10 Disney Movies That Are Basically an Endurance Test

Throughout their long history as a studio, Disney has been behind the release of a number of stand-out films. From animated classics like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, to underrated live-action movies like Christopher Robin, the studio has accumulated an impressive catalog of films over the years.

However, while Disney’s greatest works are often remembered decades after their original release, the studio has also put out a fair number of movies that are just plain bad. The worst of their films feature uninspired scripts, weak performances and baffling creative decisions that can make them incredibly difficult to watch. These are the 10 Disney movies that are basically an endurance test to get through, simply because they are so thoroughly unenjoyable.

10

‘Haunted Mansion’ (2023)

Directed by Justin Simien

Haunted Mansion focuses on Ben Matthias (LaKeith Stanfield), a paranormal skeptic who is followed home by ghosts after being hired by Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) to investigate alleged activity at her mansion. While the ride it’s based on is a unique combination of spooky and silly that manages to appeal to both children and their parents, the movie is a boring slog with bland dialogue, an underbaked plot, and terrible CGI effects, that ultimately appeals to no one.

It’s unfortunate too, because Haunted Mansion has an extremely talented cast. Danny DeVito, Owen Wilson and Tiffany Haddish all have excellent comedic delivery in other projects, but here they are given such uninspired lines that not even they can get laughs. On the dramatic side, Stanfield, who was a 2021 Oscar nominee, seems completely bored with the material he’s given, which is totally justified. The film attempts to be thematically interesting by at least using its setting to explore grief, but the script only ever has the guts to scratch the surface of the issue, failing to ever make much of an emotional impact. Few of Disney’s silver-screen ride adaptations have lived up to the legendary reputations of the attractions they’re based on, but 2023’s Haunted Mansion stands as their worst yet.

9

‘Pinocchio’ (2022)

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

Robert Zemeckis‘ Pinocchio, a reimagining of the 1940 hand-drawn classic of the same name, is often labeled as the worst of Disney’s live-action remakes, and for good reason. The film features pointless additions to the tight plot of the original, unsettling CGI and even a weak performance from Tom Hanks as Geppetto, making it feel far longer than its 105-minute runtime would suggest.

Pinocchio‘s biggest downgrade as a remake is its visual style. While the characters in the original film were brought to life using beautiful hand-drawn animation, Pinocchio (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth), Jiminy Cricket (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and a number of other individuals they encounter along the way are presented using CGI in the remake. This works for Pinocchio, as his design stays fairly true to the original, but other characters, including Honest John (Keegan-Michael Key) and even Jiminy Cricket, look incredibly off-putting. The whole film is a perfect example of why many of Disney’s classics should just be left alone, as it loses much of the spirit and charm of the original.

8

‘Cars 2’ (2011)

Directed by John Lasseter

When Cars was released in 2006, it received positive critical reception, but was typically regarded as Pixar’s weakest film up to that point. In the following four years, the animation studio released Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up and Toy Story 3, four films that are widely agreed as some of the best animated films of all time, with the latter two earning nominations for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Pixar capped off this stellar streak by releasing Cars 2, a truly terrible follow-up to Cars that stands as their worst film to this day.

Cars 2 follows Mater (Larry the Cable Guy), a comic relief character from the first film, as he gets tangled up with spies trying to prevent an international conspiracy. Despite Mater’s promotion to main character, the film is completely disinterested in further developing him, leaving audiences with a static protagonist who is constantly dropping mind-numbing jokes that make him more irritating than endearing. The other two films in the franchise may not be Pixar’s greatest works, but their stories contain far more thematic depth and meaning than Cars 2. Ultimately, while every other film in the studio’s history is at least worth watching, Cars 2 is better left avoided.

7

‘Artemis Fowl’ (2020)

Directed by Kenneth Branagh

2020’s Artemis Fowl was an adaptation of the first entry in the book series of the same name by Eoin Colfer. A sci-fi fantasy, the film stars Ferdia Shaw as the title character, a young boy whose father (Colin Farrell) is kidnapped by a mysterious figure accusing him of having stolen a relic called the Aculos. Despite the sizable following of the book series, the film won few fans when it was released on Disney+ in the summer of 2020, and is now regarded as one of the worst releases of the 2020s.

There are few redeeming qualities about Artemis Fowl. The quality of the CGI is terrible, making it impossible to feel like the fantasy elements of the film’s world truly exist alongside the live-action elements. The dialogue is bland and there are some distractingly bad casting choices made, especially Josh Gad who, while great in other films, sounds like Olaf doing a Batman impression here. The convoluted plot is unlikely to hold the attention of those who are inexperienced with the book series, while the poor execution is unlikely to appeal to any established fan, making Artemis Fowl a difficult movie to recommend to anyone.

6

‘The Wild’ (2006)

Directed by Steve “Spaz” Williams

In 2005, DreamWorks released Madagascar, an animated comedy film in which a group of animals escape from a zoo in New York and end up back in the wilderness. Less than a year later, Disney released The Wild, an animated comedy film in which a group of animals escape from a zoo in New York and end up back in the wilderness. The similarities are obvious, and while The Wild does differentiate itself by focusing on the relationship between Samson (Kiefer Sutherland) and his son, Ryan (Greg Cipes), it is hard not to view it as an inferior version of the DreamWorks movie.

Even without the comparisons to Madagascar, though, The Wild is a tough movie to get through. The comedic dialogue is tired and reminiscent of just about every other second-rate kids’ movie of the era, with even established comedic talent like Jim Belushi failing to land a single joke. The animation is also noticeably rough in some places, as it wasn’t animated by Disney themselves, giving it a cheap look that is unbefitting of a major release from the famous studio.

5

‘The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause’ (2006)

Directed by Michael Lembeck

While the first two Santa Clause movies are enjoyable holiday films anchored by a charismatic lead performance from Tim Allen and grounded themes regarding familial reconciliation and finding love, the third film, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, takes a turn for the worse. In it, Scott Calvin (Allen), now over a decade into his tenure as Santa Claus, must deal with Jack Frost (Martin Short), the spirit of Winter, who wishes to take Scott’s place as Santa.

Unfortunately, the third film in the franchise lacks the charm of the other two. Allen seems far less engaged with the script than before, reducing the audience’s emotional investment in Scott’s story, while Short is overly obnoxious as Jack Frost due to weak material that emphasizes the more annoying aspects of his shtick. The story is also notably weaker than the other two, with emotional moments being played far less seriously than before, diluting the emotional stakes of the film as a whole. It could have been a Christmas classic like the other two, but because of the creative choices made, The Santa Clause 3 will always be remembered as the terrible sequel that killed the franchise for 16 years.

4

‘G-Force’ (2009)

Directed by Hoyt H. Yeatman Jr.

Many of Disney’s best films have a unique charm that gives them an almost universal appeal, hence why so many of their releases have become beloved family classics. Like many of Disney’s worst films, G-Force, a spy comedy starring a team of genetically altered rodents trained to carry out covert FBI missions, lacks that charm, more closely resembling the mediocre, generic kids’ fare from other studios than Disney’s traditional family-oriented live-action films.

Many of G-Force‘s issues lie in its generic writing. No joke in this film feels wholly original, least of all its flatulence-based humor, which will only appeal to the youngest of viewers, and audiences of all ages will find it difficult to relate to the film’s underdeveloped primary cast of furry spies. Its supporting cast of humans, including popular comedians of the time like Zach Galifianakis and Will Arnett, also fails to bring any entertainment value to the proceedings, ensuring that G-Force is a dull, mostly forgettable film.

3

‘Underdog’ (2007)

Directed by Frederik Du Chau

2007’s Underdog was an attempt at modernizing the 1960s television series of the same name, while also adapting it for the big screen. It tells the story of a police dog, voiced by Jason Lee, who gains superpowers as a result of a genetic experiment gone wrong. Unfortunately, Underdog is a painfully safe superhero parody film that’s sure to earn some giggles from younger audience members, but unlikely to entertain more mature minds.

Underdog‘s greatest flaw is its script. As a comedy, it is predictable and repetitive, heavily leaning upon toilet humor in an attempt to hold the attention of children. It also gives little attention to its human characters who, if properly developed, could have been genuinely interesting, but instead they’re bland and underwritten, making it difficult to root for them, or care about their troubles. Lee does his best to elevate the script with his excellent delivery, but dialogue this weak can only be improved so much, cementing Underdog as a low point in both his and Disney’s filmographies.

2

‘Chicken Little’ (2005)

Directed by Mark Dindal

2005’s Chicken Little is a modern spin on the classic folk tale in which a young chicken believes the sky is falling. In the Disney version, the titular chicken (Zach Braff) is proven somewhat correct when it is revealed that pieces of a camouflaged alien spacecraft have been falling from the sky, foreshadowing a seemingly lethal invasion. Chicken Little has some interesting thematic material regarding father-son relationships, but the script isn’t strong enough to make the film anything better than Disney’s worst original animated film.

One of Chicken Little‘s most notable weaknesses is its reliance upon out-of-place pop culture references that severely date the humor, like a short scene in which Runt (Steve Zahn) and Abby (Joan Cusack) sing “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls. It’s also Disney’s least visually appealing film, featuring early 3D animation from an era where the company hadn’t mastered the technology yet. The foundations for a better film are present in the dynamic between Chicken Little and his father, Buck (Garry Marshall), but the actual film is an unappealing mess that serves as a time capsule of some of Disney’s worst tendencies in the mid-2000s.

1

‘The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild’ (2022)

Directed by John C. Donkin

When Disney completed its acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019, they also gained ownership over Blue Sky Studios, the animation house responsible for Ferdinand, Spies in Disguise and, most prominently, the Ice Age franchise. Unfortunately, Blue Sky was soon shuttered, but Disney elected to keep the Ice Age series alive, releasing The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild, its first spin-off film, to Disney+ in early 2022.

Buck Wild focuses on Crash (Vincent Tong) and Eddie (Aaron Harris), the opossum brothers of Ellie (Dominique Jennings), as they journey through the dinosaur-filled Lost World under the guidance of Buck Wild (Simon Pegg). The film was originally intended to be a series, and the quality of animation reflects that, appearing cheap with characters that look notably worse than they did in previous films. Each Ice Age sequel’s script was worse than the last, and Buck Wild is no different, featuring some of the laziest, groan-inducing jokes in the franchise’s over-twenty-year history. Even for die-hard fans of the series, The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild is a complete waste of time, devoid of any entertainment value.

NEXT: 10 Disney Movies That Were Almost Perfect