The best and worst Disney movie of every decade since 1940
Worst of the 1940s: "Song of the South"
Critic score: 45%
User score: 72%
What critics said: "The film is very much a '40s Hollywood vision of the Ole South. The field hands march to and from work in neatly pressed work clothes, singing elaborate choral arrangements of spirituals." — The Los Angeles Times ("Song of the South" has become known as Disney's most "notorious" film for its racist character archetypes.)
Best of the 1940s: "Pinocchio"
Critic score: 100%
User score: 73%
What critics said: "It still is the best thing Mr. Disney has done and therefore the best cartoon ever made." — The New York Times
Worst of the 1950s: "The Shaggy Dog"
Critic score: 67%
User score: 48%
What critics said: "Unhappily, Producer Walt Disney tells his shaggy-dog story so doggedly that he soon runs it into the pound." — TIME Magazine
(tie) Best of the 1950s: "Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier"
Critic score: 100%
User score: 78%
What critics said: "Walt Disney's amiable biography of the renowned American frontiersman is intended chiefly for youngsters, of course, but many a grown-up is likely to get quite a kick out of it too." — Maclean's Magazine
(tie) Best of the 1950s: "Darby O’Gill and the Little People"
Critic score: 100%
User score: 77%
What critics said: "[An] overpoweringly charming concoction of standard Gaelic tall stories, fantasy and romance." — The New York Times
Honorable Mention: "Lady and the Tramp"
Critic score: 93%
User score: 80%
What critics said: "The quintessential American love story — the one between the spoiled heiress and the spontaneous, fun-loving guy from the wrong side of the tracks — has seldom been more elegantly and entertainingly told." — The Chicago Tribune
Worst of the 1960s: "Babes in Toyland"
Critic score: 36%
User score: 60%
What critics said: "Live-action Mother Goose musical with mild slapstick action." — Common Sense Media
Best of the 1960s: "Mary Poppins'
Critic score: 100%
User score: 86%
What critics said: "Mary Poppins is a picture that is, more than most, a triumph of many individual contributions. And its special triumph is that it seems to be the work of a single, cohesive intelligence." — The Hollywood Reporter
Worst of the 1970s: "The Black Hole"
Critic score: 40%
User score: 45%
What critics said: "An elegant, if stubbornly unexciting, popcorn-muncher that flips into a chin-scratcher, with a crew of mostly bland heroes." — eFilmCritic.com
Best of the 1970s: "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh"
Critic score: 100%
User score: 88%
What critics said: "Disney has made a number of features by cobbling together shorter stories, but none more cleverly and successfully than this one." — Family Home Theater
Honorable Mention: "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope"
Critic score: 93%
User score: 96%
What critics said: "I haven't had as much fun at a movie in years. With its technical wizardry, high-velocity storytelling and spirited good humor, Star Wars dazzles the child in us." — Newsday
Worst of the 1980s: "Howard the Duck"
Critic score: 15%
User score: 38%
What critics said: "The movie is too scuzzy to beguile children, too infantile to appeal to adults." — Time
(tie) Best of the 1980s: "Never Cry Wolf"
Critic score: 100%
User score: 84%
What critics said: "Capturing the changes a man goes through as he learns about life in the wilds, 'Never Cry Wolf' is very informative." — TV Guide
(tie) Best of the 1980s: "The Journey of Natty Gann"
Critic score: 100%
User score: 78%
What critics said: "Beautifully photographed and designed, evocatively scored, it's a pleasantly archaic family entertainment in the Disney tradition." — The Washington Post
Honorable Mention: "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"
Critic score: 97%
User score: 84%
What critics said: "If the pleasures of Who Framed Roger Rabbit are mostly incidental, they are certainly more than considerable." — The Orlando Sentinel
Worst of the 1990s: "The Big Green"
Critic score: 0%
User score: 46%
What critics said: "'The Big Green' is at its worst and most desperate when resorting to ridiculous hallucinations and silly sped-up photography to get laughs, and it's at its best when … well, it's over." — The Austin Chronicle
Best of the 1990s: "Toy Story"
Critic score: 100%
User score: 92%
What critics said: "The rivalry between Woody the cowboy and Buzz the astronaut is worked out as a direct parallel to any other family quarrels and it is this sense of oneness that gives the film its kick." — The Guardian
Worst of the 2000s: "Old Dogs"
Critic score: 5%
User score: 44%
What critics said: "Heartless, brainless and unable to do anything with what it does have to offer, 'Old Dogs' doesn't know who it's for or what it's offering. It just needs to get made because people have to have something to do. Spare yourself and your kids." — ComingSoon.net
Best of the 2000s: "Finding Nemo"
Critic score: 99%
User score: 86%
What critics said: "'Finding Nemo' offers as much in terms of thrills, frights, humour and psychological insight as it does in pure technical skill, proving that a movie can be art without being an 'art' movie." — The London Evening Standard
Worst of the 2010s: "Need for Speed"
Critic score: 22%
User score: 57%
What critics said: "You wouldn't think a movie called 'Need For Speed' would feel so slow." — The Hollywood Reporter
(tie) Best of the 2010s: "Toy Story 3"
Critic score: 98%
User score: 89%
What critics said: "It's still more inventive, clever and laugh-out-loud funny than any other movie out there now." — The Wrap
(tie) Best of the 2010s: "Inside Out"
Critic score: 98%
User score: 89%
What critics said: "As so often with Pixar, you feel that you are visiting a laboratory crossed with a rainbow." — The New Yorker
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