The 20 Best Disney Movies of All Time, Ranked

Based on the book by T.H. White, The Sword in the Stone tells the story of a King Arthur’s youth when he was just a young squire called Wart being taught by the wizard Merlin. While it lacks the memorable songs of other Disney musicals, the movie breaks the British legend down into a fun and colorful story for kids.

A failure at the box office, Sleeping Beauty only earned back $5 million of its $6 million budget when it was released in 1959. But the issues critics found back then—its linear animation style was too modern and its villain Maleficent was too scary—are what make it one of the best Disney movies of all time. The romance may be a bit dated now, but the fairy godmothers Flora, Fauna and Merryweather are just as delightful as always, whether they’re baking haphazard cakes or fighting over the color of the dress for Princess Aurora’s 16th birthday.

If one of your first childhood crushes was the anthropomorphized fox Robin Hood, you’re not alone. It’s hard to deny the charisma of the heroic fox as he steals from the rich and gives to the poor. Prince John is one of the goofiest villains of all time (he sucks his thumb, for heaven’s sake). It certainly doesn’t pull at your heartstrings the way that other Disney movies can, but it’s enjoyable and entertaining nevertheless.

While it was one of the last Walt Disney Animation Studio films to be hand drawn in 2D animation, The Princess and the Frog was the first Disney movie to feature an African American princess. Set in 1920s New Orleans to a soundtrack of jazz music, the movie follows Tiana, who dreams of opening her own restaurant. But after kissing a prince who was turned into a frog by a voodoo sorcerer, she is also transformed into an amphibian. Before she can fulfill her life goal, she and Prince Naveen must break the spell to become human again before they run out of time.

Cruella de Vil surely is easily one of the most evil Disney villains of all time—she wants to make a coat out of puppy fur, after all. After she kidnaps enough puppies to fulfill her sadistic fashion goal, Dalmatian parents Pongo and Perdita must find their litter before it’s too late.

The only thing this Disney movie shares with the original Hans Christian Andersen tale is that they both feature a cocky emperor. Otherwise, the Disney version couldn’t be more different. Set in Peru, the immature Emperor Kuzco (David Spade) gets turned into a llama by his advisor Yzma (Earth Kitt) after he fires her. With the help of Pacha (John Goodman), he is able to regain his throne and learns several lessons in kindness and humanity along the way. Yzma is hardly the most evil of Disney villains, but she and her minion Kronk are definitely two of the funniest.

The second princess movie Disney made after Snow White, Cinderella finds true love with the help of her fairy godmother and animal friends despite the evil workings of her stepmother and stepsisters. Featuring several classic songs, “Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo” was even nominated for an Academy Award for best original song in 1951.

It took Walt Disney Animation Studios 50 movies before it finally brought the Grimms’ fairy tale, Rapunzel, to life. While this 2010 version is also about a young girl with magnificently long golden hair held captive in a tower by an evil sorceress, there’s a lot of differences from the original 19th century story. For one, this spunkier Rapunzel (voiced by Mandy Moore) is a princess who falls in love with the thief Flynn Rider, instead of a peasant girl who is rescued by a prince. And while Rapunzel’s hair has supernatural healing properties in this telling, the most magical part of this movie is the extraordinary animation in the lantern scene.

Don’t watch this one without a box of tissues nearby. Before Pixar films like Up and Toy Story made you sob openly in movie theaters, there was Bambi. After the titular fawn loses his mother to a hunter, he must make his own way through the woods and find friends along the way.

We all loved the live-action version, but the 1998 animated version is still one of Disney’s best films. In order to save her father from certain death in the army, Fa Mulan takes his place disguising herself as a man to fight against the invading Hun army. Comic relief is provided by the small dragon Mushu, voiced by Eddie Murphy.

For the sake of all children born in the 2010s, including Frozen on this list is a must. Based loosely on the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale The Snow Queen, Frozen tells the story of Princess Anna trying to free her kingdom from the icy grip of her sister, Queen Elsa. It became the highest grossing animated movie of all time with $1.28 billion worldwide, until its 2019 follow-up Frozen 2 unseated it with $1.32 billion in global sales. You can argue that the sequel is just as good, but nobody can deny that the movie that brought us the song “Let It Go” deserves a spot among Disney’s best.

When you think of 90s Disney music, hits from Pocahontas, The Lion King, and Aladdin probably come to mind first. But Hercules is seriously underrated — especially for its music. The story is based on the Greek mythology, but the soundtrack is modern with the muses played by a gospel choir.

Disney’s version of the 19th century novel by Lewis Carroll is one of its most fantastical and surreal movies of all time. After young Alice follows the White Rabbit down a hole into Wonderland she meets some of Disney’s most colorful characters including the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat and the evil Queen of Hearts.

After the street urchin Aladdin is conned into entering the Cave of Wonders by the sultan’s evil advisor Jafar, he escapes with the help of the Genie (Robin Williams) he releases from a magic lamp. After using one of his three wishes to be transformed into Prince Ali, Aladdin wins the heart of Princess Jasmine and defeats Jafar. It’s hard to pick just one favorite song, but Williams’s “Friend Like Me” is a highlight in this nonstop soundtrack of hits.

The most recent Walt Disney Animation Studios film that isn’t a sequel, Moana is about the adventurous teenage daughter of a Polynesian village chief. To help save her village, she must set sail across the ocean to find the demigod Maui (voiced by Dwayne Johnson) and return an ancient stone to the goddess Te Fiti. With music by Lin-Manuel Miranda, this movie is one of the most fun and original stories Disney has told in years.

This retelling of the classic Grimms’ fairytale is the one that started it all. Not only was it the first full-length animated film from Walt Disney Studios, but also the first animated feature ever produced in Technicolor. While many doubted that an audience would be interested in a nearly 90-minute cartoon, it earned $8 million dollars internationally, making it the highest grossing movie of all time up to that point.

Only the second animated full-length feature from Walt Disney Animation Studios, film historians consider Pinocchio to be one of the most technically perfect Disney animated movies. After the woodworker Gepetto wishes on a star for a son, the puppet Pinocchio comes to life. Even with Jiminy Cricket acting as his conscious, Pinocchio is led astray time and time again until he rescues Gepetto from Monstro the whale and is transformed into a real boy.

After a three decade hiatus, Disney returned to classic fairy tales with this retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen story about a mermaid who turns into a human with the help of the sea witch Ursula. Featuring some of the best Disney music of all time, The Little Mermaid had two tunes nominated for Best Original Song and won the Academy Award for “Under the Sea” by Alan Menken.

Based loosely on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, The Lion King is the story of what happens to the young cub Simba after he goes into exile when his evil uncle Scar convinces him he’s responsible for his father Mufasa’s death. Along with the help of his childhood friend Nala, and his new pals, Timon, the meerkat, and Pumba, the warthog, Simba takes back Pride Rock from Scar and his gang of hyenas. Three of Elton John and Tim Rice’s tunes received Academy Award nominations for best original song and ultimately won for “Can You Feel The Love Tonight.”

The gorgeous animation and delightful music in this adaptation of an 18th century French fairytale makes it Walt Disney Studios’s best animated film of all time. (It was also the first animated feature ever to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.)