Top 5 All-Time Greats...Disney 2D Animated Classics

It's time for another of On-Screen's exclusive feature series to make its comeback...
As you may have already noticed, this year marks something of an overhaul for On-Screen in terms of its daily output, not least through an increased emphasis on providing opinions on the latest entertainment news, releases and industrial developments. On top of that, through a variety of new and updated features, we're further ensuring that every word you read here at the blog is custom-tailored to provide the most comprehensive, personalised and engaging coverage on the internet.

Next up in our assortment of renewed feature series is our semi-regular 'Top 5 All-Time Greats' saga. Whereas last year we would publish these types of articles infrequently and on the spur of the moment, in 2014, they will be timed to coincide with relevant upcoming and/or impending releases of the same ilk. In this instance, with Frozen's return to cinemas in the form of its Sing-Along Edition and its success at the Oscars with Let It Go's acquisition of the 'Best Original Song' award, we're heading back to the roots of Walt Disney Pictures, counting down the five greatest hand-drawn works from the studio (with memorable clips from each one included below the précis):

5. TARZAN (1999)- Set to the backdrop of an African jungle, in essence Tarzan is the tale of a man's struggle to discover his true identity and heritage. Like the Oedipal narrative of old, the truth does not come without its devastating and life-threatening consequences, but this mythological vine-swinging hero endures his hardships and does it with the electrifying sounds of Phil Collins constantly accompanying him, which can only be a good thing. It's no wonder that this one spawned its own TV show on Disney Channel (in fact, The Jungle Book is this list's only entry which did not do so), since its rich world and its diverse inhabitants (both human and otherwise) had the potential to spawn countless spin-offs and follow-ups, even if all of those were ultimately inferior to the franchise's incredible début.

4. THE JUNGLE BOOK (1967)- "Look for the Bear Necessities, the simple Bear Necessities, forget about your worries and your strife"- now, try getting that one out of your head for the remainder of the day! Rudyard Kipling's 1894 short story collection The Jungle Book was already a classic before Disney set about adapting it, and yet with their stunning late-1960s animated effort, the studio ensured without a shadow of a doubt that Kipling's fable-esque narratives would never be forgotten again (hence why we're getting a rebooted live-action version from that same studio later this year...). Mowgli, Baloo, Bagheera, King Louie, the list of iconic animals littering the well-rounded character ensemble is endless, as is the variety of infectious songs which are placed at frequent yet scarcely overwhelming intervals throughout the dark-but-still uplifting narrative. The Jungle Book 2 may have flopped dramatically in its vain attempt to rekindle the series' legacy four decades later, however that can't possibly hamper our memory of one of Disney's finest musical works to date.

3. LILO & STITCH (2002)- Perhaps Disney's best animated instalment of the 21st Century so far (and certainly their superior post-1999 hand-drawn motion picture), Lilo & Stitch has a youthful innocence about its art-style, its humour and its narrative that's impossible to love. It takes some nerve to riff on Mary Shelley's classic horror novel Frankenstein, let alone to then reimagine its iconic plot in a completely new setting and to take on a vastly contrasting trajectory, and yet Stitch achieves all of these feats with a gusto which was sorely lacking in the studio's last hand-drawn outing, The Princess and the Frog (2009). Perhaps it's the numerous Elvis allusions, perhaps it's the seamless integration of Disney moral values into a culture unlike any they had tackled before, or perhaps it's something entirely- the beauty of Lilo & Stitch is that it's impossible to narrow down the source of its inherent charm and joyous hold over the audience to one single aesthetic or structural aspect, such is its dominantly demonstrated ability to excel in all areas of modern filmic storytelling.

2. THE LION KING (1994)- Between the West End show, its Broadway run, its countless re-releases and the still-booming merchandise surrounding it, The Lion King has a strong claim to the title of the most successful Disney animated film of all-time (even if Frozen is catching it up fast in the worldwide box office right now)- and rightly so, we might add. Even though Star Wars' James Earl Jones and Mr Bean's Rowan Atkinson feature amongst the cast ensemble, they're mere supporting acts to Matthew Broderick and Moira Kelly, both of whom own the (metaphorical, in this case) stage as Simba and Nala respectively. There are comparisons aplenty out there between this gem and Hamlet, but if anything, to limit our discussion of The Lion King does disjustice to a narrative which so often surpasses its (alleged) inspiration in terms of ambition and narrative cohesion, and covers arguably far more didactic beats in the process.

1. ALADDIN (1992)- From the moment that an eccentric, seemingly omniscient merchant wanders casually through the blazing deserts of Arabia into its gleaming city, whistling the instantly mesmerising tune of Arabian Nights along the way, it's obvious that we've stepped into a unique, awe-inspiring animated masterpiece. In no respect do Aladdin's narrative, soundtrack, characters, voice actors or any of its contributory aesthetic elements fail to satisfy on this lofty-but-apt promise. Instead, they war (gracefully, of course) for the throne of this fast-paced, thematically assured wonder's shining highlight. The result of their ensuing conflict? As is the case with all five of these classic motion pictures, no singular aspect comes out on top, allowing for a dynamic and wholly enthralling equilibrium whereby none of those aforementioned elements fade upon being held up to scrutiny; quite to the contrary, further analysis of such elements only earns them a greater respect from us, the audience, than we could ever have imagined. They say that the phrase "those were the days" is an outdated cliché unto itself, but in the case of Disney's half-century spanning Golden Age of animated cinema, no idiom speaks more truly of our wholly warranted nostalgia!