Disney is one of the most powerful forces in world popular culture. It has been for generations and there's no sign of its power letting up anytime soon. Mickey Mouse is practically as powerful as the President of the United States at this point. Its movies are almost always huge events when they come out, and even films that are pushing 70 or 80, like Snow White or Pinocchio, are major presences in popular culture.
There is probably nobody in the Western World who wasn't raised on these movies. We've all wished upon a star, whistled while we've worked, taken repeat trips to Wonderland and Agrabah, and probably know the stories of at least a couple movies inside and out. Well, we think we do, but we don't. Or maybe we actually know them too well for our own good. We know the stories so well that we don't even notice when they don't make any sense, and it turns out that that happens quite a lot.
Many important details of Disney's most beloved films actually fall completely apart, as far as logic goes, as soon as any scrutiny is applied. You'd be surprised how little sense your favorites make once you really think about them. All kinds of common sense fall to pieces: everything from character motivation to timelines to the laws of physics. Of course, that doesn't make Disney any less awesome, it just maybe adds something more to smile about when we revisit a classic. Here are just a few examples of logic fails in Disney films that went right your heads.
25 To Cognitive Dissonance... And Beyond!
Toy Story was the first great 3D animated film It tells the story of a group of toys owned by a boy named Andy, including the arrogant astronaut Buzz Lightyear. Buzz is kind of deluded: he doesn't even realize he's a toy, despite all the evidence to the contrary like… for example... living in a child's bedroom.
But despite this, Buzz knows how to act like a toy, and does so pretty well.
He always know, for example, to act lifeless whenever humans are around, and he lets Andy play with him like, well… a toy. Yet this doesn't clue him in? But he doesn't attempt to resist being a toy, like treat Andy like a hostile alien, which is what you'd think he'd do if he believed what he said he'd believed.
24 Me Tarzan, Y'all Jane
Disney's Tarzan was the first animated adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s classic novel about the king of the apes. It tells the story of an Englishman who was orphaned in Africa as a baby and was raised by apes, ignorant of his human heritage. Ignorant, that is, until a party of three English people arrive: Professor Porter, his daughter Jane and their guide Clayton. Tarzan rescues Jane, they connect, and the young Englishwoman teaches the ape-man English, in a process that included the uttering of the famous line “me Tarzan, you Jane.” Except for one weird thing: although every English speaker Tarzan ever encounters is British, he ends up with an American accent. How does that make sense? Apparently, the Jane Porter of the original novel was American, so that would make sense then, but Disney's Jane is as English as English can be.
23 That's Not Quite What They Meant By Universal Language
1995’s Pocahontas was the first time in the company's history that Native Americans had appeared as anything other than stereotypes. The movie even brought a Native American Disney princess to the world, in the form of Pocahontas, princess of the Powhatan people.
She's also different from other princesses in another important way, that being that she was an actual historical person.
The story of the movie changes a lot of things from reality, but most of these differences make sense at least within the world of the movie… except for the language. One of the main themes of the film is that the Englishmen and the Native Americans come from completely different worlds. Okay, so why does everyone speak English? Pocahontas and her tribe speak perfect English in the movie, even though they've never heard of England, and nobody bats an eye.
22 Magic Mermaid Hair
The Little Mermaid was a huge success that started out what is called the Disney Renaissance, a return to glory for the studio. The film captured the imagination of the world immediately. It’s the story of a mermaid Princess, Ariel, who is obsessed with human culture. After falling in love with gorgeous human hunk Prince Eric, she decides to make a deal with a witch to become human, in exchange for her voice. At the end of the movie, Ariel gets her voice, her prince and her humanity. Ariel is pretty amazing as a mermaid and we're not sure why she gave it up. Apparently, she can live her life in water and her hair never gets wet. Really. Just look at any shot where Ariel comes out of the water: perfect, dry hair, not a strand wet and limp against her head.
21 She Could Have Used Body Language Too
The hair might be explained away as some kind of mermaid power, but there's another more glaring logic fail present in The Little Mermaid. Part of the deal Ariel makes with Ursula to become human involves giving up her voice.
So, when Ariel becomes human, she's basically mute until her and Eric kiss.
One of the main issues in the plot is Ariel's inability to communicate her feelings with the prince, or that, yes, she actually is the girl whose voice he fell in love with. Huge problem, but she did sign a contract… which means she actually can communicate, because if she signed a contract it means she can read and write. Nobody ever said anything about giving that up. Why didn't she ever write Eric a note? That would have cleared everything up pretty easily.
20 Maybe It Was One Of Those Missing Person Sketch Artists
Beauty and The Beast tells a “tale as old as time.” A selfish French prince has the misfortune to be rude to someone who knows how to use magic and is put under a curse along with all his servants. Unless he can find true love by his 21st birthday, he will be stuck as a beast for the rest of his life. There are few remnants of his past existence for Belle to find when she arrives at his castle, but one of the most prominent is a slashed portrait in which she can make out part of his face and see that he is a very handsome gentleman. Except if the prince has been cursed for ten years, then he would have been eleven years old when he was turned into the beast. It’s not possible for there to a be a portrait like this.
19 Maybe The Curse Involved Amnesia Too?
There’s a bigger logic problem in Beauty and the Beast: why does nobody notice or care that the prince and the other inhabitants of the castle are even gone? They're relatively close to the village, and the French aristocracy was fairly tight-knit, but nobody even seems to know they're there.
It's been ten years, not a hundred, so it's not like it's been long enough for them to have been forgotten.
It would have been an active castle when Belle and Gaston were kids, and for most of Maurice's life. Surely what happened would have been a big deal. “What became of the prince in the castle?” “Nobody dares approach since that fateful day.” Nope, nothing, everyone just forgot about it. Maybe the curse involved collective amnesia? Or maybe Disney didn't just think about that.
18 Not A Good Place To Be Progressive
This actually has to do with Belle, not the Beast! Belle is a curious soul and a bookworm, and her entire picturesque village thinks she's a little weird for this, even though they think she's nice on the whole. This, on many levels, does not reflect how things would have actually worked. First of all, Belle probably wouldn't have been able to read. Village girls in 18th century France just didn't. And even if she could, she wouldn't be going around reading novels so openly like she was: novels were seen as trash and were considered a bad influence on female morality. And the villages were starving and desperate, not all nice like the movie shows. In reality, Belle would probably have been burnt as a witch or something.
17 Unique Foot Shape
Cinderella is the definitive story of rags to riches. She is able to go to the Prince's ball with the help of her fairy godmother, and, of course, the Prince there falls in love with her. But Cinderella has to leave at midnight and leaves behind only a single glass slipper. The prince, in order to identify this woman he's fallen in love with, gets every maiden in the land to try on this slipper.
Except this doesn't make any sense.
First of all, are we really expected to believe that nobody else in the whole kingdom has Cinderella's shoe size? What was he going to do if some random woman who was clearly not Cinderella came along and the shoe fit? And the second issue: can't the prince recognize Cinderella's face? Or voice? Surely she left some kind of impression. Right? Apparently not.
16 Some People Are Into That, Right?
Disney has had a lot of major hits over the years, but it's most iconic franchise remains the one it started out with: Mickey Mouse. Mickey is probably the most famous cartoon character in history. He lives in a fairly happy, idyllic, musical world with his friends like Goofy and Donald, his girlfriend Minnie, and his pet dog Pluto. Except… when you think about it, his world isn't actually as wonderful as you think it is. It's actually kind of horrifying. Take the role of the dog species in Mickey's world, for example: they can be both functioning citizens (Goofy) and pets (Pluto). God only knows what the factor is that makes the difference. Maybe they're arbitrarily assigned roles in childhood... a sign of a hierarchical dystopian lurking under the happy exterior? Or was Disney just not thinking very hard about which species they use?
15 This Is Why You Should Be Nice To Jerks
Sleeping Beauty is one of Disney's greatest films, and it springs from such a simple premise. Enraged at not being invited to Princess Aurora's christening, the wicked Maleficent curses the young Princess to perish at sixteen. So, her parents hide her in order to prevent this, with the help of some good fairies. Aurora grows up in a forest not even knowing who she is herself, but Maleficent finds her, puts her to sleep, yadda yadda yadda… except this whole situation could have been pretty easily avoided.
Why didn't they just invite Maleficent to the christening?
Sure, she's evil, but what could she have possibly done that would have been worse than what she ended up doing because she wasn't invited? It couldn't have been that bad. People invite jerks that they hate to things all the time just to avoid situations like these!
14 The Humans Aren't Much Better
Why has nobody in the Toy Story universe has ever noticed that their toys are actually alive? It’s not like they're even very subtle about it. When humans come, for example, they don't even return to where they were left the last time anyone saw them, they just drop where they happen to be--nobody notices they've mysterious moved? And then there are the toys that actually get up and leave a toy store in Toy Story 2. Nobody cares about the missing stock? Nothing on the security footage. Never mind all the time the toys spend running around outside. Even if they try to hide, surely someone is going to notice them once in a while. But, apparently, nobody ever has. The toys even attacked a human in the first movie! Why wasn't this reported?
13 This Was Clearly Before Amber Alert Was A Thing
2009’s Tangled takes on Rapunzel. Princess Rapunzel is taken from her royal parents as a baby by the wicked Mother Gothel. The distraught parents hold a festival every year on her birthday in her honor, in the hopes that their missing child will be found. Rapunzel is kept in a tower, believing Gothel is her mother until she's eighteen. Flynn shows up, and stuff goes down.
Except it's kind of implausible that nobody found her before this.
Gothel has a weird isolated tower that nobody is allowed in. Given that there's a missing Princess, you'd think someone would check this out. Missing royalty is a huge deal. But no. Also, why didn't our girl Rapunzel figure out something was wrong on her own? She was obsessed with a festival held on a missing princess’ birthday that was also her birthday. Come on.
12 Gender Blindless Gone Horribly Wrong
Mulan is based on a folk story from medieval China, telling of how Hua Mulan pretended to be a man in order to fight for her country in war. Disney shifted some of the details, but that core is the same. Mulan proves that she's just as good as any man is at fighting. So good that nobody even questions her male credentials for a second, because she's so perfect as a soldier. Except, wait a minute... aren't there a lot of other things that should be giving away that she's… well… a she? You know, her voice, the basic shape of her body, etc, etc. It's a lot harder to hide than just taking off some makeup, changing clothes and calling yourself Ping. How exactly does she get away with this? The ancient Chinese military is very dense.
11 Pointless Sacrifices Are Less Romantic
Hercules is another example of Disney taking an ancient myth and putting their own twist on it. Well, less their own than DC comics’: for the most part, it's basically Superman in a toga, except that Hercules had a lot more of a family to go back to than Clark Kent. Except, in the touching, bittersweet ending, he chooses not to go back to his immortal kin on Olympus, but rather to remain mortal and live out a human life with his beloved Meg. Beautiful sentiment, but was it actually necessary?
Herc didn't even ask anyone if he needed to give all that up to have Meg.
Why couldn't she have become a goddess? That even happens a few time in actual Greek myth, so it's possible. Wouldn't this have been better? This is a good example of why it always pays to ask!
10 Cats Who Have Trouble Know Where Or When It's At
The Aristocats is a quiet kind of classic. It tells the story of three cats owned by a kooky old rich lady who wants to leave her entire fortune to them in her will, although we're not sure how that's legal. Her dedicated butler, the only other human of the household, objects to this. He attempts to dispose of the cats in order to get his own hands on the fortune. The cats survive, however, and with the help of Tom O’Malley and his jazz cat friends, they return home and oust the butler. The big problem is that absolutely nothing to do with the time or place of the movie's setting makes sense. It takes place in France, but various characters are clearly English or American. And jazz did not exist like that when the movie takes place.
9 To Be Fair, Nobody Recognised Al In A Nice Suit Either
Princess Jasmine of Agrabah is an independent spirit. She first meets Aladdin, for example, while sneaking out of the castle disguised as an ordinary girl. The two fall in love while she is keeping her real identity under wraps, thus keeping class out of the occasion and allowing a romance to happen in the first place. It's magical, completely touching. But the sequence doesn't actually make a lot of sense.
Why did nobody see through Jasmine's disguise?
All she did was put on a cloak. She didn't even take off her jewelry. The gig would have been up as soon as anyone saw those earrings poking out. And, on the flip side of the coin, how did the guards go from not recognizing her to realizing she was the princess just because she took her hood off? It's like nobody realizing Clark Kent is Superman.
8 And Nobody In That Movie Is Very Observant Anyway
The Genie is probably the most entertaining part of Aladdin, hurling out a flurry of funny impressions, gags, and one-liners. He knows a lot about 20th-century American pop culture, of the kind that voice-actor Robin Williams was probably very comfortable delivering. But how does the Genie know all this, given that it's probably about another thousand years before there's even any America? And why does nobody seem as weirded out by it as they really should be? Like, the whole Prince Ali segment with the giant ape balloon? That should have started some talking, but no. Some people have speculated that this means the movie actually takes place in the distant future, but that seems ridiculous. We speculate that the Genie might be able to travel through time. But probably it's just Disney milking Robin Williams as much as they can.
7 Then Again, Italy Did Already Have Those Weird Clowns...
Pinocchio is the story of a wooden doll who is given some kind of life. He gets it eventually, showing some real human feeling, and everyone lives happily ever after and our heroes presumably goes on to live a normal human life.
Problem: Pinocchio is walking around while he's still just a talking doll, and nobody seems to care.
We know enough from the movie to know that, even though there are a few talking animals, the talking doll is a weird thing, enough to draw spectators. Yet, for some reason, nobody ever reacts. He was even apparently on his way to school, registered and everything, without anyone ever battling an eye at the whole business. Maybe it's more normal than we think? But, then again, that undermines the whole wonder of the story.
6 At Least We Know It Wasn't Kronk
The Emperor's New Groove is one of Disney's lighter releases, but it's still a classic of its own kind. It tells the story of the Emperor Kuzco, who is one day transformed into a llama and disposed of by his power-hungry advisor Yzma after he abruptly fires her. She then seizes power for herself. Kuzco eventually makes his way back and reclaims the throne, having learned a lot along the way, but nobody seems to question the situation in any way before this point. Normally when a ruler suddenly perishes or disappears, there's a lot more controversy than this. There would be some investigation at least, especially when the person claiming power is basically a mad scientist who had the power and motive to do the Emperor in. But no, apparently nothing. Maybe Yzma had allies we don't know about?