# The 23 Best Walt Disney Animation Movies of All Time

> From hand-drawn fairy tales of the golden age to the computer-animated spectacles of the modern era, Disney Animation's best films have shaped cinematic storytelling for generations. Which is the greatest?

*By YPB Team · Published June 5, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-23-best-walt-disney-animation-movies-of-all-time*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Wreck-It Ralph** — score 1000/1000
   The 2012 video-game-world adventure earns genuine emotion from its video game misfit searching for acceptance, with inventive world-building that delights gamers of every generation.
2. **The Lion King** — score 947/1000
   Disney's 1994 Hamlet-inspired epic about a lion cub's path to reclaim his kingdom became one of the highest-grossing animated films ever, featuring a landmark Hans Zimmer score.
3. **Beauty and the Beast** — score 790/1000
   The 1991 animated musical became the first animated film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture — a supremely crafted fairy tale with Alan Menken's Oscar-winning score.
4. **Aladdin** — score 789/1000
   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.
5. **Fantasia** — score 710/1000
   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.
6. **The Jungle Book** — score 609/1000
   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.
7. **Tangled** — score 609/1000
   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.
8. **Zootopia** — score 609/1000
   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.
9. **The Emperor's New Groove** — score 474/1000
   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.
10. **Hercules** — score 474/1000
   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.
11. **Big Hero 6** — score 474/1000
   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.
12. **The Hunchback of Notre Dame** — score 474/1000
   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.
13. **Frozen** — score 474/1000
   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."
14. **Encanto** — score 284/1000
   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.
15. **Lilo & Stitch** — score 284/1000
   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.
16. **The Little Mermaid** — score 1/1000
   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.
17. **Bambi** — score 1/1000
   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.
18. **Moana** — score 1/1000
   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.
19. **Mulan** — score 1/1000
   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.
20. **Raya and the Last Dragon** — score 1/1000
   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.
21. **Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs** — score 1/1000
   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.
22. **The Princess and the Frog** — score 1/1000
   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.
23. **Sleeping Beauty** — score 1/1000
   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.

Tags: movies, disney, animation, classics, all-time