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When I got home from elementary school, nothing could stop me popping in a VHS tape and singing along with my favorite Disney movies. I can still recall every lyric from The Little Mermaid, as well as Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and of course The Lion King. Hakuna Matata, anyone?

Disney touches almost all of us when we're children. Whether you grew up on classics like Snow White and Bambi or the newer films like Mulan and Wreck-It Ralph, everyone has a favorite one.

See also: The 25 Best Free iPad Apps

For those fans, Disney released Disney Animated on Thursday, a new iPad app created as part of collaboration between Disney Interactive, Walt Disney Animation Studios and Touch Press. The app offers a behind-the-scenes look at 52 Disney films with never-before-seen footage and tools to inspire a new generation of animators.

Look at This Place, Isn’t It Neat?

Disney Animated is organized like an interactive book. Each section or chapter is represented by a button with a clip from one of Disney’s movies playing on it. Sections range from story and visual development to animated character development and music design.

In each section, you can read through a basic overview of the topic on book-like pages and tap into additional accompanying materials. For instance, one of additional materials in the Sound and Design section is a clip from Snow White. Without sound, the clip seems like a scary or sad scene. With sound, though, you can tell it’s a happy one.

Disney digitized a number of previously unseen items from its archives for the app. The app contains a whopping 750 animation clips and more than 150 images from Disney’s archives, including the hand-painted background glass for some of Walt's earlier films.

Character sketches and storyboards offer an inside glimpse at how the films looked before they were released. A few films even have the sketches positioned alongside the finished film, both playable.

Seamlessly switching between the sketch and finished product is exceptionally captivating — and even more so when you notice the artist’s notes next to the sketches.

You can also explore films on the app's timeline by the release year and original movie poster. Each listing shares a bit of world news at the time that film was released, details about the movie and some of the same assets from other parts of the app organized by individual titles.

Be Our Guest

Disney Animated adds several interactive portions that make animation a more hands-on experience. You can create your own animation using one of the gumdrops from Wreck-It Ralph, control the mood of Maximus from Tangled or create your own authentic Frozen snow.

Vanellope von Schweetz from Wreck-It Ralph is also available as a full animation, letting you move different parts of her body to create a unique clip. Each of your finished creations can be shared from the app on Twitter, uploaded to YouTube, saved to your camera roll or emailed to a friend.

A Whole New World

One of my favorite parts of Disney Animated is its color map. Disney took every frame from each of its movies and shrunk them to fit on a single page. This adds up to an astounding 75 years of movies and 10 million hours of work, all in the palm of your hand. Each movie is uploaded with an iconic song from its soundtrack that plays as you scroll through individual frames. It's unique way of looking at the films — watch how the films get darker over time and how different colors play a starring role in Disney’s catalog.

The credits especially stood out to me. Looking at the map, I noticed that the credits for Disney movies were non-existent, or very short, until the mid 1980s. The first movie with a distinctive credits section on the map is The Great Mouse Detective in 1986. After that, every movie seems to have a substantial listing of those involved at the end.

The whole experience is magical and truly amazing to play with. It's something you'll have a hard time putting down.

The Lowdown

At $13.99, Disney Animation is pretty expensive. But the access that the app gives Disney fans makes that price tag seem like a bargain. Disney fans will likely return over and over and again.

Disney Animated is now available now from the App Store on iPad.

Image: Disney Animated