Disney might not make anymore 2D-animated princess films, but they will always be memorable. Here’s how they rank.
Anyone familiar with recent Disney princess movies knows they’re designed with 3D animation, but once upon a time, these princesses looked a lot differently. Until Tangled’s release in 2010, the Disney princess standard – other than the pretty dresses and animal sidekicks – was two-dimensional.
The first Disney animated princess movie, or first full-length Disney animated film at all, debuted in 1937. Considering that Disney wouldn’t dip into 3D animation until 2005, with its 46th animated feature Chicken Little, surely the 20th century classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was hand-drawn. Given Disney’s step into the direction of solely 3D animation, like with newer princesses in Moana and Brave, it’s unknown if fans will ever get another princess who isn’t created on a computer. But if Disney were to revert to its old ways and deliver a 2D heroine, it would likely turn the heads of those who grew up on its pre-2010 classics. Here’s how the best 2D animated Disney princess movies rank.
Related: Every Live-Action Disney Princess Movie, Ranked
In 1959, Disney’s version of Sleeping Beauty was released, having drawn inspiration from the 1697 fairy tale of the same name. Sleeping Beauty tells the story of the beautiful blonde princess named Aurora who gets cursed by an evil fairy named Maleficent, who would later go on to have two live action films with Angelina Jolie that focus on her perspective of the story. Once Aurora pricks her finger and falls into a deep sleep, it’s up to her true love to wake her with a kiss. As we’ve reached a different time in history, some have seen this nonconsensual smooch as rather problematic. Regardless of how the story is perceived today, Sleeping Beauty goes down as a Disney classic with an 89% on Rotten Tomatoes and $51 million at the box office.
The Princess and the Frog was the final Disney princess film to feature 2D animation. Centering on the company’s first and only Black princess, The Princess and the Frog takes a twist on the classic story of the Brothers Grimm’s The Frog Prince. In this 2009 cartoon, rather than turning the frog into a handsome man, Tiana, a hard-working waitress, transforms into a slimy green creature, too. With diversity, jazz music, and an exploration into voodoo culture, The Princess and the Frog stands out as a groundbreaking Disney movie. The one fault it has, however, is that while viewers may have been pumped to see the first Black princess, Tiana unfortunately spends a vast majority of the film in frog-form. Still, the film is enjoyable and sees the heroine accomplishing her lifelong dreams of owning a restaurant, rather than solely becoming a princess.
Where some Disney princess movies are based on old fairy tales, Pocahontas tells the story of an actual human being, albeit historically inaccurate for the sake of family friendly entertainment. Pocahontas focuses on the romance between the Indigenous young woman and Captain John Smith, a white settler who is willing to befriend her people. Meanwhile, her father, Chief Powhatan, disapproves of her relationship, and Smith’s fellow colonizers only want to rob the Indigenous people of their gold. Pocahontas might not have the cliché happy ending Disney movies tend to stick to, but it teaches the valuable morals of embracing other cultures and shedding materialism. It received two Academy Awards for Best Musical or Comedy Score and Best Original Song for “Colors of the Wind.”
The Little Mermaid sees a teenage half-girl, half-fish, who wants nothing more than to be part of the human world, especially after she falls for a handsome human prince. When Ariel makes a deal with an evil sea witch, she’s finally able to fulfill her dream of walking on land, but of course it’s met with some disadvantages. The Little Mermaid was brought to Broadway and had a live show on NBC with the voice of Disney’s Moana in the lead role, as well as an underrated sequel about Ariel’s daughter Melody. It’s next on Disney’s list of live-action princess movies, with singer/songwriter Halle Bailey set to star alongside Jonah Hauer-King, Melissa McCarthy, and Javier Bardem, to name a few.
Snow White was the first Disney princess, but clearly not the last. Following a 14-year-old who is declared “the fairest one of all,” the titular dame leaves the forest and befriends seven sweet little men. Like with Sleeping Beauty, Snow White is sent to a deep sleep only to be awakened by true love’s first kiss. West Side Story’s Rachel Zegler was controversially cast as the lead character in Disney’s upcoming live-action adaptation of the film, but anyone who has seen the Steven Spielberg 2021 musical can verify that her singing voice is the perfect octave for a character like Snow White.
Related: 8 Most Empowering Women Characters in Disney Animated Movies
Unlike other Disney princess movies, Aladdin revolves around the male character, with the princess being the deuteragonist. Aladdin is a poor kid who steals possessions to make a life for himself and once he meets Princess Jasmine, he falls in love. But knowing that someone as royal as she cannot love someone as penniless as him, he befriends a genie who grants him three wishes. Aladdin became the highest-grossing film in 1992 and was once the highest-grossing animated film of all time until it was surpassed by The Lion King two years later. Aladdin was also made into a Broadway show and had a live-action film released in 2019.
If there’s any story that has been remade at least a billion times, it’s Cinderella. Disney turned the story of the underappreciated maid to her stepmother and stepsisters into a musical cartoon in 1950. It’s hard not to be familiar with the premise, but if you’re oblivious to the classic fairy tale: with the help of a fairy godmother, Cinderella gets the chance to attend a ball where she falls in love with Prince Charming, but once the clock strikes 12, she runs away, leaving behind a glass slipper. Cinderella was adapted into a live-action Disney movie in 2015 with Lily James as the lead. The animated version also had two sequels: Dreams Come True and A Twist in Time.
Disney’s take on Beauty and the Beast was released in 1991. After a young prince is cursed and turned into a beast, a young woman named Belle is the only one to see past his monstrous front. Eventually her acceptance leads to love only, much to the dismay of her pursuer Gaston, a man whom she does not reciprocate feelings for. Beauty and the Beast teaches a valuable lesson of loving someone for who they are, rather than what they look like. Beauty and the Beast earned $331 million against a $25 million budget and won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture, being the first animated film to ever win that category. A live-action version starring Emma Watson came to the big screen in 2017 and the Broadway show ran from 1994 to 2007. A sequel series was set to be released on Disney+ but, according to TV Line, was ultimately canceled.
In 1998, Disney released the mother to all tough Disney warrior princesses. Once Mulan’s sickly father is recruited to join the army, the titular heroine dons a man’s clothes and goes in his place, under the name Ping. With two animal sidekicks and the help from her ancestors, Mulan triumphantly saves China, despite joining the armed forces with literally zero experience. Mulan is the ultimate girl power Disney movie, showing young girls that they can take risks and defy gender stereotypes. The Golden Globe-winning movie earned an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes and a remake was released in 2020 though it did not quite live up to the inspiring impact of the original.