Loveday Writing

Now that I’ve watched and written analysis pieces on the eight animated feature films of the Silver Age: Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians, The Sword and the Stone, and The Jungle Book, I’m going to rank them from my least favourite to my favourite.

8 – Peter Pan

While I appreciated the beautiful animation and themes, Peter Pan comes in last place for me as I found the titular protagonist unlikeable and hard to engage with, and that the film’s plot lost momentum when it should have gained it. Not to mention that the blatant racism present with the Native American scenes definitely can’t be overlooked or ignored (and nor should it be).

Walt Disney was dissatisfied with this film and in all honesty, I feel like it shows.

7 – Alice in Wonderland

I almost ranked this film last as I also found it hard to engage with, as I find literary nonsense hard to engage with generally. However, it was ultimately moved to second-last place as I felt it was a good adaptation of Alice’s literary nonsense nature (even if it was Americanised too much), and the art and animation was more aesthetically pleasing and generally superior to Peter Pan.

Interestingly, Walt Disney regarded this film as one of his biggest regrets and I think it shows, similarly to Walt Disney’s dissatisfaction with Peter Pan.

6 – Sleeping Beauty

Inspired by European paintings and French medieval tapestries, Sleeping Beauty had Disney going in a different direction with its art and animation style, as Walt Disney aimed to have the film be a moving illustration.

Whilst I felt that Disney’s choice to have the art style match the story’s setting made it stand out amongst its Silver Age predecessors and successors, and appreciated its mastery, I did find the colour palette a bit hard on the eyes at times. I also found the film and its story hard to stay engaged with at times, which is why it comes in third-last for me.

5 – Cinderella

The first film of the Silver Age, Disney’s choice to kick off the era by adapting a fairytale to mark its return to telling feature-length narratives was a strong one, and Cinderella was definitely the right fairytale to go with, as it would be almost universally known.

Cinderella did remind me a lot of the Golden Age films and what made them great, which was very much needed after the effort it took for me to get through some of the Wartime Era films. Whilst I acknowledge it is a good quality film, I’ve ranked it fifth as I enjoyed the next film a little bit more than this one.

4 – The Sword and the Stone

This one may be a controversial choice, but The Sword and the Stone comes in fourth place for me due to enjoying it more than some of the others ranked lower on this list, even though some of those lower-ranking films are admittedly of higher quality than this one.

I enjoyed The Sword and the Stone more than some of the other films on this list due its light-hearted nature, the humour provided in the lessons between Merlin and Arthur, and some of its cartoonish and slapstick gags.

However, I can see why it’s not as highly regarded as the other Silver Age films as the narrative is thin and inconsistent, especially with the titular sword only appearing briefly at the start and end of the film, and the obvious recycled animation from other Silver Age films also brings it down both in my rankings and generally.

3 – 101 Dalmatians

101 Dalmatians comes in third place for me as I enjoyed it for a variety of reasons from the dual love stories between Roger and Anita, and Pongo and Perdita, to the wholesome nature of the dog world, to Cruella De Vil’s caricature nature. I also appreciated the balance of humour and dramatic tension throughout the film. However, its drastic change in animation quality due to Disney’s first-time use of xerography, and the intensity of the climactic scenes brought the film down a bit for me as it was not as light-hearted as the rest of the film and the tone change was a little jarring and not as smooth as it could have been.

2 – Lady and the Tramp

A sweet and cute film that had me smiling throughout its entire run, Lady and the Tramp easily wins second place for me.

As well as the sweet and cute nature of the characters and the film overall, Lady and the Tramp also comes in second place for me as it was well-written with Christmas bookending the film, subtle foreshadowing of certain events present throughout, and natural but noticeable time jumps. With Walt Disney also finding the film fun to make, a vibe which would have inevitably seeped into its quality filmmaking, and its pioneering into CinemaScope, it was the perfect film to mark the halfway point of the Silver Age.

1 – The Jungle Book

The Jungle Book was not only my favourite film of the Silver Age, but is my favourite Disney film (at least at the moment), as it is the first Disney film I watched in my life.

Whilst my bias did win out in terms of it becoming my favourite of the Silver Age, it’s not the only reason why it came in first place. The story was easy to follow and engage with, fun, and is timeless in regards to its belonging themes, whilst the art and animation was beautiful and smoother than some of its predecessors. The catchy and fun musical numbers and scenes were the icing on the cake with this film, and with it being the last film Walt Disney was involved in before his passing and its subsequent success, The Jungle Book brought the Silver Age to an end on a high note.

What do you think of my rankings and how would you rank the eight films of the Silver Age? Feel free to let me know by leaving a comment below.