By Tyler B. Searle
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Disney is by far the biggest and most recognized animation company on the planet. As such, it's no surprise that other animation companies — including some founded by ex-Disney animators — would take a page out of their book when creating projects of their own. The best of these movies, such as Anastasia, The Land Before Time, and The Swan Princess, do such a good job mimicking their emotional stories and catchy songs that some audiences mistake the movies for actual Disney productions.
However, these films tend to be the exception when it comes to Disney clones, not the norm. More often than not, other Disney clones just copy and paste the Mouse House's characters, style, and formula into their movies, resulting in a product that screams derivative. These are the worst and most shameless, poorly made attempts at recreating the Disney formula, ranked by how shameless they are in their approach, how memorable they are, and their overall quality.
10 'Gulliver's Travels' (1939)
Directed by Dave Fleischer
When the kings of the island nations of Lilliput and Blefuscu are unable to decide on which song should play at their children's wedding, the two nations go to war. That same night, town crier Gabby (Pinto Colvig) discovers a giant on the beech, who turns out to be English explorer Lemuel Gulliver (Sam Parker). The Lilliputians attempt to restrain him but eventually realize that Gulliver is friendly and willing to protect them from the Blefuscuian army, so they treat him as an honored guest.
While Gulliver's Travels' animation is also impressive in some places, it's rushed in others, such as through Gulliver's less-than-idealistic rotoscoping, and the songs are forgettable.
After Paramount stymied Max Fleischer's attempts to create an animated feature film, they demanded that he and his brother rush out of Gulliver's Travels after the success of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The influence of Snow White can best be best seen in the design of the Lilliputians, who look more like the seven dwarfs than Fleischer Studios' usual character designs, and most of them are even voiced by Colvig, who voiced Grumpy. While the animation is also impressive in some places, it's rushed in others, such as through Gulliver's less-than-idealistic rotoscoping, and the songs are forgettable.
9 'The Secret Life of Pets' (2016)
Directed by Chris Renaud and Yarrow Cheney
Max (Louis C.K.) is a Jack Russell Terrier living in New York City with his owner, Katei (Ellie Kemper), and enjoys talking to his fellow pets whenever she isn't around. One day, Katie adopts a new dog, a Newfoundland named Duke (Eric Stonestreet), which makes Jack jealous and resentful. During a scuffle, the two end up on the streets without collars and are forced to work together to get home while avoiding Animal Control and human-hating animals led by a rabbit named Snowball (Kevin Hart).
The Secret Life of Pets isn't the worst of Illumination's films, but it's far from an original idea. Besides the obvious story about what pets get up to when their owners aren't around, the film primarily rips off Toy Story: Max, like Woody, becomes jealous of a new person in his life but bonds with them after being lost and going on a daring adventure. There's also some similarity to other films like Lady and the Tramp and Oliver & Company through the film's handling of the relationship between pet animals and their wild and abandoned counterparts.
The Secret Life of Pets
8 'Thumbelina' (1994)
Directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman
When an old woman wishes for a child, she is given a magic seed, from which she grows a flower containing Thumbelina (Jodi Benson), a girl no bigger than a human thumb. One night, she meets the fairy prince, Cornelius (Gary Imhoff), and the two fall in love. However, Thumbelina is kidnapped by a family of frogs in the hopes that she will marry one of them, Grundle (Joe Lynch). While Cornelius looks for her, Thumbelina escapes into the garden and tries to find her way home.
Thumbelina fares better than some Disney clones thanks to being directed by Don Bluth, an ex-Disney animator who briefly challenged the company in the 1980s; still, it's sadly one of Bluth's worst movies. Everything about it feels like a cheap knockoff of Disney's style of fairy tale adaptations, down to casting Benson as the lead character in a Hans Christian Anderson fairytale. If that wasn't enough, Thumbelina is an animated musical with an emphasis on romance and wonder, but it is sadly lacking due to the dull lead characters and ugly designs of most of the animals.
Thumbelina
7 'Quest for Camelot' (1998)
Directed by Frederik Du Chau
Kayley (Jessalyn Gilsig) wants nothing more than to be a knight of the Round Table like her father, Sir Lionel (Gabriel Byrne), and believes that she has her chance when word spreads that King Arthur's (Pierce Brosnan) magic sword, Excalibur, was stolen by a griffin (Bronson Pinchot). Before she can act, her mother, Juliana (Jane Seymour), is captured by the fallen knight Sir Ruber (Gary Oldman), who plans to use her in a plan to overthrow Arthur. However, the griffin, working for Ruber, accidentally drops the sword in the Forbidden Forest. Thus, Kayley teams up with a local blind hermit named Garrett (Cary Elwes) to get it before Ruber can.
Quest for Camelot proudly flaunts its Disney influences, from Keyley's design directly ripping off Belle to the numerous inspirations it takes from Aladdin. These include a star-studded cast and numerous meta-jokes, particularly from the comic relief two-headed dragon, Devon (Eric Idle) and Cornwall (Don Rickles). The film also has little to no connection to Arthurian mythology, which makes one wonder why the creative team didn't just set it in an original world.
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6 'The King and I' (1999)
Directed by Richard Rich
In 1862, British educator Anna Leonowens (Miranda Richardson) and her son Louis (Adam Wylie) arrived in Siam to educate the household of King Mongkut (Martin Vidnovic). This proves to be more difficult than imagined, as her progressive teaching methods clash with Mongkut's traditional ideals. What's more, the evil Prime Minister, Kralahome (Ian Richardson), plans to make the king seem like a barbarian so that he can replace Mongkut as ruler of Siam.
The King and I is bloated with animal sidekicks that don't add anything and inject unnecessary fantasy elements.
Richard Rich is another ex-Disney animator who struck gold with The Swan Princess, but teaming up with Quest for Camelot's writers results in one of the worst Disney clones of the 1990s. The film is bloated with animal sidekicks that don't add anything and inject unnecessary fantasy elements, such as Kralahome's power over illusions. If you want to see this story done right, watch either the original play by Rodgers and Hammerstein or the 1956 film adaptation starring the mighty Deborah Kerr.
5 'The Emoji Movie'
Directed by Tony Leondis
Gene (T.J. Miller) is a meh emoji living inside the phone of a boy named Alex (Jake T. Austin), who can express multiple emotions at once. When he fails to perform a meh expression when Alex tries to send a text, he is deemed defective by Smiler (Maya Rudolph), the lead emoji, and sentenced to deletion. To survive, Gene teams up with the forgotten emoji Hi-5 (James Corden) and Jailbreak (Anna Faris), a hacker who offers to fix Gene if he helps her get to the cloud.
The Emoji Movie is considered one of the worst animated films ever made, thanks to its lack of creativity. Tony Leondis made no effort to hide how Toy Story influenced the movie, and the theme of a world inhabited by inanimate creatures also takes inspiration from the likes of Wreck it Ralph, Inside Out, and The LEGO Movie, without doing anything that takes advantage of the uniqueness of emojis. Instead, the film feels more like vaguely disguised product placement, as apps like Candy Crush and Just Dance play important roles in the story.
The Emoji Movie
PG
Animation
Comedy
Family
- Release Date
- July 28, 2017
- Cast
- Rob Riggle , Steven Wright , Jake T. Austin , Patrick Stewart , Ilana Glazer , Christina Aguilera , T.J. Miller , Anna Faris , Jennifer Coolidge , James Corden , Maya Rudolph , Sofia Vergara
- Runtime
- 86 Minutes
4 'Leo the Lion' (2005)
Directed by Mario Cambi
While going on his first hunt, a lion named Leo (Neri Marcorè/Daniel Amerman) watches his mother fall off a waterfall, causing him to develop a fear of water and an aversion to meat. Living away from his fellow lions, he eventually meets Savannah (Simona Marchini/Amanda Allan), a pregnant elephant on the run from Maximus Elefante (Carlo Conti/Matthew Mercer), a white elephant who hopes to marry her and become king. After delivering the babies, Leo leads the family on a quest to find the Heart of the Jungle, where they will supposedly be safe.
The worst example of plagiarism comes from the villain song, which is a straight ripoff of "Be Prepared," down to having goosestepping elephants.
Leo the Lionis a perfect storm of bad and doesn't even try to hide its inspiration from The Lion King. If having an outcast lion character who befriends animals outside his species, has to overcome his fears, and eats non-traditional lion food wasn't enough of a giveaway, the film also has a sequence taking place in an elephant graveyard and hyenas with Mexican accents. The worst example of plagiarism comes from Maximus' villain song, which is a straight ripoff of "Be Prepared," down to having goosestepping elephants.
3 'Ratatoing' (2007)
Directed by Michelle Gabriel
In Rio de Janeiro, Marcel Toing (Douglas Guedes/Wayne Grayson) is a rat who owns and operates the restaurant Ratatoing, praised for its delicious food. His secret is that when the restaurant is closed, he and his friends, Greg (Sidney Ross/Mike Pollock) and Carol (Elisa Vilon/Lisa Ortiz), sneak into human dwellings and make off with premium ingredients. However, Marcel's success has attracted rivals who want to either steal his secrets or eliminate him so their restaurant can reign supreme.
What little story is present in Ratatoing is nonsensical and devoid of Ratatouille's complex themes of artistic expression.
Ratatoing is one of the most infamous "mockbusters" made to cash in on the success of another film, in this case, Ratatouille. Despite being forty-four minutes long, much of the runtime is taken up by repetitive sequences and superfluous dialogue, and what little story is present is nonsensical and devoid of Ratatouille's complex themes of artistic expression. If any positive can be given, it's that the English voice cast of former 4Kids Entertainment actors sound like they're having fun.
Buy on Amazon
2 'Titanic: The Legend Goes On' (2000)
Directed by Camillo Teti
As the RMS Titanic prepares for its maiden voyage from England to America, several passengers board, including a poor girl named Angelica (Francesca Guadagno/Lisa Russo) searching for her lost mother, and William (Francesco Pezzulli/Mark Thompson-Ashworth), an upper-class man attended by a maid who lost her daughter. Meanwhile, various talking animals board the ship as well, including a rapping dog and a trio of mariachi mice. As the passengers interact, Angelica and William fall in love, but tragically, the ship strikes an iceberg and begins to sink.
Titanic: The Legend Goes On is a musical that dares to ask big questions, such as, "Would this story based on a real-life tragedy be improved with talking animals, the bumbling henchmen from 101 Dalmatians, and the evil step-family from Cinderella?" The answer is a resounding no: the film is painfully insensitive not only to those who died but to the audience for wasting their time with cheap animation and too many side characters who do little to nothing. The animal characters are the worst, thanks to their racial stereotyping and the dog's out-of-nowhere rap number.
Titanic: The Legend Goes On is currently not available to stream or buy in the US and Canada.
1 'Legend of the Titanic' (1999)
Directed by Orlando Corradi and Kim J. Ok
If one bad animated Titanic movie wasn't enough, Italy produced another following Top Connors (Stefano Crescentini/Sean Patrick Lovett), an elderly mouse who tells his grandchildren the real story of what happened. As a young sailor, Connors worked on the Titanic and befriended a Brazilian mouse named Ronnie (Maria Teresa Cella/Anna Mazzotti) and Elizabeth (Emanuela Rossi/Jane Alexander), a human woman betrothed to the greedy whaler Everard Maltravers (Luca Ward/Gregory Snegoff). As Connors and Ronny try to help Elizabeth fall in love with a Romani man named Don Juan (Vittorio Guerrieri/Francis Pardeilhan), Maltravers plans to sink the ship using his talking shark allies.
As can be seen, Legend of the Titanicleans heavily into Disney's love of talking animals, which also include dolphins who can use tears and moonbeams to allow humans to understand them and a giant octopus with a dog's face that the sharks trick into throwing an iceberg at the Titanic. If this wasn't unhinged enough, Legend of the Titanic rewrites history by claiming that, thanks to the octopus and many whales and dolphins, nobody died on the Titanic. Because of this utterly absurd approach and so many other poor decisions in the writing and character department, it is labeled as one of the worst animated films of all time.
Rent on Amazon
NEXT: 10 Animated Moves From The 90s That Failed at Being Disney
- Animation
- Disney
- The Secret Life of Pets
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