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underrated Disney animated films

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A

alemmon

Member
Meet the Robinson's is one of the most underrated Disney movies!
Hunchback of Notre Dame is underrated as well. I think it has one of the best songs in Disney history. Heavens Light/Hellfire is a freaking masterpiece.
 
M

Makonero

Member
An Extremely Goofy Movie is the perfect 90's flick. It may have come out in 2000, but it was a great EXTREEEEEEME sports movie. Love it.
 
S

Sheriff_Battlesnake

Banned
jett said:
Really liked Bolt but I haven't seen it in nearly a decade.

Could Robin Hood be considered underrated? At least it's my favorite from the cheap-ass xerox era. Definitely one of my childhood faves.

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I love when that Snake was flying... I used to make the propeller noise with my mouth.
 
M

Magnet_Man

Member
Great Mouse Detective, Rescuers Down Under, and Hunchback.

Love me some adventure and Tony Jay singing about getting blue balled. Goddamn Vincent Price and Tony Jay dominated those movies.
 
Boss Doggie

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Schlorgan said:
p19654_p_v8_ad.jpg


A fun adventure. Good cast, good songs. Love it.

It blows my mind every time I think about how Joseph Gordon Levit is Jim in Treasure Planet.
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It's actually one of the more common titles being stated as a "good DTV Disney sequel" along with Lion King 2 and Cinderella 3.
 
L

Lionheart1827

Member
supermarioworldE said:
For all the crap The Hunchback of Notre Dame gets for those annoying gargoyles, it really is a very well written film with great themes of bigotry, religious hypocrisy, corruption of government, and perception. Even those gargoyles work in concept, as figments of Quasimodo's imagination that let the audience look into his mind.

It's not a perfect film, especially with the sharp contrast between the lowbrow humor and an extremely dark plot for a kids movie, but I appreciate the attempt at doing something more grounded and mature than what most Disney films had been up to that point.
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This is what I came here for. My favorite Disney movie. It also has one of the best Disney soundtracks. I feel its one of those forgotten Disney movies even though it was part of the Disney Renaissance period. When I was at Disney World last, I tried finding stuff related to the movie and didn't find anything. I may have missed some stuff but it pains me that such a great Disney Renaissance movie seems to have been brushed under the rug.
 
R

Rapscallion

Member
I've been trying to watch some of the Disney movies I missed as a kid and more modern ones.

Bolt for sure is underrated. Just forget for a moment that it's Miley Cyrus and Travolta. It's a fun film with a nice story.

The great Mouse Detective is really beautifully animated and is a fun twist on Sherlock Holmes.

Black Cauldron is interesting and surprisingly dark for a Disney film.

Fox and the Hound and Robin Hood are great silver age Disney films, although perhaps not up to par with some of the others.

Ones I didn't care for:
The aristocats
Dinosaur
Atlantis (it was fine... just forgettable)
101 dalmations

Next on the docket are the rescuer films.
 
B

butalala

Member
Is it well known around here that Emperor's New Groove started out as a traditional Disney movie in the vein of Pocahontas or Tarzan, complete with music by Sting?
 
W

winjet81

Member
Shig said:
I wish there was some sort of push to get these movies something between a remake and a remaster. Like use the same base animation, but remake it with cleaner lines, and give the whole thing better audio design, scene transitioning, and soundtrack cues. The animation on this era of movies is undoubtedly feature film quality, but everything around it seems rushed and undercooked.

70's Disney animation is an interesting case study in how really impressive animation can be sabotaged by cutting corners everywhere else.
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Robin Hood in particular was a good example of cutting corners: they brought over so much from Jungle Book, it's hard to ignore.
 
M

manzoman96

Member
Yeah I'll probably go:

The Emperor's New Groove
Treasure Planet
The Great Mouse Detective
The Fox and the Hound

I think Pocahontas is properly rated but I've always still liked it.
 
H

Hyperactivity

Banned
A bunch of their 70s, 80s, and early 2000s films are underrated. Honestly, so many of those 2000s Disney movies were gems.

I generally feel bad for most Disney non-musicals.
 
Boss Doggie

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
I'll go on a limb and say Rescuers Down Under is even superior to the first film. It's actually befitting of the name.

Hyperactivity said:
A bunch of their 70s, 80s, and early 2000s films are underrated. Honestly, so many of those 2000s Disney movies were gems.

I generally feel bad for most Disney non-musicals.
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basically outside of the "classic" era, "renaissance" era and "Lasseter-ownership" era yeah

oh well, thankfully most of them are vindicated by history but as jett's post shows they're not even treated well there, especially the classic ones
 
S

SeanC

Member
Always Great Mouse Detective for me because it's also my second favorite Disney animated film.

Good calls on King of Thieves. I always forget about that one until someone mentions it and I remember how awesome it was.
 
U

UCBooties

Member
Shig said:
I wish there was some sort of push to get these movies something between a remake and a remaster. Like use the same base animation, but remake it with cleaner lines, and give the whole thing better audio design, scene transitioning, and soundtrack cues. The animation on this era of movies is undoubtedly feature film quality, but everything around it seems rushed and undercooked.

70's Disney animation is an interesting case study in how really impressive animation can be sabotaged by cutting corners everywhere else.
Click to expand...

Robin Hood and the Sword in the Stone are both interesting to watch now because they both just... stop. They both feature about a minute of scene after the climax to wrap everything up. It's really jarring.
 
NOLA_Gaffer

NOLA_Gaffer

Banned
Because I will post this anywhere I can: Grow Fonder

My favorite childhood Disney film was easily The Great Mouse Detective followed closely by Robin Hood.

Edit: The wife mentioned to me the other night that she had never seen The Great Mouse Detective...does anyone know if it's on a streaming service? canistream.it seems to be borked at the moment.
 
M

manzoman96

Member
Boss Doggie said:
I'll go on a limb and say Rescuers Down Under is even superior to the first film. It's actually befitting of the name.



basically outside of the "classic" era, "renaissance" era and "Lasseter-ownership" era yeah

oh well, thankfully most of them are vindicated by history but as jett's post shows they're not even treated well there, especially the classic ones
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I think that's a pretty accurate limb because I totally agree. It's so underrated I left it off my original underrated list haha great movie. I'll have to watch it again soon.
 
Ultimadrago

Ultimadrago

Member
Schlorgan said:
Mulan and Lilo and Stitch do not belong in this conversation.
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Agreed, at least about Mulan. Casual (non-movie crazed) friends still bring up that film with me. Lilo and Stitch I don't see brought up much anymore, but it felt big at the time and at least got a television series.

I would love for someone to hear me talk about Rattigan's song in Grreat Mouse Detective and actually know what I'm talking about. :(
 
R

Razgriz-Specter

Member
Schlorgan said:
Mulan and Lilo and Stitch do not belong in this conversation.
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Neither are ever really mentioned alongside Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King or Pixar's stuff.
Mulan is definitely underrated same for Hercules (yet thats a far lesser claim),Mulan just has a vocal niche online.

"Make A Man Out Of You" is about the only thing that isn't underrated and is generally a favorite it seems.
 
L

Linkura

Member
The Great Mouse Detective: The Thread

Also Hunchback and Hercules. But those don't have Fucking Vincent Price as the villain.

Not sure if Lilo and Stitch belongs here, but it's one of the best Disney movies ever made and certainly underrated by most.
 
S

Schlorgan

Member
Razgriz-Specter said:
Neither are ever really mentioned alongside Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King or Pixar's stuff.
Mulan is definitely underrated same for Hercules (yet thats a far lesser claim),Mulan just has a vocal niche online.

"Make A Man Out Of You" is about the only thing that isn't underrated and is generally a favorite it seems.
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Depends on our definition of "underrated"

If we're going by reviews or even Box Office gross, Treasure Planet and Atlantis: The Lost Empire fit the bill, I don't know that Mulan and Lilo and Stitch do.

Lilo and Stitch RT / Lilo and Stitch Gross

Mulan RT / Mulan Gross

Vs

Treasure Planet RT / Treasure Planet Gross

Atlantis RT / Atlantis Gross

Also important with their grosses, Treasure Planet and Atlantis both had budgets over $100 million. Mulan and Lilo and Stitch both had budgets below $100 million.
 
G

Ginger Hail

Member
I always loved Brave Little Toaster. Still holds up pretty well too. I guess it's technically not "Disney", but they own it and the company who made it outright, so it might as well count.
 
K

Kotetsu534

Member
Lilo & Stitch - I rate it comparably to the stone-cold classics TLK/Aladdin/Fantasia/Pinocchio/your favourite. The first ten minutes belong to a different film, but once we're properly introduced to Lilo it's as perceptive and subtle a character portrait as anything in the Disney canon, considering the troubles faced by a single mother and her sulky but sharp daughter. Absolutely beautiful soft watercolour too, credibly selling the easy beauty of Hawaii. And Stitch, despite being uncontrollable and destructive, is just the cutest - classy animation work.

Also a nod to Dumbo, which I never see mentioned anywhere but I find as moving as Bambi.
 
L

Linkura

Member
Kotetsu534 said:
Lilo & Stitch - I rate it comparably to the stone-cold classics TLK/Aladdin/Fantasia/Pinocchio/your favourite. The first ten minutes belong to a different film, but once we're properly introduced to Lilo it's as perceptive and subtle a character portrait as anything in the Disney canon, considering the troubles faced by a single mother and her sulky but sharp daughter. Absolutely beautiful soft watercolour too, credibly selling the easy beauty of Hawaii. And Stitch, despite being uncontrollable and destructive, is just the cutest - classy animation work.

Also a nod to Dumbo, which I never see mentioned anywhere but I find as moving as Bambi.
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Ummmm..... Nani is not Lilo's mother. She's her sister. They are orphans.
 
Raven117

Raven117

Member
jett said:
Really liked Bolt but I haven't seen it in nearly a decade.

Could Robin Hood be considered underrated? At least it's my favorite from the cheap-ass xerox era. Definitely one of my childhood faves.

26a1d159-7193-49fa-b915-4773910354ad.gif
Click to expand...

My Man!

My favorite by a landslide. Followed by Sword and the Stone.
 
O

Oersted

Member
Ultimadrago said:
Agreed, at least about Mulan. Casual (non-movie crazed) friends still bring up that film with me. Lilo and Stitch I don't see brought up much anymore, but it felt big at the time and at least got a television series.

I would love for someone to hear me talk about Rattigan's song in Grreat Mouse Detective and actually know what I'm talking about. :(
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Stitch is huge in Asia. Pikachu, Totoro and Stitch are omnipresent.
 
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