‘I STILL THINK A TRUE ESCAPE FROM YOUR LIFE ONLY HAPPENS IN THE CINEMA’
“Disney stories are epic fairytales about finding hope and conquering fear,” explains Jennifer Lee, the chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios and co-creator of Frozen and Wish. She speaks from personal experience, having watched Cinderella repeatedly to console herself when she was bullied at school.
“Disney was an escape, but it was also telling me that there was something better to come. So with Wish, we wanted to do a modern fairytale like that.”
Disney has come a long way from its origin story, but Lee has one condition when it comes to immersive entertainment. “I connect with technology only when it connects emotionally through story,” she says. “If the story is suitable for the tech, that’s where it goes, but I still think a true escape from your life only happens in the cinema. Immersing yourself in one huge screen will always be wonderful.” But in the future will that be enough?
Disney-bashing was once a left-wing sport, given Walt’s position as a Republican and political conservative. Since the 1990s, however, Disney has irked the US right, with the Florida governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis taking on the corporation in his “war on woke”. Donald Trump weighed in with something similar.
Robert Iger, Disney’s chief executive from 2005 to 2020, who returned in 2022, pushed the company towards diverse casting and storytelling, refocusing Star Wars on female characters and including gay kisses in movies like the Toy Story spin-off Lightyear. This year, the push continued with black actress Halle Bailey appearing as Ariel in The Little Mermaid.
Lee is careful not to be drawn on politics beyond saying: “It’s hard to watch when Disney is used in a way that’s serving other people’s purposes, but for those of us who live with Disney, that’s not what Disney’s about.”
1 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1991)
This is the ultimate Disney film that truly puts the whole family first. Steeped in enchanting moments and bursting with colourful characters, it combines the sublime traditions of the past with the best of a hit musical. Including six soaring songs by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, it tells the story of a headstrong bibliophile who’s held captive by a beast.
It’s an utter masterpiece – and earned the first best picture Oscar nomination for an animated movie.
2 SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937)
When Disney decided to embark on the world’s first full-length animated feature, the film industry laughed. They dubbed the project “Disney’s Folly” and predicted it would destroy the studios. Even his wife, Lillian, reportedly said: “No one’s ever going to pay a dime to watch a dwarf picture.”
How wrong they were – it’s one of the highest-grossing films of all time and proved audiences could fall in love with an animation for 80 minutes. It changed the face of animation and was key in building Disney’s foundations.
3 THE LION KING (1994)
Two directors, more than 600 artists and approximately a million drawings are behind this impressive, furry Hamlet with a happy ending. It’s the tale of Simba, the lion prince, and his attempts to regain his father’s kingdom from his scheming uncle.
There’s some sumptuous voicework, with deep-tone stalwarts James Earl Jones and Jeremy Irons both voicing characters, as well as Rowan Atkinson and Nathan Lane. But where this film really soars is in the irresistible music. Composer Hans Zimmer provides a throbbing score, while jaunty songs by Tim Rice and Elton John add oomph.
4 PINOCCHIO (1940)
This was the second feature-length animated film to be made (after Snow White). Based on the 19thcentury book by Carlo Collodi, it’s the story of a puppet who dreams of being a boy.
It doesn’t quite pull on the heartstrings as much as some of the other classics, but this is Disney at the pinnacle of artistic achievement. Every single frame is detailed, and every song endures – and it rightly won two Oscars, including for the song When You Wish Upon a Star, now the unofficial anthem of Disney.
5 FANTASIA (1940)
Walt Disney was a crazy visionary, and that’s never more apparent than in this two-hour variety show. It’s most famous for the segment in which Mickey Mouse steals a wizard’s hat and gets a broom to do his chores.
But it’s so much more than that. It’s a bonkers, abstract creation set to eight pieces of music. It’s an extravaganza – a cutting-edge experiment that was also a financial disaster.
Disney even apologised for it when he accepted the Irving Thalberg Memorial Award at the Oscars. “We all make our mistakes,” he said. “I know, but it was an honest mistake.” And what a mistake it was.
6 BAMBI (1942)
This animation features the most heartbreaking scene in cinema: the death of Bambi’s mother. It’s a moment that’s often singled out by Disney fans as one of their formative cultural experiences. Once seen, it’s never forgotten. The rest of the film is also memorable, as a young fawn finds comfort in the friends of the forest, including a gap-toothed rabbit. It’s a heart-tugging tale of growing up, grief and guidance.
7 PETER PAN (1953)
JM Barrie’s story has had many iterations on screen, but none as colourful or definitive as this one. Disney’s version of the story is still a lively, lush Technicolor picture that happily clicks along with an uplifting score by Oliver Wallace and a mischievous Tinkerbell inspired by Marilyn Monroe. Its stereotypes do now jar, but when people think of “the boy who never grows up”, they picture this one, flying on to Big Ben and taking on the villainous Captain Hook, Mr Smee and the hungry crocodile. Lessons and morals are packed in, but it leaves you smiling and dreaming of the second star to the right.
8 DUMBO (1941)
Nobody really believed in Dumbo. Rushed into production because the studio needed an influx of cash, it’s one of Disney’s shortest and cheapest films. But, other than the questionable crow scene, it’s a triumph – and was singled out by Walt Disney as a personal favourite.
A story of hope, it centres on a little mouse who sees something special in a baby elephant with abnormally big ears. It’s imaginative, fun, witty, and features a memorable trippy pink elephant scene.
9 SLEEPING BEAUTY (1959)
In many ways, this is the simplest of Disney’s stories. A princess is condemned to slumber for 100 years and the only way she can be woken is by a kiss from a handsome prince. But it’s also a movie where the villain, at one point, wins.
What’s more, thanks to the work of animator Eyvind Earle, it looks sublime, with painterly scenery.
There’s a classy theme tune adapted from Tchaikovsky’s melody, and a constant sense of threat courtesy of Maleficent, a villainess so memorable she got her own movie years later.
10 FROZEN (2013)
Disney ended its decade-long effort to adapt Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale, The Snow Queen, with this shimmering, frosted fantasy. It’s a story of two sisters and their attempt to come to terms with the fact that one of them has icy powers. Comic relief comes from Olaf, a mischievous snowman who longs for summer. It’s a simple concept with clever yet annoyingly inescapable characters and earworms. Frozen became the highest-grossing animated film of all time, spreading its icy tips across the globe in stage and ice shows, merchandise and everything in between.