Summary

• Disney animation and singing are usually synonymous, but some films break this tradition for a unique storytelling experience.
• Movies like Raya And The Last Dragon and The Black Cauldron showcase Disney's diverse range beyond just musical numbers.
• From classics like Bambi to underrated gems like Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Disney has produced great films with no songs, proving their storytelling prowess.

Singing is pretty inextricably linked to Disney animation. Cartoon waifs warbling about romance or ♌dreams, or moustache-twirling villains laying their plot on the line. After all, why make a point verbally when it c♋an be made against a catchy backing track?

However, not every film in the Disney animated canon subscribes to this tradition. While the vast majority will have at least one or two songs knocking about, some make a very conscious effort to step away and tell a different kind of narrative. The results can be mixed – but it's a fact that there are some great song-free Disney movies. Here's the best of them.

A fair warning to any Mouseketeers who haven't seen the films in our ranking: there'll be a few minor spoilers. Granted, said spoilers pertain to twists that almost everyone under the sun knows about (in the same league as Rosebud being the sled), but we're nothing if not courteous!

Updated July 13, 2024 by Bobby Mills: On its first pass last year, folks seemed to love this list; perhaps we were all high on the Disney 100th anniversary celebrations? The company has had its financial hiccups of late, for sure – but megahits like Inside Out 2 bring it all right back and remind us why Disney is a cultural force to be reckoned with. We thought now was a great time to spruce up the article, and add even more great Disney movies without songs. Enjoy!

15 Raya And The Last Dragon (2021)♚

Starring Awkwafina As The Only Character She Ever Plays

Raya and the Last Dragon is a stellar work from a visual standpoint. The kingdom of Kumandra is lavishly rendered, from the crunchy snow of the Spine region to the whistling lemongrass of Heart and the floating lanterns of Talon. You also can't fault the heart-pumping action sequences.

Raya herself is a likeable protagonist, and Tuk-Tuk is simply adorable. Kelly-Marie Tran delivers some heartwrenching voicework as the heroine learns to unharden her heart enough to help undo the curse that's petrified her loved ones. Sure, the moral tying it all together is a bit odd. (Trusting people who openly betrayed you, and who have done nothing but stab you in the back? Namaari, you snake.) However, it's absolutely worth getting through just to bask in that visual splendour.

14 The Black Cauldron (1♐985)

Too Early To Ride The Tolkien Hype

The Black Cauldron is widely recognised as the film that almost killed Disney, bombing spectacularly and resulting in the animation department being moved into what amounted to a shed. But is the film itself as bad as those dire straits would suggest? Not really. Its main low points come in the form of Gurgi — quite possibly the lamest 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:animal sidekick character ever conceived, whose voice sounds like a cross between Stitch and Gollum — and an interminable side quest to find the cauldron's location.

Almost everything else about the film is a fun ride. John Hurt's Horned King is a terrifying villain, and the band of heroes, including spunky Princess Eilonwy and an oracular pig named Hen-Wen, are enjoyable. While the lead Taran is as dull as dishwater, some truly spooky imagery and suspenseful moments elevate this to a worthwhile watch.

13 Brother♔ Bear (2003)

40 Percent Amazing, 60 Percent Pretty Good

Those familiar with Brother Bear will no doubt be frothing at the mouth to point out that it, technically, has songs. This is true, but they're non-diegetic, courtesy of Phil Collins; so for the purposes of our list, we're counting it. It's just too unique of an ursine package to ignore.

The same logic would preclude Tarzan (1999), which is also scored by Collins, but features two in-universe musical numbers. Awesome flick, regardless, and one which would have earned a spot in any other circums⛄tance!

Much like its central protagonist, Brother Bear is a movie of two halves. The opening act, which depicts Inuit culture as faithfully as a Disney animation could hope to, is faultless, and really gets you feeling for Kenai and his family. The orchestral music rouses, and the scene on ༒the mountaintop with the spiritual auroras induces straight chills. And then... Kenai gets turned into a bear as recompense for killing one. Cue the rest of the story turning into a generic buddy road trip. This second portion still sque꧅ezes out enough heart and laughs to make the cut, though – we could just have done without Koda.

12 The Great Mous🦩e Detective (1986)

Also Known As 'Basil The Great Mouse Detective' In Select Territories

The Great Mouse Detective occupies an odd spot in Disney history. It has the misfortune of being sandwiched between the floundering 'Scratchy Era' (think The Fox and the Hound, Oliver and Company, et al.) of the 1970s, and a wee juggernaut you might have heard of called The Little Mermaid. Consequently, it gets overlooked, but don't let yourself pass it up. This is a witty and inventive reimagining of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Basil of Baker Street is to the rodent community what Sherlock is to the London folk: totally off his rocker, but brilliant when it comes to busting criminals. One such mastermin🌟d is Ratigan, a barrel-chested crime lord with designs on usurping the Queen of England. Watching these two equally unhinged geniuses butt heads and wits with one another is engrossing — and the secondary cast, including the adorable Olivia and the long-suffering Dr. Watson stand-in Dawson, bring up the rear with panache.

11 Meet The Robinsons (20🅘07) 👍

Back To The Future Has Some Oedipal Competition

In the mid-2000s, Disney were struggling. Traditional, hand-drawn animation was on its way out, and 3D CGI was in. Its first attempt at the medium, 2005's Chicken Little, made bank but was lambasted critically. Thankfully, its next shot, Meet the Robinsons, fared much better.

You instantly fall head over heels for protagonist Lewis, as he struggles to be adopted long into the double digits. His inventions bring him into contact with Wilbur, a kid from the future who's in battle with The Bowler Hat Guy, looking to steal Lewis' work. Wacky family members are met, dinosaurs are fought, Adam Wests are cameo'd. We daren't spoil the many twists and paradoxical turns that the film weaves, but suffice to say you'll be needing some tissues.

10 🎉 Strange World (2022)

What's Strange Is That More People Haven't Seen It

Strange World, a sci-fi outing, was the subject of much discussion when it had its muted debut in 2022. Did Disney fail to market it properly? Had we had one too many 'generational trauma' storylines? Putting all this discourse aside, it's a fun flick.

The Clades are a family of explorers who must descend into the bowels of their (curiously squishy) planet to uncover the cause of a disease killing their 'pando' crops, a vital power source. A blob of goo named Splat and the three-legged dog Legend provide comedy antics, while the terse dynamic between the three generations of Clade men, Ethan, Searcher and Jaeger, forms the emotional core. Add in a clever environmental twist, and viewers are in for a riveting voyage.

9 The Rescuer🐟s Duology (1977, 1990)

Sometimes, Some Crimes Go Slipping Through The Cracks...

The first Rescuers is a sweet little movie – albeit one that falls into a few too many clichéd traps of the genre. You've got your cuddly critters, your poor orphan girl in need of help, your deformed malicious foster parent who's exploiting said orphan for financial gain... but luckily, Bob Newhart's stammering, introverted vocal delivery injects a giant amount of heart. Lest we forget Eva Gabor, dahling.

A whopping 13 years later, though, we'd get the sequel, The Rescuers Down Under; and it's everything the original should have been. It's a rip-snorting adventure through the Australian outback, and with the advent of fancy '90s CAPS digital techniques, Bernard and Bianca never looked better. The jokes are funnier, the action set pieces far cooler, and there's even a villain with some real meat on his bones.

Percival McLeach's first action in the film is to chuck an innocent child down a pit — talk about your establishing character moments!

8 Bolt (2008) ꧂ 🗹

Like A Bolt Out Of The Blue Screen

If Meet the Robinsons was an improvement, Bolt definitively proved Disney could pull off a proper CGI movie. As the directorial debut of Byron Howard, who would go on to create such modern classics as Tangled and Encanto, it made audiences turn their heads. And rightly so; it's charming, hilarious and whip-smart.

Picture The Truman Show, if Truman was a dog voiced by John Travolta. That's the reality that Bolt lives in, convinced since he was a puppy that his adventures, as well as his superpowers, are real. Trouble ensues when he breaks out of the studio, only to discover that none of his abilities function. He's joined by cynical cat Mittens and superfan hamster Rhino as he learns to be a regular dog, while cultivating a new appreciation for the acting artform in the process.

7 Big Hero 6 (2014) ▨ꦬ

Ba-Da-La-Da-La-Da!

A little-known fact about Big Hero 6 is that it's actually based on a series of Marvel comic books. Not that you'd clock it: the Disney version alters so much about the principal cast that the connection is tenuous at best. What it did retain was all the pummeling bad guys insensible you'd want from a superhero flick.

Hiro and Tadashi Hamada are genius inventors. However, while Tadashi puts his smarts to good use — constructing a walking healthcare centre in the form of the highly merchable Baymax — Hiro employs them to act out, attending illegal bot fights and getting jailed on the weekends. When Tadashi's killed in a tragic fire at his university, though, Hiro's forced to snap out of it and band together with his mates, as well as Baymax, to catch the perpetrator. Sure, the reveal of the villain's identity is utterly laughable (and an eternal source of YouTube memes) — but everything else about the movie works so well you won't really care.

6 Wreck-It Ralphꦏ (2012)

Just Don't Mention The Second One

Marketing for Wreck-it Ralph sold the movie mostly based on its 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:various video game cameos, including the likes of Bowser, Pac-Man and Sonic. And while those are undoubtedly neat, there's a story with a lot of heart hiding beneath.

Ralph is a game villain sick of all the mistreatment and tosses into piles of mud that role entails. Embarking beyond his arcade cabinet, he journeys to other games in search of a means to prove himself — and finds it in a medal he wins in shoot-'em-up Hero's Duty. Unfortunately for Ralph, he winds up crashing in Sugar Rush, a kart racer where he befriends the precocious Vanellope Von Schweetz. Together, the pair must take on the corrupt King Candy, and throw out a few more gaming references while they're at it.