top grossing film in 1992 and earned $500 million worldwide during its theatrical release. Scott Weinger, who plays Steve, D.J.’s boyfriend from “Full House,” does the voice of Aladdin. Robin Williams voiced genie, but after a fall out with Disney during the casting for “The Return of Jafar,” Dan Castellaneta who is most famous for voicing Homer from “The Simpsons” took over as genie. Another fact that makes “Aladdin” special is Princess Jasmine was the first non-Caucasian Disney princess. What a big move that was for society.
1.The Little Mermaid
This movie is my favorite movie of all time and still touches my heart every time I watch it. It has adventure, excitement, emotion, and drama. The wonders of the sea is what makes it most interesting to me and also, the fantasy of mermaids and merman actually existing.
Even though many movies end up causing some kind of controversy, “The Little Mermaid” stirred up a pretty interesting argument coming from feminists. Some women feel that it is wrong for Ariel to only be concerned about her love life and not hold any other hobbies or goals. Because of this controversy, Disney made sure that future heroines did have a motive other than falling in love: Belle loves reading, Tiana loves cooking and Rapunzel loves arts and crafts. Some disagree with the accusation of Ariel not having other motives and believe that her interest in the human world was her motive before she even fell in love with Eric.