I officially watched every Renaissance Disney movie. Holy cow, not only is this one of the most famous and kinda overhyped eras I ever witnessed in Disney but it was also hard to get through too. There is 10 movies in this entire selection and the characters all felt more human and grounded, also note there's more disney princess films than the other previous eras.
But this is only a matter of opinion, what did I have to say about all of these?
I'll rank em Worst To Best.
Let's get started.
10
Tarzan (1999)
This is one of the weaker Disney movies so far in my opinion. Not to say that it's bad, but it could've left more of an impression on me because most of what I said with the Silver Era, Tarzan feels a little too jumbled, and has alot of annoying characters, they don't feel special or feel structured to the plot whatsoever, the villain fight was also pretty tasteless and was expecting it to be more mature and longer. The animation is still nice and complex at times and shows you how this era, the entire movements feel like magic and looks almost impossible to animate right, and I do have to give it this it does have some likeable characters but this to me felt standard and noisy at times.
7/10
9
Hercules (1997)
Now here's a film that has more likeable characters and a decently handled plot. Hercules is something I never truly expect Disney to make into a movie since they mostly use their own versions of fairytales from books. This film also has some gorgeous character designs. They all look unique and stylish, Hercules himself is a likeable protagonist and the songs are mostly good too, but yeah, that's all I have to truly say that's anything positive about it. While I like the story and some of the characters especially in the design department, not all of them left me on a good impression, for one thing Hades is probably hands down the most irritating, most boring villains I seen so far in Disney's films. He's way too talkative and socially inclined for him being the god of the underworld. Seriously why did the crew make him like this? I preferred Pain and Panic over him. I also didn't really much care for Hercules and Meg as a couple, they were fine but not that big or impactful.
But I still find this to be a watchable, decent gem from the renaissance.
8/10
8
Beauty and The Beast (1991)
This is a film I truly loved at first, but now have a downgrade opinion on. Maybe what I enjoyed alot about it at first viewing was how beautiful and elegant the story was handled and the ending was just magnificent and outstanding in every sense of the word, and while I do stand corrected about most of this, I didn't love all of it. Belle is kinda bland but I do like her design and sense of realism. Beast is such a fantastic and menacing character as well, but I don't have any impression on the utensils, Lumiere and Cogsworth. While I do like the concept, they were part of the non-exceptional moments. Be Our Guest is also not really that good either and the amount of unnecessary things happening are what made this a little too overhyped. But I still like it and would highly recommend you to give this a watch, but after watching it again, yeah I was kinda too exaggerated.
8.5/10
7
The Lion King (1994)
Here it is, the legendary, most iconic, most critically acclaimed animated movies of all time. Only to be at #7 on the list. Yeah, I don't understand why people consider this to be Disney's magnum-opus. It's just your usual adventurous, well animated adventure film, but that being said I do like alot of moments in here. I just don't think all of it is worth my time. Some of this reminds of me of Bambi not to help having the same ending as that film. Also you can sense some controversy with this film and Kimba, but I'm not going into further notes talking about it. I have to give alot of points to the death of Mufasa, because it's really heartbroken and easily challenging to watch. It's also got some really memorable songs, including Can You Feel The Love Tonight which honestly is probably one of my favorites from that movie, I know it doesn't entirely fit the mood, but it's calm and likeable. I also love Scar's gentle but evil personality. I honestly thought he was going to be another Shere Khan, but he's more intimidating. But yeah you can tell when I watched Bambi, this felt similar to the story in this movie, so yeah this is obviously not perfect but I'm still one of those people that likes this film and gives it a fair praise.
9/10
6
The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1996)
Here's another surprisingly dark Disney movie that not only mentions the word "hell" in it, but has some fantastic and unique backgrounds and characters. This film doesn't get too much recognition and that's kinda sad because I almost loved everything about this one. I thought the villain was threatening and amusing and I'm sorry, The Gargoyles were useful and funny characters. There might be moments that I consider too obnoxious or too loud but it's brief. This one's a classic.
9.5/10
5
Mulan (1998)
Probably the most ferocious, fun, and powerful movies I have seen so far. Seriously, this was awesome. If you want to experience a truly tough and exciting story then this is the movie for you. I was certainly awake throughout all of it. Each character has a strong sense of strength and power, and the entire buildup this holds is outstanding. Usually I'm not that fond of comic relief characters but Mushu was fun, the villain was really good and the humor elements work. Just comes to show you that women can have wealthy abilities as well as men do.
9.5/10
4
The Little Mermaid (1989)
It's been quite a long time since we gotten another Disney princess movie, last time it was Sleeping Beauty. This my friends is how to make a more interesting couple. While Snow White was an awesome protagonist, her prince Florian was just standard, and Aurora and Phillip was just there. Ariel and Eric are well meaning and really expressive characters, Ursula is also an amazing villain and the energy is on point. You can tell that this is where the renassiance truly began and the animation is just blooming in all aspects that makes the movie more appealing and amusing. This was excellent and really well-told. Definitely one of Disney's best.
10/10
3
Aladdin (1992)
The movie that brought you The Genie and a fantastic duo, Aladdin himself and Jasmine. This is a film I grew up with just because of The Genie. He's still one of my favorite characters concept-wise. He transforms into multiple celebrities and it always makes me laugh even in the movie King Of Thieves. Rest in peace Robin Williams. Anyways let's get onto my actual thoughts. It's just fantastic. All of these characters I truly love best. They are all easy to like and they feel timeless. The action scenes are also really good too and the songs are some of Disney's finest. This is like Looney Tunes mixed with the professional animation together to make this film a near masterpiece.
10/10
2
The Rescuers Down Under (1990)
The original Rescuers definitely felt like it needed a sequel because I absolutely adored the first one. Bernard and Bianca are one of my favorite duos in animation and just seeing them going on another adventure is already more enjoyable and timeless more than anything else. This time, they go on a desert and meet with new friends. Wilbur in particular is more interesting and funnier than Orville and Jack was also really interesting too. The villain is also way more manly and vicious than Medusa who just seemed like Cruella but more greedy. That being said, alot of fun moments happen in this movie and the animation is definitely an improvement over the original and seeing Bernard proposing to Bianca is also really fascinating. This fits my style of film perfectly, helping somebody, sharp action and hilarious and iconic characters. A genuine masterpiece.
10/10
And now, the best renaissance disney movie is...
1 🏆
Pocahontas (1995)
Yep.
This film is regarded as one of the most controversial Disney movies of all time. Let me explain, I know that this film's story element doesn't have a similar approach to the original story, but when it comes to Disney's version, my goodness, this goes hard. This by far has the most mature messages I ever seen in film. The relationship between Pocahontas and John Smith is in my personal opinion, the best couple I ever seen. A native meeting with a English explorer is more of an accomplishment to put into a film that was made in the 90s when everyone was not pleased with aspects of native americans being on film. The natives themselves are also inoffensive and strong characters. They aren't as stereotypical as in the 40s-50s. They are really reliable here. Pocahontas's singing voice is also just beautiful. Colors Of The Wind is probably my favorite Disney song of all time. It's deep, emotional but also really joyful to listen to. Now this all goes down to the more uncomfortable moments of the movie. Yes, the savages song is not really that easy to listen to but I can see why it was added. The reason is that the English settlers are so sensitive and hateful that they literally have no soul to care about them whatsoever, they think that the native settlers are their biggest enemy and try to stay away from them. But seeing a very sustainable relationship in both Pocahontas and John Smith and them actually getting along in the end, makes this such a powerful and meaningful movie, that it left me feeling chills. Now if this went downhill completely this would've easily lost it's grace but since both the english and natives have stopped their fighting once and for all, it seems rather slow but reasonable to let them feel and respect both one another. This is such a unforgettable final ending that cannot be taken too seriously. I also love how beautiful the backgrounds are and Meeko and Flit are funny. You may not agree with me at all with this one, but I truly think it's one of Disney's best movies they ever created. Whether you like it or not this will absolutely be a guilty pleasure and what the world is missing out there, peace, respect and faith for all humanity.
10/10
Now that this is over, what are my initial final thoughts on Disney's Renaissance?
This was very interesting. That being said one movie I didn't enjoy as much as the others but in terms of characters, story and of course animation, everything about this era was really good. I could understand why people make this era one of Disney's best but I'm not on the minority of saying it's my favorite.
Four 10/10s is certainly saying something though.
Next, I'm going to be experiencing Disney's Experimental Era. There's another name to this, Post-Renassiance but I like the experimental name more. It feels more accurate since what I'm seeing is a few 3D movies and a sequel to Fantasia so this is going to be interesting.
This week I'll begin to watch Fantasia 2000. Hopefully it'll be as great as the original but who knows? I can't wait.
That's it for now. If you want to see the previous era rankings then click on these links.
Golden Age (1937-1942)
Silver Age (1950-1967)
Bronze Age (1970-1988)
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