10 Best Disney Branded Films That Weren't Produced By Walt Disney Animation Studios.

2023 was a year of celebration for Disney animation, as the main Walt Disney Animation Studio turned one-hundred years old. Currently, sixty-two films have been produced by the studio, forming what is sometimes referred to as the Disney Animated Canon. However, over time, as the overall scope of Disney as a company have grown, numerous films using the Disney name and characters have been produced by smaller sub-studios under the Disney umbrella.

While not always produced with the same budget or finesse as the main studio, the following films still have their own Disney charm, and often, quite a few fans.

1. A Goofy Movie

With the Disney Afternoon programming block airing to continued success throughout much of the 90s, Disney made plans for film adaptations of some of the block's programs. One of the series planned to head to the big screen was Goof Troop, a series that had followed Goofy as a single Father as he and his young son, Max, moved to the town of Spoonerville.

The disappointing box office draw of Ducktales The Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp put a dampener on Goof Troop movie plans, but the company was still interested in a full-length Goofy film, given the character's status as a Disney icon. The early plans for the film were reworked into A Goofy Movie, an indirect sequel to Goof Troop which sees a now teenage Max forced to join Goofy on a Father-son roadtrip.

While pre-production on A Goofy Movie took place in the main studio, the film was not given the same importance as Pocahontas or The Lion King, which were being worked on at around the same time. Work on A Goofy Movie's animation was done across multiple smaller studios, including Walt Disney Television Animation, DisneyToon Studios, and the French and Australian branches of Walt Disney Animation. A modest theatrical success at the time of it's release, A Goofy Movie has since become a cult classic.

2. The Lion King II: Simba's Pride

From the mid-90s through to the late 2000s, Disney produced a large number of direct-to-video sequels, among them was The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, released on video in October 1998. While the original film is loosely based on Shakespeare's Hamlet, Simba's Pride is inspired by Romeo and Juliet.

Prior to the beginning of the sequel, a group of Scar-loyalist lionesses, led by Zira, were banished from the Pridelands. Kovu, Zira's son, and Scar's chosen heir, is trained from cubhood to one day take the Pridelands back from Simba. However, Zira's plans for conquest hit a snag when Kovu falls in love with Simba's daughter, Kiara.

Simba's Pride was a co-production between DisneyToon Studios and Walt Disney Television animation, with much of the animation work taking place in Australia and Canada. It is considered higher quality than most of Disney's direct-to-video sequels, and one of the few to have it's story and characters remain canon to later projects in The Lion King universe. The opening song, 'He Lives In You', even made it into the stage adaptation of the original The Lion King film.

3. Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search For Christopher Robin

Per the plans of the great Walt Disney himself, the three theatrical shorts that eventually made up 1977's The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh were originally intended to introduce the character U.S audiences in preparation for an eventual feature-length story. Unfortunately, Walt's death resulted in these plans being put on the backburner for two decades. After a few extra shorts, and a four-season animated series (The New Adventures of Winnie The Pooh), Pooh Bear finally got his full-length outing with the direct-to-video release Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search For Christopher Robin, in 1997.

Jointly serving as a sequel to Many Adventures and a grand finale of sorts to New Adventures, Pooh's Grand Adventure opens with Winnie The Pooh and Christopher Robin spending the last day of Summer together, as Christopher struggles to explain an impending major life change to Pooh. The following morning, unable to locate Christopher, Pooh and his friends misread a note left for them, believing Christopher has been taken to the rather scary looking 'Skull'. The group then embark on an expedition hoping to rescue their missing friend.

Produced by DisneyToon Studios and Walt Disney Television Animation, Pooh's Grand Adventure has often been praised for the lessons it has to teach children about inner strength and resilience, through the use of the following quote:

"You're braver than you believe, Stronger than you seem, and Smarter than you think."

4. The Nightmare Before Christmas

The Nightmare Before Christmas follows the story of Jack Skellington, the much-celebrated Pumpkin King of Halloweentown. Jack feels there is something missing from his life, until the day he stumbles into the neighbouring Christmastown, where he discovers Christmas. Jack then embarks upon a rather ill-conceived plan to bring Christmas to Halloweentown.

The film was inspired by a poem written by eventual Director Tim Burton. Disney initially greenlit The Nightmare Before Christmas as a 30-minute stop-motion holiday special, but the project was eventually scrapped as it was considered 'too weird'. After his success Directing Beetlejuice and Batman for Warner Bros., Burton turned his attention to a potential feature film version of Nightmare, only to discover that Disney still held the screen rights to his original poem. Disney again greenlit the project as a feature, with Burton producing and animator Henry Selick as Director. However, fearing The Nightmare Before Christmas was still too odd for the Disney brand, they stipulated that the film be made and released under the Touchstone Pictures label.

Soon after release in 1993, The Nightmare Before Christmas became a cult classic. Nowadays, the film is fully embraced as a Disney property, with a heavy presence in the parks around holiday season.

5. Recess: School's Out

Between 1997 and 2001, Recess, a series from Rugrats creators Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere, aired across the various Disney channels and programming blocks. Following fourth-grader T.J Dettweiler and his friends as they navigate the surprisingly complicated school playground social structure, the series proved popular enough to warrant the release of a a theatrical film, Recess: School's Out, in 2001.

Set in the Summer break after the gang finishes the fourth grade, T.J is disappointed to discover he will be spending the break alone, as all his friends are being shipped off to various themed Summer Camps. Wandering alone, T.J accidentally uncovers a plot to improve school test scores by plunging the world into a second Ice Age, forcing children inside and putting a permanent end to both Recess and Summer Vacation.

The film was produced by various branches of Walt Disney Television Animation. It was a modest box office success, and a classic among Recess fans.

6. 'The Tigger Movie'

After the sucesss of Pooh's Grand Adventure, Disney became eager to do more with the Winnie The Pooh characters. Soon after Grand Adventure's release, The Tigger Movie was put into production. Jim Cummings, then best known as the voice of Pooh, also became Tigger's full-time voice actor for the first time in the film.

In The Tigger Movie, after realising that he may ge a little tired of being 'The only one', Tigger decides to embark on a search for his family. The other residents try to aid Tigger in his quest, with varying degrees of success. Tigger ultimately comes to the conclusion that his family has been beside him all along.

Originally titled Winnie The Pooh and The Family Tree, the film was slated for a direct-to-video release. However, after hearing the songs Disney icons the Sherman Brothers (who had also written the music for The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh) had written, Disney executives upgraded the film to a Theatrical release, and renamed The Tigger Movie, believed to be a more marketable title. The film was mostly produced by Walt Disney Television Animation, with a large chunk of the animation completed in Japan.

7. 'Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas'

While Mickey Mouse is and has always been the main mascot of Disney, in the late 90s, new screen content featuring the character was in relatively short supply. However, in November of 1999, Mickey and his classic Disney companions stole hearts on the small screen in Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas.

The film consists of three Christmas-themed stories starring classic Disney characters, including Donald Duck, Goofy, and of course, Mickey Mouse. Narrated by Kelsey Grammer, all three segments carry a moral lesson about Christmas.

Initially a direct-to-video release produced by Walt Disney Television Animation, Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas eventually began annual airings across the various Disney-owned channels. A CGI animated sequel, Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas, was released in 2004.

8. 'Beauty and The Beast: The Enchanted Christmas'

With it's popularity and iconic status, Beauty and The Beast was an obvious choice when Disney set it's sub-studios to producing direct-to-video sequels. However, the team working on the sequel initially struggled with finding a reason to undo the first films happy ending, and revert the Prince to the more recognisable and marketable Beast. The eventual solution was to instead produce a Christmas-themed mid-quel.

Beauty and The Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is set during the original film, after The Beast rescues Belle from the wolves, but before the iconic Ballroom sequence. Belle attempts to bring Christmas back to the Enchanted Castle, initially facing resistance from The Beast. While he slowly comes around, the castle has to deal with scheming Pipe Organ Forte, the former Court Composer who has found purpose in the Beast's melancholy, and thus prefers that the spell on the castle remains unbroken.

While reviewers were harsh on Enchanted Christmas, calling it vastly inferior to the original, many Disney fans consider it a classic of the festive season. The film was jointly produced by DisneyToon Studios and Walt Disney Television animation.

9. 'Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure'

The final scene of the 1955 classic Lady and the Tramp depicts the two central characters as having become parents to a litter of four adorable puppies. Three are females resembling their Mother, while the fourth pup is male and takes after his Father, Tramp. The male pup, named Scamp, went on to star in a comic strip from 1955 to 1988, and eventually became the main character of the film's sequel, Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure, released in 2001.

Struggling with the rules that come with being a house pet, Scamp runs away from home. While attempting to join an exclusive pack of strays known as the Junkyard Dogs, Scamp falls for the sweet but streetwise Angel. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to Scamp, Buster, the Junkyard Dogs' leader, has a troubled past with Tramp, and plans to seek revenge through Scamp.

Produced by Walt Disney Television animation, Scamp's Adventure featured Scott Wolf as Scamp, and Charmed star Alyssa Milano as the voice of Angel, an all-star cast by Disney animated sequel standards. The film is often considered one of the better quality Disney sequels, as while critics claim the plot is rather paint by numbers, the characters are charming enough for this to be overlooked.

10. 'Cinderella III: A Twist In Time'

The first direct-to-video sequel to Disney's classic Cinderella, the anthology-style Cinderella II: Dreams Come True, was savaged by critics upon its release as a bland follow-up unworthy of the original. However, sales were high enough that Disney still greenlit a third installment.

After discovering that the Fairy Godmother's magic aided Cinderella in winning the heart of Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine, known to most as the Evil Stepmother, steals the Fairy Godmother's wand, using it to rewind time and bewitch the glass slipper to fit one of her own daughters, Anastasia, who is declared to be the Prince's bride. As Cinderella battles to correct the situation, thwarted at every turn by Tremaine and the wand, Anastasia grows increasingly guilty over her role in the deception.

A Twist In Time more than made up for it's predecessor's shortcomings, praised by critics for it's successful modernisation of Cinderella's character without sacrificing the heart of the original story, and for the more nuanced, complicated character development of Anastasia. It was one of the final two direct-to-video sequels produced by DisneyToon Studios, and the last overall to be worked on by DisneyToon Studios Australian branch. Some critics considered this to be a shame, as the later sequels are a notable jump up in quality.

If there's one thing this list goes to show, it's that even Disney's B-teams can produce A + content when called upon. There's a reason Disney remains the biggest name in animation.