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People Share Brilliant Hidden Details In Animated Movies, Here Are The 50 Best Ones
Films are generally a collaborative effort between all sorts of creative folks, script writers, directors, actors, set designers, costume, prop and makeup artists and really everything else. Naturally, a good film will have a lot of hidden details left by these creatives. This is even more true in animation where really anything is possible.
We’ve gathered posts about cool and interesting details in animated movies from across the internet. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your own ideas and examples in the comments section below.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
In Big Hero 6 (2014), This Happens:
RELATED:
#2
Moana Writers Play A Joke On The Rock’s Nickname
#3
In "Hercules" (1997) Hades Says "Guys, Relax. It's Only Half-Time" Exactly At The 46-Minute Mark, The Halfway Point Of The 92-Minute Movie
Feathered Dinosaur 6 months ago
I don't know why so many people don't like that movie, it's one of my favorites
Before Marvel started doing it, Pixar was famous for leaving in fake “bloopers” during the credits of their films. Many children, myself included, truly believed that, somehow, the animation simply followed the voice actors messing up their lines. This, of course, made really no sense, as often these would feature visual gags that would literally have to be animated in.
This “feature” was introduced in the 1998's film "A Bug’s Life," where the characters would literally play pranks on each other during the credits, mirroring the on set antics of various non-animated movies.
#4
In Up (2009), Dug Is The Only Dog To Successfully Track Down The Tropical Bird
Because He Is The Only Hunting Dog (Golden Retriever). All The Others Are Guard Dog Breeds
#5
Brad Bird Was In Part Inspired To Make This Movie (The Iron Giant 1999) As A Memorial To His Sister Susan, Who Died At The Hands Of Her Husband By Gun Violence
His Pitch Was This: "What If A Gun Had A Soul And Didn't Want To Be A Gun?"
#6
Mulan (1998) Only Has Musical Numbers For The First Half, Until The Characters Find The Destroyed Village
From There On Songs Were Avoided Because The Tone Was Meant To Be Darker
Zedrapazia 6 months ago
This is also reflected in the last song with the "a girl worth fighting for", when they find a half destroyed doll in the ashes, implementing that it belonged to a little girl that is now dead. This leads to Mulan and co to realize that the girl that is worth fighting for is not a fair maiden to marry, but those that have to be protected from the enemy, drastically altering the meaning of the phrase.
The head of Pixar at the time, John Lasseter, stated that he wanted this idea to help differentiate Pixar films Disney animation. “We picked shots and the characters from the film so that it had the feel that it was actually part of the film” he told the Las Vegas Sun. Pixar has not included this detail since 2001s “Monsters Inc,” unfortunately.
#7
For Monsters Inc. (2001) Due To Mary Gibbs Who Played Boo Being So Young, It Was Difficult To Get Her To Stay In The Recording Booth To Perform Her Lines
So They Decided To Follow Her Around With A Microphone And Cut Her Lines Together Using The Random Things/Noises She Say Whilst Playing
#8
In Frozen(2013) The Duke Of Weselton Is Mistakenly Called Weaseltown. In Zootopia(2016) Duke Weaselton Is Mistakenly Called Weselton. Both Were Voiced By Alan Tudyk
#9
In Spider Man: Into The Spider-Verse, When Miles Morales Electrocutes Peter B. Parker, It Illuminates His Nervous System Instead Of The Usual Cartoon Trope Of His Skeleton. Being Much More Scientifically Accurate
#10
In Finding Nemo (2003), Gill Is A Moorish Idol. This Species Is Known To Not Handle Captivity Well,
So Him Being The One Who Constantly Comes Up With Escape Plans Makes Sense
#11
Disney's "Lilo & Stitch" (2002) Used Watercolor Backgrounds, Exclusively. The Studio Had Some Financial Failures And Was Doing Ambitious Things Elsewhere, So They Left The Filmmakers To Their Own Devices, Off At The Florida Studio. The Only Other Watercolor Films Are Dumbo And Snow White
Tha Monkey 6 months ago
I really loved this, because it really reminded me of living in Hawaii as a kid. Things always seemed a bit otherworldly and "atmospheric", which this captures.
#12
In Asterix Conquers Rome (1976): Asterix Shows Obelix That They Are In The Fourth Floor By Forming A Roman Iv With His Fingers Instead Of Just Holding Up 4 Fingers
#13
In The Incredibles 2, The Painting In Helen’s Hotel Room Is An Illustration Of Her Seperation From The Family
#14
In Monsters Inc (2001), Boo Tries To Give Sully A Nemo Doll. Finding Nemo Wouldn’t Come Out Until 2003
#15
In The 2012 Stop-Motion Animated Film Paranorman The Popular High School Quarterback, When Asked Out By The Typical Popular Girl, Reveals He’s Gay
Making Him The First Queer Character In A Children’s Animated Movie
Zedrapazia 6 months ago
Great movie too btw! Back when Disney, Netflix and co claimed they just made the "first" LGBTQ character in a cartoon, I'd spend a lot of time posting that fact around and showing it to people to present that they, in fact, didn't. Paranorman for the win!
Katie Lutesinger 6 months ago
I love this movie so much! And he's definitely the best character in it. He's not responding oddly to her advances because he's too stupid to notice - he's just not attracted to girls.
Definitely a Human 6 months ago
There's no way this is the first queer character in a kids movie. Also, how is this a hidden detail?
The Other Guest 6 months ago
First *openly* queer, not just queer-coded. I'd be very interested in knowing if there was one prior to this movie (not sarcasm, I really would be interested). And I agree, it's not exactly an easter egg/hidden detail.
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Michael Largey 6 months ago
Maybe the first openly queer character in a children's animated movie, but hardly the first. Before he met the crocodile, Peter Pan's Captain Hook was probably known as Captain Fabulous.
The Other Guest 6 months ago
I would call him queer-coded, not openly queer.
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#16
In "Up" (2009) The Town Buildings Develop Over The Years
Minecraft_Chicken (He/Chicken) 6 months ago
This makes the scene sadder then it already was. Thanks a lot.
#17
In An American Tail (1986), The Colour Of The Statue Of Liberty Is Historically Accurate
As The Film Is Set In 1885, The Year The Statue Was Completed, It Still Has Its Bright Copper Colouring. It Was Only After 1900 That The Statue Turned Green Due To Oxidisation
#18
Chicha From The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) Is The First Pregnant Female Character To Appear In A Disney Animated Feature Film, According To The Dvd Commentary
She’s Also One Of The First Mother Characters In A Disney Film Not To Be Killed Off Or Villainized
#19
Kid Notices Something That Most Of Us Wouldn't Have: Up(2009), Cars 2 (2011)
#20
In “Toy Story 4,” Mr Potato Head Is Voiced Posthumously By Don Rickles (Who Passed Away In 2017)
The Pixar Team Mined Through More Than Two Decades Of Rickles’ Voice Sessions, Outtakes For Other Films, Theme Parks, Toys,... etc. To Piece Together The Performance
#21
Sid, From Ice Age, Makes A Cameo Appeareance In The Movie Robots (2005)
#22
In The Pixar Logo After The Credits Of Wall-E, Wall-E Replaces Luxo Jr.’s Lightbulb With An Environmental Friendly Bulb After His “Round” Bulb Goes Out
Carl Roberts 6 months ago
There's nothing "environmentally friendly" about compact fluorescent bulbs. Unlike incandescent bulbs, CFL's contain toxic amounts of mercury, and millions of them have ended up in landfills. It was, in fact, the manufacturers of CFL's, including GE, that lobbied the government to ban the much cheaper, and relatively non-toxic, incandescent bulbs. They then raked in billions in profit, as CFL's cost up to 10 times more than regular light bulbs. LED bulbs, which are now supplanting CFL sales, are far less toxic (no mercury) and are less than half the price of CFL's.
#23
In The LEGO Movie (2014) Benny The Spaceman Has A Broken Helmet. This Used To Happen To The Original LEGO Pieces. Picture Of My 80s Spaceman To The Right
#24
In Flushed Away, The Main Character Roddy (Played By Hugh Jackman) Pulls Out Wolverine's Suit While Deciding What To Wear
OneWithRatsAndKefir 6 months ago
One of my favourite characters that Hugh Jackman played was the Easter Bunny from the Rise of the Guardians! I remember being surprised when I first found it out, because I’ve rewatched the movie over and over through the years. Versatile actor.
#25
The Developers Of Shrek (2001) Took Mud Showers To Study “Fluid Dynamic Simulation” For The Movie
The Art Director Also Took A Trip To A Magnolia Plantation To Learn How To Properly Render Shrek’s Swamp. He Was Chased By An Alligator
#26
In Zootopia (2016), Mr Big, The Mafia Boss, Is An Arctic Shrew. Director Roy Moore Made This Choice Because “The Arctic Shrew Is The Most Vicious Predator On Earth”
Arctic Shrews Eat Three Times Their Own Body Weight And Even Eat Other Shrews
me myself and i (she/her) 6 months ago
ooh I loved this scene! Mr. Big was one of my favorite characters
#27
Miyazaki Adds To All His Films, Including “Spirited Away” (2002), Quiet Little Scenes Of Inaction, Called ‘Ma’, Where The Character Just Glances Into The Horizon And Reflects, As A Way To Have A Breathing Room Amid Constant Action (Citation Inside)
#28
In Lilo & Stitch (2002), The Man Who Sells Shaved Ice Is Named Luki. He Was Named After My Nickname When I Was A Kid, Lukie. My Dad Worked As A Background Artist On The Movie
And He Added My Name As A Joke, And It Stuck. The Second Image Is His Other Work, He Lost The Og Piece With Lukie
#29
Disney's 1940 Animated Film Fantasia Shows The Dinosaurs Dying Off As The Result Of An Intense Drought. The Theory Of Mass Extinction As The Result Of An Astroid Strike Wasn't Proposed Until 1980
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 6 months ago
It's called the K-T boundary. They were running mass spectrometry tests on core samples from oil surveys. They kept seeing this thin layer that was rich in iridium. There were dinosaur fossils below this layer and none above it. Alvarez, and his team determined that something happened, very suddenly that killed off most of the megafauna on Earth. They took fossil evidence from paleoarchaeology and core samples from the oil industry and realized something happened. That's a huge jump from two very different fields and they won the Nobel Prize for it.
#30
In Tangled(2010) Mother Gothel Says “I Love You The Most”, While Kissing Rapunzel's Hair Instead Of Her Forehead
#31
In 'The Little Mermaid' (1989) When King Triton Is Introduced, You Can See Mickey, Donald, Goofy And Kermit The Frog In The Crowd, Underwater
#32
In Zootopia (2016), Bellwether Is Wearing A Little Bell. In Real Life, A Bellwether Is The Leading Sheep Of A Flock, With A Bell Around Its Neck To Help Direct The Other Sheep
#33
Finding Nemo (2003) Has A Mr. Incredible Comic One Year Before The Incredibles Came Out
David Martin 6 months ago
Pixar has always been amazing at hiding Easter eggs of their current projects in their films...I love to learn about new ones I don't manage to catch
#34
In The Little Mermaid (1989), You Can See The King And His Advisor From Cinderella (1950) At The Wedding
#35
In Spirited Away (2001), The Radish Spirit Rides Past His Floor So That Chihiro Doesn't Have To Travel Through The Bathhouse Alone
#36
In Coraline (2009) The Crew Spent 800 Hours Painting 250,000 Pieces Of Popcorn—pink On The Outside, Red On The Kernel—to Stand In As Blossoms For The Nearly 70 Trees
#37
In Incredibles 2 (2018), Elastigirl’s New Super Suit Is Designed By Devtech. Her Suit Is The Only One To Be Damaged, Indicating Edna Mode’s Superior Designing Ability
#38
After Cars (2006) Lost Out On The Oscar For Best Animated Movie To Happy Feet (2006), Which Utilized Motion Capture
Pixar Placed A "Quality Assurance Guarantee" At The End Of Their Next Movie Ratatouille (2007) To Remind The Academy They Animate Every Single Frame Of Their Movies Manually
Daniel Atkins 6 months ago
Wait where did they find dancing penguins to do motion capture ? ;)
#39
In Big Hero 6 (2014), Mochi The Cat Is Dressed As Stitch, From Lilo And Stitch (2002)
Silly Panda Cat 6 months ago
Mochi is such a cute name, despite being named after a type of rice cake I think, and in a stitch costume is even better
#40
In The Incredibles There Is A Clearly Reference To Die Hard 3, The Scene Of The Phone With Samuel L. Jackson, Who Also Plays Frozono, And The Policeman
#41
In A Bug's Life (1999), The Queen Is Seen To Have A Pet Named "Aphie"
In Real Life, This Little Bug Is An Aphid (Also Known As Aphids) And They Live In Harmony With The Ants, But Not As Pets, But As "Livestock"
#42
In The Movie Lilo And Stitch, You See That Nani Was A Surfing Star, But Dropped Everything When Her Parents Died To Take Care Of Lilo
#43
In The Simpsons Movie (2007), You Can Still See Homer's Crashed Ambulance From Season 2 Of The Show
Zedrapazia 6 months ago
It even became gray and not yellow anymore as time passed. Or it's just something they forgot when animating
#44
In Ratatouille(2007) Git, The Jacked Rat, Has A Tag On His Ear Reading A113. Not Only Is This A Frequently Used Pixar Easter Egg, It Also Implies That Git Was A Lab Rat, Explaining His Large Size
Xanther 6 months ago
Lab Rats are typically very closely monitored, weighed often, and fed an exact amount of food (and treats if doing behavioral training) to keep them healthy weights. An over or under weight lab rat doesn't tell us anything about the average and skews the results. If anything, this would indicate Git was an escaped lab rat, who gorged himself on food because he felt his previous diet was restrictive.
#45
In Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), Preston Whitmore Has An Aquarium With Coelacanths, A Living Fossil Fish That Was Thought To Be Extinct Until 1938. 24 Years After The Film’s Setting Of 1914
censorshipsucks 6 months ago
First living one was caught off the coast of South Africa by a team which had as a member my ex's grandfather.
#46
In Toy Story 4 (2019), A Closer Look At Buzz Lightyear Shows That His Stickers Are Slowly Starting To Peel Away
#47
In The Original Lion King (1994), Rafiki Only Recognises Simba's Scent On The Wind After Eating A Baobob Fruit
The Taste Triggering The Memory Of Anointing Simba With The Same Fruit As A Lion Cub At The Beginning Of The Film
censorshipsucks 6 months ago
*Rafiki is swahili for friend. Similar explanations for other names.
#48
In Coco (2017), A Skeleton Is Wearing Sid's Shirt From Toy Story (1995)
#49
In 'Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse' (2023), An Inverted Version Of Nike’s 'Just Do It.' Slogan Can Be Seen
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What do you think ?
me myself and i (she/her) 6 months ago
I really liked this post! reminds me of the first time I watched the Pixar theory on YouTube
Titanoboa 6 months ago
another thing from Into the Spiderverse: the spider that bites Miles uses camouflage to blend into its surroundings, plus its feet glow blue, which is where Miles gets his powers of invisibility and electricity from.
Star the Furry Therian! 6 months ago
I am obsessed with ITSV and ATSV, and Gwen is my favourite. I love looking at the details in her suit and animations to make them look super smooth and graceful. <3
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Marie BellaDonna 6 months ago
I'm feeling a sense of deja vu right now. My sister sent me a Facebook shorts video less than 3 and a half hours ago, that had at least half of these "facts" in it, word for word. Hmm. I think I know where BP ripped this one off from! Still an interesting article.
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 6 months ago
Seems to me this was a follow-up article for the same thread a few days ago on live-action movies.
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me myself and i (she/her) 6 months ago
I really liked this post! reminds me of the first time I watched the Pixar theory on YouTube
Titanoboa 6 months ago
another thing from Into the Spiderverse: the spider that bites Miles uses camouflage to blend into its surroundings, plus its feet glow blue, which is where Miles gets his powers of invisibility and electricity from.
Star the Furry Therian! 6 months ago
I am obsessed with ITSV and ATSV, and Gwen is my favourite. I love looking at the details in her suit and animations to make them look super smooth and graceful. <3
Load More Replies... Marie BellaDonna 6 months ago
I'm feeling a sense of deja vu right now. My sister sent me a Facebook shorts video less than 3 and a half hours ago, that had at least half of these "facts" in it, word for word. Hmm. I think I know where BP ripped this one off from! Still an interesting article.
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 6 months ago
Seems to me this was a follow-up article for the same thread a few days ago on live-action movies.
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