Rank the Big Four, with a twist!

[Mooky]

We all have our favorite movies, but I'm certain that there are some elements of them you're not so fond of and/or find their equivalents in other movies to be stronger. In other words, the love you have for a movie as a whole may not always translate into love for all of its individual parts. Because the Big Four are considered the pinnacle of Disney animation in the '90s and they all ended up having similar media/pop-culture trajectories, I thought, hey, why don't we rank them on those key aspects they have in common?

The categories to be ranked:
- hero/heroine - protagonist
- hero/heroine - deuteragonist
- villain
- sidekicks
- intro / opening sequence
- climax / end battle
- songs
- score
- sequels
- TV show(s)
- Broadway show
- remake
- overall movie

This is just for fun but depending on how many replies this gets, I may eventually assign each movie a weighted average, just to see how each of them stands. You're welcome to add additional comments to your rankings, but you can also just list them without explaining anything further. Happy ranking and, if possible, try to avoid ties.

I'll begin...

Hero/heroine - protagonist:
(Note: potentially debatable opinion right off the bat, but even though Belle and the Beast share the billing and screentime, the film is often framed as Belle's story in marketing and Disney Princess merchandise. I feel it's actually the Beast's story more and that he's the one with a full character arc, hence why I chose him as the protagonist.)
1. BatB - the Beast
2. Aladdin - Aladdin
3. TLM - Ariel
4. TLK - Simba

Hero/heroine - deuteragonist:
1. Aladdin - Jasmine
2. BatB - Belle
3. TLM - Eric
4. TLK - Nala

Villain:
1. TLM - Ursula
2. Aladdin - Jafar
3. TLK - Scar
4. BatB - Gaston

Sidekicks:
1. Aladdin - Genie, Iago, Magic Carpet, Abu
2. BatB - Lumiere, Mrs. Potts, Cogsworth, Chip, LeFou
3. TLM - Sebastian, Scuttle, Flounder, Flotsam, Jetsam
4. TLK - Timon, Pumbaa, Zazu, Shenzi, Banzai, Ed

Intro / opening sequence:
1. TLM -- I had a hard time choosing between the top two. BatB's is gorgeous, perfectly sets the mood for the rest of the tale, and it's a quintessential fairytale opening. However, there's just something purely magical about TLM's with the way music builds up, we're shown these mysterious figures swimming, and then comes that dazzling shot of King Triton's castle accompanied by the booming score. It's a breathtaking introduction to a completely new world.
2. BatB
3. TLK
4. Aladdin

Climax / end battle:
1. Aladdin -- even though it features swordfights and spells, I like that in the end it turns out to be a battle of wits. I always thought the way Jafar was defeated was super clever.
2. BatB
3. TLM
4. TLK

Songs:
1. TLM
2. BatB
3. Aladdin
4. TLK

Score:
1. BatB
2. TLK
3. Aladdin
4. TLM

Sequels:
1. Aladdin
2. TLK
3. BatB
4. TLM
The bottom two are ranked mainly on how much I enjoyed The Enchanted Christmas and disliked Ariel's Beginning. The other two (Return to the Sea and Belle's Magical World) I kind of hold in the same regard, even though objectively RttS is a better movie.

TV show(s):
1. Aladdin
2. TLM
3. TLK -- not a huge fan of Timon and Pumbaa, and I've only seen a few episodes of their show. Same for The Lion Guard, cute but not my thing.
4. BatB -- I've only seen one or two Sing Me a Story with Belle episodes, the ones that were released on VHS back in the '90s and I though they kinda sucked. I used to think it was a shame BatB didn't get a "proper" animated show, but looking at Belle's Magical World, I'm glad it didn't.

Broadway show:
(I've only seen the Aladdin show properly; BatB was a local community theater production only based on the Broadway show and therefore didn't have the luxury of Broadway's fancy costumes and stage design. I'll be seeing TLK next month.)
1. Aladdin
2. BatB
3.
4.

Remake:
1. Aladdin
2. TLM
3. BatB
4. TLK

Overall movie:
1. BatB
2. Aladdin
3. TLM
4. TLK

[Farerb]

Great topic

Hero/heroine - protagonist:
1. The Lion King - Simba
2. Beauty and the Beast - The Beast
3. Aladdin - Aladdin
4. The Little Mermaid - Ariel
~ I agree that The Beast is the protagonist in the movie. Went with how well their arc was but I like them all.

Hero/heroine - deuteragonist:
1. Beauty and the Beast - Belle
2. Aladdin - Genie / Jasmine
3. The Little Mermaid - Triton / Eric
4. The Lion King - Nala


Villain:
1. The Lion King - Scar
2. Aladdin - Jafar
3. Beauty and the Beast - Gaston
3. The Little Mermaid - Ursula
~ Ursula is fun and everything, but what I like about the other three is how they are more or less an externalization of the protagonist inner conflict or directly play into that.

Sidekicks:
1. Beauty and the Beast - Lumiere, Mrs. Potts, Cogsworth, Chip, LeFou
2. The Little Mermaid - Sebastian, Scuttle, Flounder, Flotsam, Jetsam
3. Aladdin - Iago, Magic Carpet, Abu, Rajah
4. TLK - Timon, Pumbaa, Zazu, Shenzi, Banzai, Ed
~ I prefer Sidekick which are more useful and serve a purpose in the story. They all are but some to a bigger extent than others.

Intro / opening sequence:
1. The Lion King
2. The Little Mermaid
3. Aladdin
4. Beauty and the Beast

Climax / end battle:
1. Aladdin
2. Beauty and the Beast
3. The Lion King
4. The Little Mermaid

Songs:
1. Beauty and the Beast
2. Aladdin
3. The Little Mermaid
4. The Lion King

Score:
1. The Lion King
2. Beauty and the Beast
3. Aladdin
4. The Little Mermaid

Sequels:
1. Aladdin
2. The Lion King
3. The Little Mermaid
4. Beauty and the Beast
~ Aladdin only because of nostalgic reasons. The rest are mediocre or crap.

TV show(s):
1. Aladdin
2. The Little Mermaid
3. The Lion King
4. Beauty and the Beast

Broadway show:
1. The Lion King
2. Aladdin
3. Beauty and the Beast
4. The Little Mermaid
~ The Lion King was the only one trying to do something different, the others are basically the movie but longer and not as good.

Remake:
1. Aladdin
2. The Little Mermaid
3. Beauty and the Beast
4. The Lion King

Overall movie:
1. Beauty and the Beast
2. Aladdin
3. The Little Mermaid
4. The Lion King
~ I think The Lion King is technically better than The Little Mermaid and perhaps even Aladdin, but I enjoy them more.

[PatchofBlue]

I'm going to second (third?) Beast as the protagonist
- Hero/heroine - protagonist
1. Ariel
2. Beast
3. Simba
4. Aladdin


- Hero/heroine - deuteragonist
1. Belle
2. Jasmine
3. Eric
4. Nala

- Villain
1. Jafar
2. Ursula
3. Scar
4. Gaston

- Sidekicks
1. TLM
2. BatB
3. TLK
4. Aladdin

- Intro / opening sequence
1. BatB (Prologue, "Belle")
2. TLK ("Circle of Life")
3. TLM ("Fathoms Below," Main Titles)
4. Aladdin ("Arabian Nights")

- Climax / end battle
1. BatB
2. TLK
3. TLM
4. Aladdin

- Songs
1. TLM
2. BatB
3. Aladdin
4. TLK

- Score
1. TLM
2. BatB
3. TLK
4. Aladdin

- Sequels
1. TLK
2. Aladdin
3. BatB
4. TLM

- TV show(s)
1. Aladdin
2. TLM
3. TLK


- Broadway show
1. BatB
2. TLK
3. Aladdin
4. TLM

- Remake
1. Aladdin
2. TLM
3. BatB
4. TLK

- Overall movie
1. TLM
2. BatB
3. TLK
4. Aladdin

Anyways, the big four are all winners. Not a weak link among them in my book.

"Mermaid" and "Beast" are the two that I reward the most. In most rankings where they're taking the top two spots, they're almost interchangeable.

[Disney's Divinity]

Protagonist
1. Ariel / Aladdin
2. Belle
3. Simba

Villain
1. Ursula
2. Scar
3. Jafar
4. Gaston

Love Interest (other than Beast, I don't really think the others are deuteragonists, they are clearly love interests to the protagonist)
1. Eric
2. The Beast
3. Jasmine
4. Nala

Sidekicks
1. Cogsworth
2. The Magic Carpet
3. Lumiere
4. Sebastian
5. Mrs. Potts
6. Flotsam & Jetsam
7. Iago
8. The Wardrobe
9. Genie
10. Zazu
11. Abu
12. Ed
13. Chip
14. Rajah
15. Flounder
16. Pumbaa
17. Shenzi
18. Scuttle
19. Banzai
20. Max
21. Timon
22. LeFou

Original Film
1. The Little Mermaid
2. Beauty and the Beast
3. The Lion King
4. Aladdin

Intro
1. The Little Mermaid
2. Beauty and the Beast
3. The Lion King
4. Aladdin

Climax
1. Aladdin v. Jafar
2. Giant Ursula
3. Beast v. Gaston
4. Scar v. Simba

Songs
1. Poor Unfortunate Souls
2. Part of Your World
3. Part of Your World (Reprise)
4. Beauty and the Beast
5. Prince Ali
6. Human Again
7. Be Our Guest
8. A Whole New World
9. Poor Unfortunate Souls (Reprise)
10. One Jump Ahead (Reprise)
11. One Jump Ahead
12. Gaston
13. Under the Sea
14. Prince Ali (Reprise)
15. Beauty and the Beast (Peabo Bryson & Celine Dion)
16. Can You Feel the Love Tonight (Elton John version)
17. Les Poissons
18. Kiss the Girl
19. Gaston (Reprise)
20. Arabian Nights
21. Circle of Life (film version)
22. Daughters of Triton
23. Be Prepared
24. Friend Like Me
25. A Whole New World (End Title)
26. Circle of Life (Elton John version)
27. Hakuna Matata
28. I Just Can't Wait to Be King
29. Can You Feel the Love Tonight (film version)
30. The Morning Report

Score
1. The Little Mermaid / The Lion King
2. Beauty and the Beast
3. Aladdin

Broadway Show
1. Aladdin
2. The Lion King
3. Beauty and the Beast
4. The Little Mermaid

Remake
1. Aladdin
2. Beauty and the Beast / The Little Mermaid
3. The Lion King

TV Series
1. Aladdin
2. The Little Mermaid
3. Timon & Pumbaa

Sequels
1. The Enchanted Christmas
2. Simba's Pride
3. The Return of Jafar
4. Aladdin and the King of Thieves
5. Ariel's Beginning
6. The Lion King 1 & 1/2
7. Return to the Sea
8. Belle's Magical World

A few others:

Fathers
1. King Triton
2. Mufasa
3. The Sultan
4. Maurice

Locales
1. Agrabah
2. Triton's Palace
3. Ursula's Lair
4. Pride Rock
5. Beast's Castle
6. Eric's Kingdom
7. Maurice's Cottage

Outfits
1. Aladdin (Prince Ali)
2. Eric (Wedding)
3. Ariel (mermaid)
4. Eric (black)
5. Beast (ballroom)
6. Ariel (Wedding)
7. Belle (pink dress w/ winter coat)
8. Aladdin (purple wedding)
9. Jasmine (purple)
10. Belle (blue dress)
11. Ariel (sea foam dress)
12. Jasmine (purple wedding)
13. Belle (green dress)
14. Ariel (blue dress w/out bow)
15. Belle (gold dress)
16. Ariel (pink dress)
17. Aladdin (normal)
18. Eric (sailor)
19. Eric (false wedding red/blue)
20. Belle (pink dress w/out coat)
21. Ariel (blue dress w/ bow)
22. Beast (white shirt w/ purple coat)

[Vlad Sicoe]

Oh, this is a great idea. Here are my lists; I have also added comments to some of them.

Hero/heroine - protagonist:
1. Ariel - she's such a great character, regardless of what the snowflakes say about her.
2. Simba
3. The Beast - I love his temper tantrums, and his facial expressions
4. Aladdin

Hero/heroine - deuteragonist:
1. Belle - I relate so much to her, because I love to read
2. Jasmine
3. Eric
4. Nala

Villain:
1. Ursula - perfect mix of sassy, scary, funny, and weird
2. Jafar
3. Scar, the hyenas
4. Gaston

Sidekicks:
1. Genie, Abu, Iago, Carpet - Hilarious, showstealing characters
2. Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, Chip -
3. Flounder, Sebastian
4. Timon, Pumbaa

Intro / opening sequence:
1. Beauty and the Beast - You can't beat that opening shot of the castle set to Alan Menken's chilling music
2. The Little Mermaid - Love "Fathoms Below" followed by that beautiful overture.
3. The Lion King
4. Aladdin

Climax / end battle:
1. The Little Mermaid - Giant Ursula, can't go wrong with that.
2. The Lion King -
3. Aladdin
4. Beauty and the Beast

Songs:
1. The Little Mermaid
2. Beauty and the Beast
3. Aladdin
4. The Lion King

Score:
1. The Little Mermaid - Alan Menken at his best
2. Beauty and the Beast - Ditto
3. The Lion King - Big fan of Hans Zimmer, but his music isn't as timeless as Alan Menken's
4. Aladdin

Sequels:
1. Aladdin - The two sequels, in my opinion, are the best, because they have the same mood
2. The Lion King - The perfect mix of comedy, romance and a bit of drama
3. The Little Mermaid - I used to love the 2nd movie, and I still love some of the songs
4. Beauty and the Beast - Enchanted Christmas is great, but Belle's Magical World is awful. When did Belle get a tan?

Concerning the TV Shows, I have only seen a few episodes from The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Timon & Pumbaa, so I don't think I saw enough to make a countdown.

I have seen the local production of Beauty and the Beast in my hometown and in London, back in 2007, but I have never seen the others. I will see The Lion King in Paris when I go next week.

Remake:
1. Aladdin - I like it the best, because it doesn't take itself too serious. It wasn't afraid to be a little goofy
2. Beauty and the Beast - one of the good ones, but it loses points, because of the whole realism thing
3. The Little Mermaid - good, interesting, but the new songs shouldn't have been added
4. The Lion King - I know fans don't like it too much, but I kinda enjoyed it.

Overall movie:
1. Beauty and the Beast
2. The Little Mermaid
3. The Lion King
4. Aladdin

[D82]

Fun idea, Mooky! And nice new avatar, by the way. Have you drawn it yourself?

I've ranked everything by personal preference. I feel bad putting The Lion King last in almost every category, especially in ones where I think it's objectively better than some of the others (like villain or opening sequence), but even though I think it's a great film, it's just not among my top favorites, while the other three are. Its score and songs, for example, are very strong, but I just enjoy the style of music of the other films more. The Little Mermaid, on the other hand, it's not only my favorite Disney classic, but several other elements from the film are my favorites from Disney films in general as well. Ariel is my favorite female Disney protagonist, Sebastian my favorite Disney sidekick and "Part of Your World" is at least on my top three favorite Disney songs.

Regarding characters, I personally don't take character arcs and things like that into consideration when it comes to ranking them; just how much I like them or can relate to them, but I think it's great others do. We all have different things that are important to us and our own way of rating things. On that note, though I consider Belle and the Beast more or less equally protagonists, if I had to choose between the two, I'd say Belle is a little more the lead character. Though the story opens with him, and yes, he changes the most, I think there are larger portions of the film where we follow Belle and see things from her point of view.

As for the TV shows category, I've never watched Sing Me a Story with Belle. In fact, this is the first time I hear about the show, so I can't include Beauty and the Beast in my ranking. And I know I said in another thread that I remembered not liking the Aladdin TV series much growing up, but I think I liked it at first, but then the episodes got worse in my opinion. At least, that's what it seemed to me back then. I'll have to watch it again someday, but I guess everyone is probably right it's stronger than The Little Mermaid series in general. Regarding Timon and Pumbaa, I remember not liking the kind of humor and exaggerated animation. It looked more like Animaniacs or something like that than Disney. I stopped watching it after a while. And I've only watched The Lion Guard's pilot episode or film and wasn't too impressed by it.

I haven't seen any of the Broadway shows either, so I'll rank the original cast recordings instead.

There's also something I wanted to ask regarding the climax category. The endings themselves are not included, just the final battle, right? But is the Beast dying considered part of Beauty and the Beast's climax? I wanted to know, because if it is I might rank it higher. I'll add that category to the post once I get an answer.

Hero/heroine - protagonist:
1. Ariel
2. Aladdin
3. Belle
4. Simba

Hero/heroine - deuteragonist or love interest:
1. The Beast
2. Jasmine
3. Eric
4. Nala

Villain:
1. Ursula
2. Jafar
3. Gaston
4. Scar

Sidekicks:
1. The Little Mermaid
2. Beauty and the Beast
3. Aladdin
4. The Lion King

Intro / opening sequence:
1. The Little Mermaid
2. Beauty and the Beast
3. Aladdin
4. The Lion King

Climax / end battle:
1. Beauty and the Beast
3. Aladdin
3. The Little Mermaid
4. The Lion King

Songs:
1. The Little Mermaid
2. Beauty and the Beast
3. Aladdin
4. The Lion King

Score:
1. The Little Mermaid
2. Beauty and the Beast
3. Aladdin
4. The Lion King

Sequels:
1. Aladdin
2. Beauty and the Beast
3. The Little Mermaid
4. The Lion King

TV show(s):
1. Aladdin
2. The Little Mermaid
3. The Lion King

Original Broadway cast recording:
1. The Little Mermaid
2. Beauty and the Beast
3. Aladdin
4. The Lion King

Remake:
1. Aladdin
2. The Little Mermaid
3. The Lion King
4. Beauty and the Beast

Overall movie:
1. The Little Mermaid
2. Aladdin
3. Beauty and the Beast
4. The Lion King

[Mooky]

Thank you all for your participation and comments, it's interesting seeing everybody's rankings and how our preferences shape them. I'm of a similar mind to you both Farerb and D82 in regards to placing TLK so low under certain categories, for I do believe it is technically the best of the four (animation-wise in particular), it's just that I enjoy the other three more so, naturally, I'm more inclined (or, rather, biased) towards them.

I agree that Nala and Eric are more love interests than secondary characters and I should have made that designation clearer in that specific heading (thank you D82 for fixing it), but I'd argue in favor of Jasmine being given an almost equal role as Aladdin even though shes's obviously not the main character (compare just how many scenes she has all to herself and interacts with other characters without Aladdin present, including the villain, and how her wants and needs drive parts of the plot forward). In fact, I'd say she has more of an active role throughout Aladdin than Belle does in BatB, where she just sort of disappears into the love interest role post-wolf chase.

Fun idea, Mooky! And nice new avatar, by the way. Have you drawn it yourself?

Thank you! No, my friend drew it for me as a thank-you gift for helping him complete a part of his Disney collection. It's supposed to be myself reimagined as Prince Phillip (the drawing has more hair than I do though, lol). If you're interested in seeing the bigger version, I've uploaded it here.

There's also something I wanted to ask regarding the climax category. The endings themselves are not included, just the final battle, right? But is the Beast dying considered part of Beauty and the Beast's climax? I wanted to know, because if it is I might rank it higher. I'll add that category to the post once I get an answer.

I myself consider the Beast's death/resurrection/transformation as part of the climax and ranked it as such, as the film's central plot point is not yet resolved at that point even though the villain is dead. Same with TLK and Simba's ascension to the throne/mighty roar. The scenes that follow ("happy endings") I'd consider conclusions. Others may disagree.

Locales

Outfits

Oh, I quite like these two categories!

Setting / locale:
1. BatB
2. Aladdin
3. TLM
4. TLK

Costuming:
1. Aladdin
2. BatB
3. TLM
4. TLK -- well they're naked lions, so there's not much to rank there

[D82]

I agree that Nala and Eric are more love interests than secondary characters and I should have made that designation clearer in that specific heading (thank you D82 for fixing it), but I'd argue in favor of Jasmine being given an almost equal role as Aladdin even though shes's obviously not the main character (compare just how many scenes she has all to herself and interacts with other characters without Aladdin present, including the villain, and how her wants and needs drive parts of the plot forward). In fact, I'd say she has more of an active role throughout Aladdin than Belle does in BatB, where she just sort of disappears into the love interest role post-wolf chase.

Well, I didn't mean to fix anything, I just thought Disney's Divinity was right that not all the love interests are necessarily deuteragonists and I decided to specify that in the title of my own ranking. You're right Jasmine has an important role in Aladdin. I don't know who has a bigger role, she or Genie. Genie doesn't appear during the first third of the movie, but he still has a lot of screen time and his friendship with Aladdin is an important element of the film too. Maybe both could be considered co-deuteragonists.

Thank you! No, my friend drew it for me as a thank-you gift for helping him complete a part of his Disney collection. It's supposed to be myself reimagined as Prince Phillip (the drawing has more hair than I do though, lol). If you're interested in seeing the bigger version, it's here.

The drawing looks even better in the bigger version. Your friend is very talented, and what a nice idea for a gift!

I myself consider the Beast's death/resurrection/transformation as part of the climax and ranked it as such, as the film's central plot point is not yet resolved at that point even though the villain is dead. Same with TLK and Simba's ascension to the throne/mighty roar. The scenes that follow ("happy endings") I'd consider conclusions. Others may disagree.

Thanks for your reply! I supposed so, but I wasn't totally sure. I've added that category to my previous post.

4. TLK -- well they're naked lions, so there's not much to rank there

That's true, although there's at least one outfit in the film:



I've ranked the settings and costumes too. The former was quite a difficult category to rank for me (as was the sidekick one, by the way, since all these films have amazing sidekicks). I've ranked Aladdin and The Little Mermaid first because I love the palaces in them, but it could very well be a tie between the first three. And, though I've put it last once again, The Lion King also has amazing landscapes and pride rock is an iconic locale.

By the way, I've always loved Aladdin's Prince Ali outfit too, Disney's Divinity. I agree it's as good as many princesses' outfits, if not better. My personal favorite of the Fab Four would be Belle's gold dress, but I'd rank the Prince Ali one quite high as well.

Setting / locale:
1. Aladdin
3. The Little Mermaid
3. Beauty and the Beast
4. The Lion King

Costuming:
1. Beauty and the Beast
2. Aladdin
3. The Little Mermaid
4. The Lion King