There's two things I truly love in this world: My family and Disney. So, naturally what would be better for me to do than bring the two things I love together. So, without further ado, the collaborative ranking of the Disney Princesses with commentary from my family.
because I believe in the importance of drama and suspense I'm going from bottom to top, so 14-1. Here we go
14. Aurora From Disney's "Sleeping Beauty"
Aurora doesn't do too much, in fact she only has a total of 8 minutes of dialogue. Also, her story isn't really hers, Sleeping Beauty belongs to the fairies and Prince Phillip, which is understandable considering that all Aurora does is sing, dance and sleep. On Brittany's many lists Aurora came in the bottom three for all 6 lists. Really the only thing Aurora has going for her is her hair.
13. Snow White from Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves"
Although she got a lot of points in my book for being the first Disney Princess as well as kick-starting Walt Disney's success as a movie maker, the rest of my family weren't too keen on this princess. Caroline called her "The perfect housewife, all she does is cook and clean." While Brittany ranked her last on nearly all of her lists, especially the music list saying that, "I'd rather listen to nothing than have to listen to her sing, and I'm a music teacher!" Mom on the other hand was a little more forgiving saying that, "At least she made friends! You know, her little friends." I personally love Snow White despite the fact that she is supposed to be 13! She's a little 13-year-old girl living with 7 strange men and ends up getting married!
12. Cinderella from Disney's "Cinderella"
There wasn't a lot of love for Cindy in the McKissack House, but there was a lot of respect. We enjoyed how she was a hard worker and would just do what she had to do, however, she wasn't a go-getter, she just sorta dreamed and cried about how life wasn't fair and then got rewarded for putting up with her family's crap. Brittany gave her extra points for her song "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" because Britt sings it to the kids she babysits as a lullaby, but other than that she was just not the family favorite.
11. Jasmine from Disney's "Aladdin"
Much like Aurora, Jasmine’s movie isn’t hers, she’s not even the title character, that belongs to her boy, Aladdin. I was actually very surprised about her low ranking, so when I asked my family about why they put her so low on their lists they said things along the lines of “she didn’t really do anything, she just rode on a carpet and found a man. Brittany does give her points for the moment where she takes control and distracts Ja'far so that Aladdin can get one jump ahead, however, she doesn’t have her own song. But, she gets the major points for Raja, her awesome tiger sidekick.
10. Ariel from Disney’s "The Little Mermaid"
Brittany loves Ariel so much, but character wise all Ariel does is fangirl. Mom said in her defense that, “It’s hard to leave your family!” And Brittany defended all of the dresses that Ariel wears, especially her sail dress that Scuttle makes. Ariel also gets one of the best songs in the Disney canon; “Part of your World” is the perfect "I want" song and it created the whole Disney song formula. However, since she doesn’t do too much in her story, she is lower on the list.
9. Rapunzel from Disney’s "Tangled"
Rapunzel is a literal bag of fun, she has one of the best songs and her villain is Caroline’s personal fav, in fact, Caroline was singing “Mother Knows Best” to Brittany and I while we were getting her lists together. Rapunzel’s hair is one of the best, duh, but we are not a fan of her hair after Flynn cut it. Her music is also fantastic! There’s not a song that isn’t catchy or heartwarming or just fantastic. Also, the frying pan is one of the most interesting and comedic weapons in all of Disney-dom.
8. Anna from Disney’s "Frozen"
As my dad said, “Anna only has guy problems,” and he’s very right when it comes to that observation. Anna is silly and just boy crazy, we see her lose her mind over Hans and then falls for Kristof. Sure, she and Elsa have some great moments, but her focus is more on Hans, she goes after Elsa to try and change her mind so that she will accept Anna’s love for Hans. “For the First Time in Forever” is one of Brittany’s favorite songs because she “likes to dance to it.” She is higher up on this list than some of the other Princesses because she actually does stuff, she is ready to scale an icy mountain in order to get what she wants.
7. Elsa from Disney’s "Frozen"
Elsa was top of a lot of Brittany’s lists - hair, because “braids are in”, songs, outfit, for her ice dress that she makes during “Let It Go” - and she was second on Britt’s "Bad B*tch" list. Elsa made it in the top half of the list, but just barely because all she does is run away from her problems, bonus points for being able to create sentient life, not once, but twice!
6. Moana from Disney’s "Moana"
Despite no one in my family having seen Moana, she is insanely high on this list. That is because of her look, her music, and the fact that she’s just a straight up badass. When I told my mom about her, Mom’s automatic response was “Oh, I like Polynesian culture, rank her high for that.” We listened to her song “How Far I’ll Go” and the three of us (Caroline, Britt, and I) all started jamming so that is one of the things that boosted her up this far on this list. Well, that and the fact that she’s a go-getter and actually did stuff and took part in the action. Bonus points for not having a romantic interest.
5. Merida from Pixar’s "Brave"
Despite the problems I have with "Brave" as a movie, I cannot deny that Merida is a badass, and apparently, that’s something my family loves considering that the top 5 is made up entirely of strong go-getters. Merida is given multiple possible romantic interests and says “Hahaha, nope!” and just goes and shoots for her own hand considering that she doesn’t need a man to rule because she’s a boss.
4. Belle from Disney’s "Beauty and the Beast"
Belle literally gave up her life and her freedom for her father, something that not ironically ranked high on my Dad’s list. But Belle is just a fantastic character, as Caroline says, “She values education,” and she sees the best in people. Not to mention she is FEARLESS! This girl fights wolves, goes after her father into a creepy part of the woods, enters a scary castle, and becomes the prisoner of a terrifying buffalo-wolf animal hybrid monster. My personal favorite thing about Belle is that when she’s teaching Beast to read she starts him off with Shakespeare!
3. Pocahontas from Disney’s "Pocahontas"
As Brittany says: “She’s a savage.” So much of a savage that she ran in front of her father as he was swinging a giant rock on a stick so she could save an innocent man. Her music is fantastic, and bonus points for having her singing voice done by Broadway legend Judy Khun. But Pocahontas is the real adventurer on this list, she white water rafts and goes cliff diving and pets wild animals and is just an insane nature girl and it is so refreshing to see such an active princess.
2. Tiana from Disney’s " The Princess and the Frog"
Tiana is Caroline and I’s favorite, so much that when I got to meet Tiana at Disney World, I cried. Brittany calls Tiana the “Beyonce” of the Disney princesses because she’s a boss and she doesn’t take anyone’s crap. She works incredibly hard to get her restaurant and just happened to get a prince along the way. When discussing the sidekicks of all the princesses Caroline, Brittany and I all had to take a moment to appreciate how great of a character Ray is and how much his death affected us. Tiana’s music is fantastic and just New Orleans is the best location a story could take place in. Everything about Tiana is perfection, however, she is only outshone by one woman, a woman who isn’t even a true princess, but she’s so perfect we don’t care.
1. Mulan from Disney’s "Mulan"
SHE SAVED CHINA! She saved China and did it just so her father would be safe from war, or as my mom likes to say, “she climbed that tree, and there were Huns, I like her!” Mushu is great, as is the rest of the cast, it is easily one of the most quotable movies on this list. It was also fantastic to see a character who wasn’t automatically good at what she does, Mulan had to work to be a good soldier and she did it in an awesome montage. She also had to defeat her villain nearly all on her own which is something that not a lot of these princesses can say. She’s just overall a refreshing character that we have yet to see topped by the Disney princess line.
So there it is, the McKissack ranking of Disney Princesses, if our list doesn’t match yours, feel free to share yours on this article and don’t forget that people’s opinions don’t make your opinions any less true for you.