The main animated films produced by the Disney studios.
In 1937, Walt Disney released the first feature-length animated film in the English-speaking world. (However, it wasn't, as many claim, the first feature-length animated film ever. Foreign examples predating Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs include Argentina's El Apóstol in 1917, Germany's The Adventures of Prince Achmed in 1926, and Egypt's Mich Mich Effendi in 1935.)
This category does not include Pixar productions, nor does it include every animated feature released by Disney (such as thosecreated by DisneyToon Studios, Direct-to-Video Sequels, or animated films made under a different banner, such as The Nightmare Before Christmas). There don't seem to be any hard-and-fast rules as to which movies get to be part of the canon and which don't, but generally, the canon films are made by the Disney feature animation unit (live-action/animation hybrids like Mary Poppins tend not to count unless the animation is the bulk of the film). The Other Wiki has a set of lists for both the canon and non-canon films.
See also Disney Princess, Enchanted (a possible Affectionate Parody of Disney's own films), Kingdom Hearts, a video game series which also seems to follow the rule of only using canonical characters from nearly all of these films withthreeexceptions, or House of Mouse which represents almost every canonical movie (and then some!) with at least a cameo appearance. Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Nightmare Before Christmas were both produced and released by Disney under its Touchstone Pictures banner (The latter's 3D rereleases were under the Disney banner). Compare the works of former Disney animator Don Bluth, as well as the two feature lengthanimated films made byFleischer Studios. For notable Disney staff, go here.
The films, in chronological order, are:
The Search For Mickey Mouse (would've been the first feature-length story within Mickey's universe and a massive multiplayer crossover, scrapped during the preproduction phase)
Sequels were also planned for films such as The Jungle Book and Bambi during earlier phases, though didn't get past early production stages (allegedly due to Walt's hatred of sequels). Actual follow ups were made much later on, though are not made part of Disney canon.
* Consists of several short films released as one feature.
Animated Musical: But then The Black Cauldron broke that trend, but was restored by The Little Mermaid, but broken again by Tarzan, but restored again by The Princess and the Frog.
Avoid The Dreaded G-Rating: There are 7 films in the canon with a PG rating instead of a G: The Black Cauldron, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Lilo & Stitch, Treasure Planet, Home on the Range, Bolt, and Tangled. With the exception of The Black Cauldron, all of these films were released in the 2000s and 2010s - just around the time the PG rating became the de facto norm for animated films. Of course, in the case of numbers one through nineteen, the MPAA rating system didn't exist at the time of their initial release, so the G rating was only applied to them retroactively.
Deal with the Devil: How Ursula from The Little Mermaid, Hades from Hercules, and Dr. Facillier from The Princess and the Frog all work. Is it telling that all these share the same directors?
Denser And Wackier: The tone of the films constantly vary, the majority of films made in the 1960s and early 1970s use a much more offbeat and wacky tone than usual however, with less drama and more comedic and sympathetic villains. The Rescuers began the return to more darker and earnest story telling (albeit with Disney's usual whimsy).
Genre Savvy (Oftentimes one of the sidekicks to the hero or the villain will cater to this, and there have even been some main protagonists as well).
God Save Us from the Queen!: A lot of Disney queens are often portrayed as villains, especially in guess which film. Also, positive queens are either killed off early or shoved in the background.
The High Queen: At the end of Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
None of the villains in Pinocchioare ever punished — Pinocchio just escapes from them. The loss of just one boy presumably not being significant, it can even be said that the Coachman won as far as his scheme went.
Happily Ever After: Averted with both The Fox and the Hound and Pocahontas, however.
Held Gaze: Has been used in several of the romance-focused movies to imply the underlying UST of the characters. Notable films that use this trope are Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Tangled.
Karmic Death: Happens to many if not most of the villains.
Knight of Cerebus: Though some may still be somewhat comedic, a lot of villains have a very menacing tone (especially in the earliest examples) and are responsible for a lot of Mood Whiplash away from Disney's usual whimsy. See Accidental Nightmare Fuel for their rather haunting effect on many audiences.
Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition: The "Black Diamond" Classics, the Masterpiece Collection, the Gold Collection, the Platinum Editions, and the Diamond Editions, all of these sets being released in a wide variety of home video formats, with VHS, DVD, Blu-ray and LaserDisc being the most popular. And of course, the Disney Vault that these all get shoved into if you don't buy them now!
Special mention goes to the Masterpiece Collection, which included every VHS release at the time that was part of the Canon, including the stuff nobody remembers (like the compilation films) and the brand-new movies. From Tarzan on, they just put "Walt Disney Pictures Presents" on their cases.
0 reviews