(Photo by Disney/Courtesy Everett Collection. SNOW WHITE.)
Disney Princess Movies, Ranked By Tomatometer
Disney Princesses! The stars of many Disney animated and live-action films, and the characters that many children want to dress up as for Halloween and want to meet at Disney theme parks and on Disney cruises. Who wouldn’t want to aspire to that fairy tale life and either get swept away by a handsome prince or stay defiantly single? These princesses make a difference in the lives of children and provide excellent parent-approved role models.
Before we dive into our Tomatometer rankings of all the Disney Princess films (including those that had theatrical releases and those that went straight to video) it’s important to define who Disney considers to be an official Disney Princess, at least for now. New princesses get added once every several years, sometimes even with an official coronation ceremony.
To be a Disney Princess, the character must be female, a human, and be a lead or co-lead in their own Disney film that isn’t a sequel. A Disney Princess must be heroic, but does not actually have to be royalty, as Mulan is not (she has her eye on Captain Li Shang of the common soldiery).
As of now, there are 13 official Disney princesses:
- Cinderella
- Tiana from The Princess and the Frog
- Ariel from The Little Mermaid
- Rapunzel from Tangled
- Moana
- Snow White
- Aurora from Sleeping Beauty
- Jasmine from Aladdin
- Mulan
- Merida from Brave
- Belle from Beauty and the Beast
- Pocahontas
- Raya from Raya and the Last Dragon
Also missing from this official list are characters like Mirabel Madrigal from Encanto, Giselle from Enchanted, and Jane from Tarzan. Many jokesters out there will point out that since Disney’s acquisition of Fox, characters ranging from Deadpool to Dr. Frank-n-Furter should count in this list, but so far, Disney does not agree.
Here, then, are the Disney Princess films, ranked by Tomatometer, in descending order of critical acclaim. No surprise that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs leads things off, as it’s considered one of the greatest animated movies ever created, nearly a century later. Aladdin follows Snow White, though its co-star Jasmine would get more agency, and a song to herself, in the live-action remake. Closely behind is Moana, the first CGI animated film on the list and the first one buoyed by Lin-Manuel Miranda music.
Two more after Moana: Beauty and the Beast, part of the Disney animated renaissance of the 1990s, and another classic Golden Age Disney animated feature, Cinderella.
Rounding out the top 10 are the rousing and adventurous Raya and the Last Dragon, featuring the newest Disney Princess and one of the only non-musicals on the list; the dramatic and historical Mulan; the instant classic The Little Mermaid, and a pair of underrated classics from different eras: Sleeping Beauty and Tangled.–Steve Horton
97%
96%
95%
95%
95%
93%
91%
92%
90%
89%
86%
84%
78%
72%
71%
67%
60%
59%
57%
39%
33%
33%
38%
20%
11%
