The 8 Best Walt Disney Animation Movies Since 2000
Walt Disney Animation is about to release its 56th film on November 23rd with Moana, which is directed by studio veterans Ron Clements and Jon Musker (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules). But before everyone has the opportunity to see that, I wanted to take a look back and rank the top eight films the Walt Disney Animation Studio has made since the year 2000. Why limit the list to just eight? Simply because that’s what I felt like doing today. The studio has had some big hits and some big misses over the last sixteen years, but the way I see it, these are the eight best movies they’ve put out in that time frame.
8. Treasure Planet
An underrated reimagining of Treasure Island, but with a steampunk vibe. With cool production design and solid voice work all around (including from Joseph Gordon-Levitt voicing the lead character), this movie deserves more love alongside its early 2000s contemporaries.
7. Bolt
The meta story in this movie is fine (a dog has been trained to think he’s a superhero his whole life, but he’s really just the star of a TV show), but Bolt is important because it’s the first movie Pixar’s John Lasseter oversaw on the Walt Disney Animation side of things, and some say it kicked off the new revitalization of the company. Plus, the animation looked really good for the time and it had surprisingly excellent voice acting from John Travolta. Props.
6. The Princess and the Frog
The Princess and the Frog earned the number six spot because of its ability to recreate New Orleans and wonderfully transport us that setting…but mainly, it earned this spot because of Ray, the Cajun firefly with a heart of gold. If you haven’t seen this movie, check it out for Ray alone…his storyline is the most moving thing about the entire film.
5. Big Hero 6
A nice little superhero origin story. I like Big Hero 6 less for its Marvel superhero qualities and more for its characters and its awe-inspiringly cool merging of Tokyo and San Francisco. And yes, Baymax is pretty damn great, too. *Fist bump, weird noise*
4. Tangled
I wasn’t impressed by this film’s trailers, so I avoided seeing this movie for five years. That was a huge mistake, because it’s absolutely terrific. Great humor, great songs, spot-on voice acting, and excellent side characters make this one a true gem. I hope you didn’t make the same mistake I did, but if you’ve also avoided this one, remedy that immediately. You won’t regret it.
3. Frozen
Remember when this was just a movie before it was a full-on cultural phenomenon? That’s probably the best way to remember Frozen: as it was, instead of what it became. Before you understandably rolled your eyes after hearing “Let It Go” for the two thousandth time, the movie was a dazzling piece of storytelling and a terrific subversion of classic fairy tale tropes. And yes, the music is still legitimately great, even if it’s been overplayed more than any other Disney movie music in recent memory.
2. Wreck-It Ralph
I don’t think there’s been a better video game movie than Wreck-It Ralph. Sure, that may technically be a slight cheat because it’s not based on an existing game, but the way this movie treats the game worlds and their characters is pitch perfect, and John C. Reilly could not possibly be a better fit for the lovable “bad guy” title character.
1. Zootopia
I was not expecting Zootopia to be a staggeringly relevant examination of race in America in 2016, but that’s exactly what it is. It covers some of the same thematic ground as Wreck-It Ralph (empowering individuals to overcome societal expectations, etc), but does so in a much more focused way. Zootopia may not be the most purely fun movie on this list, but it’s unquestionably the most important. This should be required viewing for people of all ages, but especially for kids as a way to introduce them to concepts they’re going to be faced with for the rest of their lives.