Entertainment
10 Greatest Disney Movie Climaxes, Ranked
Founded by brothers Walt and Roy O. Disney, the Walt Disney Corporation began with animated shorts like the Alice Comedies and the Silly Symphonies, before releasing their first animated movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in 1937. From there, Disney branched out into live-action films, theme parks, and television networks, overcoming various ups and downs along the way. Today, Disney stands as one of the biggest media conglomerates in the world, and their movies are recognized around the world for their high-quality animation and timeless storytelling.
Oftentimes, their films’ best moments come during their climax. This makes sense, since it’s when the story’s main conflict turns volatile as heroes and villains clash to achieve their respective goals.
9
‘Robin Hood’ (1973)
If you ask anyone about film adaptations of Robin Hood, chances are the Disney version will be the first to spring to mind. Despite its cheaper animation that consists of lots of re-used shots from previous films, it delivers a great simplified telling of the character’s more famous exploits, all while using anthropomorphic animals to represent the characters based on their personalities or roles. It also has a phenomenal climax, spurred on when Robin Hood (Brian Bedford) learns that Prince John (Sir Peter Ustinov) plans to execute Friar Tuck (Andy Devine) to lure him into a trap.
The climax begins in near silence, as Robin sneaks into the castle, frees Friar Tuck and other prisoners, and even makes off with John’s gold. However, once the alarm gets blown, it becomes a mad-dash for freedom against the guards. Eventually, only Robin is left, and it escalates even higher when the castle is lit on fire.
8
‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe’ (2005)
Following the success of Sir Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, a new wave of fantasy films flooded the 2000s. Among the most impressive was The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, based on the acclaimed book by J. R. R. Tolkien’s friend, C. S. Lewis. It was pretty faithful to the story, but also expanded on a lot of elements, like the climactic Battle of Beruna, which mostly happened offscreen in the novel.
The battle’s biggest strength is the fact that, aside from the four Pevensie children, its combatants are not humans, but rather talking animals and mythical creatures like fauns, centaurs, dwarves, and minotaurs. This let the filmmakers really get creative in depicting how their unique anatomy would allow for different battle strategies, like minotaurs using their horns in tandem with their main weapons. It also allows the Pevensie children more chances for heroics than in the books, such as Edmund (Skandar Keynes and Mark Wells) taking a mortal wound to shatter Jadis’ (Tilda Swinton) wand so she can’t turn anyone else to stone.
7
‘The Little Mermaid’ (1989)
Disney’s most successful era, known by fans and historians as The Disney Renaissance, began with the release of The Little Mermaid. It was both a return to form for Disney as a fairy tale adaptation, and the first of Disney’s successful Broadway-inspired animated musicals. Fittingly, it also contains a fantastic climax, which sees Ariel (Jodi Benson) and Eric (Christopher Daniel Barns) facing off against the sea witch Ursula (Pat Carroll), who, using the magic of King Triton’s (Kenneth Mars) trident, grows to the size of a giant while summoning a violent storm.
The animators do a brilliant job of making the storm feel infused with all of Ursula’s malice and cruelty, not to mention the glee on her face as she torments Ariel in the eye of the storm. Only for that smug glee to turn to horror as Eric steers a risen shipwreck to impale her before she is struck by a lightning bolt, sealing her doom. It’s not only one of the rare moments where a Disney hero directly kills the villain, but Eric being the one to do it helps to convince Triton that not all humans are bad.
6
‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ (1996)
While nowhere near as dark as Victor Hugo’s original novel, Disney’s take on The Hunchback of Notre Dame is still one of their darkest films. It doesn’t shy away from the prejudice experienced by Quasimodo (Tom Hulce) or the Romani people, nor Judge Claud Frollo’s (Tony Jay) abusive parenting to the poor bell ringer, and his lustful pursuit of Esmeralda (Demi Moore). When she refuses his advances in the climax, Frollo tries to have her burned at the stake, but Quasimodo breaks free of the chains meant to force him to watch the execution, then swings down to rescue her, leading to Frollo besieging the cathedral in his madness.
This climax has it all: dynamic camera angles, Latin choir, and plenty of stellar moments for our main characters. Quasi’s comes when he shows mercy to his adopted father and calls him out for making the world dark and cruel, while Captain Phoebus (Kevin Cline) leads the people of Paris in rebellion against Frollo’s tyranny, and Esmeralda helps to save Quasi from falling to his death. But the best moment has to be Frollo’s fall, when the gargoyle he is standing on both comes to life and breaks off the cathedral, as if God himself was condemning the corrupt judge to the fires of Hell.
5
‘Beauty and the Beast’ (1991)
Believe it or not, in the history of the Academy Awards, only three animated films have been nominated for Best Picture. The first was Beauty and the Beast, which captivated audiences not only with its beautiful animation and phenomenal songs, but also with the well-paced character development and romance between Belle (Paige O’Hara) and the Beast (Robby Benson). It comes to a head in the climax where Beast faces off with Gaston (Richard White), the arrogant hunter who is determined to marry Belle by any means necessary.
After initially resigning himself to his fate, Beast regains the will to fight when he sees Belle, leading to a deadly back-and-forth that showcases both men’s personalities. The Beast has the chance to kill Gaston, but spares his life in a beautiful moment of character animation where you can gleam all the emotions running through his head from a close up of his eyes and face. Gaston, meanwhile, consumed by his pride, shouts only about how Belle is and attacks the Beast when his back is turned, which leads to his downfall.
4
‘The Lion King’ (1994)
Until Frozen’s release, The Lion King was the highest grossing animated film of all time, and remains the highest grossing traditional animated film, and one of Disney’s most acclaimed films. Rather than being an adaptation, the film is an original story that captivated audiences with its epic scale, gorgeous animation, iconic characters, and powerful themes. The climax sees Simba (Johnathan Taylor Thomas and Matthew Broderick) return home to challenge his uncle, Scar (Jeremy Irons), for the throne, and though Scar nearly kills Simba through emotional manipulation, he fights back and rallies the lionesses against Scar’s hyena allies.
A lightning strike ignites a massive fire that provides appropriately intense lighting for the battle, especially when Scar and Simba face off atop Pride Rock. The animators really went all out, making it look and feel like two lions really going at it, and by slowing things down, the audience gets to feel the weight behind every swipe. Then it’s followed up by the morbid scene of Scar being turned on and devoured by his hyena allies, which is a fitting end for such a manipulative villain.
3
‘Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl’ (2003)
Based on the popular theme park ride, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl proved to be the beginning of one of Disney’s most profitable franchises. Audiences were blown away by its impressive CGI that seamlessly transformed men into skeletons, impressive action scenes that mixed fast-paced sword fights with ship-to-ship combat, and the cultural icon that is Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp). The climax splits itself between the crew of the Black Pearl attacking the HMS Dauntless, while Elizabeth Swan (Keira Knightley) reclaims the Black Pearl, and Jack Sparrow and William Turner (Orlando Bloom) fight Captain Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), where it’s revealed Jack Sparrow intentionally cursed himself to be on equal footing with his former first mate.
This climax is a ton of fun, especially with the iconic music by Klaus Badelt and Hans Zimmer playing in the background. The action is fast-paced, especially during Jack and Barbossa’s duel, broken up by the odd witty remark or moment of levity, like Governor Swan (Sir Jonathan Price) fending off a severed arm in his quarters. Its ending is one of the most haunting moments in any Disney film, as Barbossa, now free of the curse, succumbs to a gunshot courtesy of Jack after feeling one sensation after a decade: cold.
2
‘Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End’ (2007)
While Curse of the Black Pearl is pretty universally loved, the sequel films are more divisive. The third film, At World’s End, for example, is often criticized for its long runtime and redundant subplots, but everyone can agree it’s got a phenomenal climax. It sees the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchmen facing off in the middle of a raging maelstrom, with combatants from both ships swinging to the enemy vessel, and Jack Sparrow escaping the Dutchman’s brig to duel with her captain, Davy Jones (Bill Nighy).
First off, the battle looks spectacular thanks to an impressive blending of CGI with practical effects, such as life-sized ships for the characters to duel on, and a never-ending torrent of rain. It also sees numerous character stories reach their climax, such as Jack’s pursuit of immortality and Will’s desire to free his father, Bootstrap Bill (Stellan Skarsgård), from Jones’ service. Yet even among the action, there are still moments of levity and joy, such as humorous actions by Jack to keep an edge in his duel with Jones, and Will and Elizabeth getting married in the middle fo the carnage.
1
‘Sleeping Beauty’ (1959)
On release, Sleeping Beauty was such a financial disappointment that Disney was forced to switch to xerography to reduce the budget of future animated films. It has since been re-evaluated as one of the company’s best fairy tale movies thanks to its ambitious art style and characters, particularly Maleficent (Eleanor Audley), who is consistently ranked among Disney’s best villains. The climax in particular showcases why she earned that praise, as she unleashes her full force against the Good Fairies and Prince Phillip (Bill Shirley) to stop them from reaching the sleeping Princess Aurora (Mary Costa).
It starts off as an epic breakout from Maleficent’s castle, with the fairies using their magic to protect Philip from every attack. Then Maleficent enters the fray with magic lightning and a wall of thorns, before transforming into a dragon to battle Philip herself. It’s the perfect showdown of good vs evil, made even more immersive through the sound effects, which include audio of a real flamethrower for Maleficent’s fire.
Sleeping Beauty
- Release Date
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January 29, 1959
- Runtime
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75minutes
- Director
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Clyde Geronimi, Wolfgang Reitherman
- Writers
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Erdman Penner, Joe Rinaldi, Winston Hibler, Bill Peet, Ted Sears, Ralph Wright, Milt Banta
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