DVDizzy Forum

Let's have a discussion:
When was the last time Disney released a movie that you genuinely loved?

They've had a pretty good track record for me, even in the last few years. If they didn't, I don't know if I'd be enthusiastic enough to be posting here. I'll acknowledge that it's been some time since they've released something truly revelatory like the days of the Fab Four, but it's also important to acknowledge that the conditions in which those movies arose no longer exist, and to some extent it's important to also be content to enjoy the modern ecosystem those films laid the groundwork for. I have, for example, really enjoyed Encanto, Elemental, Turning Red, and the like.

From Disney animation, I think Frozen II was the most recent knockout for me. I remember laughing to myself when the Lopezes started talking about how the songs for the sequel would be even better than the original. And then "Into the Unknown" dropped and I never looked back. It's also ironic that Frozen popularized a certain attitude about what empowerment looked like for the Disney Princesses, one that did not yield graceful returns for Disney (culminating with the nonsense going on with the Snow White remake), but Frozen II was actually smart about the way it empowered Anna and Elsa, sidestepping the tired meta-commentary, and simply allowing its princesses to experience and work through the complexities of the human experience.

Counting Pixar, then probably ONWARD. There's a lot going on in that movie, thematically and emotionally, that goes far beyond the film's premise of "Aw, dead parent story be sad ;( ..." That, and I just have a soft spot for stories that explore the complexities of men acting as emotional supports for each other.

Last Disney film I really loved??
Probably The Lion King (1994).
I’ve liked and enjoyed several since then, but loved?
The Lion King.

Encanto is the best Disney movie since Lilo and Stitch, in my opinion. Every song is a banger. The art design is beautiful. Disney’s tendency to have too many character doesn’t detract from anything here, like it does in Raya and the Last Dragon or Meet the Robinsons. Costumes have been pretty lackluster in the CGI era (I remember seeing Gothel for the first time and her costume was just… a red dress), but the embroidery in Mirabel’s skirt at least uses the advantages of CGI and tells us more about her character and makes her more unique. Speaking of Mirabel, she’s very likable and cut from the same cloth as many classic Disney heroes like Dumbo or Hercules.

I think the Lasseter formula made very fine, technically well paced and structured movies but it was also like the storytelling equivalent of the Xerox process. The structure is so deliberate you could feel the work put into the story. It makes rewatching many Pixar movies and Disney movies from the Lasseter era a slog for me. I just find them very exhausting? Encanto doesn’t feel like that.

I have loved everything out of WDAS & Pixar, but for me, from WDAS, Raya & Strange World have been my favorites since The Princess and the Frog.

As for Pixar, I haven't bothered ranking all the new films, but they've been hitting them out of the park. I especially love Onward & Luca. I've watched Turning Red & Lightyear a bunch but I don't know where I'd place them in my ranking. *Edit* I loved Elemental as well, and that's up there if I ranked.

I enjoyed most of Disney's output of the last ten years, but I fear the days of wanting to watch a new movie again just minutes after finishing it for the first time are long gone. I acknowledge that I myself am partially to blame, but very rarely do I get excited and giddy about a movie or a show anymore, and that includes Disney. Whether it's the storytelling I find lacking or the message, but most movies these days feel more like a product than an actual work of art. And I understand that movies can be entertainment only but I feel the balance between the two extremes (pure art vs full entertainment) was better handled before. Not Disney, but I recently rewatched Batman Returns, and everything about that movie just screams style and every frame is its own work of art, and yet the movie doesn't take itself seriously and is totally enjoyable as both a pulpy superhero movie and a Gothic fable. Compare that to the most recent live-action Batman movie, an objectively great movie with fantastic performances, which just bored me out of my mind with how drab and grimy it all was.

Anyway, back to the thread title. I believe the last Disney movie I truly enjoyed and loved was Zootopia because I remember I immediately wanted to share the movie with my sister and have us watch it together. Before that it was Frozen, before that was The Princess and the Frog, and before that was Brother Bear. Nowadays I feel lucky if I'm able to finish a newer movie in one go, because they often feel like a chore to sit through. Most times they're one-and-done and I don't feel any desire for a rewatch.

The Last Disney Movie I really loved that I still think is great is probably Frozen (and also Moana) im such a sucker for musical tales. Yeah it is a bit overrated, but I still think the soundtrack SLAPS, characters are really relatable, great overall story, all characters had a purpose and had a great message (same cant be said for its sequel). Moana also felt like a Disney Classic, great soundtrack, villains, etc. These are movies I think of with a smile and could easily rewatch!

Reagrding Pixar movies, I think Turning Red was the last great one that I liked, I think Mei was one of the most relatable characters of Pixars whole movies (Luca too), as I also grew up really conservative with an overprotected mother where I sometimes couldnt even hang out with my friends (shes literally exactly like her mom) Anyways, the movie really spoke to me and I appreciate it really! And the songs of the boygroup were really catchy lol

My standards are so high, I have to go pretty far back. Gonna have to categorize some things because they're just too different to compare. I'd probably say Brother Bear was the last Disney hand drawn movie I loved. I can probably put Tangled in there when it comes to CG movies. Something about Glene Kene was able to give it that hand drawn quality to the acting and swash and stretch that I don't think even frozen and its sequel has.
I wish he'd come back.

As far as Pixar goes, that's a tough one for me, I enjoy pretty much all the movies they've been making (except lightyear) but love is a strong word I don't think I can use with most of them. So I guess Toy Story 3 is the last one there.

UmbrellaFish wrote: ↑Sun Oct 01, 2023 2:38 am Encanto is the best Disney movie since Lilo and Stitch, in my opinion. Every song is a banger. The art design is beautiful. Disney’s tendency to have too many character doesn’t detract from anything here, like it does in Raya and the Last Dragon or Meet the Robinsons. Costumes have been pretty lackluster in the CGI era (I remember seeing Gothel for the first time and her costume was just… a red dress), but the embroidery in Mirabel’s skirt at least uses the advantages of CGI and tells us more about her character and makes her more unique. Speaking of Mirabel, she’s very likable and cut from the same cloth as many classic Disney heroes like Dumbo or Hercules.

I'm with you when it comes to Encanto and how really, really great it is to me. I do want to add that while yes, there is uncertainty when it comes to how WDAS is run now, I am rather relieved that we're out of the Lasseter era to be honest. That's simply because while I love films like Frozen, Zootopia and Moana, they did feel a bit formulated; while this current era with Jennifer Lee has helped to make the films under her, feel different from one another.

People can say what they want about this current era of WDAS, but for me personally, I couldn't be more excited about the studio's future. It's the first time I felt this way since 2010 when before Tangled came out.

Either Christopher Robin (2018), Winnie the Pooh (2011), or The Princess and the Frog.

Frozen. But, you know, I love magic, royalty, and fairy tales, though it does help it is actually a good movie. I wish Disney would make classics again. But maybe with Wish?

EDIT: Oh, actually the last Disney movie I loved was 2015's live-action Cinderella. It is my favorite live-action movie. But their movies should be better than that, it's good but not great!

Raya. But Encanto was good (probably around mid-tier for me of the canon) and Strange World was okay (a little further down, but not the bottom of the canon at all; for me, that's stuff like Peter Pan and Brother Bear). I intend to pick SW on Blu-ray soon--interestingly at the same time as the *other* SW (Snow White), with its new restoration out. I've been hoping I might get an opportunity to re-start my DMC in the mail, since they usually let you keep your free shipping that way. I wonder if, what with Disney losing interest in DMC worldwide, if maybe they aren't giving those kinds of offers out anymore?

I'm hopeful I might like Wish as much as I did Raya since I've liked most of what I've seen just like in the lead-up to that film (it was the same with TP&TF, it and Frozen being the two I "loved" before Raya; although it wasn't that way with Frozen, I was more shocked that one was good like with Zootopia and Encanto), but hopefully Wish'll at least be on level with Encanto.

EDIT: I tend to think of "Disney" in terms of WDAS though. I did love Turning Red for the most part, and that came somewhere after Raya, I think. I suppose the last PIXAR film before it that I would say I "loved" was Toy Story 3.