Whether you are watching a sitcom on ABC or enjoying a $30 turkey leg at EPCOT, it is important to always remember that Disney owns everything. That being said, their monopoly on American media has produced a couple of positive results over the years. Of course, “Frozen,” “Hercules,” “Tarzan” and other big name films have brought acclaim and dollars to Disney but they are not the only great ones. If you grew up in the VHS era, you have probably seen a few movies a 100 times like I have “Finding Nemo” so you grow to love it or hate it based off sheer quantity of watches. With that being said, here are five Disney films I believe are underrated.
“Oliver and Company” (1988)
The inspiration behind this whole list so it has to be number and it was a great movie. This movie made living in New York City seem like the time of your life even if you did not have money. Dodger is also the coolest dog Disney has ever designed with apologies to Pluto and the 101 Dalmatians because they didn’t have the street smarts and they were not voiced by Billy Joel. For any of my younger Disney fans out there, I highly recommend watching this movie
“The Lion King 1 1/2” (2003)
This movie was straight to DVD but nonetheless a really good film to watch. Not only does this film provide a solid backstory to Timon and Pumbaa, it also gives you another perspective of the events that happened in the original “The Lion King.” Who knew the animals falling to their feet when Simba was lifted was due to Pumbaa passing gas at the wrong time? If you are a Lion King or Disney enthusiast, I believe you will like this film. I would love it if they somehow made a sequel to this movie so hopefully we can get a “Lion King 2.5.”
“A Bug’s Life” (1998)
I feel like part of the reason this movie gets somewhat overlooked is because it came out one month after “Antz” but “A Bug’s Life” is nonetheless a solid movie. Though this film was no “Tarzan” or “Aladdin,” there was a decent adventure along with some scary looking grasshopper antagonists. I recommend watching “Antz” and “A Bug’s Life” together as there were both released in fall 1998 and featured a controversy between Dreamworks and Pixar. Both movies are solid with “A Bug’s Life” being more geared towards kids and families and “Antz” having more of an adult focus.
“Recess: School’s Out” (2001)
This film may not have the highest reviews though it is basically a longer episode of Recess so if you liked the show, you will likely also enjoy the film. I love how diabolical and cartoonish the plot is as the bad guy’s want to create a permanent Ice Ages to force kids inside all of the time. Recess is one of my favorite cartoons ever as it shows what happens when a team works together and it is definitely up there for me in terms of Disney cartoon to have ever been released.
“Mulan” (1998)
I am not sure if Mulan counts as underrated but she definitely gets my vote for best Disney Princess even if she is not technically a princess in the film. I have never met anyone who dislikes Mulan and I would honestly like to keep it that way. In the movie “Lilo and Stitch,” Nani has a poster of Mulan in her room because Nani knows Mulan is one of the greatest of all time. For my money, Mulan would knock out any other character in Disney’s catalog in three rounds or less.
