Disney has been creating family-favorite films for decades now, and its reputation as being the best and most beloved animated film company means that audiences have come to expect a lot from its cinematic releases. Audiences of all ages eagerly anticipate Disney movies and continue to watch and re-watch classics that have spanned generations and genres.
However, despite being a much-loved film company and releasing films that have gone down in history as classics, Disney hasn’t always managed to get the plots of their beloved films entirely right each time. From annoying details that don’t add up to problematic situations that have bugged fans for years, Disney’s animated films might be top-notch quality, but they’re not without their faults. Each animated film sees hundreds, even thousands of people working on them, so it’s hard to believe that some of the inconsistencies listed below weren’t noticed by someone.
Luckily, for the most part, children don’t seem to ever pick up on the mistakes Disney makes, and adults are usually too busy suspending their disbelief and enjoying being a kid again to ever really worry too much about the plot-holes and problems that crop up in animated Disney movies.
That being said, there’s a whole host of things that just don’t seem to sit quite right in many of the Disney’s movies, and after reading the ones listed below, you might not be able to watch your favorite classics in quite the same way.
With this being said, here are 25 Things About Disney Cartoon Movies That Make No Sense.
Why Is Cinderella The Only One In The Kingdom With Her Shoe Size?
Cinderella’s transformation from a solitary servant to the princess of the ball is a story we all love. Most of us have probably wished we had a fairy godmother who would make our wishes come true, but sadly life just isn’t a fairy-tale, is it?
As much as we all suspend our disbelief when it comes to these children’s stories and their Disney film versions, one thing in particular just doesn’t sit right when it comes to Cinderella. How is it that she is the only woman in the entire kingdom with her particular shoe size? We know from the ball scene that there’s a lot of ladies in the kingdom, so how does Cinderella have such unique feet? We’re not buying it.
How Does Tarzan Have An American Accent?
Tarzan tells the story about an orphaned baby raised by apes in the jungles of Africa who, up until he’s a grown man, has no other human . Then an Englishman and his daughter Jane arrive and Tarzan ends up becoming close with Jane after he saves her life.
We see the young Englishwoman teaching the orphaned man-child her native tongue, including the now infamous phrase “Me Tarzan, you Jane.” While this is all fine and good, we can’t help but notice that Tarzan ends up speaking with an American accent in the Disney film. Where is this accent coming from? Surely he would speak with an English accent if any at all, right?
If Ariel Is A Mermaid, How Is Her Hair Never Wet?
Young girls have held themselves up to unrealistic beauty standards set by Disney since its earliest days, but even if we’ve come to realize that we’ll never have Mulan’s skin or Cinderella's poise and grace, we can at least see that these things make sense in the context of their cinematic worlds.
The thing we can’t quite wrap our heads around though is how Ariel, being a mermaid, somehow not only always has perfectly coiffed hair, but how it's always dry too. We can see that she’s swimming and coming up out of the water, but nevertheless, her hairdo looks as dry and styled as if she’s just come out of the salon. We know you like to set the beauty bar high Disney, but this level of unreachable perfection is just too far.
Why Are Riley’s Emotions Male And Female When Her Parents’ Emotions Aren’t?
Inside Out is a hugely poignant film about a young girl’s emotions that are personified by different characters but while these feelings have different genders - with Joy being portrayed as female and Anger as male - the same can’t be said of Riley’s parents’ emotions.
Riley’s mother’s emotions are all female while her dad’s emotions are male. While this could have something to do with Disney’s marketing scheme for the movie, it might also have to do with the movie’s way of showing a child’s development as opposed to an adult’s. Either way, it’s slightly confusing why Riley’s personified emotions are mixed genders while her parents’ emotions aren’t.
Why Does Beast Look Like A Grown Man In A Portrait Despite Being Cursed As A Child?
Beauty and the Beast is one of Disney’s most beloved films and it often tops the list of people’s favorite animated films. Despite the serious Stockholm Syndrome issues lurking beneath the story’s narrative, Beauty and the Beast is a lovely tale about seeing someone’s beauty beneath the surface.
We know that when Beast was in his human form, he was a good looking guy. We’re given this information thanks to the portrait of him in the rose room. However, there’s something wrong with this picture. How could the artist have known what Beast, also known as Adam, looked like as an adult if Beast was cursed as a child? Did the artist have some kind of fortune-telling abilities? That’s the only explanation.
Why Didn't Ariel Just Communicate With Eric Through Writing?
The Little Mermaid might have been Disney’s saving grace when it came out in 1989, but there are a whole lot of problems with this movie, not least the fact that Ariel gives up her voice in order to be with a man. We see Ariel spending most of the movie in mute frustration, but if you think about it, this really could have been avoided.
Earlier in the film, we see Ariel g Ursula’s contract giving away her voice, so we know that Ariel can write. Why then didn’t Ariel just scribble down what she wanted to say to Eric? This would have saved a lot of confusion for both of them.
When Did Mike And Sully Really Meet?
Monsters Inc. opened up a whole new world of delight and wonder for Disney Pixar audiences, and the friendship between Mike and Sully is definitely the best part of this particular Disney franchise. The two odd-couple monsters are clearly best buds, and we were given a whole movie about how they met at University in the prequel Monsters University.
However, despite the prequel giving us the supposed origin story of their friendship, in Monster’s Inc., Mike says to Sully: “You’ve been jealous of my good looks since the fourth grade.” But how could this be if they didn’t meet until they went to college? One of the writers clearly got their timelines all mixed up.
How Did Prince Charming Not Recognize Cinderella Without The Glass Slipper?
Here’s another bone to pick with Cinderella: how in the world did Prince Charming not recognize the woman he supposedly fell in love with? Cinderella and he spent the entire ball dancing and flirting with one another, so this really does make us wonder how it took a glass slipper for him to finally recognize his one true love.
Was he not actually looking at her during all the time they spent together at the ball? We know Cinderella had a drastic change of clothes from her usual tattered dress to her evening gown, but her face was certainly the same. Prince Charming clearly has the memory of a goldfish.
How Did Belle Get Beast Back To The Castle After The Wolf Attack?
The turning point for Belle and Beast’s love story is arguably the scene where Beast defends Belle from the wolves attacking her after she’s made a run from the castle. Beast takes on a whole pack of these wild animals in order to save Belle and her horse from being eaten alive and in the process gets badly wounded himself.
We know that Belle gets Beast back to the castle safely, but how in the world did she manage to lift him back on to her horse in order to do so? We only have to look at Belle next to Beast to see how tiny she is and how large he is, so did we miss the part where Belle was gifted superhuman strength?
Why Did The Ocean Make Moana’s Mission Harder For Her?
Moana is one of the loveliest Disney movies to be released in recent years, telling the story of a young Polynesian girl who is charged with a mission to help save her people from starvation. The ocean itself chooses Moana for the task, so why is it that the water makes her journey so difficult for her when she first sets off?
The ocean is depicted as being sentient, so it clearly can make choices and move through its own will. It’s strange then that we see Moana being knocked about in her boat when she first sets sail, the water’s currents making her mission all the more difficult. Did the ocean do this to teach Moana a lesson about perseverance and self-belief? That’s the only explanation we can come up with for this one.
