Way back in December 2024 I watched all the Theatrical Disney movies to see which ones were my personal top 20 and my 7 least favorites. However there were a few surprises. So here is 5 surprises I had from my Disney movie-a-thon.
And despite the date this is NOT an April fools, I’m being truthful.
1. Chicken Little: I Didn’t Hate it…
All I ever heard about this movie was that it was awful and ugly. And yes I agree it’s not the prettiest Disney movie. In fact it’s the least aesthetically satisfying Disney movie to watch but I didn’t hate, I rather enjoyed it. I think it came down that it reminded of the humor of Bob’s Burger. Also Fish Out of Water was the best character in this movie, he is like a shot of seratonin.
I can understand the dislike though. Chicken Little doesn’t feel like a Disney movie and if anyone spent money to see when it came out in theaters I can understand the disappointment. Still Fish Out of Water is great and I was surprised that I didn’t hate it at all. Did it come close to making into my top 20? No but it was no where near my least favorites either.
Side note- I also THOUGHT I was going to not like Meet the Robinsons but I didn’t it was also fine just fine.
2. Aladdin
Going into this marathon I thought for sure Aladdin was going to be my top movie because I loved it as a kid. But It ranked for me at number 4 which is still respectable. I just thought. It was going number one and it wasn’t.
3. Changing Thoughts on The Emperor’s New Groove
The first I watch The Emperor’s New Groove I did not care for it and now every time I rewatch it I like a little more each time. So much that I wonder if I did a rewatch again if it it was ranking higher. It did rank #14 so maybe. Solid Chance, Highly Likely.
Yzma MIGHT be my favorite Disney Villain but haven’t really given that much thought yet.
4. Not Ranking a “New” Movie
The point of this exercise was motivation to watch Disney Movies that I hadn’t seen before. I was HOPING that some of the movies that I hadn’t seen before would surprise me and become new favorites. That wasn’t the case for me but one movie came very, very close to ranking and that was Zootopia. I very much enjoyed the first one (haven’t seen the second one as of yet) but I think it was more the buddy cop genre that edged it off the list for me. Still an enjoyable movie I’m just not really a big fan of the style of narrative genre.
Side Note – Same for Wreck-it Ralph, which I saw in theaters but it also just missed out due to my own personal subjective tastes. I still enjoy it though.
5. Second Act Woes
Another movie that nearly missed out was The Princess and The Frog but with that one it’s the 2nd act that brought it down for me. The scenes that happen between Tiana and Naveen going to the bayou and meeting Mama Odie, I just phase out. Or maybe I just don’t like the firefly and he’s a big chuck of that part of the movie. Or maybe the second act is too much slapstick and butt jokes for my taste. Also those frog catcher was a skippable scene The first act and the final act though were great.
Bonus- Thoughts on Raya
Neither loved nor hated Raya and the Last Dragon but I thought it should have a limited run series so that they could explored the world and the side characters more because the side characters were fun, I enjoyed the boat kid, Boun. As well the side-quest locations were interesting and I wish there was more time spend in each which is not feasible for a movie but would have been for a series.
Speaking of this movie I thought Sisu was going to annoy me a lot more than she did and this movie reminded me a little bit of The Last Unicorn just a touch.
Also I’m planning on watching all The Pixar movies (maybe) because of only seen nine of them.
