The 23 Best Walt Disney Animation Movies of All Time

Disney's 1992 Arabian Nights adventure gave Robin Williams the animated canvas for his most dazzling improvisational performance as the Genie, paired with an unforgettable Alan Menken soundtrack.

Disney's 1940 experimental anthology synchronized classical music with animated imagery — from Mickey's Sorcerer's Apprentice to the dinosaur sequence — a radical artistic statement that still astonishes.

The 2016 animated buddy-cop comedy set in a mammal metropolis won the Academy Award for Animated Feature while delivering a surprisingly nuanced parable about prejudice and systemic bias.

Disney's 2010 computer-animated reimagining of Rapunzel combined lush painterly visuals with witty banter between the princess and a charming rogue, earning strong critical and audience affection.

The 1967 Disney musical — the last produced under Walt Disney's personal supervision — remains one of the studio's most charming works, with Phil Harris and Louis Prima's unforgettable voice performances.

Disney's 2013 global phenomenon sparked a cultural conversation about sisterhood over romance, became the highest-grossing animated film of all time at release, and delivered "Let It Go."

Disney's 1996 darkest feature adapted Victor Hugo with surprising moral complexity, a gothic Notre Dame setting, and Alan Menken's most dramatically ambitious score of the Renaissance era.

The 2000 comedy — originally conceived as a dramatic musical — emerged from a chaotic production as a fizzing screwball adventure beloved for its anarchic humor and Yzma's iconic villainy.

Disney's 1997 Greek mythology romp re-imagined Mount Olympus through gospel music and pop-art vibe, giving the Muses a gospel-chorus narrator role and Alan Menken an electrifying gospel score.

Disney's 2014 San Fransokyo superhero adventure introduced Baymax — the inflatable healthcare companion — in a surprisingly emotional story about grief and found family that won Best Animated Feature.

The 2021 Colombian-set family musical won the Academy Award for Animated Feature, with Bruno and the Madrigal family's magical dysfunction resonating in songs that dominated streaming charts.

The 2002 Hawaiian adventure balanced slapstick alien comedy with a surprisingly moving exploration of found family, and its hand-painted watercolor backgrounds marked a deliberate stylistic shift.

The 1989 film that launched Disney's Renaissance era returned the studio to musical fairy tales with Ariel's iconic underwater world and Howard Ashman and Alan Menken's defining songs.

The 2016 Polynesian epic follows a chief's daughter who sets sail across the ocean to save her people, celebrating Pacific Islander culture with stunning water animation and Lin-Manuel Miranda songs.

Disney's 1998 action-driven retelling of the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan broke from the studio's princess formula with martial-arts sequences, Jerry Goldsmith's percussive score, and a determined heroine.

The world's first feature-length animated film (1937) established Disney's hand-drawn artistry, pioneered the musical fairy-tale template, and is one of cinema's foundational achievements.

The 1942 nature fable pioneered Disney's naturalistic animal animation and created one of cinema's most emotionally devastating moments — still capable of reducing adults to tears eight decades later.

The 2009 hand-drawn New Orleans fairy tale marked Disney's return to traditional animation with a jazz-infused Randy Newman score and the studio's first Black princess.

Disney's 2021 Southeast Asian-inspired adventure featured one of the studio's most action-driven heroines and drew from Cambodian, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, and Filipino cultures.

Disney's 1959 masterpiece achieved a distinctive Eyvind Earle illustration aesthetic — angular, tapestry-like compositions unlike any other animated film — and introduced Maleficent as the studio's greatest villain.