What are your favourite openings of the Disney films?

[Dr Frankenollie]

I adore most of the openings for Disney films, and in a best-to-worst order my favourites are probably:

1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
2. Sleeping Beauty
3. Lady & the Tramp
4. Beauty and the Beast
5. Dumbo
6. Bambi
7. Pinocchio
8. Aladdin
9. The Lion King
10. The Princess and the Frog (but only because it's so nostalgia-inducing)

The Pixar film openings I love are Monsters' Inc, Wall-E, Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and of course Up.

[REINIER]

Don't forget the dramatic opening of HotNDame... Love that cloudy set-up

[sunhuntin]

hunchback, easily my favourite opening. sometimes i watch the movie just so i can see that.

[dvdjunkie]

My favorite opening is from one of the lesser-liked films in the Disney films lists.

I think that nothing beats the opening of "Dinosaur". Those first 10 minutes just rock the world. It almost doesn't look animated and everything looks so real. Unfortunately I can agree with some who say the film lets down as far as the story goes after that, but I still think it is a good movie and worth a watch every once in a while.

[DancingCrab]

Personal favorite is The Little Mermaid, when the horns start as the seagulls are flying through the misty sea air, the dolphins jumping as the music swells up and BAM we see the ship emerging from the fog to start Fathoms Below...and then the way the music changes as the little fish escapee takes us through the opening credits under the sea and the music crescendo to the parade of merfolk swimming toward Triton's palace.

I get goosebumps just thinking about it.

That would be followed by Beauty and the Beast, love the zoom through the forest to the stain glass window in leu of the traditional storybook set up.

[JDCB1986]

My favorite opening is from one of the lesser-liked films in the Disney films lists.

I think that nothing beats the opening of "Dinosaur". Those first 10 minutes just rock the world. It almost doesn't look animated and everything looks so real. Unfortunately I can agree with some who say the film lets down as far as the story goes after that, but I still think it is a good movie and worth a watch every once in a while.

That's because the backgrounds ARE real.

That being said... Cinderella and Hunchback.[/b]

[MattDean]

Hunchback - it's epic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcnHVcJ3rtg

Matt:)

[DisneyFan09]

No offence, but there was already a similar thread started a while back ago.

[Mmmadelon]

For me, it's definitely Beauty and the Beast! I love the mysterious music, the stained glass, the voice over..

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[Goliath]

Personal favorite is The Little Mermaid, when the horns start as the seagulls are flying through the misty sea air, the dolphins jumping as the music swells up and BAM we see the ship emerging from the fog to start Fathoms Below...and then the way the music changes as the little fish escapee takes us through the opening credits under the sea and the music crescendo to the parade of merfolk swimming toward Triton's palace.

I get goosebumps just thinking about it.

Completely agreed, including your last comment.

My personal favorite opening is the one in The Rescuers. That zoom-in on the riverboat; the scary swamp sounds; the door slowly opening with that eerie screeching sound; the little girl looking around her in fear; the two crocodiles who watch her; the bottle she drops in the water; and then that beautiful, heart-wrenching song starts to play, set to those sober, yet very fitting pastel paintings. They get the emotion across perfectly. It has ten times the effect and the impact than the CGI opening of the sequel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My7kP35acMQ

Another beautiful opening is the one to Hunchback of Notre Dame. I like that heavy, bombastic, almost opera-like tone.

And then there's Lilo & Stitch with that beautiful song 'He Mele No Lilo'.

[ajmrowland]

I <3 all the openings here, but my favorite's Beauty and the Beast.

[Scarred4life]

Top three are Hunchback, Lilo and Stitch (He Mele No Lilo is my favourite song of the film), and The Little Mermaid. I also like Cinderella, The Lion King, and Sleeping Beauty.

[Kyle]

My favorite opening is from one of the lesser-liked films in the Disney films lists.

I think that nothing beats the opening of "Dinosaur". Those first 10 minutes just rock the world. It almost doesn't look animated and everything looks so real. Unfortunately I can agree with some who say the film lets down as far as the story goes after that, but I still think it is a good movie and worth a watch every once in a while.

Yep. I'm not sure I agree about it being my favorite but its definitely up there. If I remember correctly the opening to Dinosaur was from the earlier version where the dinosaurs didn't talk. the whole movie could have been like that opening, and it would have been great. Stupid Eisner had to screw that one up.

[Super Aurora]

The Lion King follow by hunchback's.

[Flanger-Hanger]

Hunchback
Beauty and the Beast
Little Mermaid
The Rescuers
One Hundred and One Dalmatians (very unique credits)

[Rose Dome]

I have a few:

Snow White & The Seven Dwarves - Very pretty.

Pinocchio - It has When You Wish Upon A Star in it

Bambi - So beautiful.

Lady & The Tramp - It has Bella Notte in it, and I love the sweet dawings.

101 Dalmatians - So fun!

The Jungle Book - I find it hauntingly beautiful. It makes me want to go to the tropics.

The Rescuers - Very emotive. I love the images as well.

The Black Cauldron - Those ghostly skeletons set the gothic atomosphere up very well.

Beauty & The Beast - Stunning. That's all I can say.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame - It's one the most thrilling movie openings I've ever seen.

Lilo & Stitch - The song is great. It's another one that makes me want to go to the tropics

[Marce82]

This is a tough one.

TLM's opening is incredibly classy. It's very "in a far away land". Im not a big fan of Fanthoms Below, but once the fish hits the water, and swims past all the marine life, and we eventually see the merpeople...man, what beauty! And of course, the wonderful Menken music...

The Lion King's is very powerful... after watching it a million times, it still gives me chills. And love that it's all pantomime...

Hunchback;s opening is the best part of the movie, IMO. But compared to TLK and TLM, it's not nearly as charming.

As for the old time openings...the opening book thing is good...but its been done a lot, hasn't it?

[Disney's Divinity]

Hunchback;s opening is the best part of the movie, IMO. But compared to TLK and TLM, it's not nearly as charming.

Like nearly everything from the mid-'90s, it's pretty much bombastic and overblown.

Beauty and the Beast probably has one of my favorite beginnings. First you have the stained glasses with the eerie monologue, and then you have the incredible "Belle" song and sequence.

I also enjoy the introductions for Pinocchio, 101 Dalmatians, Snow White (even though I'm not crazy about the film, the intro. summoning of the Mirror is chilling), The Great Mouse Detective, and The Little Mermaid (the serene and mystical underwater side of it; the cut lyrics about Ursula more interesting and foreboding than the "Fathoms Below" that ended up in the film, imo--I just love the way it introduces her: “Far below in the ocean…lives Ursula, witch of the sea. She plots!, and she schemes!, and she wickedly dreams!, of the day when she’ll return once more…--return to rule the ocean floor!” They make her sound like some kind of monster, and makes it definite that she will return one way or another.).

[MattDean]

Oliver & Company's another favourite of mine. The visuals, the music (Once Upon a Time in New York City) and the setting up of the story.

Matt:)

[Scarred4life]

Oliver & Company's another favourite of mine. The visuals, the music (Once Upon a Time in New York City) and the setting up of the story

I knew I forgot something!