Beauty and the Beast, 1991
The Little Mermaid set the stage, but the new age of Disney animation truly kicked off with Beauty and the Beast, a mesmerizing combination of songs, voice performance, and animation (including that CG ballroom dance), a combination that Disney hadn’t achieved since Walt was in charge. It was such a welcome accomplishment that Beauty and the Beast became the first animated film to ever have been nominated for Best Picture, an award it lost to the decidedly less family-friendly Silence of the Lambs.
