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30: Pocahontas

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I really never cared for this one. Disney just seemed to out-do themselves in the PC-department here. I can't complain too much about the animation, which was suitable enough, but the whole film just seemed to be a disappointment. After the powerhouse Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Lion King, this was all Disney could muscle out? Pocahontas just felt like a chink in the Disney New Wave armor.

29: Oliver and Company

Cute, but I found it forgettable. Disney was in dire straits in the 1980s before the company's comeback with The Little Mermaid, and here's a film to attest to that (though to be fair, I haven't seen The Black Cauldron yet). The songs were forgettable, the only one I can remember if "Street Savoir Faire" and the voices were decent enough (even if Billy Joel was a little shaky on the acting side). Actually, "decent enough" sums up this film pretty well. Nothing too spectacular, just an easy way to kill 90 minutes on a rainy afternoon.

28: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

I've never liked this film. Never. I can respect it for the technological leap it was at the time and the place it holds in film history, but I always found it boring, cheesy, and extremely dated. A lot of Disney's early works have a certain timelessness to them, that kids (and adults) from all generaations can feel in touch with the films, even if they were from the 1940s or 50s. Not so with Snow White. I feel like I'm watching something that's permanently stuck in the 30s. The Dwarfs themselves always annoyed me, Snow White even more so. The only enjoyable character in the whole thing was the Evil Queen, who seethed malice and was given the juiciest part in the whole film. Snow White's a classic, yes, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

27: The Fox and the hound

It was about this time when this film came out that Don Bluth made his famous "rebellion" against Disney and broke off to form his own successful animation company. Whenever I watch this film, I always feel like there was so much potential in the animation and story, but Disney cut corners and what we have is some-what subpar. Even still, it's ten times better than some of the crap Eisner and Co. have been shoving down our throats in recent years. The Fox and the Hound just feels like a downer from the once great studio before they were revitalized with The Little Mermaid in '89.

26: Fantasia 2000

The sequel to Disney's masterful and gorgeous Fantasia (which will be coming up much later on the list) and premiered in Imax. The imagery here is stunning and I found the musical selections to be quite good (my favorites being Rhapsody in Blue and the Firebird). Bu for all its "pomp and circumstance" I found it to be lacking in heart when compared to its predecesor. The first Fantasia was bold, lively, and dark. This one felt too slick and in a lot of the sequences you could tell where the hand-drawn animation ended and where the CG started (I found this especially true in the Pines of Rome and Steadfast Tin Soldier sequences). But the stand-out sequence to me was easily Rhapsody in Blue. The animation Rhapsody in Blue captured 1930s New York in a fun, bittersweet way that melded perfectly with Gershwin's timeless tune. The characters were given distinct personalities and it was fun to follow them through the story. Aside from that sequence, I've found this Fantasia hard to watch over and over again. It struck me as manufactured rather than created.

25: Pinocchio

To be fair, it's been a long time since I've seen Pinocchio and maybe if I get the gusto to sit down and watch it again it may go higher on the list. But as it stands, it rests here at #25. I don't have fond memories of watching this film. The sequence where the boys turn into donkeys gave me horrific nightmares as a kid and so I've avoided it for years. It never quite grew on me. However, Jiminy Cricket is one of my fave Disney sidekicks (with above-average intelligence when compared to some of the others) and "When You Wish Upon a Star" has moved me to tears on many an ocassion and remains my all-time favorite Disney song. There's some definite Disney magic in Pinocchio.

24: The Hunchback of Notre Dame

I'm glad that I was older when I saw this movie. I never caught it during its theatrical run and I have a feeling that a lot of its religious and sexual undertones would have flown over my head if I had seen it in theatres. The animation here is stunning, capturing the dark, smoky interior of the famed cathedral with an amazingly organic feel. This wasn't a pristine church, but a place where millions of pilgrims had shuffled through, with all the grime and dirt of their travels, even before the story of Quasimodo began. Quasimodo was voiced perfectly by Tom Hulce (Mozart from Amadeus), with sympathetic tones that made this monster into a man. Kevin Kline and Demi Moore were good as Phoebus and Esmerelda, but the juiciest role naturally goes to the villian, Frollo (Tony Jay). The guy just oozes malice and is so caught up in his own "righteousness" that it consumes him in the end. Frollo is easily one of the most complex characters to ever come out of the animation studio and the stand-out of the movie. His song "Hell Fire", where he's caught between his piousness and purity, and lustful urges for Esmerelda, is the highlight of the film. This in a DISNEY movie!! But it works wonderfully.

My only major gripe against this film is those damn gargoyles, especially Hugo, voiced by an abrassive Jason Alexander. Normally it wouldn't be such a problem except that they're so prevelant. I kept wanting to shout at the screen "Cut back to Frollo! Or Esmerelda! Anything!" I guess with all the more adult themes running through the rest of the film, Disney felt they needed to kiddy the movie up. The gargoyles are essentially the Ewoks of this film (however, I do like Alex Weitzman's theory on the gargoyles found here). They almost ruined the film for me.

23: Hercules

Pure popcorn fun. Yeah so its not as deep as a lot of other films on this list, but I had a blast with this one. It came out at just the perfect time in my life: I was a total Greek-freak and a walking encyclopedia of Classical mythology. And here was a film to cater to all my nerdy tastes (even if Disney took considerable liberties with the Hercules myth). Hercules was quirky and fun, which is to be expected from the same directing team that brought us Aladdin, and a colorful cast of characters from that lovable oaf Hercules, the sassy and sarcastic Megara, and James Woods' wonderful take on Hades. Both he and Danny DeVito nearly steal the show as Hades and Phil (Hercules' ever-frustrated trainer). Of course casting Paul Shaffer as Hermes was a stroke of genius.

The film starts off with a bang, but breaks down slowly towards the end as it becomes another cookie-cutter, feel-good Disney film. The animation style, with its zany curls and jagged edges, was cool and fresh in 1997 but looks rather cheap and rushed now. As much fun as Hercules was to me, I don't think it'll be as timeless as many of the other films on this list.

22: Alice in Wonderland

"A very happy un-birthday to you!" "To me?" Fun, trippy, often incoherent, this is one of Disney's visually most appealing. The prim and proper Alice (voiced by Kathryn Beaumont, who was also Wendy in Peter Pan) gets lost in the fantastical and often frightening Wonderland one lazy afternoon. The film follows her through Wonderland in a series of vignettes, each with its own cast of quirky characters (my favorite being the un-birthday tea party). The vignettes can be pretty hit-or-miss, ranging from strokes of genius to pretty forgettable. Walt himself never liked this film and publicly disowned it. It wasn't until the sixties that Alice became popular (wonder why ). And just to add to the trippiness, Aldous Huxley was a ghostwriter for the script. In the words of the Cheshire Cat: Craaaaazy.

21: The Rescuers Down Under

Sandwiched between the mega-popular The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, not too many people remember it. I have vague memories of seeing this in its theatrical run but it wasn't until last March that I watched it again. To my surprise, I liked it a lot. I despise the original Rescuers, but the sequel's a gem. It has charm, humor, and a great voal cast (especially George C. Scott as the poacher, McLeach). It's nowhere near as dark or drab as its predecessor, having switched from a swamp setting to the dry, sunny Outback. Check it out as soon as you can, this is a film that needn't be forgotten.