Classic Animated Movies On Disney+ You Should Watch This Thanksgiving Weekend

Bambi

1942

Let’s start with the oldest Disney animated film on this list. It’s not Walt Disney’s oldest animated feature, which was Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, released in 1937. Bambi is about a mule deer who grows up in the woods with his friends and childhood friend/future mate. His father is the great Prince of the Forest and his mother dies by a hunter when he is still young. The film was based on a popular book form the early 1920’s by an Austrian author.

Bambi is a special film because it was so different from the other Disney animated films at the time. Overtime Bambi has become one of Walt Disney’s best animated films but when it came out people had mixed reviews about it. Some people liked it because it was more serious, but some people didn’t like it because it lacked Disney’s signature fantasy elements. Furthermore, it stirred up some controversy because it portrayed the hunters as the bad guys. Hunters at the time were furious at this. Another cool fact is Walt Disney wanted the animals in Bambi to be more realistic than the forest animals in his previous films, so he set up a mini zoo of all the animals in the movie right in the animators studio so they could study them. Bambi received 3 Academy Awards nominations; Best Sound, Best Original Score and Best Song. If you want to watch a super old great Disney film this weekend and you have Disney +, I would recommend Bambi first.

The Jungle Book

1967

If Bambi is a little too heavy for you and you want something more goofy and lighthearted then The Jungle Book (1967) is a great movie to watch while your digesting your turkey dinner. Disney’s The Jungle Book is great because it has a musical/comedy spin on the classic Rudyard Kipling’s novel by the same name. It’s a special Disney film it was the last film Walt Disney ever produced since he died during the production. The movie is a story of a feral boy named Mowgli who is raised in the Indian jungle by wolves. He goes on adventures with his best friends who are a black panther and a bear. Together they help defeat an evil tiger who wants to kill Mowgli because he is a man. Early drafts of the screen play followed the book more but Walt Disney wanted it to be more kid friendly. The cast consisted of famous actors and musicians like Phil Harris, George Sanders, Louis Prima and Sebastian Cabot. It also included the famous Disney voice actors; Sterling Holloway, J. Pat O’Malley and Verna Felton.

The Jungle Book was very positively received by critics and audiences when it came out. At the time it was Disney’s 2nd highest-grossing animated film in North America. A song featured in the film called The Bare Necessities” is perhaps one of the most famous Disney songs ever written. Disney made a live-action version in 1994, a sequel called The Jungle Book 2 in 2003 and a live action-remake in 2016. All of them are worth checking out.

Robin Hood

1973

Robin Hood is another fun goofy musical comedy if you’re in the mood for that. The story was taken from the tales of Robin Hood, but with Disney’s spin on it using anthropomorphic animals as the characters. The plot flows Robin Hood, who’s a clever fox, and his Merry Men who defy the heavy taxation of the evil Prince John. There’s also the famous love story between Robin Hood and Maid Marian. The conception for Robin Hood came when Walt Disney was making Snow White, he wanted to make a film based on the 12th century folklore of Reynard the Fox, which is about an anthropomorphic red fox who is a trickster. But Walt Disney shelved the idea because it’s hard to make Reynard a hero, when he did so many bad things. During the production of The Aristocats (another great film) in the late 60’s the idea of doing a Disney version of Robin Hood was being talked about. They decided to combine the two ideas and make Robin Hood a clever fox who uses his cleverness for good. Robin Hood isn’t considered one of Disney’s best animated films but it’s a classic childhood staple that deserves a rewatch.

A Bug’s Life

1998

I also want to include Disney’s computer animated films because they’re amazing as well. Pixar Animation Studios was founded in 1986 by Gorge Lucas and Steve Jobs. At first Pixar would produce the computer animated films and Disney would distribute them. In 2006, Disney bought Pixar outright for over $7 billion. Pixar has since proved that their computer animated films are just as good as Walt Disney’s Animated films. One of those great films is called A Bug’s Life. It’s about an ant who ventures off from his colony to find fierce warriors to help him fight off the menacing grasshoppers who steal the ant’s food.

During production the creators of Pixar and DreamWorks were having a feud because DreamWorks was making a similar film called Antz at the same time that was released the same year. In fact one of the founders of DreamWorks use to work for Disney so Pixar accused DreamWorks of stealing their idea. Both plots are similar in that a worker ant wants to win the princess’ heart and save the colony. A Bug’s Life was a children’s film while Antz is more of a teen/adult film.

A Bug’s Life starred the voices of Dave Foley, Kevin Spacey and Julia-Louis Dreyfus. It had a ginormous budget at its time at $120 million. The first film Pixar did was Toy Story for just $30 million. A Bug’s Life did extremely well at the box office making over $360 million back. It beat out Antz in profits. It was also the first film to be transferred frame by frame to DVD.

Mulan

1998

The summer before A Big’s Life was released, Disney had another massive hit. Mulan came out June of 1998 and also made over $300 million in theaters world wide. Mulan was produced during what’s known as the Disney Renaissance, which was a period from 1989-1999 where Disney got back to making very good animated films based off well known stories. Mulan is based off the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan which is about a girl named Fa Mulan who impersonates a man to fight during the Hun invasion. The Chinese Emperor issues a decree declaring a man from each family must enlist in the army. Mulan takes her aged warrior father’s armor and disguises herself so he doesn’t need to go. In the Disney version, a Chinese Dragon voiced by Eddie Murphy accompanies Mulan on her journey protect her. Mulan did extremely well in theaters despite having a very modest marketing budget. Mulan stands out for its inspiring story and anything Eddie Murphy is in turns to gold. A live action version of Mulan will be coming out next year.

The Emperor’s New Groove

2000

The Emperor’s New Groove is a hilarious animated buddy-comedy film, that stars David Spade, John Goodman and Eartha Kitt. It’s another goofy comedy with a lot of heart to it. It’s about a selfish Incan Emperor named Kuzco who gets turned into a llama by his evil advisor named Yzma. Kuzco gets lost in his kingdom trying to get back to palace to reverse the spell. A llama herder named Pacha who does not like Kuzco helps him get back to the place in exchange for a favor. Initially The Emperor’s New Groove didn’t do too well in theaters. But when it went on the home video market it became the best selling film of the whole year. It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song (“My Funny Friend and Me”) but lost. This movie is memorable for how funny it is and it has one of the best side characters of all Disney films. I’m taking about the Yzma’s dumb brawny henchman named Kronk, voiced by Patrick Warburton.

Monsters, Inc.

2001

Another great animated (well, computer animated) comedy starring John Goodman is the Pixar classic, Monsters, Inc. This film is both a comedy and a drama. They really hit it out of the park with this movie. Monsters, Inc is about a society of monsters that get their energy source from scaring children. The monsters go through doors that are portals into children’s bedrooms and scare them. The thing is, that monsters are much more frightened of children because they think they’re toxic. Things go wrong when two best friends work for Monsters, Inc. accidentally let a little girl through the portal into their world. They must find her and get her back to the human world before anyone finds out. The story is simple brilliant. Monsters, Inc. did extremely well at the box office making over $500 million. It was nominated for 4 Oscars and won best Original song for “If I Didn’t Have You.” The prequel Monsters University is also a brilliant film you should watch too.

Finding Nemo

2003

Perhaps Pixar’s best film (or one of them) is Finding Nemo, that came out in 2003. It’s a story about an overprotective father who is a clownfish named Marlin who searches for his abducted son named Nemo. Marlin is accompanied by a regal blue tang named Dory, who is so forgetful she is more harm than good. The moral of the story is of a parent learning to let go of the child who can take care of themselves. It’s also a buddy film between Marlin and Dory. The movies stars Albert Brooks as Marlin, Ellen DeGeneres as Dory and William Dafoe as Gill. The film was a insane commercial and critical hit. It got rave reviews and made over $860 million in the box office. It also sold extremely well when it came out for video and DVD, selling over 40 million copies. It was Pixar’s highest grossing G rated film until Toy Story 3 came out. Finding Nemo has since been ranked as one of the best films ever made in the new millennium so far.