Disney's 1959 Sleeping Beauty was the studio's most ambitious effort to date, a lavish spectacle boasting a gorgeous waltz-filled score adapted from the music of Tchaikovsky. In the 14th century, the malevolent Maleficent (not dissimilar to the wicked queen in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) taunts a king that his infant Aurora will fatally prick her finger on a ...

Manufacturer: Disney
Starring: Mary Costa, Bill Shirley, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton
Directed By: Clyde Geronimi

Disney's 1967 animated feature The Jungle Book seems even more entertaining now than it did upon first release, with a hall-of-fame vocal performance by Phil Harris as Baloo, the genial bear friend of feral child Mowgli. Loosely based on Rudyard Kipling's original, the film goes its own way as Disney animation will, but the strong characters and smart casting (George Sanders as the ...

Manufacturer: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Directed By: Wolfgang Reitherman

Peter Pan has a special place in the realm of classic animated Disney films: it instills an element of childlike wonder. The 1953 version of James M. Barrie's story is colourfully told and keeps on the straight and narrow of the book. Barrie's wondrous focus on child's play is the key to its longevity: kids who don't grow up, shadows that run away from their owners, pirates, a fairy, and ...

Manufacturer: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm

Manufacturer: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm
Directed By: Ben Sharpsteen

Manufacturer: Uca
Starring: Brian Cant

Like the Tin Man's heart, the true test of a real classic is how much it is loved by others. The enduring charms of The Wizard of Oz have easily weathered the vicissitudes of changing fashions making the film one of the world's best-loved, most-quoted and frequently imitated movies. It's now as ubiquitous an American pop-cultural icon as McDonald's, making judging the movie purely on its ...

Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Starring: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley
Directed By: King Vidor, Mervyn LeRoy, Richard Thorpe, Victor Fleming

Manufacturer: Uca
Starring: Brian Cant

As far as Disney is concerned, The Sword in the Stone was a portent of things to come, with slapstick upstaging storytelling, and cultural in-jokes substituting for wonder. Based on TH White's beloved novel The Once and Future King, this Disney version chronicles King Arthur's boyish adventures. There's much to enjoy here as coach Merlin the magician shows the young Arthur, nicknamed ...

Manufacturer: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm
Starring: Karl Swenson, Rickie Sorenson, Vera Vague, Norman Alden, Alan Napier
Directed By: Wolfgang Reitherman

Manufacturer: Disney
Starring: Lucy Liu, Mae Whitman, Jane Horrocks, Raven-Symone, America Ferrera
Directed By: Bradley Raymond

Manufacturer: Uca
Starring: Brian Cant