Summary
When you think ofDisneymovies,fairy tales and romancelikely spring to mind. But what if you’re not in the mood for something romantic, but still want to watch a Disney movie? While a lot of Disney’s animated movies do have romance at the forefront, there’s a selection of great films that don’t.
These Disney movies explore other themes and types of relationships, such as family and friendship. These are usually great feel-good movies to watch when you’re in the mood for something light, though there are some tear-jerkers in there as well.
10Oliver & Company
Oliver & Company is one of Disney’s more underrated animated features, but it’s a fantastic watch all the same. As you might guess from the film’s title and the protagonist’s name, Oliver & Company is inspired by the classic novel Oliver Twist,except Oliver is a ginger kittenand Dodger is a Jack Russell terrier. It’s also set in New York City instead of Victorian London.
Orphaned and looking for a home, Oliver joins Fagin’s gang of dogs, but is then taken in by a little girl during a heist. The movie explores the themes of found family and finding a place where you truly belong.
9The Jungle Book
Based on Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli stories, The Jungle Book follows a young boy named Mowgli growing up in a jungle, raised by a black panther named Bagheera and a bear named Baloo.
When Shere Khan, a Bengal tiger who hates humans, returns to their part of the jungle, Bagheera realises that Mowgli is in great danger and tries to return him to the human village, but Mowgli wants to stay in the jungle with his friends. The Jungle Book does a great job of showing what it’s like to grow up, and realising that what you want isn’t necessarily what you need.
8Pinocchio
Pinocchio is one of Disney’s earliest animated feature films, releasing in 1940, and was the first animated movie to win an Academy Award. Narrated by Jiminy Cricket, its story focuses on Geppetto, a toymaker who makes a puppet called Pinocchio.
Geppetto wants nothing more than to have a son, so he wishes on a star for Pinocchio to become a real boy. Pinocchio comes to life, but before he can become a real boy and not just an animated puppet, he has to prove himself first. Pinocchio’s story is touching, and the father-son relationship between Geppetto and Pinocchio is wonderfully represented.
7Alice In Wonderland
Inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland novels, Disney’s Alice in Wonderland brings the stories to life in bright technicolour. The movie follows a little girl named Alice, who ends up in a magical and strange world after following a white rabbit through a tiny door.
Alice meets lots of bizarre folk, including the enigmatic Cheshire Cat and the bloodthirsty Queen of Hearts. Alice in Wonderland is a great adventure movie to watch if you’re looking for something odd but exciting at the same time.
6The Sword In The Stone
The Sword in the Stone, based on T. H. White’s novel of the same name, is a fantasy interpretation of King Arthur’s boyhood and ascent to the throne of England. It follows Arthur as an orphaned young boy as he’s trained and educated by Merlin the wizard.
The movie has a lot of humour and is very lighthearted, as you see Merlin transform himself and Arthur into various animals as part of Arthur’s lessons. It’s a fun and fantastical version of the classic story, and one that largely goes underappreciated by Disney fans.
5The Emperor’s New Groove
The Emperor’s New Groove is one of Disney’s funniest movies, starring Kuzco, a spoiled and narcissistic Incan emperor. He plans to build himself a summer home, destroying a village in the process.
When an assassination plot goes wrong, Kuzco is turned into a llama, and he must work together with Pacha, the leader of the village he planned to demolish. Though The Emperor’s New Groove has a heavy focus on comedy, Kuzco also has a well-written character arc, and the rest of the cast is lovable too.
4Meet The Robinsons
Meet The Robinsons has one of Disney’s most touching stories about family and finding where you belong. Lewis is an orphan, and wants nothing more than to be adopted, but is having no luck finding a family. Instead, he uses his scientific talent to create the ‘Memory Scanner’, which he believes will help him find his birth mother.
Along the way, Lewis meets a strange boy called Wilbur Robinson, who claims to be from the future. He proves it by taking Lewis to the year 2037, where Lewis gets to know Wilbur’s bizarre but charming family. In the end, Lewis sees a glimpse into his own future and how great his adopted family is going to be.
3Big Hero 6
Set in the fictional city of San Fransokyo, Big Hero 6 follows Hiro Hamada, and focuses on the themes of tragedy and loss, as well as learning to cope with them. Hiro is intelligent for his age and loves robotics, so much so that he takes part in illegal robot fights. His older brother, Tadashi, encourages him to apply to the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology to make use of his talent instead.
Tragedy strikes, however, and Tadashi dies in a fire, leaving Hiro devastated. Alongside the robot Baymax, and his new friends from the Institute of Technology, Hiro navigates his grief while saving the city from a villain masquerading as ‘Yokai’.
2Treasure Planet
Not only is Treasure Planet a Disney movie without a focus on romance, but it’s also one of the company’s fewnon-musical animated features. Based on the classic novel Treasure Island with a sci-fi twist, the movie follows Jim Hawkins, a boy who wants to explore space and is hurt by his father leaving him and his mother alone.
One day, Jim finds a map leading to Treasure Planet, and sets off on the RLS Legacy to find it. Jim forms an unlikely bond with John Silver, a cyborg aboard the ship, and their father-son relationship is the heart of the movie.
Treasure Planet has a little bit of romance between Captain Amelia and Doppler, but it’s not a focus.
1Moana
Following the titular character Moana, the movie starts off on the Polynesian island of Motunui, where Moana and her people worship the goddess Te Fiti. However, Te Fiti’s heart was stolen by the demigod Maui, allowing the volcano demon Te Kā to take her place in the ocean.
Moana’s connection to the ocean leads it to choose her to be the one to find and return Te Fiti’s heart, so she journeys across the ocean to find Maui, return the heart, and restore peace to her islands. The movie has a great story focusing on culture and community, and Moana is a well-developed character too.
