Every Thanksgiving after dinner, my family and I will try to find something fun to watch on TV. The Wizard of Oz was on TBS this year, so I turned it on for a bit. My mom commented that the movie is a classic and remembers being in awe watching the beautiful technicolor film. Her comment then turned into an excellent question, "Years from now, what movie will be considered a classic from your time?". I'm a 90s baby, so everything seemed like a classic when I was growing up. 'What's a movie everyone has seen?' I thought to myself, then it hit. Not only are babies, children, and adults alike related to this movie on an emotional level, but pets are, too. The Lion King! Almost everyone has seen or knows of The Lion King and even decades from now, I would say that people will regard the animated movie (and may do now), as a classic. Little did I know that The Lion King is part of an era of 10 incredible Disney movies from the Disney Renaissance.
Walt Disney Studios' Disney Renaissance
I don't know about you, but this term was a Disney-first for me. With a little digging, I learned that the Disney Renaissance refers to the time from 1989 to 1999 when The Walt Disney Studios released ten critically acclaimed and commercially successful movies, which in chronological order are:
The Little Mermaid (1989)
The Rescuers Down Under (1990)
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Aladdin (1992)
The Lion King (1994)
Pocahontas (1995)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
Hercules (1997)
Mulan (1998)
Tarzan (1999).
One could say that any one of those films is a classic, and I'm sure many people believe they all are. I will even go further to say that those films represent 10 reasons why Walt Disney Studios is the best in the industry when it comes to animated films; of course, there are additional animated films made before and after the era that support this argument.
What Makes These Disney Movies Great
The Walt Disney Studios breathes life into the characters they make. Viewers can emotionally connect or empathize with the films' main characters, whether they experience hardship, coming-of-age trials, love, chase their dreams, or test their strength in epic battles.
Films like those created during the Disney Renaissance have the power to move or inspire a viewer. The songs make us feel happy or silly or simply understand the character's feelings. The lyrics, as well as the way Jodi Benson emotionally sings "Part of Your World" make it easy to understand what Ariel is yearning for. "Go the Distance" from Hercules still motivates me when I'm going on a long-distance run or tackling a challenging task. One of my fondest memories from high school is when students from my animation class got excited singing along to "I'll Make A Man Out of You" from Mulan as we watched the film. Phil Collins probably wasn't a well-known singer to the younger generation before hearing his voice on the soundtrack of Tarzan. My point is that Disney movies are classics, and no other studio does animated films like Disney. So, whichever movie you think is a classic, let this post be another reminder of how Disney has impacted our childhoods and lives in some way and how fantastic the company is to create ten notable films in 10 years.
I'd love to know which Disney movie you'll consider as 'The Classic' years from now. Leave your thoughts in the comments.
As always, thanks for reading!
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