Fun Friday–Favorite Animated Films
“Animation isn’t the illusion of life—it is life!”
~Chuck Jones
A lot of animated movies were mentioned in the comments during the “favorite musicals” series. Even though animated movies are usually musicals, to me they’re a whole different genre. So today, I’ll pay tribute to my favorite animated movies.
Because we view animated films differently as adults, I ended up choosing my top five based on not just story and music and characters, but on nostalgia factor as well. So the top five I chose are those that I loved when I was a kid—those that we had the records for (some of you might remember, the LP jacket had a flip open picture book attached with images from the movie—for those of you who don’t remember the days before VCRs and DVDs, that was all we had!). So if you do happen to notice that movies like Beauty and the Beast or the Pixar films aren’t mentioned, that’s why—they got bumped in favor of nostalgia. And, yes, these are all Disney films. Who else was making them back then?
5. Robin Hood (1973, Disney)
Featuring the voices of Roger Miller (Alan a’Dale), Peter Ustinov (Prince John), Terry-Thomas (Sir Hiss), Brian Bedford (Robin), Monica Evans (Marian), Phil Harris (Little John—also Baloo from The Jungle Book), and Andy Devine (Friar Tuck). This was my first exposure to the legend of Robin Hood, and while there are many other incarnations I’ve enjoyed (especially the 1938 Errol Flynn film and the current BBC TV series), this is the one that they all get compared to. Oo-de-lally!
4. Bambi (1942, Disney)
Featuring the voices of Hardie Albright (young Bambi), Stan Alexander (young Flower), and Peter Behn (young Thumper). I don’t remember the first time I saw this because I was only two years old. But my mom likes to tell the story about when they took my older sister (who was four) and me to see it. Mom knew what was coming and was prepared to comfort my sister, but didn’t realize that at two years old, I would understand—and suddenly burst out in tears crying, “The mama died!” Even now as an adult, I still get all choked up at that point in the movie.
3. Sleeping Beauty (1959, Disney)
Featuring the voices of Mary Costa (Princess Aurora), Bill Shirley (Prince Phillip), Eleanor Audley (Maleficent), Verna Felton (Flora), Barbara Jo Allen (Fauna), and Barbara Luddy (Merryweather). Who doesn’t love the story of curses and true love fighting a dragon to get to the woman he loves (even if he has only met her once)? Actually, my favorite character in this is Merryweather. I always kind of identified with her the most because (a) I looked a little like her and (b) she seemed to be treated like the “little sister” of the three good fairies.
2. Cinderella (1950, Disney)
Featuring the voices of Ilene Woods (Cinderella), Eleanor Audley (the Wicked Stepmother), Verna Felton (Fairy Godmother), James MacDonald (Gus/Jacques/Bruno), and William Phipps (Prince Charming). I don’t think I’ve ever met a woman who hasn’t at one point in her life had the Cinderella fantasy. Though I do have to say that this version of the story was replaced by Ever After as my favorite Cinderella-legend movie, I do still love Jaques and Gus-Gus:
1. Lady and the Tramp (1955, Disney)
Featuring the voices of Barbara Luddy (Lady—oh, look at that: she did the voice of Merryweather too!), Larry Roberts (Tramp), Bill Thompson (Jock and others), Bill Baucom (Trusty), Verna Felton (Aunt Sarah), and Peggy Lee (Darling, Si and Am the cats, and Peg). I may never have mentioned this on the blog before, but we had Cocker Spaniels when I was growing up—and the one we had from the time I was two until I was in junior high looked very much like Lady in this movie. Once again, this is a movie that, like Bambi, can get me blubbering, so I don’t watch it often, but it’s still my favorite—come on, how many movies and TV shows since this came out have spoofed the famous spaghetti scene?
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KayeDacus.com 
Out of the old faves, Sleeping Beauty is my favorite. I love the medieval stylized drawings. First time the artists drew backgrounds on glass to get depth. Me thinks. Don’t quoteth me on this.
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Ah, Robin Hood…fun times, fun times. 🙂 My all-time favorite animated Disney film is Sleeping Beauty. I even have a sort of shrine of Sleeping Beauty memorabilia…not kidding! LOL! I always enjoyed the Disney Cinderella (of course!), but I can remember being really aggravated as a kid that the Prince NEVER TALKED (I think he has like 3 words…maybe?!). His lack of personality really bugged me, LOL…but Prince Philip was another story! 😉 So until Ever After came out, The Slipper and the Rose was my favorite Cinderella film.
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These are all great, Kaye, and now that I have kids I get to watch them waaaay too often! But, I’d have to say Robin Hood in number one for me. Love it!!
The Prince’s personality bugged me on Cinderella, too! I thought I was the only one! But, still, it’s a classic.
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I had the records too! I adored Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella. I think I fancied myself with a Snow White/Cinderella complex because I hated doing chores.
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The records! My favorite was The Jungle Book – but then I tried watching it when my children were growing up, and I’m sad to say it bored me.
I love your list!
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Yup, every one of these is a winner. I love the old Disney classics.
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Sleeping beauty was one of the few movies of its era where the speaking and singing voice of the female lead was the same person. She was a young opera singer.
Even in a bunch of “modern” Disney (e.g. Jasmine, Pocahontas) the women have different people for singing and speaking. That Jasmine did was especially odd to me, as the guy who spoke Aladdin sang him too: “learning” how on the fly.
(I probably only notice this b/c I once imagined this type of job and told myself I’d do *both* voices myself! 😉 )
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Interesting choices. I’m surprised at some of them not at others 😀
I hated Bambi ’cause it made me cry. I haven’t watched it since I saw it that first time it left such an unhappy impression on me.
Beauty and the Beast is my all time favorite, hands down no questions asked. I can watch that movie over and over. Loved it as a kid, still love it.
I loved Snow White too (mainly because of the dwarfs – yes they amused me to no end ).
The Little Mermaid is one of my other favorites.
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I enjoy Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid, but because I saw them for the first time as an adult, they didn’t have the same impact on me as the ones that had been with me since childhood.
I didn’t include Snow White because the character—and the person who did the voice—bugs me. She falls into that “too stupid to live” heroine category.
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Kaye, I’m with you on Snow White. I admire it because it was the first full-length animated movie and thus didn’t have any examples to follow…but she talked like Shirley Temple with the body of a seventeen-year-old!!!
LOVE Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella–they are my “princesses.” Loved Robin Hood, especially when I got older and saw The Lion in Winter about the parents of the king and prince.
But as for all-time FAVORITE animated film…Fantasia. People say they didn’t appreciate it until they were an adult, but I’ve been addicted since I was five. I know there’s no over-all story or anything, but the music they chose and they images that accompany it are breath-taking.
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Robin Hood is my all time favorite Disney movie and probably one of my top 5 favorite movies. I came really close to naming my new daughter Marian.
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I love all of these, too, Kaye. I remember the four older movies growing up as a child. My favorite song from Bambi is “Plip, plip, plop, little April showers.” I guess I liked onamatopeia even then! The Cinderella disney book was read so much to my oldest daughter that she could quote it verbatim by the age of three. We still have the Jacques and Gus McDonald ornaments that we hang on the Christmas tree every year! Robin Hood came out the same year my oldest child was born, and we had the 45 record and book (the condensed version). It was one of my son’s faves. Thanks for the trip down Nostalgia Lane. Wishing everyone a “Bella Notte.”
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Robin Hood is AWESOME!!!!! I think it’s the most overlooked animated Disney film. Even more so than Black Cauldron IMO. Papa taped it off the Disney Channel when I was about 3 and we literally wore the video out. When I came home with it on DVD about 3 years I made a point to show it to him and his groan was priceless! We sang Prince John The Phony King of England ALL the time.
Sleeping Beauty is favorite #2. 90% of the music in SB is from Tchaikovsky’s ballet. When Phillip and Aurora meet for the first time and dance in the glade, that’s an animated version of the most difficult passe de doux in ballet.
Little Mermaid is my all time fave though. It came out when I was 5. I adore it. Saw the Broadway play last December when I was in NYC and loved almost every second of it. Bought the cast recording before the performance because I was so sure I would love it. Talk about perfectly cast. TLM 3: Ariel’s Beginning comes out on the 26th and I’m so excited!!!! It looks really good.
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We had the Cinderella record. It came complete with a *play* so it had the whole story broken up into parts. My sisters and I had it memorized from listening to the record and acting it out.
I annoy my girls because when they watch it, I start quoting along with the movie. “Mom! Stop it!”
It’s a mom’s job to annoy their kiddos. What can I say!
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Have you seen Spirited Away, Kaye?
Great list otherwise. Those are fantastic movies, so I really can’t complain.
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Yup, Lady and the Tramp. My favorite song, which I still sing when I’m around my friend’s cats, is … “We are Siamese if you please …”
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I’m still in love with the Disney Princesses. Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast are my faves but I love them all. 😉
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