Pre-2010:
Pocahontas vs. Toy Story: Toy Story obviously. Pocahontas still has its merits with its ambitious art direction, breathtaking and memorable music from Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz, and superb character animation. The story was just too familiar with earlier romantic works and Disney's own Beauty and the Beast (which was intentional), but it was daring for the film to explore the evils of racism and colonialism, but its resolutions of those ideas was weakly handled and uncompelling.
Mulan vs. A Bug's Life: I deeply adore both films. I'll give the edge to A Bug's Life, which is sadly underrated. It has great themes of individualism and its allegorical take of social classes. Hopper was a great Pixar villain, and far more memorable than Shan-Yu. The characters are a delight, and its animation soared to new heights. Mulan had a great use of animation style based on Chinese watercolor paintings. Mulan herself was a great, inspiring character, though maybe not as revolutionizing as Disney made her out to be; her sacrificing of her life for her father's life in the war was more or less just as noble as when Belle sacrificed her life for her father's to live with an abusive Beast. The songs are great to listen, and Jerry Goldsmith outdoes himself with his score. Its detractions are Mushu's out of place comedy, and its reliance on the Disney formula.
Tarzan vs. Toy Story 2: I love both movies. Tarzan had great, memorable music from Phil Collins; "You'll Be In My Heart" was a worthy win over "When She Loved Me". There were times when Toy Story 2 took too much from the original's storyline if you ask me, but it's still an emotional rollercoaster ride with witty humor to boot. Tarzan's story is just as emotional and funny, though Terk gets on my nerves sometimes. Both films have a surprise villain reveal, though the Prospector's reveal was a lot less surprising. I'll give this as a tie.
Atlantis: The Lost Empire vs. Monsters, Inc.: Monsters, Inc. wins this round. Atlantis should have been a better film than it was with Disney's refreshing turn towards action-adventure and science fiction, but its story structure is too derivative of films like Pocahontas (alluring ethnic native female character, white explorer, romance between the two, greedy villain). I don't understand everyone's complaint about the lack of character development; the campfire scene gave us some insight into the characters.
Brother Bear vs. Finding Nemo: Brother Bear had its moments, though with its character animation, well-handled brother relationships, impressive visuals, and changing the aspect ratio mid-way through the film. Phil Collins and Mark Mancina's songs and score didn't live up to Tarzan's standards, but the "Transformation" track is amazing to listen to. The story was just lacking in originality, and borrowed from earlier films to fill in the gaps. Finding Nemo is still the superior film.
Home on the Range vs. The Incredibles: The Incredibles, need I say more. Like RebelStar said, Home on the Range is better than what its reputation and place in history gives it. The art design was neat, though the character designs were crude to look at. The story was by-the-numbers with its "go on an adventure, give up midway, and save the day" formula.
Chicken Little vs. Cars: I never liked Chicken Little with its atrocious character designs, non-inventive storyline, and lack of original comedy (with too many pop culture references). The few highlights were the voice cast and the touching father-son relationship. Cars was good, but not great Pixar; the story was too close to Doc Hollywood and other films where the arrogant protagonist becomes humble at the end, and was too slowly paced. That said, the visuals were great and the design of the car characters was unique from what had been before. Cars wins.
Meet the Robinsons vs. Ratatouille: Ratatouille wins here. Meet the Robinsons is still a delight to watch, though it gets too wacky at times with its eccentric, over-the-top characters. The message was inspirational, and personally, Robinsons is a very underrated film.
Bolt vs. WALL-E: The winner is WALL-E. Bolt was a step-up of Disney at the time, but its story was derivative of Toy Story. Sometimes, I wish John Lasseter left Chris Sanders alone when he was directing American Dog, and it probably would have been a creative, daring film.
The Princess and the Frog vs. Up: Princess and the Frog was a great throw-back to the 90s Disney animation classics. The animation was lush, beautiful, and visually appealing. Dr. Facilier was a good villain though his motives and scheme was too muddled. Again, it's the story that's the problem; it gets convoluted here and there. Up knew how to keep its story simple, but portray its emotions as complex. This is not so tough choice even though I love both films, but Up wins.
Tangled vs. Toy Story 3: Toy Story 3 wins for its emotional, nostalgic storytelling, great characters, and wonderful ending. Tangled still excels with its deeply felt romance arc, breathtaking animation, even though Alan Menken and Glenn Slater hit too many familiar notes in the music department. Nevertheless, I felt "I See the Light" should have won the Oscar for Best Original Song over Randy Newman's "We Belong Together".
Post-2010:
Winnie the Pooh vs. Cars 2: Winnie the Pooh wins this round. Its animation retained the simplistic 1960s animation style reminiscent of the classic Pooh shorts with a contemporary warmth in those drawings. Its only flaw is that it's too short. Cars 2 was a mess storytelling wise, where the narrative came off unfocused with a forced-in environmental message. The animation was great to look at, but it wasn't enough to save the film.
Wreck-It Ralph vs. Brave: Brave could have been much better, but the story felt a mixed bag of ideas borrowed from The Little Mermaid and Brother Bear. Pixar continues to excel in photorealistic animation in spite of it. Merida was adequate enough as a Disney princess. Wreck-It Ralph had an inventive storytelling, appealing characters, and vivid animation style and art direction. Wreck-It Ralph is a clear winner.
Frozen vs. Monsters University: Frozen for the win. Frozen's art design was painterly in contrast to University's photorealism. Anna and Elsa's character arcs was more compelling to watch than Mike and Sully's. University is still delightful and I give it credit for its message, but at the end, it's just a good film. Frozen, I felt, went the extra mile with portraying an emotional sisterly relationship and tackling deep themes of conformity and true love, and it wins this match-up.
What we do in life, echoes in eternity.
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