5 Criminally Underrated Disney Animations to Watch With Your Kids
A parody of Sherlock Holmes and a masterpiece based on the Arthurian legends.
Not the most obvious animated films from the rich legacy of Walt Disney Studios worthy of re-watching and re-evaluation.
1. The Great Mouse Detective, 1986
After the financial failure of the fantasy animation The Black Cauldron, the success of The Great Mouse Detective was vital for Disney, because a few years later the Disney Renaissance began – an era in which the studio's projects once again became international sensations.
The movie is also interesting outside the context of the history of the great studio: The Great Mouse Detective is an obvious parody of the Sherlock Holmes stories, but it proved so successful that it can easily compete with serious Conan Doyle adaptations.
2. The Sword in the Stone, 1963
Some might argue that The Sword in the Stone is one of Disney's underrated animated films: yes, it's beloved by audiences, but at the same time, no one really remembers it, so the chances of children getting to know the studio's classics are getting slimmer and slimmer.
The last animated film made during Walt Disney's lifetime is not only one of the best Arthurian adaptations, but also a film that demonstrates the studio's talent for adapting any literary source into universal stories for viewers of all ages.
3. A Goofy Movie, 1995
A Goofy Movie was born as a spin-off of the animated series Goof Troop about the adventures of a clumsy single father, his son, neighbors and friends, so the feature-length movie looks more like a regular episode, but stretched out to 80 minutes.
Goofy and his son Max go on a short trip to repair their relationship. For TV this is normal practice, but for a theatrical release in the 90s – nonsense.
Instead of the typical Disney fictional worlds with fantastic elements, the audience was shown everyday life; instead of a heroic odyssey or a rescue mission, the characters went on a very ordinary fishing trip.
4. Atlantis: The Lost Empire, 2001
For most of the 2000s, Disney was going through hard times, and you can count the good projects from that period on your fingers. In that sense, Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a pleasant exception.
The animated steampunk about a group of explorers who set out to find a mythical state impresses not only with its visuals, but also with its suspenseful plot – which is not surprising, since one of the scriptwriters was Joss Whedon.
5. The Rescuers, 1977
In the 1970s, Disney released only four animated films, and The Rescuers is the least known of them. The story is about a secret society of mice who save their own kind.
One day, they receive a letter from an eight-year-old orphan named Penny, who has been kidnapped from an orphanage by the villainous Madame Medusa so that the tiny girl can sneak into a narrow grotto and steal a huge diamond for her.
The Rescuers is simply an important movie for the studio: Disney gave it its first-ever sequel.