Classic Disney Animated Movies Ranked From Worst To Best

It's a tale as old as time, or at least as old as the very first animated Disney movie — how do you decide which is the best? The debate rages on among Disney fans, with objectivity often clouded by childhood nostalgia. The Disney classic you couldn't stop watching as a kid might not be another fan's cup of tea, and vice versa. 

So to provide clarity to this ongoing conversation, here's a ranking of Disney's first 11 classic animated movies based on a system using gross box office receipts, IMDb ratings, Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer, and audience scores. Curious how your favorite childhood film stacks up? Check out the results, ranked from worst to best. 

This colorful, eccentric Disney flick stars Donald on his trek to Rio with two Latin birds, Jose Carioca and Panchito. Unlike most Disney movies, The Three Caballaros doesn't follow a traditional arc, choosing instead to mosey through Brazil with the birds as they sing, laugh, and rabble-rouse. 

A colorful and entertaining adventure, the movie fared decent in ratings — scoring 6.5/10 on IMDb, a 67 percent audience score, and a respectable 88 percent on the Tomatometer. However, the film failed to garner enough box office mojo to make any major gross earnings rankings. 

You may be thinking, "How could this classic about the sweet little elephant with oversized ears possibly be this far down the list?" It certainly wasn't the music, which was fantastic with songs like "Baby Mine" and "When I See an Elephant Fly." Perhaps, though, one of the film's shortcomings is just that: it's short. At only one hour and four minutes, it's Disney's shortest animated feature, which some critics claim makes it feel rushed. 

Still, Dumbo seems to maintain solid ratings. It earned a 97 percent on the Tomatometer and 70 percent audience score. Similarly, it scored 7.3/10 on IMDb out of a sizable 95,000 votes. The film was surprisingly lackluster at the box office, though, earning an estimated $1.6 million domestically. 

Undoubtedly the most controversial of Disney's classic animated films, Song of the South brings to life Joel Chandler Harris' "Uncle Remus" songs. Its most memorable contribution to pop culture proved to be Br'er Rabbit, a character that endeared itself to fans immediately. However, criticism of the film ranges from accusations of racism to insisting that it provides an oversimplified view of slavery that children would do better without seeing. 

The ratings reflect this, with Song of the South scoring 60 percent on the Tomatometer and a 73 percent audience score. Its IMDb score wasn't too shabby at 7.3/10 with over 9,000 reviews. So how did it wind up in the number six spot? This sleeper hit brought in $65 million in at the domestic box office between its original release and its 1986 re-release. 

This rags-to-riches story bippity-boppity-boo'ed its way right into the number four spot, thanks to a stellar Tomatometer score of 97 percent, audience score of 80 percent, and IMDb score of 7.3/10 based on just over 117,000 reviews — the $85 million in gross earnings at the box office didn't hurt either. 

And what's not to love? It's every girl's dream to get a visit from the Fairy Godmother. Cinderella's step-family may be cruel, but karma catches up to them in the end. Besides, mice have never looked more lovable, thanks to Gus and Jaq. 

Right up there with the oldest animated Disney classics, Fantasia finds its way to the runner-up spot due to solid rankings all around. Considered a landmark moment in animation history, the phantasmagorical film is chock-full of classical music. It's a universally well-liked movie, because it quite literally has a little something to suit everyone's tastes. 

This comes through clearly with the ratings. On Rotten Tomatoes, Fantasia scored a 96 percent on the Tomatometer and an 83 percent audience score. It was rated 7.8/10 based on over 76,000 reviews on IMDb.