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[Dénouement]

So I recently watched Big Hero 6 and hated it, but it inspired me to look into Disney's movies again.

The Disney animated movies have fluctuated in popularity and success over the years for several reasons, which has urged people to split them up into different eras. Many people differ in how they split them, but I would generally say they are:

The Golden Era (1937 - 1942)
Their first 5 films, all successful with huge influences on the animation industry.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
Pinocchio
Fantasia
Dumbo
Bambi

The Wartime Era (1942 - 1949)
A decline caused by World War II, resulting in lower budgets and movies comprised of several shorts.
Saludos Amigos
The Three Caballeros
Make Mine Music
Fun and Fancy Free
Melody Time
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad

The Silver Era (1950 - 1967)
A return to full length features that once again enjoyed critical and commercial success.
Cinderella
Alice in Wonderland
Peter Pan
Lady and the Tramp
Sleeping Beauty
One Hundred and One Dalmatians
The Sword in the Stone
The Jungle Book

The Bronze/Dark Era (1970 - 1988)
Another decline in critical and commercial success following the death of Walt Disney.
The Aristocats
Robin Hood
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The Rescuers
The Fox and the Hound
The Black Cauldron
The Great Mouse Detective
Oliver and Company

The Renaissance Era (1989 - 1999)
A huge return to massive success, causing renewed interest in Disney.
The Little Mermaid
The Rescuers Down Under
Beauty and the Beast
Aladdin
The Lion King
Pocahontas
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hercules
Mulan
Tarzan

The Post-Renaissance Era (2000 - 2008)
Another decline in success, caused in part due to the new popularity of 3D animated films and Pixar/Dreamworks.
Fantasia 2000
Dinosaur
The Emperor's New Groove
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Lilo and Stitch
Treasure Planet
Brother Bear
Home on the Range
Chicken Little
Meet the Robinsons
Bolt

The Revival Era (2009 - now)
Another resurgence of critical and commercial success to the DAS's films.
The Princess and the Frog
Tangled
Winnie the Pooh
Wreck-it Ralph
Frozen
Big Hero 6

Soo saying all that, what's your favorite movie from each era? And which era is your favorite overall (or rank them, since I assume most people will say Renaissance)?

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

Holy crap, you're completely right about all of those films.

 

[Kyou]

I love Lilo and Stitch but I can't argue its placement. Good list

 

[idlewild_]

Renaissance era = best era.
May or may not have anything to do with being a kid during that time.

 

[tchocky]

Favourites from each era.

Golden: Pinocchio
War Time: Haven't seen any.
Silver: Peter Pan.
Bronze: Robin Hood
Renaissance: Lion King
Post-Renaissance: Haven't seen any.
Revival: Tangled

Era Rankings

Golden
Renaissance
Silver
Revival
Bronze

 

[kitschykitty]

Alright favourite movies from each era

Golden Era: Fantasia
Wartime: None of them but if i had to pick one The Three Caballeros
Silver: Alice in Wonderland
Bronze/Dark: Hmmm maybe Fox and the Hound, I do have a soft spot for the Great Mouse Detective but I recognize it's not a great movie.
The Renaissance: Aladdin (but I could make a strong case for 90% of them)
Post-Renaissance: Emperor's New Groove, easily. A lot of people I know really like Lilo and Stitch but I HATED it when I first saw it and now I'm just kinda meh on it.
Revival: TANGLED 100% all the way.

Era Ranking:

Renaissance (Guess which era I grew up in hahah)
Golden
Silver
Revival
Bronze
Post-Renaissance
Wartime

 

[Plywood]

Jeez, I've missed out on a lot of Disney films.

 

[SporeCrawler]

Rennaissance Era is just absolutely amazing

special shout out to The Fox and the Hound... absolutely amazing film.

Golden Era: Fantasia.. the rest is kinda meh in comparison
Wartime: Dunno
Silver: Alice in Wonderland.. with Jungle book comming in close second. Overall I did not like the cliched ones (cinderella, sleeping beauty etc.)
Bronze/Dark: Fox and the Hound
The Renaissance: Hunchback of Notre Dame (but man Lion King, Mulan, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Hercules and Pocahontas were all amazing)
Post-Renaissance: Fantasia 2000 I guess... that one did not totally disappoint.
Revival: So far Big Hero 6

Era Ranking:

Renaissance hands down
Revival (Frozen, Big Hero 6 and Tangled are up there)
Golden (simply because of Fantasia)
Bronze (simply because of Fox and the Hound)
Silver (had stronger entries than bronze I guess but overall Fox and the Hound did do it for me)
Post-Renaissance (meh. especially since I was so frustrated hoping for the next aladdin, lion king etc.)
Wartime (have not seen any)

 

[Siegcram]

Renaissance is running away with this. Not even fair.

Favorites:

Golden: Fantasia

Wartime: none

Silver: The Jungle Book

Bronze: Robin Hood

Renaissance: Basically all of them, slight edge to Lion King

Post-Renaissance & Revival: I have barely seen any of those and liked none of them.

 

[3N16MA]

Shouldn't Bolt be in the revival era?

 

[Duane Cunningham]

I have way too big a soft spot for a lot of those "bronze/dark" era movies even knowing they are mostly not great. Like Robin Hood and Fox & the Hound.

Anyway, I say it's

Golden
Ren
Revival
Silver
Bronze
Wartime

I'm really enjoying the current era and I put it above silver.

 

[idlewild_]

Shouldn't Bolt be in the revival era?

Rename it the Lasseter era!

 

[Fireblend]

I don't think Tarzan deserves to be in the reinnassance era, but other than that I agree with most of it.

 

[injurai]

Renaissance Era is by far my favorite. That being said I really liked Lilo & Stitch, Emperor's New Groove, and Atlantis.

I really wish they would do more 2D feature animations. Princess and the Frog was the last.

I don't think Tarzan deserves to be in the reinnassance era, but other than that I agree with most of it.

Phil Collins doe.

 

[Duane Cunningham]

I love Lilo and Stitch but I can't argue its placement. Good list

You realize his whole list is in order of release, though, even within each era?

 

[Plinko]

The Post-Renaissance was complete trash. Bolt should be moved to revival.

 

[kitschykitty]

You realize his whole list is in order of release, though, even within each era?

such a steady decline in that era it works out both ways haha

 

[Kyou]

You realize his whole list is in order of release, though, even within each era?

That's why I can't argue it

 

[Magnus]

Renaissance, winner!

 

[sn00zer]

Should call the "Revival Era" the "Lassiter Era"

 

[Setsuna]

If history repeats itself Disney is about to get fucked

 

[Vulcano's assistant]

You should mention that the wartime era was also the time of Good Neighbor Policy, and that's why there is prominent content about the Americas and touristic like depiction of its countries.

 

[Finaj]

Renaissance Era is by far my favorite. That being said I really liked Lilo & Stitch, Emperor's New Groove, and Atlantis.

I really wish they would do more 2D feature animations. Princess and the Frog was the last.



Phil Collins doe.

Unfortunately, the newest 2D films (Princess and the Frog & Winnie the Pooh) were not critical successes. For Disney it was likely go 3D permanently or bust.

 

[Piano]

Weren't the budgets also pretty low in the Bronze / Dark era? See: this video. And this one. And there are more.

 

[Duane Cunningham]

such a steady decline in that era it works out both ways haha

Actually, yeah! With the exception of the current era, each of those groups are pretty front loaded. Maybe there's argument about exactly where they fall, but you definitely can pick the first half of each group and place them above the latter half in terms of quality.

Well, maybe not wartime either, because who cares about any of that. The other four groups are top heavy for sure, though.

That's why I can't argue it

Ah, I get it now.

 

[hachi]

The Renaissance Era should be marked to end at The Lion King. Pocahontas was a tremendous and immediate drop in quality, Hercules and Mulan were simply awful films all around.

Actually, after checking, I see that the Wikipedia article (which is perhaps the source for these divisions?) halves the Renaissance cleanly in half just where I said, marking the former half as success and the latter (Pocahontas forward) as decline. That's better.

EDIT: greatest Disney animated feature is still Beauty and the Beast.

 

[woolley]

So is the death of Walt Disney one of the reasons why Fox and the Hound is a fucking depressing ass movie?

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

Everyone who has not seen War Time Era isn't missing anything.

 

[Duane Cunningham]

I saw part of Chicken Little the other day for the first time since it came out and holy shit. It's easily the worst thing on the list for me. My god.

 

[WillyFive]

I would start the Revival era with the release of Meet the Robinsons, that's when Disney movies started getting really really good again after trash like Home on the Range and Chicken Little came out. It's also when John Lasseter became the head of animation at Disney, and the quality of all the movies skyrocketed from there.

The Renaissance Era should be marked to end at The Lion King. Pocahontas was a tremendous and immediate drop in quality, Hercules and Mulan were simply awful films all around.

Actually, after checking, I see that the Wikipedia article (which is perhaps the source for these divisions?) halves the Renaissance cleanly in half just where I said, marking the former half as success and the latter (Pocahontas forward) as decline. That's better.

Pocahontas was in development at the same time as Lion King, and it surprised everyone when Lion King took all the spotlight (internally at Disney they thought Pocahontas was going to be the big one both critically and financially). Just because it's the peak, though, doesn't mean the rest of the Renaissance was a massive drop, or even a small one.

Also, I've never heard anyone argue that Mulan is a bad movie, that just sounds ridiculous. Obviously Hercules is a remake of Superman rather than actually telling Hercules's actual story (which has nothing to do with it being a good or bad movie, but it's a valid reason as to why Greeks disliked the movie), but Mulan is a classic.

 

[entremet]

I have so many to watch. Just put them all online, Disney. For pay of course. The vault is so dumb in the digital era.

 

[Hyperactivity]

I love Lilo and Stitch but I can't argue its placement. Good list

iirc Lilo & Stitch as known for being the one complete exception to the rule during that time period

 

[Siegcram]

Hercules and Mulan were simply awful films all around.

What in the fuck?

 

[SporeCrawler]

The reason why renaissance era beats all and revival era is comming near? I think its the songs. Disney has finally realized that the songs are making the movies memorable. "Let it Go" or "I see the Lights" are hopefully just the start.

So best songs of the renaissance era?

1. Be a Man
2. Bells of Notre dame
3. A Whole new World
4. Can you feel the Love Tonight
5. I wont say Im in Love
6. Kiss the Girl
7. Just around the river bend

8. Belle Reprise
9. Friend Like Me
10. Hellfire

 

[PsychBat!]

Golden Era - Split between Snow White and Pinocchio
Wartime Era - The Three Caballeros
Silver Era - Too difficult, Sword in the Stone barely beats out Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland.
Bronze/Dark Era - The Fox and the Hound
Renaissance Era - Beauty and the Beast with everything else coming in a close second.
Post-Renaissance Era - Lilo and Stitch and The Emperor's New Groove.
Revival Era - Probably Big Hero 6 so far. Wreck-it-Ralph, Frozen and Tangled are pretty good too.

Favorite Era Ranking:
Renaissance
Revival
Silver
Golden
Bronze/Dark
Post-Renaissance
Wartime