With the recently released Haunted Mansion, we decided now was a great time for the Bitesize crew to put their brains together to compile Bitesize Breakdown's consensus Top Five Live-Action Disney Films. For inclusion on this list, a film had to be original Disney content, not from a property they acquired such as Lucasfilm.
Each writer ranks his or her top 15 films in the category. Those lists are then weighted on a reverse point system. After all the points are tallied up, the entries with the most total points make up the Bitesize Top Five.
5. THE MUPPETS
It’s worth mentioning that both The Muppets and The Muppet Christmas Carol received votes for this Top Five, but it was the 2011 reboot that won in the end. The Muppets have been beloved for what seems like forever, and yet, in the years before this film, it felt like they’d been gone. The Muppets is fully aware of the characters’ growing irrelevance over the years, and brings them back to the spotlight in true Muppets fashion, by being funny, charming, and full of heart. - Adriano
4. REMEMBER THE TITANS
If I randomly yell out “LEFT SIDE!!!,” and you don’t immediately respond “STRONG SIDE!!!,” I’m gonna look at you real funny-like. There isn’t a sports movie in the last twenty-some-odd years that uses a great ensemble of dedicated actors to inspire more confidence and motivation than Remember the Titans. Of course, you’ve got Denzel Washington doing Denzel things, but Will Patton might be at his best as Coach Yoast (sometimes giving Denzel a run for best actor on screen); not to mention Donald Faison, Wood Harris, Ethan Suplee, and a young Hayden Panettiere bringing great energy to the story. Also, don’t ever forget that Ryan Gosling is an absolute liability at cornerback. - Amarú
3. MARY POPPINS
Though there have been many, no live-action Disney musical has quite blazed a trail so thoroughly as 1964’s Mary Poppins. So iconic was Julie Andrews’ titular performance that she took home Best Actress that year, and looking back, she more than deserved it. Beyond the Oscars, the film itself remains one of the finest examples of combining animation with live-action storytelling (even if only for one sequence), and so celebrated is the music that anyone should be able to tell you precisely what a spoonful of sugar does and exactly how the word Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious sounds. - Jacob
2. NATIONAL TREASURE
What can I say about National Treasure that hasn’t already been said in hundreds of memes or on SNL Weekend Update’s “Get in the Cage” segment? This extremely fun film franchise (we don’t talk about the Disney+ series) is The Goonies meets The Da Vinci Code, and instead of having Nic Cage be the whirlwind of crazy, it grounds him in relative normalcy while making the situations around him bonkers. Steal the Declaration of Independence? No Sweat. Kidnap the President of the United States? Easy peasy. Part history lesson, part heist caper, and all popcorn entertainment, National Treasure is what we want in our summer blockbusters. Now, please tell me more about Page 47… - Quentin
1. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is such an odd film to think about conceptually. You have non-action-star Johnny Depp at a quiet point in his career; Orlando Bloom, who had just jumped on the scene with The Lord of the Rings franchise; and Keira Knightley, the relative unknown from Bend It Like Beckham…in an adventure movie about pirates? Yet, it works... quite wonderfully, in fact. After two strong films, the franchise begins to falter, but everyone remembers that first film and the day they (almost) caught Captain Jack Sparrow (Depp). - Nick
HONORABLE MENTIONS
SAVING MR. BANKS
FREAKY FRIDAY (2003)
HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS
TRON: LEGACY
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE
Photo Credits: Walt Disney Studios