My Top 3 is a weekly post where I count down three things I love in a random category. This week, we’re looking at my top three animated Disney classics.

There are different ways to define “Disney Classics.” There was the era of when Disney was alive and directing the studio, the amorphous period after Disney passed but films were still happening, there is the “Renaissance” that some now lump into the classics, and then there is the CGI era. Do you count Pixar or is that it’s own thing? For this newsletter, I am defining “Classics” as films made before I was born in 1984. The Little Mermaid was the first film I saw in theatres. I adored it. (In some ways still do.) But it’s considered the first film in the Disney Renaissance era.

What makes the Classics great is the hand-painted production cels set in front of artistic backgrounds. Any frame is art on its own. Some of the backgrounds are essentially landscape oil paintings you could hang on a wall. Additionally, most of the Classics are based on existing stories - but made friendlier for kids. That means you know what you’re getting and there is comfort in the narrative. Finally, the music. The songs are not only catchy, they add to the story.

I know that these Classics are, oftentimes, problematic (and outright racist) - but I can’t wait to introduce my kiddo to them. We can use the issues as teaching moments. I’m not sure what she’ll think of the older style animation, but there is still beauty in these films. Besides, I’d watch them over and over again with or without her.

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