All 52 Walt Disney Animated Classics: Ranked From Worst To Best

1. Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Here is what can be argued as the pinnacle of Disney animation. With 52 films and seven and a half decades of selections, Beauty and the Beast combines the best of the past and the present. It is a Broadway musical rendered on the big screen. It is a sample of animated poetry. It is turmoil and triumph wrapped in a blanket of emotional passion dipped in a rich, delicious sauce of majestic ceremony and grandeur.

Beauty and the Beast is a movie that qualifies as a masterpiece not just in terms of the animation art-form, but in cinema in general. The first animated film to ever be nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture, some claim that it was still robbed of the achievement today. The story of Belle is another tale that pretty much resonates with us all. We learn that love is not the physical and material offerings of an individual, but who they are as a person. Not just in terms of personality, but in their ability to grow and change to make themselves better people. It sounds mushy, but that mushy stuff works here.

Yes, it is a love story that is also comes as a questionable of Stockholm Syndrome, but if we ignore that (and the plot holes in timeline continuity) we have some of the most dynamic and potent characters in the most transformative story Disney has ever created. Belle has simple and humble origins with a desire for something more. The Beast is a creature that has allowed emotion to take full control of his deteriorating humanity. In some form we are, in one way or another, Beauty and the Beast. This film embodies the essence and elements of Disney animation, giving us a tale that will be admired for ages and will not be soon forgotten. The best film Disney have ever made? Here it is.

How do I fare? Did you see your favorites where you thought they should be? Speak up in the comments section below.