20 Best Disney Animated Musical Movies for Your Kids

Disney continues to amaze us with its beautiful and mystical music items in its movies. It has indeed created a long history with successful numbers of music both in animated and live action.

Who doesn’t love Disney movies?

Kids, adults and even grandparents love Disney animated movies. Watching them never bores you instead inspire you to think better and do better.

Have you noticed that each Disney animated film has a core story that motivates us and makes us look at the world positively?

Everything is so good, clear and hopeful about the characters. Also, one of the primary reasons why Disney movies are such a hit is because of its magical soundtracks.

If you are a core Disney animated movie fan, you must have experienced that almost all the movies have some fantastic musical numbers that are meaningful and soothing to our ears.

Searching the best 20 Disney Animated Musical Movies on Disney+ is hard. Still, I have compiled a list that I feel are the best.

Disney Animated Musical Movies

Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (1937)

1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first animated Disney movie, with which you can say a ‘dynasty of animation’ started.

The movie was released during the time of the Great Depression, but still, it managed to earn unexpectedly high.

The audience and the critics were astonished to see the first ever created animation movie that simplistically tells a simple story.

We all know the story of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” as we grown up reading the story and watching the movie and it continues with each generation passing by.

If you compare this movie with the 21st century Disney animated movie, you will realize the evolution and changes that have taken place.

Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarf was nominated for an Oscar for its soundtracks Snow White’s famous ballad song, “Some Day My Prince Will Come.”

The films soundtracks always rank in the top-tiers song list.

Pinocchio (1940)

Disney’s earliest animated feature movie “Pinocchio” was a massive success at the box-office during the 40s’.

For many of us, ‘Pinocchio’ is the all-time favorite Disney character. It was an adaption from the Carlo Collodi’s children novel “The Adventures of Pinocchio.”

The story of a wooden puppet boy named ‘Pinocchio’ who was brought to life by a fairy and it tells the story of his adventures.

It says, “Disney wouldn’t be Disney without its music.”

Pinocchio holds a special place at every Disney lover’s heart. Also, it is one of Disney’s greatest creation and innovation both in technicalities and visually.

The film stays iconic, and so it’s the song “When You Wish Upon a Star” by Jiminy Cricket, which has won the Oscar for the Best song category in 1940. A song that touches the very soul of any person.

It’s a movie from a decade, but still, you will love to watch with your kid on your side.

Bambi (1942)

Kids love Bambi. The classic Disney animated film that tells about the life of a young dear from birth to adulthood. Bambi is perhaps the loveliest animated figure that Disney was able to create.

The movie shows the creature’s innocence and knowledge as he grows. Bambi teaches the audience so many life-lessons.

If we talk about the musical numbers in the movie, the main title track, “Love is a Song” is the most popular one in the film.

Cindrella (1950)

A film which is based on the fairy tale story Cinderella by Charles Perrault is a box-office hit and created an iconic character. With the series of hits, Disney was becoming a great studio for animation.

The castle in the Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty soon became one of Walt Disney’s logo.

“A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” is a song of hope that encourages her animal friends never to stop dreaming. This soundtrack is quite a popular song, which was last performed by Lily James in 2015.

“Dream” is a predominant Disney theme that has occurred at least once in the songs featured in their animated movies.

“Once Upon a Dream” from “Sleeping Beauty”

“When You Wish Upon a Star” from “Pinocchio”

You see the literal meaning is always ‘dream.’

Alice in the Wonderland (1951)

Disney’s “Alice in the Wonderland” is an animated film based on Lewis Carroll’s novel of the same name where a young girl falls down a rabbit hole into Wonderland, and she comes across to various strange characters and animals.

It’s a fantasy story, and Disney’s Alice in the Wonderland is visually rich. All the characters have uniqueness and extraordinary.

The movie has a wide array of musical numbers. It would be appropriate to call it one of the greatest Disney’s musical animated film of all time.

Peter Pan (1953)

A Disney adventure fantasy film is the 14th Disney’s animated film. The film also has many magical soundtracks, “You Can Fly,” “Your Mother and Mine” are the two amazing pieces of music among all the rest.

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” used to be one of my favorites when I was a kid. An enchanting story of love, Aurora (I like the name very much) who is cursed by Maleficent and this curse can only be alternate if a Prince kisses her.

Disney’s animated movies have been recreated several times, but none beats what the classic Disney movies have done.

The movie is more than 45 years old, but still, when you watch, it feels new.

This musical fantasy film of Walt Disney production has a significant number of soundtracks starting with the “Once Upon a Dream” in the prologue and the continues with more as the film progresses.

The Jungle Book (1967)

One of the most lovable Disney animated films is “The Jungle Book” that we all had watched when we were young. The movie is inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s book of the same name.

It tells the story of a boy named Mowgli, who was raised in the jungle amongst the other animals peacefully. But Sher Khan was a constant threat to him because he was a human baby.

Six major soundtracks in the film and needless to say, all are amazing. But two of them, “The Bare Necessities” and “I wanna be like you” rank among the very best in the list of Disney songs.

It is always a delight to watch “The Jungle Book,” watching Mowgli running around with his friend Baloo and Bagheera. The Jungle is his home and how he proves himself to be worthy of staying in the Jungle.

The orchestra music is the best throughout the film.

The Little Mermaid (1989)

Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” tells the story of a mermaid princess, who dreams of becoming a human, after falling in love with a prince named Eric.

It’s Disney’s animated musical romance film with romantic songs like, “Part of your World” and “Under the Sea” are the classics of Disney. 

Disney has always been more careful with the selection and composing of soundtracks.

A film that every teen girl would love to watch and dream of a prince like Eric.

Beauty and the Beast (1991)

We all have read the story of Beauty and the Beast. The story of a prince who got cursed and magically transformed into a monster. He isolates himself from the outer world.

To break the curse, he has to love someone from the heart for that he captured Belle, a young woman. Eventually, the Beast has to earn her love before the last petal of the enchanted rose falls. If he can’t do that he will remain a monster forever.

Beauty and the Beast were nominated for the Academy Award for the category of Best Picture.

Eventually, the movie won the Academy Award for Best Original Score and Best Original Song for its title.

Once again Menken wrote the song for the movie. “Gaston” was sung in the film to describe Belle’s and Beast growing love for each other.

Aladdin (1992)

How many times have you watched Disney’s Aladdin?

Aladdin is an Arabian street urchin, who finds a magic cup which contains a genie that grants every wish. In an attempt to hide the cup, he disguised himself as a wealthy prince and impressed the sultana and his daughter.

Aladdin enthralled the audiences, and commercially it was a huge success, and it became the highest-grossing film in that year.

The movie got two Academy Awards for its music and also won Grammy Awards for the best song of the year, “A Whole New World.” the film tells a beautiful love story of Aladdin and Jasmine and the relationship of Aladdin and Genie.

There are also songs that are wonderful like “Friend Like Me” and “Arabian Nights.”

the film is one of Disney’s best animated musical movies that all the kids love to watch even today.

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is a cult-classic Disney produced film. Burton’s unique and dark tale of Halloweentown and their search for Christmas is a critically acclaimed film.

The Halloween town is a world of fantasy filled with monster, ghost, zombies, mummies, vampires, and witches.

It is an ideal film for you to watch during Christmas as well as on Halloween day.

The Lion King (1994)

Who doesn’t love Simba, the cute and loving young lion from Disney’s “The Lion King?”

The Lion King was a massive success during the 90s’. It remains one of the most loving and popular Disney animated movies of all time.

The film is about Simba’s journey from being an infant to adulthood and his rightful place as the Lion King. The story shows the kingdom of lions in Africa.

The picturesque landscape of the African jungle and its beauty is shown beautifully through animation. It wasn’t some story of a prince or princess; it was new and refreshing.

This musical life-lessoned adventure movie had some great soundtracks composed by Elton John and Tim Rice.

The most favorite track is “Circle of Life” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.” But it has five musical numbers altogether, the other three are “I Just Can’t Wait to be King,” “Be Prepared,” and “Hakuna Matata.”

Disney released an updated version of The Lion King in 3D in 2011.

Hercules (1997)

Disney’s musical fantasy comedy movie “Hercules” is based on the legendary Greek hero. The film is full of songs, and one of Disney’s best musical number is from this movie, “I Won’t Say I am in Love.”

“Go the Distance” became the star of the film.

It’s a lovely movie with pun intended dialogues, villains and love.

Mulan (1998)

Mulan is a memory. We all had watched Mulan when we were young mostly on Disney Channel.

This animated musical action film has taken place in China during the Han dynasty, where the character Mulan fights against a man who tries to take her father’s place.

A movie like this indeed received several awards for Best Animated Feature film and also earned Golden Globe and Academy Awards.

“Reflection” is the original song that was sung by Filipina singer Lea Salonga for the 1998 Disney animated movie Mulan.

The song “Reflection” has a significance in the film; the song expresses Mulan’s deep feeling of wanting to show the world who she really is and what she is pretending to be someone else.

 It takes the audience to a very vivid scene showing Mulan removing her makeup, and it reveals her true identity.

The same song was also recorded by the American singer Christina Aguilera which was her first ever single debut.

The Princess and the Frog (2009)

Disney’s The Princess and the Frog is based on the fairy tale story “The Frog Prince.”

It’s the story of Tiana, a waitress who dreams of owning a restaurant. She kissed a prince who turned into a frog by an evil sorcerer and Tiana herself becomes a frog.

They both have to find a way out before it is too late or they both will remain frog forever.

Disney animated movies are incomplete without songs and music. Two songs “Almost There” and “Down in New Orleans” were both nominated at the Academy Awards for the Best Original Song category.

Tangled (2010)

Disney’s computer-animated musical film “Tangled” is based on the fairy tale “Rapunzel.”

It is Disney’s one of the most expensive movie of all time if I am correct. It’s a sweet story of a young princess who has magical long hair but is prisoned by a wicked woman who uses her magic to hold her beauty and cheat death.

Tangled is a funny, visually attractive and highly compelling animated movie with a series of memorable sweet songs.

The song that I love among all the others is “I’ve Got a Dream” composed by Alan Menken. It’s a beautiful song.

There is also “I see the Light” which is a theme love song describing the developing romantic relationship between Rapunzel and Flynn. The song got a positive response and also earned numerous awards for Best Song.

Frozen (2013)

Frozen is one of the best and all-time popular Disney’s animated musical film which was produced and released by the Disney Animation studios.

The story of the film “Frozen” is inspired by Christian Andersen’s fairy tale ” The Snow Queen.” The story of two sisters Anna and Elsa, their love and Elsa’s discovery of her icy power. The film was commercially a huge hit worldwide.

The much critically acclaimed song “Let it go” won the Academy Award for the Best Original song of the year. The song has also won the Critic’s Choice Award for Best Song.

“Let it Go” has important musical notes; I love the love and wouldn’t mind listening five times a day.

There is another sweet song among the ten other “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?”

After Elsa accidentally hurts Anna with her icy powers, Elsa got upset and locked herself in her room. The song has a great significance in describing the heartwarming relationship that the two-sister share.

Moana (2016)

Disney animated film “Moana” garnered many accolades from the critics and the audiences widely.

Of course, it is another Disney’s musical animated film which was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for the song “How Far I’ll Go” for the category of Best Original Song and the same song was also nominated and won the Academy Award for the Best Original Song (How Far I’ll Go).

I remember watching the film in thin theatres in 3D, and the memory is vivid. It was visually so much striking with powerful songs.

Coco (2017)

In 2017 Disney released a 3D computer-animated musical film named “Coco.” It was a collaboration of Disney with Pixar Animation Studios.

The concept was unique, a story based on the Mexican Day of the Dead holiday.

It was very nice to see the film giving respect to the Mexican culture and tradition by telling a story of a boy named Miguel who was transported to the Land of the Dead. 

He tries to find his great-great-grandfather who was a musician and want to return to his family to reverse the ban on music that his family continued to hold for a reason.

The film won several awards and praises.

It won the Best Animated Film at the BAFTA Awards, Golden Globe Awards and Critic’s Choice Movie Awards.

Not only this, “Coco” has also won two Academy Awards for the category of Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song.

Best Original Song award for the song “Remember Me.”

Conclusion:

Hope you all have enjoyed the list of 20 Best Disney Animated Musical Movies on Disney+.

If you are a Disney fan, you can also check out another Disney article i.e, “best Disney channel original movies of the 90s.”

Comment or mail us your feedback and ideas.

 Also, do let us know your favorite Disney animated musical film.