Author: Andrew Carrieri

The Black Cauldron was released as the twenty-fifth full-length animated feature in Disney history on July 24, 1985. It is loosely based on the first two books, The Book of Three and The Black Cauldron, in Lloyd Alexander’s fantasy series The Chronicles of Prydain and clocks in at eighty minutes. Plot Summary Long ago in…

Representing the summit of the Disney Renaissance, The Lion King was released as the 32nd full-length animated feature in Disney history on June 24, 1994. The eighty-eight minute flick was re-released in 3D in September 2011 following a pair of direct-to-video sequels, The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride (1998) and The Lion King 1 ½…

The Emperor’s New Groove was released on December 15, 2000 as the fortieth full-length animated feature in Disney history. It is seventy-eight minutes in length. Plot Summary Ah, politics. Some leaders are likeable; some are not. Some are mean yet competent, while others are kindhearted but clueless. Unfortunately for the Inca people, their emperor, Kuzko,…

A sequel to perhaps the most creative film in Disney history, Fantasia (1940), Fantasia 2000 was released on December 31, 1999 as Disney’s thirty-eighth full-length animated feature. Fantasia 2000 is much shorter than its 126-minute predecessor, clocking in at only 75 minutes including the end credits, which the original Fantasia did not contain. Development Walt…

A unique experiment to combine animation with classical music, Fantasia was theatrically released on November 13, 1940 as the third full-length animated feature in Disney history. A sequel, Fantasia 2000, was released on December 17, 1999. Plot Summary In what is presumably a concert hall, composer Deems Taylor takes the stage as the master of…

  Based on Charles Perrault’s 1697 fairy tale “The Beauty Sleeping in the Wood” and the Brothers Grimm’s subsequent adaptation of that fairy tale, “Little Briar Rose,” Sleeping Beauty was theatrically released as the sixteenth full-length animated feature in Disney history on January 29, 1959. The 75-minute flick was the last fairy tale-based movie that…

The Great Mouse Detective was theatrically released on July 2, 1986 as the 26th full-length animated feature in Disney history. It is based on Eve Titus’ Basil of Baker Street children’s book series and is 74 minutes in length. To the Renaissance While not one of Disney’s most heralded animated flicks, The Great Mouse Detective…

Based on Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s 18th century French fairy tale of the same name, Beauty and the Beast was released as the 30th full-length animated feature in Disney history on November 22, 1991. The 91-minute flick was theatrically re-released in 3D in January 2012. Plot Summary Beauty and the Beast. The former character, appropriately…

Fun and Fancy Free was released on September 27, 1947 as the ninth full-length animated feature in Disney history and the fourth in a string of six consecutive package films produced by the studio. The package films combined multiple short segments based around a common theme, in this case having fun, as opposed to a…

Based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ 1912 novel Tarzan of the Apes, Disney’s Tarzan was released on June 18, 1999 as the company’s 37th full-length animated feature. The 88-minute flick culminated a decade known as the “Disney Renaissance,” where Disney broke out of a prolonged animation drought by releasing 10 mostly critically-acclaimed cartoon features. Plot Summary…