The Great Disney Debate Bracket

Loyal readers, many of you have probably seen brackets pitting movie characters, books. television shows, and the like against each other before. These brackets usually come out in waves during sporting events like March Madness and the World Cup. Brackets are fun because they start with a basic board of information, that everyone receives, and then you can discuss and debate your chosen results with your friends who also completed the bracket.

Well today, The Headphone Brothers bring you the exclusive Great Disney Debate Bracket, created by Bridget Bingham and Jay Forness. Check them out at @BinghamBridget and @jay4ness or their blogs at www.popcultureandpopcorn.com for Bridget and www.popculturewithjay.com for Jay. Jay created the bracket with some input from Bridget and they have been asking friends and family to fill them out in preparation for a project titled "The Great Disney Debate" which will be a weekly Youtube series in which every episode will be one match-up in the bracket until they uncover the Ultimate Best Disney Movie of All Time. They're finishing up pre-production this week and more information will be coming to their blogs and twitters in the coming months, check twitter for more updates. We were honored to be a part of this project

How this worked was each of the brothers filled out a complete bracket. We then all came together (via phone) and voted for which movie we had winning each match up. A movie advanced if it received 2 of the possible 3 votes. When the next round came along, we did it again until we had a complete collaborative bracket. The entire exercise was a blast as it forced us to remember movies we had forgotten but loved, movies we thought we loved but thinking back realized they weren't that good, and movies we never actually got around to seeing.

Without further ado, the bracket!

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There were 4 regions in the bracket, each with a separate category. Adventure, Musical, Pixar, and Animal. Bridget and Jay will get more into how they determined what movies fit where but when you review the bracket it is pretty straight forward. Some movies could maybe be in multiple categories, but that would be impossible to do in a bracket like this.

I will add commentary to a few of these match ups that I found most interesting.

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Adventure Region

Round 1

Sword and the Stone 3-0 over Peter Pan

Treasure Planet 3-0 over Atlantis: The Lost Empire

Pinocchio 3-0 over Ichabod/Mr. Toad

Alice in Wonderland 2-1 over Black Cauldron.

The first 2-1 of the day. ChuD recently rewatched Alice in Wonderland and came back very disappointed in how bad it was so he voted for Black Cauldron. Keith and I have never seen Black Cauldron so we voted for Alice. Then again, ChuD has not seen it either but hated Alice that much.

Lilo and Stitch 3-0 over Tarzan

Meet the Robinsons 2-1 over Chicken Little

I had never seen either of these so I drew one out of a hat. Keith and ChuD both said Chicken Little was bad and Meet the Robinsons was surprisingly solid.

Big Hero 6 2-1 over Wreck it Ralph

This was the first really hard one for me. Both of these movies are so unique. I'm happy it ended up as a 2-1 because that better shows how close they were. ChuD was the outlier picking Wreck it Ralph.

The Emperor's New Groove 3-0 over Bolt.

Round 2

Treasure Planet 2-1 over Sword in the Stone

ChuD and I have always been really into Treasure Planet, much more than Keith, so it is no surprise this ended up as a 2-1 with Keith dissenting.

Pinochio 2-1 over Alice in Wonderland

Lilo and Stich 3-0 over Meet the Robinsons

Emperor's New Groove 2-1 over big Hero 6

I was the dissenting member here. You can't go wrong with Emperor's New Groove but maybe it was years of abuse from ChuD that lead me to vote for Big Hero 6. ChuD used to do this thing where he would act out a particular scene from Emperor's New Groove, have me shake his hand ("Don't shake, unless you mean it"), and then he would put on an invisible hat and "take me to the palace", which meant throwing me outside and locking the door.

Round 3

Treasure Planet 2-1 over Pinocchio

Keith's dissent continues.

Lilo and Stitch 2-1 over Emperor's New Groove.

Keith, always the dissenter. "I love Lilo, but Yzma and Kronk!? Fuggedaboutit"

Adventure Finals

Lilo and Stitch 3-0 over Treasure Planet

The battle of the aliens is a clean sweep for Lilo. Great music, Lilo is awesome, and Nani is cute.

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Musical Region

Beauty and the Beast 2-1 over Hunchback of Notre Dame

I dissented on this one. Looking back, Beauty and the Beast is better. However, I wanted Hunchback to get some voting love because I stand by it is better than people remember. It is more than the creepy "Hellfire" song.

Princess and the Frog 2-1 over Snow White.

I am the dissenter again. I have not seen Princess and the Frog, only heard a few songs, so I voted for the OG.

Tangled 2-1 over Frozen

Keith dissented here in the battle between big eyed magic princesses who possibly exist in the same world. Both of these movies are amazing. "Let it Go" is probably the best song out of the two movies, although "I See the Light" gives it a run for its money. The overall quality of songs in Tangled when taken as a whole pushes it over Frozen for me.

Mulan 3-0 over Pocahontas

Little Mermaid 3-0 over Moana

Moana probably beats its opponent most of the time, but Little Mermaid is too solid of a movie to overcome.

Sleeping Beauty 3-0 over Cinderella

Fantasia 2000 2-1 over Fantasia

Aladdin 2-1 over Hercules

I expected this to be the upset of the bracket as I thought ChuD would vote with me for Hercules. Alas, I underestimated how much ChuD enjoyed Aladdin.

Round 2

Beauty and the Beast 3-0 over Princess and the Frog

Tangled 2-1 over Mulan

My heart was slain here. Mulan is one of my favorite animated movies of all time. To see it get defeated by Tangled hurt. Every song is great. Every character fits their role perfectly. The villain is so cool and dangerous. So. Good.

Little Mermaid 3-0 over Sleeping Beauty

Aladdin 3-0 over Fantasia 2000

Round 3

Tangled 2-1 over Beauty and the Beast

ChuD dissented. The Headphone Brothers continue to trade off on who dissents against Tangled.

Little Mermaid 2-1 over Aladdin

Musical Finals

Little Mermaid 2-1 over Tangled

Our musical champion is Little Mermaid, finally knocking off the dark horse candidate of Tangled. Even though I voted for Tangled, I understand the result. Talk about a movie with rock solid songs. Little Mermaid is the only Disney movie I can think of with a realistic shot at 3 songs in the top 10 Disney songs of all time. ("Under the Sea", "Kiss the Girl", and "Part of Your World.")

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Pixar Region

Toy Story 2 3-0 over Cars.

Wall-E 2-1 over Inside Out

Keith had Inside Out going very far in his personal bracket so this result was a big blow for him.

Finding Nemo 2-1 over Finding Dori

Keith voted for Finding Dori and ChuD was adamant that he explain himself. Keith reasoned that both are great movies but he emotionally connected with Finding Dori more and the moment where you think Dori followed the rocks only to find nobody home is on par with the toys holding hands as they are about to die in Toy Story 3.

Monsters Inc. 3-0 over Monsters U

The Incredibles 3-0 over Brave

Toy Story 2 3-0 over Up

Not the result you want to see for Up but it faced a really tough opponent in Toy Story 2. Up, like Moana before, probably beats most opponents but just not this one.

Toy Story 3-0 over Bugs Life

Coco 3-0 over Cars 3

I'm not sure any of us saw Cars 3...

Round 2

Toy Story 2 2-1 over Wall-E

Monsters Inc. 3-0 over Finding Nemo

No drama this time involving Finding Nemo. All you need to do is think of Boo and this is over.

The Incredibles 3-0 over Toy Story 3

I really think this speaks to the raw power of The Incredibles. Toy Story 3 might just be the best Toy Story movie and it couldn't garner a single vote against The Incredibles.

Coco 2-1 over Toy Story

No, we are not "Un Poco Loco." Coco with the upset victory over Toy Story will go down in history. ChuD dissented.

Round 3

Toy Story 2 2-1 over Monsters Inc.

The Incredibles 3-0 over Coco

Pixar Finals

The Incredibles 3-0 over Toy Story 2

Nothing can stop the train that is The Incredibles as they don't lose a single vote in capturing the Pixar Region.

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Animal Region

The Lion King 3-0 over Rescuers

Lady & The Tramp 2-1 over Oliver and Company

I dissented and I don't even feel bad. "Why Should I worry?"

101 Dalmations 3-0 over Aristocats

ChuD said he never saw Aristocats and Keith responded "Yes you have. It's called 101 Dalmations." It wasa great response.

Bambi 2-1 over Brother Bear

Zootopia 3-0 over Great Mouse Detective

Not quite as hard of a match up as some of the other ones I lamented, but Great Mouse Detective is supremely underrated.

Robin Hood 3-0 over Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

More like Winnie the Poo. Nailed it.

Jungle Book 2-1 over Fox and the Hound

Goofey Movie 2-1 over Dumbo

For the wildcard you are allowed to pick a movie of your choice. Bridget and Jay gave us some options and we chose to use The Goofey Movie. Spoiler Alert: Keith will always vote against The Goofey Movie. Just how far can it go?!

Round 2

The Lion King 3-0 over Lady and the Tramp

101 Dalmations 3-0 over Bambi

I don't think we all particularly LOVED 101 Dalmations but it keeps winning 3-0 simply because its competition has not been strong.

Zootopia 3-0 over Robin Hood

Jungle Book 3-0 over The Goofey Movie

Well there it is. Not very long at all.

Round 3

Lion King 3-0 over 101 Dalmations

Finally, 101 Dalmations faces a tough opponent and was not prepared.

Zootopia 2-1 over Jungle Book

Chud dissented as Jungle Book is one of his favorites. Zootopia was such a pleasant surprise for me and it holds up so well after repeated viewings.

Animal Finals

Lion King 2-1 over Zootopia

Zootopia won the Animal region for me so I dissented here. Lion King received one total vote against it, which is not surprising given how much of a power house it is in the Disney World. The songs are all classics, although "Circle of Life" is not a top 5 Disney Song as most lists online would lead you to believe.

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Final Four

With all of the regions concluded, here are the final four results.

Lilo and Stitch 2-1 over Little Mermaid

Crazy, right?! Keith dissented here as Little Mermaid won the entire left side of the bracket for him. What is super interesting is that Lilo and Stitch wins the left side of the bracket even though it did not win the left side in any of our individual brackets. As already said Keith had Little Mermaid but ChuD had Aladdin and I had Mulan. With our powers combined, those three movies transform into Lilo and Stitch.

The Incredibles 3-0 over Lion King

Rough. Not even a movie like Lion King can steal Brad Bird's thunder. The Incredibles take the victory with zero songs!

FINALS

Who will win in a match between the shockingly successful Lilo and Stitch versus the bettor's favorite in The Incredibles?

The Incredibles 3-0 over Lilo and Stitch.

Yeah that was expected. The Incredibles does not lose a single vote on its way to becoming the champion. I love this result as The Incredibles is my favorite animated movie period. As a side note, ChuD's favorite animated movie is The Iron Giant and Keith's favorite at the time of writing this is Incredibles 2. We clearly have a love for Brad Bird movies.

Thanks for following along through this REALLY long article. We had a ton of fun with it. Don't forget to check out the links above to see the results of Bridget and Jay's bracket.