Sleeping Beauty (1959)
It’s a pretty slow film and Princess Aurora pricks her finger 50 minutes into the 75-minute film, so it’s a slight bore until we get to that point. In its defense, that is followed by a spectacular climax, including an incredible battle — featuring the most interesting character in the film, Maleficent who gets transformed into a dragon.
The breathtaking animation nods to medieval art with its vibrant colors and profoundly stylized form. Even in Aurora isn’t terribly interesting, she is extremely beautiful.
Zootopia (2016)
"Zootopia" transports us into a world where the laws of nature have fallen away and animals happily coexist alongside each other. T
The film goes to portray such absurd idealism that they made the cops actual bunnies. It's also refreshing to see a female lead not motivated by love but for her passion for work.
Pocahontas (1995)
As we know, Disney's take on real-life Native American Pocahontas and her relationship with English settler John Smith gives a pretty warped historical account of what happened. If you can look past the cringe-worthy song "Savages" it is in all fairness a beautiful film and probably has the best animation of that decade.
Even if Pocahontas falls in love with the enemy and magically learns English, the film does depict some of the harder realities of that time. Additionally, Pocahontas choosing to stay home and not leave with John is truly satisfying.
The Rescuers (1977)
The Rescuers' success is largely due to its excellent character creation. The plot is somewhat dark, with Medusa snatching up Penny and ridiculing her of not being worthy of adoption. Thankfully it adds a good amount of comic relief in the form of Bernard and Bianca, the spunky agents of the Rescue Aid Society.
The action that runs throughout is impressive and the stakes are made high enough to keep the audience on the edge of their seats.
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
Thankfully, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is not a package film but is essentially three short films stitched together with some added material to help it run more seamlessly. Even if the voice of Christoper Robin is pretty inconsistent thought, it somehow not as bothersome.
It's possible that the emotional impact can only be truly felt if you are familiar with Pooh and the gang. If you are not, it sure is shrug-worthy.