The Worst Animated Disney Movies of All Time

Shakespeare’s most famous lovers provided the inspiration for this silly comedy in which colorful gnomes and other usually inanimate lawn and garden regulars carry on a raucous feud between suburban lots. Spoiler: these lovers live happily ever after.

Based on novels by Lloyd Alexander that expanded on Welsh myths, “The Black Cauldron” represents many firsts for Disney animated features: the first use of Dolby sound, the first use of computer generated imagery, and the first PG rating. It was also the most expensive animated film the studio produced until that date, but was a major box office flop.

Based loosely on Ursula LaGuin’s Earthsea series of novels, this tale of dragons, wizards, and doppelgangers was produced in Japan’s award-winning Studio Ghibli for Japanese audiences. A popular hit in Japan, but with mixed critical acclaim, it had limited distribution in America. LaGuin distanced herself.

A less than mediocre followup to the only somewhat popular Cars movie, “Cars 2” takes its internal combustion heroes to Europe to battle spies and cheating rivals. The lowest rated Pixar movie on the Rotten Tomatoes website, “Car 2” was the first Pixar movie to receive no Oscar nominations.

Here the piece of falling sky comes from an alien spaceship, happily piloted by friendly beings who ultimately apologize for wreaking havoc. As Disney’s first 3-D digital feature, “Chicken Little,” though considered banal by critics, lifted Disney out of the slump represented by “Atlantis: The Lost Empire,” “Brother Bear,” “Home on the Range,” and a remake of “Fantasia.”