Although the Walt Disney Company has released hundreds of animated movies over the years, only those released under the banner of Walt Disney Animation Studios are counted among Disney's classics. It was founded by Walt and Roy O. Disney in 1923, making it the longest-running animation studio in the world. The studio would produce short cartoons through the 20s and 30s before releasing its first animated movie in 1937 with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Though often associated with high-quality animation and compelling stories, not all of Disney's movies have landed with critics or audiences. Especially for a studio that has been creating animated films for over 100 years, they were bound to make at least a few critical misfires and failures. Be it poor timing or behind-the-scenes meddling, something about these bad Disney movies makes even the most die-hard fans look elsewhere.

15 'Meet the Robinsons' (2007)

IMDb Rating: 6.8/10

Considered by some to be one of Disney's most underrated movies, Meet the Robinsons follows the story of Lewis, a young orphan inventor who is whisked away to the world of the future. Accompanied by Wilbur Robinson, the duo experiences all the magic and technological advancements that the future has to offer, although it's all at risk thanks to the dangerous Bowler Hat Guy. Wilbur needs the help of Lewis and his inventor prowess in order to help him in the future, and it doesn't take long before Lewis begins to believe he may have found his true home and calling.

Especially upon its release, Meet the Robinson was considered a wildly mixed bag by many critics and audiences. While the film had no shortage of creative and emotional moments, it also felt scattered and too unfocused to truly tap into its biggest strengths. While it has certainly aged better than the majority of other offerings that Disney had in the 2000s, that says more about the lower quality that Disney had during the decade as opposed to the high quality of Meet the Robinsons.

14 'Bolt' (2008)

IMDb Rating: 6.8/10

One of the many awkward steps before Disney found their footing with 3D animation, Bolt follows the story of the titular canine, Bolt, who is a massive Hollywood star playing a superhero dog. However, Bolt believes that the world of his TV show is real and that he has superpowers. This creates a massive conundrum for him when he is accidentally shipped to New York City, separated from his owner, and left to fend for his life on his lonesome. Now faced with tackling the real world for the first time, Bolt has to do all that he can to return home.

Bolt is a clear example of just how aimless and lacking in identity Disney had when it comes to 3D animation in the 2000s, as it feels nothing like a Disney film, and feels more at home alongside the catalog of DreamWorks animation. There isn't anything egregiously terrible about the film, yet at the same time, there isn't anything exceptionally great or memorable about the film, creating a forgettable and uninteresting middle-of-the-road animated experience.

13 'Frozen II' (2019)

IMDb Rating: 6.8/10

One of the few direct sequels to be released in theaters and lauded as a true Walt Disney Animation Studios film, Frozen II had the difficult task of following up one of the most iconic animated films of its era. The film follows the cast of the original film, including Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, and Olaf, as mysterious magical disasters begin affecting the daily lives of Arendelle. In search of answers, the group ventures off into the deep, magical forest, in the process discovering the truths of their kingdom.

The original Frozen was an instant smash hit, with iconic songs, memorable characters, and a genuinely compelling story that made it some of the closest Disney had gotten to recapturing its Renaissance-era magic. The widely anticipated follow-up, however, doesn't feature nearly the same ingenuity and originality of the original, as it has very little to offer in terms of new additions to this world, feeling like a downgrade in every way to the original. The film feels less like the true next chapter in the story, and more like a hobbled-together cash-grab attempt to get more out of the success of the first film.

12 'The Lion King' (2019)

IMDb Rating: 6.8/10

A more grounded and "live-action" remake of the Disney classic, The Lion King retells the classic story of Simba and Pride Rock for a new generation, with an increased focus on realism. While one may quickly assume that the film isn't animated, and is live-action, very little of this film was actually filmed, with the vast majority of it being computer-animated and made to recapture a style that closely aligns with real life. While the film would end up being a massive box office success, becoming one of the highest-grossing movies of all time, its critical and audience reception was the exact opposite.

The film's realistic visuals, while novel at first, quickly get in the way of the genuine story and greatness of the original film, as characters simply cannot emote or show emotion nearly as well when they're supposed to look like real animals. Especially when directly compared to the original 1994 masterpiece, which weaves its beautiful visual style with its powerful story in tandem, it's hard not to view this remake as a complete mockery of one of Disney's finest pieces of art.

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11 'Pocahontas' (1995)

IMDb Rating: 6.7/10

Pocahontas is an animated film based on the life of a Native American woman who lived in the early 17th century and is primarily remembered for her contribution to the history of the English settlement in Jamestown, Virginia. Pocahontas is portrayed in the film as an independent and strong-willed young woman divided between her devotion to her tribe and her love for an Englishman called John Smith. Music by Alan Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwartz is included in the film, and the voice cast features Irene Bedard as Pocahontas, Mel Gibson as John Smith, and David Ogden Stiers as Governor Ratcliffe.

Pocahontas has been criticized for cultural misrepresentations, historical inaccuracy, and its romanticization of colonialism. The film takes substantial liberties with the true narrative of Pocahontas and does not adequately reflect Native American history or culture. Some have also questioned the film's portrayal of Pocahontas and John Smith's relationship, as well as its treatment of colonization and cultural struggle. It's a classic film that has aged poorly, and it shows with its ever-decreasing IMDb score.

10 'Oliver & Company' (1988)

IMDb Rating: 6.6/10

Based on Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, an orphaned kitten named Oliver living in New York City is taken in by a pack of street dogs in this movie. He tries to help them steal for their owner, so he can pay off a loanshark but gets taken in by a lonely rich girl. Oliver is torn between two families, forced to decide which life is best for him, and things get worse when the loan shark goes after the girl to ransom her.

While the film has some good music and a good design for New York City, it doesn't offer anything new to this classic tale and under-utilizes the animal characters. Especially for such a timeless and recognized story as Oliver Twist, audiences were simply looking for something more than a colorful, kids-friendly coat of paint, but instead a true evolution and reimagining of the story. Upon release, it was out-grossed at the world box office by Don Bluth's The Land Before Time. However, it made more money domestically, which would help contribute to the Disney Renaissance.

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9 'Dinosaur' (2000)

IMDb Rating: 6.4/10

Disney's first computer-generated film is about dinosaurs and tells the story of Aladar, an iguanodon whose egg was taken far from his nest and adopted by a family of lemurs. Their island home is destroyed in a meteor shower when he is grown, forcing him and the survivors to go to the mainland. They join a herd of dinosaurs traveling through a barren desert to reach their nesting ground. While the film starts with promise, it's one of the greatest examples of playing its best cards too early, as it quickly devolves into a complete slog of a viewing experience.

The opening scene of Aladar's egg traveling across the landscape was used as the film's trailer and had the rest been as majestic, it would be remembered better. The CGI holds up pretty well, and the score by James Newton Howard is one of the greatest in any Disney movie. Unfortunately, Dinosaur relies on anachronistic jokes and tells an uninspired story that leaves audiences wanting more and wildly uninterested in the majority of what is happening in the film.

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8 'The Three Caballeros' (1944)

IMDb Rating: 6.3/10

During the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, The United States of America wanted to improve its relationships with Latin and South America. They commissioned Disney to release two films to aid them in this process. The second saw Donald Duck team up with Brazilian parrot Jose Carioca and the Mexican rooster, Panchito Pistoles, calling themselves the Three Caballeros. Less than a singular story being told, it acts more as a collection of various shorts that come together to create a singular cinematic experience.

The Three Caballeros is a mixed bag when it comes to content. It's one of the first movies that merged live-action and animation, and many of the shorts are fun, particularly near the beginning. However, the film overstays its welcome and quickly loses focus of its story, with the third act divulging into Donald trying to make out with human women and a strange sequence involving dancing cacti. It's one of the strangest chapters of the early years of Disney, and is often forgotten in favor of other golden era classics like Fantasia and Pinocchio.

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7 'An Extremely Goofy Movie' (2000)

IMDb Rating: 6.3/10

An Extremely Goofy Movie, the Disney sequel to the 1995 film A Goofy Movie, features characters that fans know and love. In the film, Goofy's son Max begins college and attempts to embrace his independence, but Goofy struggles to let go and adjust to life without his son at home. Max and Goofy navigate their relationship and attempt to reunite while competing in a college extreme sports championship. Bill Farmer portrays Goofy, Jason Marsden voices Max, and Jim Cummings voices Pete in the animated film.

It has received generally positive reviews from critics and viewers, and is regarded as a fun and amusing movie for kids and families. However, it has also been widely criticized for not being as powerful as the original Goofy Movie. It did not live up to the characters' and the franchise's potential. Furthermore, the animation and storyline in the film were not as polished as those in earlier Disney movies.

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6 'The Black Cauldron' (1985)

IMDb Rating: 6.3/10

This adaptation of The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander is about a boy named Taran who dreams of a great life as a warrior. One day, while daydreaming, he loses a pig with powers of prophecy to the minions of the evil Horned King. The villain hopes to use the pig's powers to locate an artifact that will allow him to summon an army of undead warriors. It's a film experience that is less about the actual narrative, and more about its fantasy world and darkly grim animation style.

This scary animated Disney film was the movie that almost killed Disney animation in 1985. While it has gained some status as a cult classic, it suffers from an excessively dark tone, generic narrative, and an unfocused story due to twelve minutes being cut from the final product. It was so bad that The Care Bears Movie did better than it at the box office. However, the film's monumental failures can be attributed to the shake-up and change in focus that Disney would take for The Little Mermaid, setting into motion the iconic Renaissance era.

5 'Chicken Little' (2005)

IMDb Rating: 5.7/10

From the director of The Emperor's New Groove comes the story of Chicken Little, who is ridiculed by his community for thinking that the sky was falling. A year later, he rebuilds his reputation by joining his town's baseball team and becoming the star player. However, he was right about things falling from the sky, as he and his friends soon discover a lost alien child. It soon becomes up to him and his friends to help the little alien return home, before the oncoming alien invasion destroys everyone and everything in its path.

Chicken Little is perhaps Disney's most mean-spirited movie to date, and still rightly considered among the worst Disney films of all time. The townspeople are vicious to this poor kid and only accept him when he feeds into their narcissism. The worst character in the movie is his father, who is willing to throw his son under the bus if it means saving face, yet the movie expects us to want these two to make up by the end. He genuinely makes a case for being one of the worst and most annoying Disney characters of all time.

4 'Strange World' (2022)

IMDb Rating: 5.7/10

Despite its promising trailer and star-studded voice cast featuring actors like Jake Gyllenhaal and Lucy Liu, Strange World was a box office disappointment that failed to resonate with viewers. The film – now considered among the worst Disney movies of all time – is set in the world of Avalonia, a vibrant location where a renowned family of explorers known as the Clades reside. They soon have to work together to venture towards an enigmatic land underneath their world, which holds bizarre lifeforms and a resource they need to power their daily lives.

Its well-written characters, gorgeous landscapes, and stunning animation style do little to save it from its bland and unoriginal story, which Disney fans have heard too many times before. However, unlike in the past, where a middling story could be overlooked in favor of creativity and wild new ideas, Strange World feels lazy and uninspired in its execution, doing very little to justify its existence. Its uninspired narrative has attracted negative criticisms on platforms like IMDb, which explains its remarkably low score.

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3 'Olaf's Frozen Adventure' (2017)

IMDb Rating: 5.7/10

Olaf's Frozen Adventure is an animated musical film that is a spin-off of the hit 2013 film Frozen and includes the film's characters, notably Olaf the snowman, voiced by Josh Gad. Olaf embarks on a mission to find the ideal holiday traditions for Anna and Elsa, who are battling to keep their family's traditions alive. Olaf discovers a variety of Christmas customs along the way and learns the value of making new memories and celebrating with loved ones. Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson composed the music for the film, which also stars Kristen Bell as Anna and Idina Menzel as Elsa.

The film is generally regarded as pleasant and enjoyable. The film's length, however, has been criticized by critics and audiences alike. Some viewers thought the film's duration was excessive for a short film, detracting from the overall viewing experience. Furthermore, the music and plot of the short film were not as good as those in the first Frozen movie, which turns Olaf's Frozen Adventure into another one of Disney's most disappointing sequels. It didn't help that this film was forcibly attached to the theatrical release of Coco, with many audiences who never wanted to see this elongated mess forced to sit through it to watch an actually great film.

2 'Wish' (2023)

IMDb Rating: 5.6/10

A film meant to act as a celebration of 100 years of animated classics, Wish follows the story of Asha, an idealist living in the town of Rosa, run by the magical King Magnifico who grants wishes for his subjects. However, after Asha gets a taste of just how dastardly Magnifico runs things behind the scenes, she hatches a plan to save the town's wishes from his deadly grasp. She soon finds herself getting help from a wishing star from the sky, filled with boundless energy and set on saving the wishes of the world.

Wish had a lot more to live up to than the average Disney film, not only acting as the celebration of Disney's entire history, but the film was also a response and answer to the rising popularity of stylized 3D animation seen in recent works like Into the Spider-Verse and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. On both fronts, this film fails and disappoints, as its attempts at celebrating Disney's legacy only come across as cheap references and a lazy, by-the-numbers storyline and themes. In terms of its feigned stylized animation, it doesn't go far enough in terms of a creative and inventive visual style, feeling more like a filter slapped on top of Disney's already existing style.

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1 ​'Home on the Range' (2004)

IMDb Rating: 5.4/10

Roseanne Barr plays a cow named Maggie, who is sold to a farm after notorious cattle thief, Alameda Slim, ruins hers. When the sheriff arrives to tell her new owner that she has three days to pay off her debts or lose her land, Maggie convinces two other cows to help her capture the bandit and claim his reward. They'll have to compete with the sheriff's horse, who wants to capture Slim to impress his idol, a local bounty hunter.

Compared to other '90s animated films, Home on the Range comes ahead thanks to beautiful animation and the occasional good song. When compared to Disney, however, it's a travesty, with flat characters, too many cow jokes, and a story that is trying to be a grand Western but is held back by Disney executives. The studio wouldn't release another 2D animated film until The Princess and the Frog, which has given this film its reputation as the death of traditional animation (and the worst Disney movie ever made).

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