Disney’s iconic animated film “Beauty and the Beast” filmed September 30, 29. This milestone invites happy reflection on the evolution of the Disney Princess archetype and, in some cases, the path he has yet to travel.
With over 80 years of work to build on, Stacker ranked all of the standalone movies released by Disney that feature a princess character or are part of the princess canon, from 1937’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” to 2019’s “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil,” a sequel of a modern spin-off revisionist take on the classic “Sleeping Beauty”. Using IMDb user score data, with tie-breaking vote counts, this list also includes sequels, prequels, and spin-offs resulting from the success of the originals.
Early princess stories like “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, “Cinderella”, and “Sleeping Beauty” established a formula that later princess stories would reference and reject. Beginning in 1937 with “Snow White,” Disney’s first animated feature and a cultural phenomenon, the House of Mouse has taken inspiration from princesses in every era of its storied history. Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty joined Snow White to form a group of critically acclaimed and artistically stunning princess films in the 1950s. , “Beauty and the Beast”, “Aladdin”, “Pocahontas” and “Mulan” contributed to the studio’s triumphant return to box office dominance beginning in 1989.
The 21st century has seen the rise of the meta-princess, with 2007’s ‘Enchanted’, 2009’s ‘The Princess and the Frog’ and 2010’s ‘Tangled’ featuring heroines throwing off the traditional princess narrative and retracing their lives with far more agency than those of past princesses, sometimes without a prince at all. The trend peaked with 2013’s “Frozen,” which some say eschewed the princess narrative to huge box office endings and became as much a cultural force as the world’s most successful princess films. past.
But those early princesses left such an indelible mark on culture that Disney returned to the well with a series of live-action remakes, starting with “Cinderella” in 2015, followed by “Beauty and the Beast,” “Mulan” and , full circle, “Snow White” should also receive the live processing.
This ranking goes beyond what might be considered the classic animated princess sphere, and includes movies like “Into the Woods” and “The Princess Diaries,” which also feature royalties and are Disney creations, but don’t are not Disney Princesses in the traditional sense. . On the other hand, Mulan isn’t a princess – she’s neither the daughter nor a king, nor does she marry a prince – but she is included in Disney’s princess franchise and featured on this listing.
Keep reading to see where your favorite falls on the leaderboard.
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