Disney’s got a large canon under its belt, so it goes without saying that different people are going to be carrying around differing opinions on what films and characters top the rest. But I’mma go ahead and call shenanigans on Kenneth Branagh’s ranking of the Disney princesses.
It kinda-sorta makes sense that Late Night With Seth Meyers tasked Branagh ranking his top five Disney princesses — he did direct the live-action Cinderella, of course. But this is also automatically a lose-lose situation: He’s basically picking favorites publicly, leaving a lot of Disney’s best lady characters in the dust. Needless to say, I am not completely onboard with his choices.
“But Alanna, this is a subjective exercise, how can you judge Kenneth Branagh’s personal opinion?” I am sorry, acquaintance I made up right now, but he ranked Snow White fourth while completely leaving off Jasmine and Mulan*, and them’s fighting words. I’m also gonna have to disagree with him on Cinderella being the greatest character (with the exception of Ever After and 1997’s Brandy Cinderella), but I can forgive him that one because of his obvious contractural bias.
But let’s make our own rankings, folks. Obviously we’re going to disagree on some things. That’s OK. We are all allowed to have our own opinions on this matter, even Branagh’s obviously wrong ones. But I am curious to see what the general consensus among TMS readers is about Disney faves. Here’s my rough top 5 ranking based on Disney’s current list of Disney princesses (which is curiously missing Frozen characters):
5. Ariel
4. Pocahontas (the character, not the glaring inaccuracies of the movie itself)
3. Jasmine
2. Belle
1. Mulan (see below)
I could definitely be swayed for some alterations on these, and the order is debatable save #1, but these are my first instincts. Tell me yours!
*Mulan is very much not a princess (which is part of what makes her great), but Disney considers her a part of the Disney princess canon so I’m including her as eligible.
(via Hypable)
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