It’s time for the madness again. Yes, for many, March means college basketball but for LaughingPlace, it means another Disney tournament. This year, we have the nearly impossible task of determining the very best Disney song.
Everyone has at least a few favorite Disney songs from their countless animated classics. And with Disney releasing more beloved films every year, it becomes difficult to single one out as the best. To make things a bit easier, we did stick to just songs from animated films, leaving out live-action, television, Disney Parks and any other category your favorite song might be from.
The first step was breaking the bracket into four regions. We eventually landed on the following four categories: Showstoppers, Ballads, Villains and “I Want…” (we’ll explain that one a bit later). After going back and forth regarding which songs could fit into which categories and painstakingly narrowing the field down to 16, we had our bracket.
Voting will begin Thursday. Here is this year’s “Mouse Madness” bracket:
Showstoppers
Does the song stand out as being particularly memorable and a favorite among those who saw the film? Then it fits here. This was a difficult category to narrow down because so many Disney songs could qualify. However, “Be Our Guest” and “Friend Like Me” stood out as two that were locks. And, of course, “Let It Go” had to make the tournament. It could have fit in several categories, but it grabbed the third seed in this region and could be a dark horse to win the whole tournament. And rounding out this region is “Circle of Life,” one of the most iconic Disney songs. These could be some very interesting first round matchups.
Of course, there were some snubs from this region. “Under the Sea” is probably the most notable and just missed grabbing the final spot. “Hakuna Matata” was beaten out by its Lion King pride-mate. “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” is another fan favorite that just missed and “You’re Welcome” couldn’t quite float in.
Ballads
Disney films are so often either primarily a love story or at least have a secondary love story built in, so the Ballads category had no shortage of options. Of course, they don’t all have to be love songs though and we looked at some of those options as well. “A Whole New World” is one of the first that comes to mind when you think about Disney songs in general so that was a lock as the top seed in this region. “When You Wish Upon a Star” might be THE iconic Disney song, as it so often serves as the unofficial Disney theme. That could be another pick to win the whole tournament. It will have to get past “Beauty and the Beast” though, a year after the film won our last Mouse Madness tournament. And the final spot goes to “I See the Light,” a recent favorite that will have an uphill battle.
There were plenty of great Disney songs that couldn’t crack the top four in this category to get into the tournament, including “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” and “Remember Me.” Despite being the best Frozen franchise song (don’t @ me) “Into the Unknown” couldn’t get in either. Another Frozen II song, “Lost in the Woods,” was also in heavy consideration.
Villains
Who doesn’t love a good Disney villain? And who doesn’t love a good Disney villain song. Some of the best songs are sung either by or about the films’ villains and we picked the best of the best. “Poor Unfortunate Souls” is the first that comes to mind in this category and it locked up the top seed. “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” but he did make his way into the tournament, despite not actually being a villain. The song still serves the purpose of a villain song so it qualified. The recent earworm will be up against the iconic “Cruella De Vil.” The Princess and the Frog gets represented with the final pick in this region as “Friends on the Other Side” gets into the tournament.
“Be Prepared” was the first one out in this region as The Lion King remains at just the one song in the tournament. Moana’s “Shiny” was also in strong consideration while “Gaston” was close to being our third Beauty and the Beast song. And while it may not be thought of as a classic villain song, “Love is an Open Door” also almost made the cut.
“I Want…”
This category was a bit different, but in most Disney musicals, there’s that one song where the main character tells the audience exactly what they want, effectively laying out the plot of the film for us. Some of those songs have become absolute classics so this is one of the strongest categories. “Part of Your World” is he second The Little Mermaid song and another favorite to win the whole thing. “How Far I’ll Go” is a personal favorite but it finds itself in a tough first round matchup against Hercules’ “Go the Distance,” which should be a very close vote. And the final spot in the tournament goes to the first song from Mulan as “Reflection” gets in.
Again, there were a lot of great songs left out of this category. Once again, Beauty and the Beast was at least represented in the conversation with “Belle.” “When Will My Life Begin?” and “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” were two recent favorite that also easily could have made it. And “What’s This?” from A Nightmare Before Christmas could have been a fun sleeper.
Again, our Mouse Madness 10 tournament will begin on Thursday, March 21.