History Franchise / DisneyAnimatedCanon

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* MaidAndMaiden: Several princesses have an older motherly character who isn't their birth mother to give them guidance.
** ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'' kicked off the Disney universe with a bit of a subversion. Aurora was the Maiden, but the role of The Maid was split between [[PowerTrio three fairies]] -- [[ChromaticArrangement Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather.]] Future examples play it much straighter.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'': The Fairy Godmother is the Maid who helps Cinderella, The Maiden. She's OlderAndWiser, rounder, and by way of being a MagicalGuardian is 'in the service' of Cinderella. The Fairy Godmother also gives her a sweet ride to the Ball behind the Evil Stepmother's back, and the iconic dress and shoes that entice PrinceCharming.
** ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'': Mrs. Potts is the Maid to Belle the Maiden. She plays matchmaker in order to break the curse. Technically she's actually Beast's servant, but gives Belle motherly support at the castle.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'': Grandmother Willow is the Maid to Pocahontas, The Maiden. Willow's a spirit that helps everyone who comes her way, but does try to steer Pocahontas from her intended in favor of John Smith.
** ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'': Grandma Odie is the Maid who helps Tiana The Maiden. She tries to get her together with Naveen as soon as they meet, and even marries them at the end. Despite being a [[EccentricMentor little crazy,]] her role is a mix of the previous three Maids, being a helper to everyone in her realm like Willow, a matchmaker that breaks a curse like Potts, and a magical old lady that teaches tricks and gives gear like the Fairy Godmother.
%%* MarryForLove
%%* MisplacedWildlife
* MumLooksLikeASister: [[MissingMom If a mother appears at all]], odds are she'll look to be only in her twenties, even if she's still around when her child reaches his or her late teens. To whit:
** ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'': Aurora's mother.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'': Post-time skip, Sarabi doesn't look any older than when Simba was a cub, even though he has grown up to strongly resemble his long-deceased father.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'': Averted for his [[MuggleFosterParents mortal foster mother]], [[JustifiedTrope justified]] for his immortal goddess birth mother.
** ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'': Sarah to Jim.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'': Invoked by Gothel, who uses Rapunzel's hair to keep herself looking young while posing as her mother. Played straight for her birth mother, who has no such round-the-clock access to de-aging hair, yet barely ages a day eighteen years after Rapunzel's birth. [[spoiler: Their resemblance is ''especially'' pronounced after Rapunzel's ImportantHaircut.]]
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'': Elsa's and Anna's mother looks to be [[StrongFamilyResemblance a brunette version]] of her [[OnlySixFaces 21- and 18-year-old daughters]], even when she lived to see them reach 18 and 15 in the [[AMinorKidroduction prologue]].
* NeverASelfMadeWoman: Surprisingly often, the hero/heroine or heroes have a connection to a relative who is greatly revered (in most cases, a royal parent; but in other cases, [[WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}} a war hero dad]] or [[WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire a renowned scientist grandfather]] will do just as well).
** Only a handful Disney movies subvert or avert this trope. In some examples, [[WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}} John Smith]] (explorer), [[WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron Taran]] (pigkeeper/peasant) and the main characters of ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'' (soldier, son of a gypsy, gypsy performer) are self-made heroes.
* NoAntagonist: There are several films with no real villains in them:
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}'': Dumbo has no clear cut villains; the conflict came about mainly because Dumbo's ears made him a target for mockery—Dumbo lived in a selfish, rather than hostile, world that causes his problems. The other elephants simply looked down on him and his mother, the ringmaster had no idea what to do with Dumbo once he's forced to lock up his mother, the clowns had their own problems to deal with, and the kids that got Dumbo into the whole mess were just insensitive, not outright malicious.
** ''WesternAnimation/SaludosAmigos'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheThreeCaballeros'' have no villains either.
** Neither ''WesternAnimation/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'' nor ''WesternAnimation/WinnieThePooh2011'' have a real villain in them -- they're just figments of the characters imaginations.
** ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear'': Kenai blames a bear for the death of one of his brothers and kills her in revenge, but [[KarmicTransformation his own experience as a bear]] helps him realize that the bear was just a mother trying to get food and that killing her was a prime case of RevengeBeforeReason. Denahi, Kenai's own brother, keeps on trying to kill Kenai for most of the film, but that's because he doesn't know the bear he saw next to Kenai's [[EmptyPilesOfClothing empty clothes]] was Kenai and instead jumped to the logical conclusion that the bear must have killed his one remaining brother. The plot's major conflicts are essentially the product of multiple misunderstandings.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'': Meddlesome TV executives and dog catchers cause problems for the main heroes, and [[WindmillCrusader Bolt]] initially blames "[[ShowWithinAShow Dr. Calico]]" for everything, but in reality there is no central villain.
** ''WesternAnimation/RalphBreaksTheInternet'' The movie has no villain [[spoiler:(though the closest things to villains are Arthur, the virus from the Dark Net and the clones of Ralph it creates)]], but rather a series of conflicts [[spoiler:caused mainly by Ralph himself, who acts out of concern that he and Vanellope might no longer be friends when she finds the Slaughter Race game more appealing and Vanellope looks up to Shank as a CoolBigSister figure.]]
** The closest thing ''WesternAnimation/FrozenII'' has to a villain is [[spoiler:King Runeard]], whose actions set up the plot of the film. The catch is, by the time the film takes place, [[spoiler:he's been dead for 34 years]], and as a result doesn't directly oppose the heroes in any way.
* NonHumanSidekick: Most of the main characters and/or their love interests have one, as do some villains.
* NonStandardCharacterDesign: Most of their films centering on a human cast (especially their princess ones) use this type of design formula: The lead characters, such as the prince and princess, and sometimes their parents, have hyper-realistic designs, while the rest of the cast have more cartoonish and exagerated proportions.
* NoSmoking: Since July 2007, Disney has banned onscreen smoking from being depicted in any of their films. Even before they enforced the ban, they edited a couple (but not all) of their older films to remove instances of smoking, such as Goofy lighting up a joint in ''Saludos Amigos'' (the uncut version was eventually released as a bonus feature on the ''Walt and El Groupo'' documentary) and any instance of Pecos Bill with a cigarette in ''Melody Time''.
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: A lot of the less sinister villains of the franchise are known for being very fanciful, hammy and at face value outright buffoonish and vain, though during the climax can prove to be just as calculating and deadly as the more serious ones:
** Prince John of ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'' is depicted as cowardly manchild, and he and his forces most of the early half of the film suffering slapstick humiliation, to the point of ending up a laughing stock with the rest of Nottingham. He does ''not'' take this well however, and increases taxes and arrests to an extreme detriment and plans to have Friar Tuck executed simply to leave fear in the town. Robin intervenes, though still almost perishes after a far more fearsome battle from the equally buffoonish Sheriff of Nottingham.
** The hyena clan of ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' are at first set up as bungling {{Starter Villain}}s who are easily chased off by Mufasa. Then Scar utilizes them in his plan to kill Mufasa and take his place as ruler of the Pride Lands. [[spoiler:They later make a meal of Scar after he double-crosses them, quickly abolishing any suggestions of them being mere grovelling lackeys.]]
* ObviouslyEvil: A great many of these films do this, even going so far as to base their color and shape schemes around it (as talked about in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' DVD documentaries). Just take one look at a character sheet for an average Disney film and you can immediately pick out the villains. This is kind of odd when it's done with AnimalStereotypes -- bears are painted as [[BearsAreBadNews horrible, deadly,]] {{kaiju}}-[[BearsAreBadNews like monstrous demons]] in ''WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound'' and as [[BearyFriendly friendly and lovable heroes]] in ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967'' and ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear''. However, there have been subversions of this in their more recent films, such as ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}''.
* OddballInTheSeries:
** ''WesternAnimation/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'' is unique in a number of ways: in that it's a CompilationMovie of three short films released over the course of a decade ago, it's the only CashCowFranchise to come out of the studio's DorkAge, and it's not under full ownership by Disney; the estate of Creator/AAMilne licenses the rights to Disney and receives credit for every production.
** Due to moviegoers tiring of the formula used throughout the Disney Renaissance era, their later "Post-Renaissance" era contained very few {{Animated Adaptation}}s / {{Animated Musical}}s and featured highly experimental storytelling (to the point that said era is also called the "Experimental Era"). Standout examples include:
*** ''WesternAnimation/{{Dinosaur}}'' was produced by a SpecialEffects company called the Secret Lab, using CGI characters, over photography-made backgrounds. It's also one of few pieces of DinosaurMedia made under the Disney banner. Because of these oddities, UsefulNotes/{{Europe}} doesn't even consider this a part of the Canon, instead replacing it with ''WesternAnimation/TheWild'', which was made by C.O.R.E. Feature Animation and distributed by Disney.
*** ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'' is ''very loosely'' tied to ''Literature/TheEmperorsNewClothes'', but not enough to be considered an adaptation. Instead, it's a DenserAndWackier "{{Buddy|Picture}} {{Road Trip|Plot}}" {{comedy}} in a {{Purely Aesthetic|Era}} {{Mayincatec}} {{setting}}. Since it more closely resembles a traditional Disney flick than ''Dinosaur'', the fact that it bucks most of the Canon's staples makes it stand out more.
*** ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'' is an {{action|Genre}} SciFi epic, and the second film after ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'' to be rated PG (this being before Disney started to AvoidTheDreadedGRating).
*** Disney was rather hands-off for the development of ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'', and it shows. Further information can be found on [[Franchise/LiloAndStitch its franchise's page]]. The fact that it was the only real success of Disney's "Post-Renaissance" Era makes its oddities stand out more, to the point that Disney really played up its oddness in comparison to other Disney films in its marketing. It's quite fitting that the film's protagonists are regarded as weird InUniverse.
*** ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'' is an adaptation on ''Literature/TreasureIsland'', but is one of few Disney adaptations to use the RecycledInSpace treatment, and does so with such boldness.
*** ''WesternAnimation/ChickenLittle'' went down in history as Disney's ill-fated attempt at a more "sharp-edged" brand of humor not unlike that seen from Creator/DreamWorksAnimation. It's also one of few Canon films to be set in a WorldOfFunnyAnimals.
** ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' does with VideoGames what ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' does with {{Toon}}s and ''Franchise/ToyStory'' does with {{toys}}, crafting an original story about their relationship to humanity starring a cast of {{Exp|y}}ies, with {{Guest|Fighter}} {{Cameo}}s playing a supporting role.
* OneWingedAngel: Their use of this trope is only surpassed by Creator/SquareEnix.
* OutsideContextProblem: [[spoiler: Prince Hans from ''Frozen'']] is this for the entire canon. Unlike every other villain in the canon, there is no indication whatsoever that [[spoiler: he]] is even morally suspect until the MotiveRant at the climax. In a canon defined by [[EvilIsHammy hammy]] {{Classic Villain}}s, [[spoiler: he]] is entirely defined by PragmaticVillainy, a [[TheSociopath flawless mask]] and [[ManipulativeBastard skill at manipulation]] to which even the audience is not immune.
** [[spoiler:Hans]] would be followed by the villains of Disney's next two movies, [[spoiler:Robert Callaghan from ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'']] and [[spoiler:Dawn Bellwether from ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'']], both of which are [[TheReveal revealed]] as being the main antagonist after only brief prior appearances in which they were helpful and supportive to the main protagonist, were not particularly hammy, and did nothing that would directly indicate anything morally suspicious about their character[[spoiler:, and Callaghan was even presumed dead by the time of his reveal as Yokai]].
* ParentalAbandonment: At least 28 of the features either have their parents missing, dead, or separated from their kids.
* PeriodPiece: While all of the films in the canon take place at some time in the past, there is only twelve films are set in ThePresentDay of when they were made: 1. ''WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}'' (early 1940s; according to the newspaper at the end of the film, which sets the film in March 1941), 2. ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'' (late 1950's-early 1960s, setting the film in November 1958), 3. ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'' (1970s), 4. ''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany'' (1980s), 5. ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuersDownUnder'' (early 1970s), 6. ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'' (early 2000s), 7. ''WesternAnimation/ChickenLittle'' (mid-2000s), 8. ''WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons'' (mid-2000s when not in the future), 9. ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'' (late 2000s), 10. ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' (early 2010s), 11. ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'' (mid-2010s) and 12. ''WesternAnimation/RalphBreaksTheInternet'' (late 2010s). And then there are the relative indeterminates: ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' take place in an unknown time period (''Bambi'' can be narrowed down to anytime in the last 2-3 centuries), and ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'' and ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' are set in a constructed universe.
* PigeonholedVoiceActor:
** Creator/PhilHarris (''The Jungle Book'', ''The Aristocats'', ''Robin Hood'') and [[Creator/CheechAndChong Cheech Marin]] (''Oliver & Company'', ''The Lion King'') are particularly glaring examples of this.
** Creator/KathrynBeaumont (''Alice in Wonderland'', ''Peter Pan'') who voiced both Alice and Wendy Darling (respectively).
** Creator/HansConried (''Peter Pan'', Sleeping Beauty'') who voiced Captain Hook/Mr. Darling and the announcing servant called Lord Duke (later a major character in the first segment of Aurora's story in ''WesternAnimation/DisneyPrincessEnchantedoTalesFollowYourDreams'') respectively, is best known for voicing and portraying villains, authority type figures, servants, or foils. Ironically, Conried modeled for King Stefan and initially auditioned for Stefan until that role went to the late Taylor Holmes, making an unsolved mystery of the herald's voice actor.
** Creator/BarbaraJoAllen (''Sleeping Beauty'', ''The Sword in the Stone'') who voiced both Fauna and Lord Ector's scullery maid, respectively.
** Tudor Owen (''101 Dalmatians'', ''The Sword in the Stone'') and Junius Matthews (''101 Dalmatians'', ''The Sword in the Stone, and ''The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh'').
** [[invoked]]Creator/VernaFelton only ever voiced either energetic characters/stuffy villains (''Dumbo'', ''Alice in Wonderland'', ''Lady and the Tramp'') or kindly matriarchs (''Dumbo'', [[TalkingToHimself again]]), ''Cinderella'', ''Sleeping Beauty'', ''The Jungle Book'').
** Creator/PatButtram (''The Aristocats'', ''Robin Hood'', ''The Rescuers'', ''The Fox and the Hound'') used his own distinct rural Alabama accent for every character he voiced.
** Creator/AlanTudyk (''Wreck-It Ralph'', ''Frozen'', ''Big Hero 6'', ''Zootopia'', ''Moana'') is a more recent example, if only for playing [[spoiler:antagonists]] in four movies in a row, two of which were [[spoiler:examples of EvilOldFolks]]. A downplayed example as he brings a good deal of vocal variety to his characters and is being considered the "good luck" voice of the Disney Revival.
* PluckyComicRelief: A cute, goofy sidekick will show up a lot in these movies, from Dopey in ''Snow White'', to Olaf in ''Frozen''.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Several of the movies villains fall into this, such as the animal abusing, fur skinning Cruella De Vil, the misogynistic Gaston, the xenophobic John Ratcliffe and genocidal racist, and the religious zealot and would-be rapist Judge Claude Frollo.
%%* ThePowerOfFriendship: Several films in the canon show how a good close friendship can help resolve their conflicts.
* ThePowerOfLove: This is brought up in a few films, particularly true love's kiss, or other acts of true love.
* PragmaticAdaptation: A few films in the canon fall into this:
** ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad'': Very much so in the Mr. Toad segment. It does avoid being an InNameOnly adaptation by keeping Toad's personality the same as in the book (even if other characters are very different) and staying true to the basic story structure of the Toad parts of Literature/TheWindInTheWillows, but it does change a few things up, attempting to turn Toad more sympathetic by [[AdaptationalHeroism having him actually innocent of the crime he's imprisoned for.]] The Sleepy Hollow segment on the other hand is quite true to [[Literature/TheLegendOfSleepyHollow the original tale]], both story and character wise. A few liberties were taken, but none that really change the story or characters of the story.
** ''WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland''; The film is actually a combination of the [[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland original book and its sequel "Through The Looking Glass"]]. Keeping every character from the books would basically be impossible, so the movie uses the most iconic ones from each book, while the plot itself is based off Wonderland. Tweedledee and Tweedledum, The Walrus and The Carpenter and the singing flowers are originally from Through The Looking Glass.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'': The [[Myth/ClassicalMythology original Heracles myth]] -- and Greek Mythology in general -- were as family unfriendly as you can get and had a ''lot'' of built-in ValuesDissonance (the basic conflict ''alone'' was unacceptable for a family film, since Hercules is a product of Zeus' adultery with a mortal, and Hera, Zeus' wife, is the villain who constantly makes Hercules' life miserable because of this), so the studio was forced to [[DisneyFication heavily rework the concept]]; it borrows the character names (not so much the personalities), story points and the setting from the myths, but [[AdaptedOut throws out]] and [[CanonImmigrant adds in]] things from other parts of Greek Myth (such as Pegasus and the Muses, who were not in the original Heracles story), and reworks everything else (such as expanding Hades role in the story [[EveryoneHatesHades by turning him into the main villain]]), ultimately making the film less an adaptation of Greek Mythology and more like a [[JustForFun/XMeetsY mashup of]] ''Film/SupermanTheMovie'' and ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' [[RecycledInSpace set in a]] [[TheThemeParkVersion burlesque of Ancient Greece.]]
* PrinceCharming: Played straight for early Disney classics (to the point that the official marketed name of Cinderella's prince is this trope) and later played with in recent Disney films. They can be refusing their royal duties ([[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Simba]]), be jerks at first (though later [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold become better]]) ([[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Beast]], [[WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove Kuzco]], [[WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog Naveen]]), actually start off as commoners who reach their role as prince through marriage ({{WesternAnimation/Aladdin}}, [[{{WesternAnimation/Tangled}} Flynn Rider]]), [[spoiler: or even be the BigBad ([[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Hans]])]].
* PrincessClassic: The princesses before the renaissance are absolutely pure and good, but later princesses still could have these elements.
* PublicDomainCharacter: Their movies are often based on {{fairy tale}}s, that are public domain stories.
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* RandomEventsPlot:
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'': The film eschews traditional narrative in favor of episodic mood pieces with an overarching theme of friendship, love and growing up tying it all together. Considering the film is meant to be a naturalistic portrayal of nature, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools this works perfectly in the films favor.]]
** ''WesternAnimation/SaludosAmigos'': The film has no overarching story, since it's just four cartoon shorts stitched together into a mini pseudo-feature. The only thing that ties it all together is the South of the Border setting.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheThreeCaballeros'': There's no real storyline. It's about Donald Duck (along with Jose Carioca and Panchito Pistoles) going through a series of increasingly bizarre vignettes on Donald's birthday.
** ''WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland'': Like with [[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland the original books]], there is no real story going on; the whole film is about Alice going through a stream of conscious series of RandomEncounters with the bizarre residents of Wonderland.
** The films solely directed by Woolie Reitherman (''The Sword in the Stone'', ''The Jungle Book'', ''The Aristocats'', ''Robin Hood'', ''The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh'', and ''The Rescuers'') tended to have very loose, episodic story structures.
* RecurringCharacter: With five speaking/starring appearances to his name, Donald Duck is by far the most commonly used character within the canon[[labelnote:note]]His appearances being ''Saludos Amigos'', ''The Three Caballeros'', ''Fun and Fancy Free'', ''Melody Time'', and ''Fantasia 2000''[[/labelnote]]. The only other characters who come close are Jose Carioca[[labelnote:note]]''Saludos Amigos'', ''The Three Caballeros'', ''Melody Time''[[/labelnote]], Mickey Mouse [[labelnote:note]]''Fantasia'', ''Fun and Fancy Free'', and ''Fantasia 2000''[[/labelnote]], Eeyore[[labelnote:note]]''The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh'', ''Winnie the Pooh'', ''Ralph Breaks the Internet''[[/labelnote]], and Queen Elsa and Princess Anna[[labelnote:note]]''Frozen'', ''Ralph Breaks the Internet'', ''Frozen II''[[/labelnote]] with three such appearances each. Jiminy Cricket, who recurs in many a Disney work, has two appearances within the canon, in ''Pinocchio'' and in ''Fun and Fancy Free''. And this doesn't include the numerous non-speaking cameo appearances made by other characters in multiple films (in which case Mickey and Donald and Jose's appearances in ''The Little Mermaid'' for the former two and ''Alice in Wonderland'' for the latter one would have to be taken into account).
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: But there are a few exceptions, including Bill the lizard from ''WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland'', Louis the alligator and [=JuJu=] the snake from ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'', and Pascal the chameleon from ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}''.
* ReusedCharacterDesign: Very common. Compare...
** [[WesternAnimation/TheRescuers Orville]] to [[WesternAnimation/TheRescuersDownUnder Wilbur]] to [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 Scuttle]].
** [[WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}} Figaro]] to Dinah: Early versions of Dinah look much like Figaro down to the black and white tuxedo pattern and white face.
** [[WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} Lucifer]] to [[WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland The Cheshire Cat]].
** [[WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany Sykes]] to [[WesternAnimation/TheRescuers Percival McLeach]] to [[WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}} Clayton]] to [[WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire Lyle Tiberius Rourke]].
** [[WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone Squirrel Merlin]] to [[WesternAnimation/TheRescuers Rufus]].
** WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} to [[WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet Jim Hawkins]].
** [[WesternAnimation/PeterPan Captain Hook]] to [[WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog Dr. Facilier]]. ([[WordOfGod This case was confirmed to be intentional.]])
** [[WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians Cruella de Vil]] to [[WesternAnimation/TheRescuers Madame Medusa]] to [[WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove Yzma]].
** [[WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} Lady Tremaine]] to [[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney Claude Frollo]].
** [[WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967 Baloo]] to [[WesternAnimation/RobinHood Little John]]. (Complete with same voice actor! This one is mainly because cels from ''The Jungle Book'' were reused to cut costs for ''Robin Hood''.)
** [[WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland The March Hare]] and [[WesternAnimation/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh Rabbit]] to [[WesternAnimation/HomeOnTheRange Lucky Jack]].
** [[WesternAnimation/PeterPan Captain Hook]] to [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} Jafar]] to [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Scar]].
** [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Snow White's]] prince and WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'s prince to [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Prince Phillip]].
** [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Anna and Elsa]] to [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Rapunzel]], who in turn is a CGI [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 Ariel]].
** [[WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967 Kaa]] to [[WesternAnimation/RobinHood Sir Hiss]].
** [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Phillipe]] to [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Maximus]].
** WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} to [[WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad Katrina Van Tassel]].
** [[WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad Ichabod Crane]] to [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Lumiere (as a human)]]
** WesternAnimation/RobinHood to [[WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}} Nick Wilde]].
* RoguesGallery: Holy cow, the Disney Animated Canon has one of the largest, most iconic group of villains in not only animation, but ''media in general'', and they are often some of the popular elements of the Disney movies. Even though the movies are mostly self-contained, you'll see them grouped together as bad guys almost as often as you'll see the princesses grouped together, especially in crossover series like ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'' and ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''. It got to where an entire book, [[Creator/DisneysNineOldMen Frank and Ollie's]] ''Literature/TheDisneyVillain'', was written about them, all because over 50 of the Renaissance Era Disney animators asked them to do it. And then they got a live-action spinoff, CGI and book series inspired by (but not quite) starring them, ''Film/{{Descendants}}''.
* RunningGag: RecycledTheSeries, as well as importing (usually faster-paced) songs to serve as theme songs for the same.
* SadlyMythtaken: Disney is not known for accuracy when it comes to adapting myths. Their Hercules adaptation is infamous for this, to the point where it [[SadlyMythtaken/{{Hercules}} has its own folder in the trope's subpage for works based on the myth]].
* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Most of the male and female partnerships in modern movies, both romantic and platonic.
* SceneryPorn: Disney's animated films are usually praised by fans and critics for having beautiful environments, and in turn often end up being just as memorable as the stories and characters. Read the list over on [[SceneryPorn/AnimatedFilm the trope's page for Animated Films]] for the many stand-out examples.
* {{Sequel}}:
** Sequels are a rare sight in the animated canon. Walt Disney himself was extremely against making full follow-ups to his features (however, he was OK with the odd follow-up short cartoon) and almost all attempts to make feature-length sequels never got beyond the planning stages -- the lone exception is debatably ''The Three Caballeros''. It wasn't until the early 90's that another sequel, ''The Rescuers Down Under'', would come out, but its box office failure put the kibosh on more official sequels for years -- ''Fantasia 2000'' was the lone exception, and the 2011 ''Winnie the Pooh'' film was more of a SoftReboot than a true sequel. As of the late 2010s, Disney is showing signs of lightening up on this with [[WesternAnimation/RalphBreaksTheInternet the]] [[WesternAnimation/FrozenII sequels]] to ''Wreck-It Ralph'' and ''Frozen'', with a follow-up to ''Zootopia'' also being currently in the planning stages.
** In the 90s and 2000s, Creator/DisneyToonStudios did make numerous DirectToVideo and made for TV follow ups to their films, but none of them are considered part of the canon.
* ShadesOfConflict: The films generally rely on BlackAndWhiteMorality, and occasionally dip into grayer morality on occasion.
* ShadowArchetype: In addition to being {{Classic Villain}}s, the villains of many Disney movies reflect a potential flaw or weakness of {{the hero}}es, meaning that they must overcome themselves as well as the odds against them.
* SharedUniverse: Defied. Disney enforces the stance that each film (and its sequels/spinoffs, if there are any) stands on its own, with any "crossover" works declared non-canon and subject to certain rules to ensure they don't mingle too much. For example, ''Disney Princess'' merchandise can show the Princesses together in group shots, but they can't make eye contact, which would imply they know each other. In ''Kingdom Hearts'', there's a rule that each world involved can only interact with Mickey and his friends and OriginalGeneration characters, not with each other. ''Ralph Breaks the Internet'' stretches this furthest, as it involves several Disney characters, but it uses the excuse that these are Internet fansite versions of the characters and not the real deals.
** There are occasionally rare exceptions to this. ''Aladdin'' and ''Hercules'' crossed over in the latter's TV show, and ''Tangled'' and ''Frozen'' are commonly held to share a universe since Rapunzel and Flynn make a FreezeFrameBonus appearance in the latter. ''Lilo & Stitch'' teaser marketing involved the latter character messing with the big four Renaissance films, with its original theatrical poster having many of Disney's characters revolted by his appearance, and [[Franchise/LiloAndStitch its franchise's]] [[WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries first TV series]] crossed over with not other Disney films, but rather [[Franchise/DisneyChannelAnimatedUniverse with other Disney animated shows]].
** Several special ''Disney'' featurettes do play the crossover trope perfectly straight however, though many of these make use of the AnimatedActors trope to further their discontinuity. The ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'' TV series is probably the most iconic case of this, with almost every noteworthy character from the Disney films made at the time shown interacting throughout the show, PlayedForLaughs of course.
* ShiftedToCGI: All movies made post-2011 are no longer traditionally hand-drawn and are entirelly 3D CGI.
* ShooOutTheClowns: During most the intense or dramatic climaxes, the comic relief characters aren't usually present. It's so prevalent that the canon has [[ShooOutTheClowns/DisneyAnimatedCanon its own page]].
* SissyVillain:
** Scar from ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' is easily the most limp-pawed feline ever to grace the big screen. This becomes a ParentalBonus for the Swedish viewers, where Scar is dubbed by the '''very''' gay and '''very''' out Actor/Singer Richard Wolff. How out is he? He penned a song describing his ComingOutStory titled [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J67JyB3PxVo "Beautiful Boys, Beautiful Men."]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rJODmZtvuI Don't worry, Scar is still awesome.]]
** ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'''s anthropomorphic depiction of Prince John out-swishes Scar to such a degree, the ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Lion King]]'' villain looks positively {{Leatherman}} by comparison.
** Ratigan of ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective''. Until he drops the veneer and goes feral during the climactic ClockTower scene, anyway. (He was still rather imposing even before then, due to his enormous size and strength compared to the other characters. Well, as imposing as a [[IAmNotWeasel big mouse]] can get, at least.)
** "Honest" John Worthington Foulfellow in ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'' has his moments, though it may be more of a LargeHam persona thing. See the bit where he prances around and mimes throwing flowers while describing Pleasure Island "where ''every'' day is a holiday!"
** Disney's human villains aren't immune either. Take ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'' 's mincing, flouncing, bow-wearing villain Governor Ratcliffe, for one. Most of that facade was forced on him by his assistant, Wiggins, who was extremely effeminate. Ratcliffe had his boisterous and rowdy side on occasion, though it was often just an act as well; when his men stood up to him, he folded.
--> "Nothing says sinister like little pink bows on your pigtails!" -- '''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick'''
*** Also to mention is Captain Hook of ''WesternAnimation/PeterPan''.
** King Candy from ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'', [[spoiler:up until the moment it's revealed that it was an act to conceal his ''real'' identity, Turbo]]. Lives in a ''[[InsistentTerminology salmon]]''-coloured castle, has a lisp, hops around with various effeminate mannerisms. [[spoiler:The castle's actually a plot-point: it's girly because he stole it from a 10-year-old princess.]]
* SlidingScaleOfAdaptationModification: The films in the canon that adapt pre-existing stories are all over the place with this. Some, such as ''Snow White'' and ''101 Dalmatians'', fall into Near Identical Adaptation. ''The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad'' is a special case, as the ''Wind in the Willows'' segment is a Recognizable Adaptation, while the ''Sleepy Hollow'' section is close to being a Near-Identical Adaptation with some PragmaticAdaptation elements sandwiched in. ''Alice in Wonderland'' falls onto the PragmaticAdaptation end. Some films like ''Pinocchio'', ''The Sword in the Stone'', ''The Little Mermaid'', ''Beauty and the Beast'' and ''Aladdin'' fall into the RecognizableAdaptation category. Several film adaptations, such as ''The Jungle Book'', ''The Fox and the Hound'', ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'', ''Hercules'', ''Frozen'' and ''Big Hero 6'' fall squarely on the InNameOnly end of it.
* SlidingScaleOfAnimalCast: It varies.
** A big chunk of the canon falls on the Level 7 end of the scale, with many of the films having human protagonists with an animal NonHumanSidekick or two.
*** ''Cinderella'' has Gus and Jacques the mice and Lucifer the cat and in its supporting cast.
*** ''Sleeping Beauty'' has Diablo the raven as the sidekick of Maleficent, the humanoid wicked fairy.
*** ''The Little Mermaid'' stars humans and humanoid merfolk, but also has Flounder the fish, Sebastian the crab, Scuttle the gull and Max the dog, as well as Flotsam and Jetsam the eels.
*** ''Aladdin'' has Abu the monkey, Raja the tiger and Iago the parrot.
*** ''Pocahontas'' has Percy the pug, Meeko the raccoon and Flit the hummingbird.
*** ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' has Djali, Esmeralda's pet goat.
*** ''Mulan'' has Cri-Kee the cricket and Khan the horse as Mulan's sidekicks, and Hayabusa the falcon as Shan Yu's sidekick.
*** ''Tangled'' has Maximus the horse and Pascal the chameleon.
*** ''Frozen'' has Sven the reindeer.
** Films like ''Dinosaur'' and ''The Lion King'' have an entire cast of animals with no humans at all.
** Films like ''Bambi'' and ''The Great Mouse Detective'' have a human cast implied but never or rarely physically present.
** Films like ''Winnie the Pooh'' and ''Oliver and Company'' where the cast is predominately animal but also have a human (or humans) as major supporting characters.
** Films like ''The Jungle Book'' where the protagonist is human but the bulk of the cast is animal.
** ''Pinocchio'', ''The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad'', ''The Rescuers'' and ''The Rescuers Down Under'' feature an equally human and animal cast.
** The first act of ''Tarzan'' zigzags between 4 and 7 on the scale--the first act is Tarzan living among the gorillas, but In the second act, the humans arrive, including Jane and Clayton, pushing the animal characters to the background and the film to Level 7.
** ''The Emperors New Groove'' is a Level 6; it stars Kuzco the llama, although he's actually a human who fell victim of BalefulPolymorph. The rest of the cast are humans, except for Bucky the squirrel.
* SlidingScaleOfAnimationElaborateness: The films uniformly land at the top of the scale.
* SlidingScaleOfEndings: The films generally end with happy endings, and occasionally feature the odd BittersweetEnding.
%%* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: The films uniformly land on the idealistic end of the scale.
%%* SlidingScaleOfPlotVersusCharacters: The films generally fall onto the "More Plot Than Characters" end of the scale.
* SlidingScaleOfRealisticVersusFantastic: Most of the Disney Animated Canon falls into the Fantastic part of the scale. Beauty and the Beast is a (if not the) prime example of internal consistency in a fantastic story where the background and the basic rules concerning the magic spell which transformed the prince to a beast (and his servants to house objects), and how it can be undone are disclosed in the opening narration. Some films like The Three Caballeros throw out the notion of realism altogether and land on the Surreal end of the scale.
* SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness: It depends on the film, but the films generally tend to roller coaster back and forth between having comedic and serious elements.
* SlidingScaleOfVisualsVersusDialogue: The older films tend to put more emphasis on visual storytelling than dialogue (''Bambi'' is particularly notable for having less than 900 words of spoken dialogue) while the newer films tend to strike a balance of visuals and dialogue.
* SmallParentHugeChild: A common trend in Disney animated films is for tall beautiful heroines to have short elderly fathers that can be half their daughters' height. Examples include Belle and Maurice in ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', Jasmine and the Sultan in ''WesternAnimation/Aladdin'', and Jane and Professor Porter in ''WesternAnimation/Tarzan''.
* TheSociopath: A recurring characteristic of the villains. Notable examples include [[WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} Lady Tremaine]], [[WesternAnimation/TheRescuers Percival C. McLeach]], [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Gaston]], [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Scar]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Mother Gothel]], [[WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph King Candy]][[spoiler:/Turbo]] and [[spoiler: [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Prince Hans]]]].
* StockFootage: Since Disney often ran into financial trouble from trying so much to show off with their animation, this became a vital cost saver. See [[http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1906578 this video]] for examples, with ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'' being the most extreme.
* StorybookOpening: Many of their animated films and shorts opened this way, from ''Snow White'' to ''Beauty and the Beast''.
* StrictlyFormula: During the 1990s, Disney had a very successful run from 1989 till 1994, but after that they were often accused of enforcing this trope. {{Rebellious princess}}es who want to marry for love, heroines looking for something beyond what they know, bumbling or fantasy-forbidding fathers, [[DisneyVillainDeath bad guys falling off great heights]]. ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'' especially was accused of adhering to Disney formula, which does have some merit as a complaint. Ironically though, the problem seems to have been that all these movies came out in succession, as every single movie of the Disney Renaissance has been VindicatedByHistory and is now well-loved (some more than others: ''Pocahontas'' is still not thought of as a great movie, and ''The Rescuers Down Under'' has gained a cult following but isn't anywhere near mainstream).
* TalkingAnimal: From the mice in ''Cinderella'' to the swamp creatures in ''The Princess and the Frog''.
* ThatRemindsMeOfASong:
** Surprisingly, avoided for the most part. Though some have argued that "Trashing the Camp" from ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'' qualifies. There's also "Everybody Wants To Be A Cat" from ''WesternAnimation/TheAristocats'' and "Whistle While You Work" from ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs''.
** "Human Again" from ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' and "Morning Report" from ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' were un-needed additions to their respective films, since the movies didn't have them originally. ("Human Again" was a BigLippedAlligatorMoment that rendered the story's timeline confusing, a realization that convinced Editor-In-Chief and studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg to send it to the scrapboard, while Alan Menken and Howard Ashman relocated some of the parts about Belle's and the Beast's love blossoming to the replacement song "Something There". "Morning Report" didn't even exist until the time came for ''The Lion King'' to hit Broadway.) They aren't terrible songs, nor ''completely'' irrelevant (they're both in the stage versions of the respective movies, too). Neither of them exactly advanced the plot or provided much if any character development, but both are in the Special Editions released during the TurnOfTheMillennium. The 2011 3D conversions of both movies removed "Human Again" and "Morning Report" once again.
* TheThemeParkVersion: While many of the movies in the Disney Animated Canon are {{Pragmatic Adaptation}}s, they are often seen as Theme Park Versions of their sources due to PublicMediumIgnorance. It doesn't help that most people are generally familiar with the ''actual'' Theme Park Versions, from the literal theme parks, spin-offs/sequels, crossovers, or merchandise. Considering the popularity of those Theme Park Versions however, the company obviously has no intention of correcting this mindset towards the original films, much to the vexation of fans.
* TimeSkip: Several movies in the canon started adopting this measure beginning in the Disney Renaissance period (though it had been used since the earliest movies), and continuing to this day. It got really egregious during the height of the Disney Renaissance period, when films like ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'' would have two or more timeskips within the expanse of a 3-minute song.
* ToiletHumor: Averted. Gross-out gags are a rare sight in the canon, and are virtually nonexistent in the older films (the only notable example is Pumbaa farting in ''The Lion King''). The newer films occasionally have them (i.e. ''Zootopia'', ''Moana'') but only in very small doses and strictly as throwaway gags.
* TomboyPrincess:
** ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'': Princess Eilowny. Although heavily watered down from her original characterization, which fits this more.
** Ariel from ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}''. Very feisty, active and adventurous, and can hold her own against a shark—the start of a Renaissance-era tradition involving the ''Disney Princesses''. Her daughter Melody in the sequel fits as well.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'': Nala (although she's never called a princess), as seen when she play-wrestles with Simba on her way to an elephant graveyard with him. That far into the movie, they're just friends (and they don't take seriously the idea that they'd grow up to be more than friends) and you could almost forget they're opposite genders if not for the voices. ''The Lion King'' has its protagonist and princess more similar to each other than most Disney movies do. Her [[RebelliousPrincess rebellious]], boisterous young daughter Kiara is another example, especially as Nala matures and becomes more regal.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'' has the titular character, who is athletic, scales mountains, climbs trees, jumps off cliffs, and steers her canoe into turbulent waters. After Merida, she's probably one of the most tomboyish Princesses.
** The eponymous character of ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'' is not a princess, but she is part of the official [[Franchise/DisneyPrincess Disney Princess lineup]], and she's tomboyish to the extent of [[SweetPollyOliver pretending to be a man to join the army]].
** ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'': Princess Kida, which seems to be part and parcel of her being TheChiefsDaughter, right up to the point where they actually show her climbing up a large rock structure while wearing a long, flowing dress at the end of the film!
** Princess Merida from the Creator/{{Pixar}} film ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}''. This is the root of the conflict with her mother; she hates the courtly education Elinor gives her and doesn't want to marry. She just wants to ride horses and practice archery.
** [[spoiler:Vanellope von Schweetz]] from ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'', a spunky and tomboyish little kart racer, [[spoiler:is revealed to be a princess at the end of the movie, although she gives up that title to become a President instead.]]
* TrainingMontage: Featured in ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'', ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}''.
* TheEnd: Prior to 1985's ''The Black Cauldron'', every Disney animated film (excluding ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'') ended with a screen saying "The End", and below that, "A Walt Disney Production" (during Walt's lifetime) or "Walt Disney Productions" (after his death). ''The Great Mouse Detective'' (1986), ''Aladdin'' (1992), ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' (1996), and ''The Emperor's New Groove'' (2000) also had "The End" screens, without the Walt Disney credit.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:V-Z]]
* TheVerse: Possibly with all {{the cameo}}s and {{Easter egg}}s and what not. If ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' is considered, each movie takes place in its own world that exists separate from the others due to the events of [[GreatOffscreenWar the Great Keyblade War]].
** ''Tangled'' and ''Frozen'' are all but explicitly confirmed to exist in the same universe, with {{Fanon}} generally accepting Rapunzel, Anna, and Elsa to be cousins by way of their respective mothers being sisters. A common theory also places ''The Little Mermaid'' in this same universe with the sunken ship Ariel explores at the beginning being the same one that carried the king and queen of Arendelle[[labelnote:note]]Traveling from Norway to, presumably Rapunzel and Eugene's wedding in Germany, would mean the ship would go down off the coast of Denmark, where ''Mermaid'' is set[[/labelnote]].
* VanityPlate: With Lasseter's arrival at Disney, newer films (starting with ''WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons'') now have a vanity plate paying homage to the studio's roots in traditional animation and WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse's first hit short ''WesternAnimation/SteamboatWillie''. Like the RKO Radio Pictures/Buena Vista/Walt Disney Pictures logos, it too got an alteration for a film (in this case, ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'').
* VerySpecialEpisode: ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'' deeply explores the nature of social bias between two groups (predator and prey) that have a historical tension between them in a way unexpected of most animated films, let alone Disney movies. It's especially notable given the increasing racial tensity of TheNewTens. It is also an incredibly thorough deconstruction of how a WorldOfFunnyAnimals would actually work.
* VictoriousChorus: Commonly used at the end of some films.
* VileVillainSaccharineShow: However, the "Saccharine Show" becomes less notable with its more mature films.
* WarriorVersusSorcerer: Some of the movies feature heroic warriors fighting evil wizards or witches.
** ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'': The climax has the titular dwarfs arming themselves with [[ImprovisedWeapon their mining tools]] and going after the Evil Queen who is also a WickedWitch.
** ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'': Prince Philip fights the evil fairy and sorceress Maleficent while armed with a KnightlySwordAndShield. As Maleficent has [[ScaledUp transformed into a dragon]], this example is also a crossover with DragonsVersusKnights.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid'': Prince Eric is one of the most notable {{Action Hero}}es among the Disney princes. In the film's climax, he kills the sea witch Ursula.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'': Aladdin doesn't have much in the way of fighting skills in this film but he still uses a sword when fighting the EvilSorcerer Jafar.
%%* WhatMeasureIsANonCute
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: There are things that anthropomorphic animals do in ''Oliver & Company'', ''Beauty and the Beast'', ''Lady and the Tramp'', and ''The Lion King'' that Disney would ''never'' allow in human portrayal.
* WhiteMagic: From {{Fairy Godmother}}s to [[AnIcePerson Snow Queens]], magic can be used for good in these films.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:#-A]]
* AdaptationalAlternateEnding:
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'': In the [[Literature/{{Bambi}} book]], Bambi spends more and more time with his mentor and parent-figure the Great Old Prince of the Forest. He in turn becomes distant from everyone and loses interest in his mate Faline. Bambi ends up [[GenerationXerox becoming much like the Great Prince]], a distant and aloof buck. In the film there is a fire where Bambi's father, the Great Prince of the Forest (a younger CompositeCharacter of the book character and Bambi's sire), helps him and his new doe Faline escape. Both the book and film end with Bambi and Faline having twins, however in the book [[DisappearedDad Bambi is absent in their life]] just like a real deer. The film also excluded the part where Bambi sees the body of a dead hunter and the part where Faline's AdaptedOut brother comes back [[spoiler:and gets shot]]. Curiously the sequel to the novel ''Bambi's Children'' retconned the original book's ending anyway, with Bambi turning out to be closer and more sentimental towards Faline and his children after all (though Disney never adapted the second book into film, their ComicBookAdaptation expectedly follows the same tracks).
** ''WesternAnimation/PeterPan'': Unlike the original novel and play, the Lost Boys don't go back to London with Wendy, John and Michael, Captain Hook and Smee both survive, and there is no TimeSkip to when Wendy is an adult with a daughter named Jane. Said time skip is moved to the sequel.
** ''WesternAnimation/FunAndFancyFree'': The original "Little Bear Bongo" short story by Creator/SinclairLewis does feature a happy ending, but is still more cynical and violent. Notably, Bongo never becomes accepted by the other bears, his beloved rejects him for Lumpjaw, and the happy ending comes from another circus troupe finding him and re-introducing him to civilization. In the movie, the other bears and his beloved accept him.
** The book ''Literature/TheFoxAndTheHound'' ends with a full blown DownerEnding where [[spoiler: Tod and both of his mates and his kits all die, and Copper gets shot in the head by the unnamed hunter so he doesn't have to abandon him when he's taken to a nursing home.]] The Disney adaptation alters it into a BittersweetEnding where [[spoiler:[[SparedByTheAdaptation Tod, his mate Vixie, and Copper survive]], but are forced to go their separate ways.]]
** In ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'', the mermaid gets to marry the prince and live HappilyEverAfter. In the original story by Creator/HansChristianAndersen, she dies after refusing to kill the prince, and becomes an air spirit.
** If ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'', as it commonly is, is taken as an adaptation of ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', then the equivalents of Hamlet himself (Simba), Ophelia (Nala), Gertrude (Sarabi), Polonius (Zazu), and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (Timon and Pumbaa) all live, whereas the play has them all die in the end.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'' heavily changes the ending of the story -- in the original [[Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame Victor Hugo novel]], both Esmeralda and Quasimodo die; in the Disney version, they both survive, Esmeralda marries Phoebus and Quasimodo gets accepted by the society. Interestingly, the ScreenToStageAdaptation of the Disney movie brings back the DownerEnding.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' completely changes the ending. In the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology original myths]], Herakles dies, but after Philoctetes lit his funeral pyre, he ascended to godhood on Mount Olympus and stayed there. The Disney movie changes it to where Hercules earns his godhood by saving Meg from Hades and is allowed to come home to Olympus -- but Hercules, who realizes Meg can't join him there, willingly gives up his godhood so that he can stay with Meg.
** ''WesternAnimation/Fantasia2000'': In the original Creator/HansChristianAndersen story ''Literature/TheSteadfastTinSoldier'', both the Tin Solider and the Ballerina he loves die in a fireplace. In the adaptation for Fantasia 2000, they both live. The main reason for this change in the Disney adaptation is because the writers of the film actually did not want to cause any SoundtrackDissonance considering the fact that the musical piece accompanying this scene is an optimistic-sounding one.
* AdaptationalAttractiveness:
** In the original Literature/TheAdventuresOfPinocchio book, Pinocchio is typically depicted as being a lanky, goofy looking puppet. The [[WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}} Disney adaptation]] initially planned to use this, but animator Milt Kahl helped redesign the character to look cuter, and it stuck. Jiminy Cricket ([[NamedByTheAdaptation unnamed in the original story]]) also went through this, going from looking like an actual bug to what can be described as a tiny man with an egg shaped head and no ears--like with Pinoc, they had initially tried to stick closer to making him look like an actual bug, but none of them could figure out how to make it appealing.
** In ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'', Gurgi is changed from a hideous gorilla-like monster in [[Literature/TheChroniclesOfPrydain the original books]] to a cute badger-like animal.
** While not ''attractive'', Quasimodo from [[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney Disney's version]] of ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' is upgraded from hideous to UglyCute. Presumably, if they added the little details of how ugly he is, it would be a pain on the animators, and would have scared the children in a movie that's already pretty dark to begin with.
** In the original ''Big Hero 6'' comics, Baymax was a monstrous-looking robot. In [[WesternAnimation/BigHero6 the movie]], he is a [[CuteMachines Cute Machine]]. And while Hiro Takachiho wasn't ugly in the comics, Hiro [[AdaptationalNameChange Hamada]] is designed to look more adorable.
* AdaptationalComicRelief:
** ''The Jungle Book'' was intended to be LighterAndSofter than the book it was based on. Baloo became a fun-loving character who has a [[{{Scatting}} scatting duel]] with an orangutan, rather than a serious law teacher. Most of the other characters underwent a similar evolution (with the possible exception of [[AdaptationalBadass Shere Khan]]).
** The Genie in ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' becomes a FunPersonified, cartoony character in contrast to the original story, where he was basically just a magical prop character for Aladdin to use.
** ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' has three examples: Baymax in the comics was built by Hiro to act as his bodyguard. Movie!Baymax is a gentle and naive {{acrofatic}} healthcare robot who was built by Hiro's CanonForeigner brother, Tadashi. Wasabi No Ginger goes from a quiet, disciplined warrior to a neurotic plasma engineer with SuperOCD. Fred goes from TheStoic to a FunPersonified, PluckyComicRelief character.
* AdaptationExpansion:
** All of the fairy tale-based films fall under this by default, as the original fairy tales are typically rather short and simplistic, requiring a good amount of character and plot expansion to stretch them out to an hour and half. ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' padded out its length with several dwarf-centric scenes, ''Sleeping Beauty'' greatly expanded the roles of the fairies and gave the prince something to do other than be lucky enough to be standing in front of the thorns just as the century-long spell expired, ''Tangled'' has Rapunzel spend more time outside her tower than inside it for the film's running time, etc.
** ''Dumbo'' was based on a very short (thirty-six pages) children's book. Even with a decent amount of padding, the final film clocks in at only sixty-four minutes.
** ''Meet the Robinsons'' added a whole time travel plot around the children's story ''A Day With Wilbur Robinson''. The second act, where Lewis meets the Robinson family and looks for Grandpa's teeth, is the only part of the movie that's actually in the book.
* AdaptationalHeroism:
** The Enchantress from ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' is a curious example. In the original tale, she was a wicked fairy who cursed the prince for no good reason. The film has her curse the prince after he refuses her shelter and shows himself to be selfish. While not presented as a ''heroic'' character, her spell served to teach the prince about love rather than anything malicious. Still pretty callous though in regards to the servants and castle staff who got transformed into sentient housewares because they happened to ''work for'' a guy who needed to learn a lesson about being selfish.
** Captain Phoebus from ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'' is transformed from a dishonest cad to a genuinely heroic figure, being a JerkWithAHeartOfGold at worst.
** In ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'', Kerchak is deeply suspicious of the title character, but only because he considers him a potential threat. Other than that, he's a heroic figure and good leader. In the [[Literature/{{Tarzan}} original books]], on the other hand, he was a straight-up KillerGorilla who was responsible for the death of Tarzan's father.
** Rapunzel's parents in ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}''. The father steals lettuce from a witch's garden in the original tale, simply because his pregnant wife had a craving for them. They also disappear from the story and never seem to bother about the whereabouts of the daughter they gave up. In the film, the mother is dying. And rather than knowingly stealing from the witch, they find a golden flower that the witch had been using to make herself young. And the witch kidnaps the baby. [[spoiler:Rapunzel is also reunited with her parents at the end]] -- and they're implied to have been searching for her all her life.
** Elsa the Snow Queen from ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'' is NotEvilJustMisunderstood, instead of the DesignatedVillain from the [[Literature/TheSnowQueen original tale]].
** ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'': [=GoGo=] Tomago. Her comic counterpart was a criminal who was forced into the team to avoid imprisonment. In the film, she is a noble and kind ActionGirl who willingly joined the team.
** Fagin from ''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany''. In the original ''Literature/OliverTwist'' novel, Fagin was an abusive criminal leader who forced children to steal for him. In the Disney adaptation, he takes the same criminal leader role with the dog pack, but is a BenevolentBoss and a rather desperate character who only enforces criminal pursuits to avoid the wrath of Sykes, the loan shark whom he's debted to. He ends up pulling a HeelFaceTurn for Oliver's sake during the climax, even if he remains something of a LoveableRogue.
** Silver of ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'' is a far more sympathetic character than in the original book ''Literature/TreasureIsland'', saving Jim out of love rather than necessity. His surrogate father-figure traits are also played up.
* AdaptationalJerkass:
** ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'': In the original tale, the Beast was never a bad guy to begin with. He is seen to be kind-hearted for the most part, and gentleman-like, with only an occasional tendency to be hot-tempered. In the Disney version, he starts out as an antagonist and outright {{Jerkass}} who is always angry, and only becomes good after CharacterDevelopment.
** ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'': In the comics, Hiro Takachiho is an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent. At the start of the animated movie, Hiro [[AdaptationNameChange Hamada]] partakes in illegal bot-fights before his brother shows him around his school.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone'': In the original book, both Lord Ector (Arthur's foster father) and Kay (his older half-brother) were much more shaded and sympathetic in personality. Ector's JerkWithAHeartOfGold qualities were much more clear—he was stern towards Arthur and Kay, but not mean, and he truly cared for their welfare and actually wanted Arthur to have a tutor to educate him, and was even proud of him well before he pulled out the sword, and not to mention Ector was on much better terms with Lord Merlin, to the point where he was as distraught to see him leave as Arthur. Kay could act like a jerk, but he had a justifiable reason, since he suffered from an inferiority complex and SiblingRivalry with Arthur. The Disney adaptation [[TookALevelInJerkass throws out most of their sympathetic qualities and plays up their flaws in turn]]--Ector is almost a 180 in personality, becoming a bossy, demanding and judgmental disciplinarian who is against Arthur being educated because it would mess up his rigid schedule, while Kay is reduced to a one dimensional bully who hates Arthur for no good reason.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'': In the original tale, "the prince" (who Flynn is based on) was the stereotypical heroic character. Here, he is a selfish anti-heroic thief, but becomes less selfish after spending time with Rapunzel and steps up to true blue heroism.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy:
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'': Pinocchio was still the hero in the original, but was altered from a BrattyHalfPint to a more innocent and merely easily misguided CheerfulChild. Geppetto is a milder example. He was similarly altered from a bad-tempered, antisocial crank to a kindhearted character who genuinely wants a son of his own -- and something of a badass to boot.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad'': In the original Literature/TheWindInTheWillows story, Mr. Toad was in fact guilty of stealing the car. The Disney adaptation changes it so that Toad, eccentric as he is, was framed for it and has to clear his name.
** In the original stories and plays by J. M. Barrie, Literature/PeterPan was one of TheFairFolk and came off as a SociopathicHero -- he didn't show much concern for his "friends," took nightmarish pleasure in killing pirates, and even ''murdered Lost Boys'' [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness just for growing up]] (or to make a battle against the pirates more interesting). [[WesternAnimation/PeterPan The Disney version]], understandably, left out this aspect of Peter.
** Eeyore from ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh'' went from a snarky and self-centered {{Jerkass}} in the books to a [[TheWoobie forlorn sweetheart who just needs a hug]] in the Disney films and associated media. Although, he is still mostly a DeadpanSnarker.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'': Aladdin is a great deal more ruthless and unscrupulous in the original tale.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'': By modern standards, the Hercules of Greek Myth [[AntiHero wasn't exactly a paragon of heroic virtue]]. He killed more than one innocent person simply for being too close when his temper got the better of him (although he was always remorseful when this happened), and [[HotBlooded he would go stage a HUGE war for a mere verbal insult one day]], although he did go to great lengths to help his friends and his deeds did the world a lot of good. The Hercules in this movie is a wide eyed boy scout who doesn't have much, if any, vices. The worst thing he does is lash out at Phil for trying to warn him about Meg being in league with Hades, but he immediately comes to regret that. Also, Hera is presented as Hercules's loving mother. In the myths, she was not his mother and did not like him one bit -- it was her that made Herc go mad and murder his wife. The film omits that plot entirely and gives AdaptationalVillainy to [[EverybodyHatesHades Hades]]. And anyone who knows their Greek myth knows that Zeus is [[JerkassGods a self-righteous, womanizing jerk]] and [[DoubleStandardRapeDivineOnMortal rapist]]. Here, he's pretty much a cross between GrandpaGod and BumblingDad who certainly loves Hercules and stays loyal with Hera, making his status as a TopGod of Mt. Olympus and BigGood of the series a lot more plausible.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'': While still a heroic character, book Quasimodo was much more asocial and inclined to violence, displaying a softer side only toward Frollo and Esmeralda due to [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe them being the only human beings to treat him somewhat decently]]. This incarnation pretty much is a NiceGuy with no resentment​ or animosity toward anyone.
* AdaptationalPersonalityChange: Some characters in Disney's adaptations of a story have their personalities completely overhauled:
** In ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967'', Baloo and Bagheera essentially switch personalities (Baloo was a SternTeacher and Bagheera was a laid-back friend in the book), Kaa becomes a clownish villain rather than a wise mentor for Mowgli, and Shere Khan is turned from a SmugSnake to a FauxAffablyEvil villain.
** In ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'', the eponymous mermaid and one of her sisters change personalities -- the most distinguishing traits of Andersen's heroine were that she was thoughtful, quiet, and pensive (quite unlike Ariel), and one of her sisters is actually said to be by far the most daring and boldest of the family (quite like Ariel). Also, the Sea Witch becomes a cunning, dishonest, power-hungry villain who tricks Ariel into signing a contract with her, rather than the neutral character in the original tale who warns the mermaid of the consequences of her magic.
** In ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'', compared to their book counterparts, Quasimodo is much more gentle, Esmeralda is smarter and less naive, and Phoebus is more heroic, with his womanizer tendencies dropped. Meanwhile, Frollo gets AdaptationalVillainy and loses all his redeeming traits (which are given to an original character, the Archdeacon of Notre-Dame).
*** Of course, in the book, Frollo is the Archdeacon, making this a case of DecompositeCharacter.
** In ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'', Kerchak is a stern, but benevolent leader of the apes, rather than the violent, abusive character he is in the books.
** In ''WesternAnimation/ChickenLittle'', Foxy Loxy gets downgraded to a schoolyard BarbaricBully as opposed to a BigBad out to fan the flames of paranoia for a free meal.
* AdaptationSpeciesChange:
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'': [[Literature/{{Bambi}} The novel's]] Bambi was a roe deer in (presumably) Austria, but Disney made Bambi a white-tailed deer in Maine because the latter species was more familiar to American audiences.
** In the original ''Literature/PeterPan'', Nana is a Newfoundland, but in the [[WesternAnimation/PeterPan Disney adaptation]], she is a Saint Bernard.
** In the original ''Literature/BasilOfBakerStreet'' books, Professor Ratigan was implied to have been a mouse. In ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'', his species is changed to a rat to be more in line with his last name.
** In Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs original ''Literature/{{Tarzan}}'' stories, Sabor was a lioness, but in [[WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}} Disney's Tarzan]], she was changed to a leopardess--since lions don't live in the jungle, this was a largely pragmatic change. Also, the apes Tarzan lived with weren't gorillas, but a fictional species of ape (or hominid?) called mangani. The mangani were mortal enemies of the bolgani (the mangani's blanket term for gorillas).
** In ''Literature/TheSnowQueen'', the titular queen is heavily implied to be of TheFairFolk. In ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'', Elsa is a human who was born with the ability to create and manipulate ice and snow.
* AdaptationTitleChange:
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'''s title is shortened from its source material, the 1923 novel ''[[Literature/{{Bambi}} Bambi, a Life in the Woods]]''.
** ''{{WesternAnimation/Frozen|2013}}'' was ''intended'' as an adaptation of ''Literature/TheSnowQueen'', however, the story ended up being changed so much that the title was changed along with it. Some translations still called it ''The Snow Queen''.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'' was based on a book called ''Literature/BasilOfBakerStreet'', which had a ProtagonistTitle. In the United Kingdom, the film was renamed to ''Basil the Great Mouse Detective''.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{One Hundred and One Dalmatians|1961}}'' is based on the novel ''Literature/TheHundredAndOneDalmatians''.
** ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' is inspired by the novel ''[[Literature/TalesOfTheFrogPrincess The Frog Princess]]''.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' was based on the fairy tale ''Literature/{{Rapunzel}}''. Similarly to ''Frozen'', some international versions let Rapunzel's name be the title.
* AdaptationalUgliness:
** The original illustrations for ''Literature/TheHundredAndOneDalmatians'' show Cruella De Vil as an elegant yet cold-hearted beauty. The [[WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians Disney version]] turns her into a [[{{Gonk}} wild-haired harridan with a corpse-like face.]]
** In the original ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfPrydain'' novels, Fflewddur Fflam the bard is a 30-year-old man who is described as handsome, if [[UnkemptBeauty unkempt]]. In the [[WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron Disney adaptation]], Fflam is an unattractive man in his 50s with a potbelly.
** [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}'': Maui in Polynesian Mythology is described as being a thin, lithe, handsome teenager on the verge of manhood that usually has his hair tied back in a neat topknot or ponytail. The movie portrays him as a massive, muscular adult with a head of thick, wild hair. However, his broad, round face, big nose, bigger mouth, heavy brow, sloped forehead and small, piggish eyes, makes him rather weird-looking.
* AdaptationalVillainy: A lot of their movie adaptations tend to do this to characters from their original stories;
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'': The puppeteer from Literature/{{Pinocchio}} (Mangiafuoco in the book, Stromboli in the film). In the film, he was far more cruel and simply wanted to exploit Pinocchio, and states that he'll use him as firewood after he can't perform anymore. In the book, although he initially does want to use Pinocchio as firewood after the boy accidentally ruins one of his puppet shows, Pinocchio is able to convince him not to do so, and he [[PetTheDog even gives the talking puppet some coins to help Geppetto out]]. This is probably an influence from Alexey N. Tolstoy's book adaptation, Buratino, where the puppeteer, named Carabas Barabas, is the [[BigBad main villain]] and a very ominous person (although, incidentally, the scene mentioned above still happens anyways).
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'': Chernabog in the Night on Bald Mountain sequence. While he was a black god, he wasn't evil; he was a pre-Christian [[Myth/SlavicMythology Slavic deity]]. Though we don't really know enough about Chernobog to say whether he was or wasn't evil, it's certain he wasn't a giant Satanic figure who called up the spirits of the damned. The film works around this by referring to him as Satan himself, but Disney prefers to call him Chernabog these days.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'': Ronno the deer is an ominous antagonist who appears only once to battle over Faline, and abiding by the non-Animated Canon {{Interquel}}, was initially a jealous bully who spent much of his childhood antagonising Bambi. In the original book, Ronno and Bambi were actually good friends instead of enemies, although this does change as they grow older and see each other as competition for does. Also, the human hunters in the book are ordinary people who [[HumansAreCthulhu are frightening and god-like from the perspective of the animals,]] although Bambi's father makes a point of showing Bambi a dead hunter to teach him that humans are subject to the same rules as the forest animals are. The sequel book even begins depicting sympathetic human characters. In the Disney movie, the hunters are explicitly reckless and careless, shooting everything that moves and setting the forest ablaze from a badly tended campfire. Bambi's mother is, judging from the time of her death in early spring, the victim of a poacher.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad'': In the original story, Brom doesn't physically attack Ichabod, due to his rough sense of honor and fair play. He so thoroughly outclasses Ichabod physically that he might as well have two other guys there to hold him down as fight one on one, and limits himself to trying to hound him away from Katrina with practical jokes. In this version, however, he clearly was about to beat the snot out of him, and Ichabod only escaped due to Brom suffering a [[WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner Wile E. Coyote]]-level bout of bad luck.
** ''WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland'': The Queen of Hearts is depicted as an AxCrazy villainess in the Disney adaptation. In the book by Creator/LewisCarroll, while she does constantly order executions, the King quietly pardons everybody she sentences to death when she isn't looking and no real harm is done. She never notices this, and the inhabitants of Wonderland just choose to play along with her. Also, it's outright said by the Gryphon that she doesn't execute anyone. Part of the reason for this is because the Queen as depicted in the movie is a [[CompositeCharacter mash-up of three different characters]] from ''Alice's Adventure in Wonderland'' and ''Alice Through The Looking Glass'' (the Queen of Hearts, the Duchess, and the Red Queen). The King himself goes from pardoning people to openly supporting the Queen's executions (though in Alice's case, he instead makes sure all available options are exhausted ''before'' going along with it). The Cheshire Cat in the Disney movie is a JerkAss to Alice if not a villain, while in the book he was a [[NiceGuy more friendly character.]] And as a lesser example, the White Rabbit in the Disney version is a pompous servant of the Queen. In the book, he's a little friendlier to Alice, advising her not to play well in the croquet game so the Queen can win. The Walrus in "The Walrus and the Carpenter" also goes through this. While neither he nor the Carpenter were particularly good people in the original poem (Alice notes that the Walrus [[spoiler:showed remorse for his actions but still ate more oysters than the Carpenter, while the Carpenter ate as many as he could]]), he was much more remorseful in the poem. Here, however, he's depicted as an [[SmugSnake arrogant, manipulative]], [[VillainousGlutton greedy]], [[AristocratsAreEvil evil aristocrat]]. Also, [[spoiler:this movie portrays the oysters as youngsters, making the Walrus [[EatsBabies seem even more monstrous!]]]]
** ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967'': Kaa the python. In the book, he is a mentor and friend of Mowgli as much as Bagheera and Baloo are and helps to save him when he is kidnapped by monkeys, engages him in friendly wrestling matches, and offers him advice for battle against the dholes, indeed never harming or threatening him in any way and saving his life more than once. The other animals in the jungle [[TheDreaded respect and fear him]] for his [[OldMaster wisdom]] and powers of hypnosis, which only Mowgli, because he is human, is immune to. In the Disney movie, he is an AffablyEvil villain whose only role in the plot is to serve as a minor nuisance. Apparently it was thought by Disney that audiences [[SnakesAreSinister wouldn't accept a snake as a heroic character.]] This also applies to Shere Kahn; in the books, he was an antagonist, but represented as somewhat pitiful (he has a bad leg, restricting his ability to hunt), is something of an [[SmugSnake arrogant fool]], and is taken half-heartedly by a lot of residents of the jungle, including Bagheera. The other animals generally see him as a troublemaker and a coward because he attacks humans (something forbidden under the Law of the Jungle), and characters like Bagheera and Kaa command a lot more respect and fear. In the original Disney film, he is somewhat comedic and playful, but is genuinely feared and implied to be stronger than many animals put together.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'': The three witches in the film are grasping and sneaky, if not evil, characters who try and trick Taran into giving up a treasure for the cauldron. In the book, they are neutral figures who bend their own rules to help Taran and the others get rid of it.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'': The Sea Witch in the Creator/HansChristianAndersen [[Literature/TheLittleMermaid fairy tale]] is a neutral character who shows no vindictive intentions toward the unnamed mermaid, only making the famous tongue-for-legs exchange, even warning the mermaid of the consequences of the transformation. She doesn't go back on the deal or interfere with her relationship with the prince until she is asked to by the mermaid's sisters, and only indirectly. In the Disney movie, she is named Ursula, is an out-and-out villain with a tendency toward [[DealWithTheDevil Faustian deals]], and gets in the way of Ariel's romance with Prince Eric far more than the character in the fairy tale did. Ursula also [[CompositeCharacter takes the place of the princess who the prince eventually marries in the original]], who is innocent in Andersen's fairy tale and genuinely loves him.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'': While it's far from the first adaptation to make UsefulNotes/GrandVizierJafar a villain, it's probably the most well-known example of it. In the Literature/ArabianNights, Jafar was a minor character but generally a hero (although Sunni tradition, which thinks very highly of Harun al-Rashid, assumed that Ja'far must have been guilty of ''something'' if the great Caliph had him killed). And in the Aladdin story, the Grand Vizier (who is actually not the same character as Jafar, as Jafar did not appear in the Arabian Nights Aladdin story, but he is replaced by Jafar in the movie) is hostile to Aladdin at first, but then [[TheCassandra he has a point]], and is actually TheGoodChancellor in contrast to the Disney movie's depiction of Jafar as an EvilChancellor; the real villain of the story is a magician from North Africa.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'': [[SinisterMinister Claude Frollo]] was [[AntiVillain a more sympathetic character]] in [[Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame the original novel]] by Creator/VictorHugo. While driven to evil deeds later by his lust for Esmeralda, he willingly adopts and cares for Quasimodo, instead of threatening to throw him down a well as he did in the Disney version of the story. All while looking after his layabout of a brother, Jehan (who most movie adaptations [[CompositeCharacter composite with Claude]]), and being orphaned himself to boot. He was also more tolerant of gypsies, asking only that they keep their activities away from the cathedral rather than actively hunting them down. Also, Frollo was originally archdeacon of Notre Dame; in the movie, the archdeacon is a [[DecompositeCharacter separate, kindly character]], who induces a guilt trip on Frollo at the beginning and is beaten up by him at the end. In a sense, both these scenes depict the man struggling with ''himself''. It's believed the reason for this AdaptationalVillainy was due to Disney being concerned that having a priest for a BigBad would offend people, and their solution was to divide the literary character in two and give one all the good qualities and the other all the bad.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'': Hades is a {{Satan}}-like villain ([[EveryoneHatesHades again]]), intent on overthrowing Zeus and taking over Mount Olympus. In [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Classical Mythology]], he was a [[LawfulNeutral neutral]] but just ruler of the dead and was downright ''nice'' compared to [[JerkassGods the other Greek gods]]. Hades had no antagonism towards Heracles, only meeting the hero when Heracles asked to borrow Cerberus for one of his twelve labors. Heracles's original divine enemy was Hera, his stepmother and Zeus's wife. As for overthrowing Zeus, Hades never tried that in the myths. While Hades ''did'' kidnap Persephone ([[JerkassGods with Zeus's permission]]), he was nowhere near as bad a husband as his brothers [[AnythingThatMoves Zeus and Poseidon]]. In fact, Hades is probably the least antagonistic god Hercules ever met in the original myth; the entire obstacle Hercules has in borrowing Cerberus is that Hades ''politely asks Hercules to bring it back when he's done''. His sidekicks, Pain and Panic, also go through this compared to Deimos and Phobos, who they were both very loosely based on. While neither of their original counterparts were exactly good guys, they were the sons of Ares and definitely weren't evil, impish comic relief lackeys. In fact, Heracles worshiped Phobos as a god and had him depicted on his shield. And in the myths, the Cyclopes were Zeus' allies in the fight against the Titans, and they gave the thunderbolt to Zeus, the trident to Poseidon and the helmet of invisibility to Hades. The movie has one lone Cyclops who is in league in the Titans, and is sent by Hades to destroy Thebes and kill Hercules.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'': Clayton. In the novels, he is Tarzan's cousin who inherits the title after Tarzan's parents are presumed dead. His worst fault is that he is not as brave or capable as Tarzan, and his worst crime is concealing Tarzan's true identity after he figures out the truth so that he can keep the title. Other than that, he is a decent man who is willing to sacrifice himself for Jane. In the movie, he is an EgomaniacHunter.
** ''WesternAnimation/Fantasia2000'': In the story of "The Firebird Suite", the titular creature aids a Prince in defeating an evil wizard. In the animated segment at the end of the film, the Firebird is a destructive EldritchAbomination in the shape of a bird that destroys an entire forest.
** ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'': A number of villains get together for a support group, and among them is [[Franchise/StreetFighter Zangief]], who isn't a villain in the games -- though he is often a victim of this trope, being a villain in both the first live-action Film/StreetFighter movie and WesternAnimation/StreetFighter American cartoon. This makes his comments toward Ralph during his sole scene all the more poignant. WordOfGod admits to considering Zangief a villain simply because he was ThatOneBoss.
* AmbiguousTimePeriod:
** A lot of the Disney films have this; being fairy tales, they're just set "a long time ago." ''Sleeping Beauty'' actually does say "This is the fourteenth century" (though the fashion doesn't match) and newer films tend to aim for more historical accuracy (for example ''Frozen'' is set in the 1840s, albeit with some AnachronismStew here and there), but most of the rest don't even have that.
** ''Bambi'', despite being featured in a more down to earth setting, is very difficult if not impossible to pin down to a specific point in time. There is no indication of what time the film, its midquel or tie-ins take place or where beyond the general depiction of a eastern American forest. The stories do not feature any (on-screen) humans[[note]]the sequel comic [[LooseCanon of dubious canon]] ''Bambi's Children'' does feature them and they are depicted in a culture consistent with the 1940's, when the first film and comic were made.[[/note]], only animals in the wild who have basic, symbolic personalities, and there are zero pop culture references, so there's hardly anything within the setting that could ever become dated. Even the characters' more humanized behaviour in the direct-to-video midquel is ''just'' detached enough from any specific human culture to remain rooted outside of any specific time or place.
** ''The Lion King'' gives no indication of what time the story takes place. There are references that hint it is set in present day and the cartoon series confirms this, however it's very dubiously canon. On the other hand, since we never see any humans, it's still plausible to depict the setting as taking place in very ancient or even prehistoric times.
* AnAesop / CentralTheme: Most of the films in the line-up have one, though how prevalent and deeply tied into the story it is varies from film to film. Several of them have more than one, though, and generally one for each song for those that have them:
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'': EvilIsEasy, but it will get you nowhere good in the long run.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'': Staying strong and hopeful, even if just a little bit, in circumstances that try to beat you down.
** ''WesternAnimation/PeterPan'': NotGrowingUpSucks, but you should not let go of your inner child, either.
** ''WesternAnimation/LadyAndTheTramp'': The divide between the rich and the poor.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone'': Knowledge is power.
** ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'': [[TrueBeautyIsOnTheInside Who you are inside is far more important than what's on the outside.]]
*** Being kind to others will make you a better person.
*** People are always capable of change; while some never will, others will if given the chance.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'': Be honest with yourself and others, for deception will only get you so far.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'': Fearing racial differences leads to destruction; love, not just romantic but for fellow humans as a whole, is the only answer.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'': Taking responsibility, whether for yourself or for your duties.
*** Even the most destructive despots will be deceptively charming.
*** You cannot run from the past, only overcoming it will let it rest.
*** Your loved ones will always be with you, even in death.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'': Again, it's what's inside that counts.
*** We are all humans deserving of respect and love, no matter where we come from or what we look like (and it sucks to be an [[TheIllegal outcast]], so why treat others that way).
*** Again, selfless people can change the world.
*** How the clergy can and has been used as a platform for corrupt ends.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'': Selflessness is what makes a hero, not strength or force of will.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'': Do not be ashamed of who you are inside; live for yourself rather than the demands and prejudices of others.
*** Gender roles are archaic; women are not inferior to men and have the capability to be as strong or stronger, and acting 'effeminate' does not make a man weaker.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'': Family extends further than blood ties; adoptive parents can be just as loving as birth parents.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'': Being selfless can make you a better person.
** ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'': Family refers to those who turn to each other when no one else will.
** ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear'': True brotherhood comes from love, not blood.
** ''WesternAnimation/ChickenLittle'': Talk to your parents, rather than find easy solutions to not deal your problems.
** ''WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons'': Persevere towards the future and don't let your past control you.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'': A free spirit can never remain confined for long.
*** Your dreams will motivate you to achieve in life, but you may be overlooking what will truly make you happy.
*** Again, the importance of honesty; however, this time the fact that dishonesty will make it harder for people to trust you is emphasized more than previously.
** ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'': Heroes come in all shapes and sizes.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'': The nature and importance of love, [[TheFourLoves and how it is far greater than mere romance]].
** ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'': Healing from a painful loss and not letting it consume you.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'': The nature of bias and prejudice in a society, and the role we play in overcoming it.
* AnachronismStew: Several of their features deliberately employ this for laughs, most famously ''Aladdin'', ''Hercules'', and ''The Emperor's New Groove''. Even the more serious features like ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' will employ anachronisms for laughs (most notably in the "A Guy Like You" musical number). Some features like ''Mulan'' and ''Atlantis: The Lost Empire'' employ it on purpose for the sake of atmosphere or story.
* {{Animorphism}}:
** Lampwick and the other boys partying on Pleasure Island literally [[TransformationTrauma make asses out of themselves]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}''.
** ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', obviously.
** In ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear'', your spirit evidently takes the form of your totem animal (good news if your totem is an eagle, [[FridgeLogic maybe not so much if your totem is a salmon]]). The protagonist Kenai is turned into a bear by the spirits to teach him a lesson. [[spoiler:Kenai eventually gets over his [[CursedWithAwesome angsting over being transformed]] and opts to stay a grizzly and adopt the cub Koda as his little brother.]]
** ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'' features Yzma's potions which turn people into animals.
** ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'': like ''Brother Bear'' before it, a BalefulPolymorph makes up the crux of the plot, though in this case it's an attempt by the BigBad to sweep the prince under the rug and out of the way of his plan.
* AnimatedAdaptation:
** Most films in the canon are named after and based on a prior-existing story, though the degree to which they are faithful to the original varies from film to film. The bulk of the 19 animated features made in Walt Disney's own lifetime were based on pre-existing stories -- the only features he made that weren't based on any pre-existing stories were ''Saludos Amigos'' and ''The Three Caballeros''. The bulk of ''Make Mine Music'' and ''Melody Time'' consist of original story material as well, but have a couple segments based on pre-existing stories, such as ''Casey at the Bat'', ''Johnny Appleseed'', ''Little Toot'', and ''Pecos Bill''.
** {{Aver|tedTrope}}sions include all the package films (except for ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh''), ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Dinosaur}}'', ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'', ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'', ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear'', ''WesternAnimation/HomeOnTheRange'', ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'', and ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}''.
** It's possibly worth noting that ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'', ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', and ''WesternAnimation/HomeOnTheRange'' were all originally adapted from ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', ''Literature/ThePrinceAndThePauper'', and ''Literature/ThePiedPiperOfHamelin'', respectively.
* AnimatedMusical: Most of the movies in the canon are this, though there are exceptions such as ''Tarzan'', ''Lilo & Stitch'', ''Wreck-It Ralph'', and ''Zootopia'' (''Tarzan'' does include several musical numbers, but only one of them is sung by the characters in-universe).
* AnimationBump: Generally in the musical numbers, the animation may change.
** Every now and again, during the 2D era, some characters would get much better animation than their fellow cast (see [[WesternAnimation/TheRescuers Madame Medusa and Mr. Snoops]], [[{{WesternAnimation/Aladdin}} Genie]], or [[WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire Helga]]).
* AntiVillain: Several characters in the canon fall into this.
** According to animators [[Creator/DisneysNineOldMen Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston]] in their book ''Literature/TheDisneyVillain'', [[HeWhoMustNotBeSeen Man]], the villain of WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}, is this, simply because he had no comprehension of the pain and terror he was inflicting on what he simply thought were mindless animals.
-->"The biggest threat, of course, is from the predator, man, and his gun. As victims, the deer have no way of combating this foe and must suffer the consequences. Man, for his part, has no thought or understanding of the pain he has inflicted on the wild animals by pursing his own personal desires. There is no villainy in his heart when he kills Bambi's mother, yet to the audience, this is an event that stays with them for the rest of their lives."
** Professor Terri Tatti from [[WesternAnimation/MakeMineMusic "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met"]], since he has a somewhat justifiable reason for attacking Willie -- whales normally don't sing opera, so he assumes the whale swallowed three whole opera singers to get his talent (it actually comes from the fact that Willie has three uvulas), so he kills Willie with a harpoon to free them. His act is described not as a villainous one, but a misguided one springing from his lack of understanding.
** Brom Bones from ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad''. The Sleepy Hollow segment goes out of its way to prove that while Brom is not above terrorizing the local schoolmaster to drive him out of town or bullying Katrina's other suitors, isn't really ''bad'' (just a bit of a JerkAss), and may in fact be a better husband for Katrina (unlike Ichabod, who appears to care more about her money.)
** Lord Ector of ''WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone''. While he's a [[JerkAss jerk to Arthur]], he's not evil, just a [[MiseryBuildsCharacter very strict and demanding]] ControlFreak.
** Edgar of ''WesternAnimation/TheAristocats'' is one of the few Disney Villains who is not exactly pure evil; while he is greedy, he does not seem to be cruel. It would have been easy for him to just kill Duchess and her kittens, but instead, he chose to kidnap them and release them into the wild —- and when that didn't work, he decides to send them to Timbuktu. Moreover, he's shown to have more redeeming features and is never willing to kill anyone.
** [[WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound Amos Slade]] is a more shaded antagonist than a typical Disney villain. He may be a curmudgeon who wants to kill Tod, but his true nature comes out when Copper convinces him not to kill Tod. Even beforehand, his hatred for Tod is driven mostly by misunderstandings or his supposed injuring of his dog Chief, who Slade legitimately cared for along with Copper.
** [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast The Beast]] starts off as this. He acts malicious for the first part of the film, but he's not acting out of evil intentions as much as he's consumed by anger and despair at being trapped in the body of a beast while his chance to regain his humanity is slowly ticking away. The scene where he saves Belle from the wolves is the part that makes it clear to the audience that he's not a villain. Creator/GlenKeane, the lead animator of Beast, is quoted on this in ''Literature/TheDisneyVillain'';
-->"He probably wouldn't have minded killing Maurice. That was the extent where someone like the Beast, who had the potential to be good, could become a villain. The Beast was pitying himself, frustrated, so he felt justified in treating the father that way, and when he comes back, Belle is crying -- his actions do cause people pain -- and he starts to get a glimmer that he's not entirely comfortable with the role of a villain... He had incredible limitations -- it's kind of like taking the villain and the hero and wrapping them up into one body."
** In ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'', John Silver is [[DesignatedVillain supposed to be the bad guy]]; and he does it pretty well, most of the time. But he also turns out to be a great father figure to Jim Hawkins and his soft spot for the lad pushes him to do the right thing now and then. His core motivation of wanting to get what is, in his eyes, rightfully owed to him, is more complex than just standard pirate-related greed.
** ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear'': Denahi goes rather nuts after losing both his brothers.
* ArtEvolution: Given how many decades the series spans, it has gone through several iterations. In the 40s and 50s the animation got progressively more on-model and the artstyle got more defined. 60s and 70s movies had a sketchier style in general, while movies in the 80s started going for a more detailed look than before. The 90s brought digital ink and paint and thus brighter colors with more realistic shading. Then from the mid-2000s onwards the medium has changed to CGI (which itself has grown more refined over time).
* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The films are not really known for their accuracy when it comes to animal behavior or anatomy, to say the least. ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'' in particular is notorious for this, due to its numerous creative liberties spreading many misconceptions about wild deer behavior in real life, to the extent that it [[ArtisticLicenseBiology/{{Bambi}} has its own subpage about it]]. ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'', while nowhere as infamous for it, likewise takes just as many if not more liberties and also [[ArtisticLicenseBiology/TheLionKing has its own subpage on the subject]].
* AudienceShift:
** ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' was made to appeal to gamers along with traditional children/family audiences.
** ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' is aimed at Marvel superhero fans and the general boy demographic.
** ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'' and ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'' were designed to appeal to teenagers more than just children. Unlike [[WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch the film released in between them]], they did not do well at the box office.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'', ''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany'', and ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'' were intended by Roy E. Disney and (then-new) studio heads Jeffrey Katzenberg and Peter Schneider to take Disney animation in a lighter, more 1980s direction after former studio head Ron Miller's attempts in the late 1970s/early 1980s to take the studio in [[WereStillRelevantDammit a darker and moodier direction]] with ''WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'' pretty much ended in failure (''Fox and Hound'' only enjoyed as a moderate financial successes, with ''Rescuers'' getting a sequel from the new guard; ''Cauldron'' was NOT a success, and almost killed the canon off, making it the only Disney film of the Disney Dark Ages to be both a critical and financial failure). ''The Great Mouse Detective'' itself was retitled from ''Basil of Baker Street'' after Michael Eisner decided that the original name was "too English" for American kids, which led to a major backlash from the animators who were working on the film; they protested with an infamous fake memo that Katzenberg got, and said memo made it to the press and on to ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'', embarrassing Schneider in the process; Schneider repaid the favor by ripping into the department in a meeting for the stunt (Katzenberg was also unamused with the decoy memo at first, but he lightened up to the situation according to the documentary ''Film/WakingSleepingBeauty'').
** On a similar note, recently and not without backlash, ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'', and ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'' received their title changes from ''Rapunzel'' and ''The Snow Queen'' respectively, as well as a whole new marketing strategy to make sure their more princess-central films can still net young males. Notably this came after the presumed failings of ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog''. Though admittedly it was for the better as far as ''Frozen'' is concerned, seeing as the title fits the setting and theme a lot more than ''The Snow Queen'' does (it was also initially going to be an adaptation of ''The Snow Queen'', but ended up being inspired by it instead).
** Of course, the MPAA rating system didn't exist until 1968, so everything released before then (''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' through ''The Jungle Book'') had the G rating applied to them retroactively on their post-'68 re-releases.

[[folder:B-D]]
%%* BeautyEqualsGoodness
* BeautyIsBad: Specifically in [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs The Evil Queen]], [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 Vanessa]], [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Gaston]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Mother Gothel]], and [[spoiler:[[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Hans']]]] case.
* BigBad: See [[BigBad/AnimatedFilms this page]] for the entire list.
* BigGood: See the trope's page for the entire list.
* BittersweetEnding: At least a few of the films are notable aversions of the franchise's movies having happy endings:
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'': The main protagonist gets reunited with Geppetto and becomes a real boy, but [[spoiler:most of the villains, especially the Coachman, are never punished. And those hundreds of innocent children who were taken from their families, turned into donkeys, and sold into slavery? They're still donkeys and no one comes to save them]].
** ''WesternAnimation/MakeMineMusic'': In the final segment [[spoiler:Willie the Whale is harpooned, but now he's in heaven, free to sing to his heart's content]].
** ''WesternAnimation/MelodyTime'': Happens in two segments. Johnny Appleseed [[spoiler:dies, but has left a huge legacy in his wake and is off to grow apple trees in heaven]]; while Pecos Bill [[spoiler:gives up being a cowboy after the death of his fiancée Slue-Foot Sue, but Texas is implied to be a much safer place because of him]].
** ''WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound'': [[spoiler:Nobody dies in the movie except for the bear, and Tod and Copper go their separate ways, but they remember what good friends they used to be. And Tod lives happily with his mate Vixie.]]
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'': [[spoiler:Ratcliffe is defeated and is tied up by his own men to be taken back to England, but John Smith takes a gunshot from the former [[HeroicSacrifice to protect Chief Powhatan]], forcing him to also return to England to be nursed back to health, meaning he and Pocahontas don't get to stay together. But they and their people are better for the experience.]]
** ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'': Quasimodo [[DidNotGetTheGirl didn't win Esmeralda's heart]]. But she survives, Frollo is defeated and the people of Paris finally accept Quasimodo as one of their own.
** ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'': [[spoiler:Ray is KilledOffForReal, but he is AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence, as he's seen appearing as a new star next to his star lover Evangeline. And at least Tiana and Naveen get together.]]
* BlackAndWhiteMorality: In the bulk of the movies in the canon, the line between good and evil is ''very'' clearly drawn, hence why Disney has frequently relied on ObviouslyEvil, hammy villains back in the 20th century.
* BlackAndGrayMorality: In the more mature films.
* BlackMagic: Several of the villains are {{Evil Sorcerer}}s, and ''Sleeping Beauty'' has an evil fairy.
* {{Bookends}}: On a meta example; the first and the last releases in the original Walt Disney "Black Diamond" Classics video line were Dark Age Disney movies (''Robin Hood'' in 1984, ''The Fox And The Hound'' in 1994, and these movies have similarly designed characters and Pat Buttram in them; in addition, the first (1985) and last (1993) movie made under Walt to be issued in the line is ''Pinocchio''). This trope also applies to the Platinum Editions; ''Snow White'' and ''Pinocchio'' are the first and last titles in this line, and they are the early Golden Age since they're the first two installments in the canon. The Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection is a minor example because the first and last new releases in ''that'' line were two films Walt supervised; his original animated classic ''Snow White'' in 1994, and ''The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad'' in 1999.
* {{Bowdlerise}}: The company has been known to edit some of their films.
** All of the home video releases of ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'' censor the Pastoral Symphony sequence to remove the presence of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Nx4ekJ0i_w Sunflower]], who is depicted as [[UncleTomFoolery a degrading African-American stereotype]] (rat tail hairs, subservient to another centaur, and being stylized as a donkey instead of a centaurette). The home video releases worked around her by digitally zooming in on the footage of the centaurettes she was near, and slightly rearranging one scene to cover up that they excised a brief scene with her that was impossible to pan away from. For other shots where it was both absolutely impossible to pan away from her and too crucial to remove, they digitally edited her out altogether, resulting in oddities like a red carpet that she pushed now magically rolling out on its own. The only way the original footage can be seen now is by finding bootlegs of very old TV recordings of Fantasia.
** The first DVD release of WesternAnimation/SaludosAmigos edited out the cigarette Goofy was holding. The second printing included as an extra on ''Walt and El Groupo'' uses the uncut print.
** The US DVD release of WesternAnimation/MakeMineMusic removed the entire opening Martins and the Coys segment for excessive gunplay. The PAL DVD has the whole sequence intact. The ''All the Cats Join In'' segment also makes some small edits to the shower scene.
** One of the DVD releases of WesternAnimation/PeterPan makes a color timing edit to the Indians to make them look less, well, red.
** WesternAnimation/TheRescuers originally had a topless woman photo in a background as a FreezeFrameBonus, but it was removed from almost all home video releases of the film.
** The opening song of WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}, "Arabian Nights", had a line changed from "Where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face/It's barbaric, but, hey, it's home" in the original theatrical version to a more acceptable "Where it's flat and immense, and the heat is intense/It's barbaric, but, hey, it's home." for the home release when Disney received complaints that the ear-cutting part was offensive to those living in Arabic countries (despite that punishments like that do exist in Arabic countries). The original version made it to the early pressings of the soundtrack on CD, but later versions used the less offensive version. MTI's junior musical of the movie uses the less offensive version, but "It's barbaric" was replaced by "It's a furnace!"
** ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'' has one scene where Captain Amelia is injured and clutching her side. Her hand is covered in blood in the theatrical version however this was cut from home video releases of the film.
** A developmental variant happened with ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}''. Early in the film, Rapunzel confronts Flynn with a frying pan when he hides in her tower. Originally she was meant to confront Bastion (the character Flynn replaced) with a crossbow.
* BrainsEvilBrawnGood:
** Especially in ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'', ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'' (the brainy lead character selfish and the brainy villain character is evil, the brawny lead character is warm and fatherly and the brawny villain sidekick who gets [[WesternAnimation/KronksNewGroove his own movie]] outside of the canon is not actually evil), ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' and [[spoiler:''{{WesternAnimation/Frozen|2013}}'' (The brawny Kristoff is good and the calculating Hans is evil)]], but it might be apparent in other Disney movies too.
** Though it's averted or inverted in ''Atlantis'', ''Beauty and the Beast'' (the protagonist Belle is the brains, and the villain Gaston is the brawn), ''Meet the Robinsons'', ''The Great Mouse Detective'', and ''Big Hero 6''.
** And it's actually reversed in ''The Sword in the Stone''.
* BrokenAesop:
** ''Lady and the Tramp'' talks about the difference between rich and poor, or upper and lower class within the context of dogs. In the beginning the Tramp is seen as a scoundrel for not having a dog collar and being a stray dog. After having a romance with Lady and going out scaring chickens Lady is captured by the dog catcher, where she finds out the Tramp has had many lovers before. When freed again she refuses to see him again and the others dogs with a collar also look down up on him... until the Tramp saves the day by killing a rat that tried to get in the baby's room. At first this seems to be a decent aesop: "don't judge others for their appearance or poverty". But when you really think about it: no sane human would just accept a stray dog in their midst, certainly not in the presence of a baby. And the fact that he, within the context of the story, is only rewarded and accepted when he does something that benefits the rich people (saving the baby from a rat) is actually rather cynical.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone'': The film tries to have a "Knowledge is the real power." message delivered by Merlin to Wart both throughout the film and in the ending, but almost nothing in the film supports it because Wart is a PinballProtagonist who has no control over anything that's going on around him, and his problems are almost always solved by Merlin's magic anyway [[{{Hypocrite}} despite Merlin saying magic can't solve all his problems]] (even if they do unwittingly tend to cause as many hardships as they solve, Merlin is basically doing the real work for Wart, even if he sincerely is trying to make a point to him) and he doesn't even get his happy ending by using anything he learned from Merlin -- in fact, Wart ends up doing the ''exact opposite'' of what Merlin wanted by willingly accepting a degrading position as Kay's squire instead of focusing on an education. It was by sheer luck that he ends up going to London and turns out to be the one worthy of pulling out the sword, making him King of England right then and there.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'': In what is probably one of the most infamous cases, Simba the lion thinks he killed his own father and runs off to another land. Eventually people tell him to confront his fears and he goes back to challenge Scar, who took over his kingdom in his absence and turned it into a tyranny. Yet when Scar again puts the blame on him for causing his fathers' death Simba starts to doubt himself again and the other lions doubt him too. It's only when Scar has Simba in a situation where he will probably die that he confesses that he was the actual murderer. This gives Simba the confidence to finally defeat Scar and when he does this, all the others finally accept him in their midst.
** ''WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons'' is particularly {{Anvilicious}} about its Aesop: don't worry about making mistakes because you can always learn from them and fix them later. The movie contains two plot-stopping lectures and a musical number to hammer it in. So, when confronted with DOR-15, Lewis solves the problem by declaring he will never invent her, causing a Temporal Paradox and removing her from existence. A quick and easy way to end the movie, but at the cost of undermining its Aesop. Right from the beginning, DOR-15 was still fully-functional, if only disobedient. The movie's solution prevents a viable third option: Instead of writing DOR-15 off as a failed invention too early, Lewis could remind his future self to either correct DOR-15's behavior or outright build a better one, allowing him to dispatch DOR-15 while still having his Helping Hat invention. Lewis also never demonstrates that he learned his roommate had needs and would be more conscientious about it. Meanwhile, the two characters who DO follow the Aesop's advice don't exactly get rewarded for it: Wilbur scrambles around trying to fix his careless mistake but only ends up making things worse and is eventually punished by his mother when he admits to it, while the Bowler Hat Guy keeps trying new schemes when the old ones fail and is consistently chewed out for his incompetence by DOR-15 and everyone else around him. The short version: The film's Aesop is about getting better through learning from your mistakes. While Lewis laments that he makes the same mistakes over and over again, he ends up solving his problems by denying his mistakes (and potentially repeating them), rather than identifying and improving on them. Conversely, when Wilbur and Bowler Hat Guy do try and learn from their own mistakes, they end up making things worse for themselves.
* CaninesPrimaryFelinesSecondary: The Canon as a whole has more movies featuring dogs in lead roles than housecats in lead roles. The movies with a dog or dogs in lead and major roles are ''WesternAnimation/LadyAndTheTramp'', ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'', ''WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound'', and ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}''. The only movies with a cat or cats in a lead role are ''WesternAnimation/TheAristocats'' and ''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany''. If wild felines are included, however, then it's an even four for four, with ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967'' added to the list.
* CanonDiscontinuity: Despite many of the films in the canon getting direct-to-video sequels or even {{sequel|series}} and SpinOff TV shows (as listed under RecycledTheSeries on the Trivia page), none of those are considered canon to the original movies. To date, the only canonical sequels are ''The Rescuers Down Under'', ''Ralph Breaks the Internet'', and ''Frozen II'', plus ''Franchise/{{Frozen}}'' short film ''WesternAnimation/FrozenFever'' (also made by WDAS) due to [[spoiler:the Snowgies appearing in TheStinger of ''Frozen II'']]. Disney has also implied (but not outright stated) that ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch''[='=]s [[Franchise/LiloAndStitch sequel material]]--at least the ones from 2003 to 2006[[note]]Creator/DisneyTelevisionAnimation's ''WesternAnimation/StitchTheMovie'', ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' and ''WesternAnimation/LeroyAndStitch'', Creator/DisneytoonStudios's ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch2StitchHasAGlitch'', and third-party-made short film ''WesternAnimation/TheOriginOfStitch''[[/note]]--are the ''only'' exceptions to the unwritten (i.e. purist fan-enforced) "rule" that only WDAS-made sequels count. (Read the Trivia page for more on this one.)
* CuteKitten: Seen in a few Disney films with the most notable being [[WesternAnimation/TheAristocats Marie, Toulouse, and Berlioz]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}} Figaro]] and WesternAnimation/{{Oliver|AndCompany}}.
* CatsAreMean: Used (''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}''), {{subverted|Trope}} (''{{WesternAnimation/Bolt}}'') and {{averted|Trope}} (''WesternAnimation/TheAristocats'', ''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany'').
%%* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve
* ClassicVillain: Just about every Disney Villain qualifies, to the point of Disney having its own section on the page.
* ComicBookAdaptation: There have been a '''lot''' of comic books based on the films, way too many to list as is, and they've been around as long as ''Snow White''.
* CrapsaccharineWorld: Occasionally used, despite the theme park's "Happiest Place on Earth" motto.
* CoverVersion: ''[=DisneyMania=]'', for a number of hits from movie soundtracks. In some cases, song covers are included in DVD sets. It's also fairly common for a contemporary artist to cover a song from a movie.
* DarkerAndEdgier: ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'', ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'', and ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'' are frequently considered unusually grim story content for Disney.
** While ''The Black Cauldron'' features animate skeletons and self-sacrifice, it doesn't quite touch on the darkness that is ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'', since that film has a scene with an older man lustfully sniff a young woman's hair and then singing about his uncontainable lust.
** ''Atlantis: The Lost Empire'' does away with the color, {{Non Human Sidekick}}s, and songs of previous features, and replaces them with action, explosions, and the death of many a background character.
** ''Pocahontas'' is one of the few without a complete resolution for the main characters. The villain has admittedly been defeated but John Smith's fate is left uncertain. The DirectToVideo sequel (not part of Disney Animated Canon) was created to elaborate on this, though even then there isn't a perfectly blissful resolution.
** ''Zootopia'' is a more recent contender for one of Disney's darker animated movies, not so much for what is shown onscreen but for the fact that it is a disturbingly realistic depiction of how bias and cultural prejudice can impact society.
* DarkestHour: Most notably occurs in ''Aladdin'', ''The Lion King'' and ''Hercules''.
* DealWithTheDevil: How Ursula from ''The Little Mermaid'', Hades from ''Hercules'' and Dr. Facilier from ''The Princess and the Frog'' all work. Is it telling that all these share the same directors?
%%* DeathByCameo
* DeconReconSwitch: This along with [[SubvertedTrope subversions]] have become a growing trait of the newer films, what with Disney having been around for so long that telling something completely and entirely new gets understandably difficult. As such, they've begun taking what's been done and ...''toying'' with it. Heavily prevalent in the three most recent princess-centric films: ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'', and ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}''.
* DenserAndWackier: Several of the films tend to be much more wacky and comedic than the typical Disney movie. ''Saludos Amigos'', ''The Three Caballeros'', ''Alice in Wonderland'', ''Aladdin'', ''Hercules'', ''The Emperor's New Groove'' and ''Home on the Range'' are most notable for this. The large majority of Disney's xerox-era films in the 60s and 70s were both cosmetically and thematically wackier, with more bumbling villains, a more nominal death count, slapstick emphasis, and jazzier upbeat soundtracks in place of the usual atmospheric orchestra.
* {{Disneyfication}}: Disney, being the TropeNamer, frequently takes massive creative liberties for movies in the canon that are based on a pre-existing story, and they are by far the most well known examples of doing this, to where [[Disneyfication/{{Disney}} they have their own page for examples of it.]]
* DisneySchoolOfActingAndMime: TropeCodifier.
* DisneyVillainDeath: {{Trope Namer|s}}. See "KilledOffForReal" below; it's easier to list villains who ''didn't'' die this way.

[[folder:E-H]]
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Every once in a while this will be used.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'' -- [[spoiler:Cinderella]]
** ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'' -- [[spoiler:Prince Phillip]]
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'' -- [[spoiler:Pinocchio]]
** ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' -- [[spoiler:Pretty much everyone who survives]]
** ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'' -- [[spoiler:Quasimodo]]
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'' -- [[spoiler:Mulan]]
** ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' -- [[spoiler:Ralph]]
** ''{{WesternAnimation/Frozen|2013}}'' -- [[spoiler:Elsa/Anna]]
%%* EmpathyPet
* EvilIsHammy: With a few exceptions.
* EvilLaugh: Another thing many of the villains have in common.
* EvilMinions: Most of the Big Bads have at least one.
%%* EvilSorcerer
%%* FairyCompanion
* FairyTale: A number of films in the canon are directly inspired by various literary classics, several are tapped for the Franchise/DisneyPrincess lineup.
* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Most of the villains and then some.
* FollowTheBouncingBall: The "Sing Along Songs" series (bonus points for the ThemeTune stating this trope verbatim).
%%* FurryConfusion
%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: A lot of Disney queens are often portrayed as villains, most notably in ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'' and ''WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland''. Also, positive queens are either killed off early or shoved in the background.
* TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin: The good guys almost always win in these movies. There are very few exceptions, like ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad'' (and even that depends on how you interpret the ending) and the villains in ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'' [[KarmaHoudini never being punished]] -- Pinocchio just escapes from them. The loss of just one boy presumably not being significant, it can even be said that the Coachman won as far as his scheme went.
* GreaterScopeVillain: A number of films and their worlds will involve a villain who is not involved in the main plot yet is indirectly responsible for the conflict.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'': Though the Horned King plots to use the cauldron for his own schemes, the spirit within said cauldron is the being allowing him to attempt those schemes.
** ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'': Outside of a brief appearance as a silhouette, the original film never introduces Jumba's former partner and the one who funded [[Characters/LiloAndStitchExperiments the experiments]], Dr. Jacques von Hämsterviel. He makes a proper introduction in [[WesternAnimation/StitchTheMovie the first (released) direct-to-video sequel]] and [[WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries the television series]], where he plots to reclaim the experiments to amass an army for conquering the universe.
** ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'': Dr. Facilier's "Friends on the Other Side" are the demonic forces he owes a debt to and his plan is to sacrifice innocent souls to clear his debt. Their only involvement aside from being the source of his powers is giving him shadow creatures to hunt down Prince Naveen.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'': The [[BroadStrokes semi-canon]] novel, ''Literature/AFrozenHeart'', [[spoiler:reveals Prince Hans [[UsedToBeASweetKid used to be the nice person he faked being]], but was forced to grow out of it due the influence of his [[AbusiveParents abusive father]], the king of the Southern Isles. It implies Hans is only emulating his father [[WellDoneSonGuy to finally earn his respect]].]]
* HappilyEverAfter: Most of the movies end like this. [[BittersweetEnding Averted]] with ''[[spoiler:WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound]]'' and ''[[spoiler:{{WesternAnimation/Pocahontas}}]]'', however.
* HateSink: Given how large and varied the canons RoguesGallery is, there's plenty to go around.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}'' generally does not have a central villain. The Ringmaster, though admittedly responsible for locking away Dumbo's mother, was not aware that she was trying to protect her son and believed that she was a public menace which could result in his circus being closed for good and many other animals there no longer have a job there. Even the four elephant bullies who made fun of Dumbo for his large ears [[JerkassHasAPoint occasionally have a point in being angry at him]] (especially when he screwed up their climax and wounds them greatly). Key word is occasionally, but outside that, they are actually competent circus elephants that kept the normal circus going. But good luck finding fans of that one kid that bullied Dumbo and incited the wrath of Mrs. Jumbo, triggering a chain of events that resulted in Dumbo's misery. Most people use him as a prime example of the show's KidsAreCruel and HumansAreTheRealMonsters.
** [[WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} Lady Tremaine]] is an absolutely despicable person who is cruel and petty in ''every'' scene she's in, and has no likable, sympathetic or humorous qualities to her at all. It says a lot that a Lady with no magical powers, evil henchservants or ambitions beyond social climbing manages to be one of the most vile characters in the entire Disney rogues gallery based on her personality alone.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' gives us Scar. Given that he's a ruthless, cruel bastard who killed his own brother in cold blood and blamed Simba in the process, it's not hard to imagine that Scar was meant to garner much of the viewers' hatred as possible. It backfired, however, as Scar ended being a LoveToHate example for his awesome charisma.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'' has Governor Ratcliffe. A [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain racist]], elitist asshole who is [[ItsAllAboutMe motivated entirely by greed and his social status]], looks down on his men as expendable tools, is willing to commit genocide as part of his agenda, and has no sympathetic qualities at all.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'': The reason why Judge Claude Frollo was so monstrously cruel was because Disney wanted to avert the EvilIsCool trope, which was common among Disney villains at the time (and continues to be so). Just like Scar, Frollo ended being a LoveToHate example.
** [[TokenEvilTeammate Chi-Fu]] from ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'' is a misogynistic, obnoxious, snooty ObstructiveBureaucrat who constantly irritates the other characters with his arrogance. He is even told to his face by the emperor that he can easily be replaced by the heroine. The reason for his presence is that ''Mulan'', as a war movie, has [[AMillionIsAStatistic a villainous faction that is difficult to personalize]], even once the Hun army is stripped down to five members, and Shan Yu, the movie's resident BigBad, is a LightningBruiser who regards Mulan as a WorthyOpponent, as well as one of the few people in the movie who never cares about her gender.
** Emperor Kuzco from ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'' is a rare example of the ''protagonist'' being this, and (almost) all of it is PlayedForLaughs. Kuzco, while charismatic, is a [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist completely unsympathetic character]] at the start who is only a hair-breadth away from being as bad as the actual villain Yzma, being a cruel, narccisitic and selfish jerk, and is basically a [[HeroInNameOnly protagonist solely]] [[NominalHero by designation]] who was [[LaserGuidedKarma asking for pretty much]] [[BreakTheHaughty everything bad that came his way]]—until the third act, where he [[HeelFaceTurn finally starts]] [[JerkToNiceGuyPlot mellowing out]] into a nicer, [[ReformedButNotTamed if still foolish and flamboyant]], person.
** Commander Lyle Tiberius Rourke from ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire''. [[FauxAffablyEvil At first coming off]] as a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, once he's [[EvilAllAlong revealed to be the villain]], Rourke goes out of his way to become as unlikable and despicable as possible, [[EvilIsPetty with the flimsiest of excuses]], [[StupidEvil even when it's not wise to do so]], and has the most transparent of motives, all while acting like an [[SmugSnake insufferable jackass who thinks he knows better]]. His [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor bad sense of humor is tasteless]], he is completely unreasonable, and his actions and attitude are so repulsive that most of the cast immediately turn on him. And he didn't hesitate to throw Helga off the blimp in order to lighten its load. Milo also mentions that the most probable buyer for Kida and the crystal, in terms of who has enough money in the world for it, is [[WeirdHistoricalWar the Kaiser.]]
** Mertle Edmonds from ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'' is a bullying AlphaBitch who repeatedly kicks the dog by insulting and excluding Lilo, and also making harsh comments about her mother (even though Lilo happens to be an orphan who is being looked after by her sister). She exists because the real antagonists, [[MadScientist Jumba]], [[ButtMonkey Pleakley]] and [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Captain Gantu]], have sympathetic motivations and the former two eventually decide to move in with Stitch and Lilo as part of her ʻohana allowing them to be a whole family again. She's made more sympathetic in the series when she adopts one of [[Characters/LiloAndStitchExperiments Jumba's experiments]] much as Lilo did with Stitch, though she otherwise plays this straight, such as in "Checkers" in which she sends numerous people to the dungeon for things such as giving Lilo (who is queen in this episode thanks to the title experiment) helpful advice.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'' is, at its heart, a RoadTripPlot with no real villains; even the slightly insane director and the snarky network representative are doing what they believe is best for the ShowWithinAShow. That's why we have Penny's horribly obnoxious agent, who by contrast is doing what he thinks is best for himself, with no regard for the feelings or well being of the child he's supposed to be looking out for or her mother.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'': [[spoiler:After [[TheEvilPrince Prince]] [[BigBad Hans]] revealed his deceptive nature, Elsa, Anna and Kristoff do not have a good opinion of him, knowing that he never truly cared for Anna at all, but was instead using her naive infatuation for him to get Arendelle's throne and callously abandoned her to die to further his own fiendish schemes. And the book ''[[Literature/AnnaAndElsa The Secret Admirer]]'' confirms that Olaf is aware of Hans' actions against Anna and Elsa, and dislikes for the prince as a result.]]
* TheHeavy: The bulk of the films have their conflict driven in whole by an overarching villain setting things into motion, with the protagonists getting dragged into it.
* HeldGaze: Has been used in several of the romance-focused movies to imply the underlying {{UST}} of the characters. Notable films that use this trope are ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}''.
* TheHighQueen: At the end of ''Atlantis: The Lost Empire'', where its princess becomes Queen by the end of the movie. ''Frozen'' also features one of the two princess characters become a queen by the beginning of the movie and be good.
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade:
** ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'' portrays Prince John as an effeminate LargeHam who is prone to childish tantrums upon mention of his brother and always begins sobbing at the mention of his mother. He also taxes Nottingham until most of the citizens are in jail [[DisproportionateRetribution because they invented a song that insulted him]] and plans to have Friar Tuck hanged to lure out Robin Hood.
** Governor Ratcliffe from Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}''. The real John Ratcliffe seems to have been more foolishly trusting than villainous, as he wanted to trade with the Native Americans, not to rob them or commit genocide on them. He was eventually captured and tortured to death ([[FlayingAlive flayed alive]], actually) by the Powhatan Indians, who seem to have received a bit of a HistoricalHeroUpgrade in the movie.
** Granted, the Huns weren't all that nice, but Disney's demonic portrayal of them in ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'' (complete with inhuman yellow eyes) is pretty extreme. They shouldn't even have been Huns. The tribe that Mulan fought against were the Xiongnu, a similar but distinct tribe.
* HumansAreBastards: Played with on several occasions such as in ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'', ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'' or ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967''.

[[folder:I-L]]
* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: Often used as a justification to give the villains a KarmicDeath. If a villain is on the verge of death or defeat, the hero will try to spare them only to fail.
* InNameOnly: Some of their adaptations fall into this:
** Lampshaded in the original WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}} in the Nutcracker Suite segment. The narrator says "You won't see any nutcracker on the screen. There's nothing left of him but the title."
** ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967'' bears little resemblance to [[Literature/TheJungleBook Kipling's original]] except for a few character names and the basic premise of a boy RaisedByWolves.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound'': How Walt Disney Studios managed to look at [[Literature/TheFoxAndTheHound what reads like a fictionalized documentary about the life and times of a mongrel hunting dog and a human-reared wild fox who live through bear hunts, rabies epidemics, and the rise of suburbia among other things]] and thought it would make a wonderful talking animals musical about racism is a mystery for the ages.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'': Due to the sheer amount of changes made from the source material, the only things this movie has in common with the original Heracles myth is that they both star a super strong demigod protagonist and share a couple of similar plot points and settings. Heck, it feels less like an adaptation of the myth and more like ''Film/SupermanTheMovie'' and ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' [[RecycledInSpace mashed up and set in Ancient Greece.]] See SadlyMythtaken for how the film differs in so many ways from the original myth.
** ''WesternAnimation/ChickenLittle'' dispenses with [[Literature/ChickenLittle the original tale]]'s plot of the title character believing TheSkyIsFalling and warning everyone when the townsfolk figure out it was an acorn all along a few minutes into the movie. The bulk of the movie is about Chicken Little trying to live down has poor reputation and [[WellDoneSonGuy connect with his father]]. And then there's an AlienInvasion of all things, but at least the fleet's CloakingDevice kind of looks like falling pieces of sky... It's worth noting that Disney released a more accurate adaptation of the tale long ago as part of their MiscellaneousDisneyShorts.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'' was originally billed as an adaptation of ''Literature/TheSnowQueen'', but after several rewrites, it became InspiredBy the title. The original FairyTale was about a peasant girl trying to rescue her friend from an AmbiguouslyEvil member of TheFairFolk, with [[RandomEventsPlot random encounters]] along the way; the Disney movie is primarily about a good, human queen with [[PowerIncontinence uncontrollable]] [[AnIcePerson ice magic]] and her relationship to her sister, with the threat of EndlessWinter and a few original characters thrown in. They both include a reindeer sidekick, though. ''Series/OnceUponATime'' takes advantage of this divergence by establishing ''Frozen'' as its own tale and {{Retcon}}ing Anna and Elsa into the SpinOffspring of Gerda and Kai.[[note]]This is a small deviation of the film's canon, in which Anna and Elsa's parents were named Adgar and Idun, and the names of Kai and Gerda were given to some handmaids as an InspirationNod.[[/note]]
** Aside from the names, ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' has very little in common with the comics it's inspired by, including RaceLifting the entire team and moving the setting from Japan to the fictional city of [[{{Americasia}} San Fransokyo]]. A case of Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, as the source material is not as well looked upon due to being a rather ShallowParody of Japanese media tropes.
* IWantSong: Starting with "I'm Wishing" in ''Snow White'', these songs became a staple of Disney musicals.
* KarmicDeath: Happens to many if not most of the villains.
* KilledOffForReal: The films tend to [[DisneyDeath avoid this with good guys]], and [[DisneyVillainDeath greatly enforce this]] with villains.
** Disney Villains who play it straight:[[labelnote:click here]]The Evil Queen, Maleficent, possibly Madame Medusa, The Horned King, Ratigan, Sykes, Ursula, Percival [=McLeach=], Gaston, Scar, Frollo, Shan-Yu, Clayton, The Carnotaurs, [[spoiler:Rourke]], [[spoiler:Helga]], Scroop, Dr. Facilier, Mother Gothel, King Candy [[spoiler:a.k.a. Turbo]], the viral Ralph clone monster.[[/labelnote]]
** Disney Villains who avert it (KarmaHoudini examples are marked with an *):[[labelnote:Click here]]Honest John and Gideon*, Stromboli*, the Coachman*, Monstro, Chernabog*, Man*, The Wolf, Willie the Giant, Mr. Winky, The Headless Horseman*, Lady Tremaine* (she got her karma in ''Cinderella III'', though), Queen of Hearts*, Captain Hook, Si and Am*, Cruella, Madam Mim, Shere Khan (until the sequel came around), Edgar, Prince John, Jafar (again, until the sequel), Governor Ratcliffe, Hades, Yzma (is [[spoiler:[[BalefulPolymorph stuck as a cat]]]] at the end, and possibly gets ''more'' karmic backlash in the sequel), Gantu (who suffers even more karma in the sequel films and TV series before [[spoiler:[[HeelFaceTurn turning good]]]] in the final one), Alameda Slim, Bowler Hat Guy, The Backson, [[spoiler:Prince Hans]], The Duke of Weselton, [[spoiler:Yokai/Professor Callaghan]], [[spoiler:Dawn Bellwether]], Te Ka, Tamatoa, Double Dan, J.P. Spamley.[[/labelnote]]
** Some non-villainous Disney characters (heroic, neutral and villain sidekick alike) who ''really'' did bite the dust:[[labelnote:Click here]]Bambi's mom, Willie the Whale, Slew Foot Sue, Cinderella's dad, Tod's mother, Bartholomew and Felicia the cat, Roscoe and [=DeSoto=], Flotsam and Jetsam, Mufasa, Kocoum, Quasimodo's mother, Kerchak, Mr. Arrow, Sitka, Tiana's father, [[spoiler:Ray the Firefly]], King Agdar and Queen Idun, and [[spoiler:Tadashi Hamada]].[[/labelnote]]
* KnightOfCerebus: Though some may still be somewhat comedic, a lot of villains have a very menacing tone (especially in the earliest examples) and are responsible for a lot of MoodWhiplash away from Disney's usual whimsy. See [[NightmareFuel/{{Disney}} this page]] for their rather haunting effect on many audiences.
* LaterInstallmentWeirdness: In the original Disney movies from ''Snow White'' to ''The Jungle Book'' (and several of the features afterward), getting the audience to suspend their disbelief was usually taken ''very'' seriously by Walt Disney--broad cartoony gags were often verboten, and what gags in the picture had to come strictly from personality and be internally consistent with the stories setting and tone (however, there were exceptions such as ''Saludos Amigos'' and ''The Three Caballeros''). From ''Aladdin'' and onward, Disney has become notably more lenient on broad gags and breaking the tone of a picture for cheap laughs. Also, whereas Walt went out of his way to avoid having anything topical or contemporary in his features to keep the feel of them timeless, the modern Disney features often have settings and stories that are heavily rooted in modern culture (e.g. both ''Wreck-It Ralph'' films, ''Zootopia'', ''Big Hero 6'').[[note]]Animator Andreas Deja said on his blog that he learned from Disney's Nine Old Men that if Walt had lived to see ''Aladdin'', he would've considered it his least favorite of the movies because of this and the former.[[/note]] Also, the majority of the animated features from the mid 2000s onward are done with CGI, not hand-drawn animation.
* LighterAndSofter: Some of the Disney animated films tend to be much, ''much'' lighter than others, in addition to some of their adaptations being lighter than their source material, despite the franchise generally being for young children.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}'' is this in comparison to ''Fantasia''. It was produced on a lower budget with less intricate animation, intended mainly to generate money and therefore more catered toward children, which resulted in a more kid aimed film than ''Fantasia''. ''Dumbo'' does an excellent job of proving [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools Tropes Are Not Bad]] in this case, however.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheAristocats'', as both movies [[WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967 preceding]] and [[WesternAnimation/RobinHood succeeding]] have antagonists who are far more threatening, as well as ironically also belonging to the Felidae family.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound'' , seeing as in the [[Literature/TheFoxAndTheHound original book]] the title pair aren't friends and [[spoiler: die at the end.]]
** The original Creator/HansChristianAndersen version of ''Literature/TheLittleMermaid'' ends on a by ''far'' darker note than [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 the Disney version]]. [[spoiler: The Prince marries another woman. The Mermaid is given a LastSecondChance to return to the sea by murdering him with an enchanted knife, but unable to murder the man she loves she throws herself into the sea and turns into foam. That's right, she ''dies''.]]
** Although ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' has some dark moments, it was created as a lighter followup to the infamously edgy ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}''.
** ''WesternAnimation/HomeOnTheRange'' is very lighthearted and comedic, even by Disney film standards.
** The second ''WesternAnimation/{{Winnie the Pooh|2011}}'' movie in the Disney Animated Canon is this towards ''WesternAnimation/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'', faithful as both adaptations are to their source material.
* LightIsGood: Both this and DarkIsEvil are played straight in most of the movies.
* LightIsNotGood: This and DarkIsNotEvil are in ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'', ''{{WesternAnimation/Tarzan}}'', ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'', and ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}''.
* LongRunner: The canon started with ''Snow White'' in 1937, has well over 50 films under its belt, and is showing no signs of slowing down to this day.
* LoveAtFirstSight: Ubiquitous; we might as well just focus on the [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast ones]] [[{{WesternAnimation/Pocahontas}} that]] [[{{WesternAnimation/Mulan}} avert]] [[WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog it]].
** [[spoiler:Deconstructed and later averted with ''{{WesternAnimation/Frozen|2013}}'']].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:M-P]]
* MaidAndMaiden: Several princesses have an older motherly character who isn't their birth mother to give them guidance.
** ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'' kicked off the Disney universe with a bit of a subversion. Aurora was the Maiden, but the role of The Maid was split between [[PowerTrio three fairies]] -- [[ChromaticArrangement Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather.]] Future examples play it much straighter.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'': The Fairy Godmother is the Maid who helps Cinderella, The Maiden. She's OlderAndWiser, rounder, and by way of being a MagicalGuardian is 'in the service' of Cinderella. The Fairy Godmother also gives her a sweet ride to the Ball behind the Evil Stepmother's back, and the iconic dress and shoes that entice PrinceCharming.
** ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'': Mrs. Potts is the Maid to Belle the Maiden. She plays matchmaker in order to break the curse. Technically she's actually Beast's servant, but gives Belle motherly support at the castle.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'': Grandmother Willow is the Maid to Pocahontas, The Maiden. Willow's a spirit that helps everyone who comes her way, but does try to steer Pocahontas from her intended in favor of John Smith.
** ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'': Grandma Odie is the Maid who helps Tiana The Maiden. She tries to get her together with Naveen as soon as they meet, and even marries them at the end. Despite being a [[EccentricMentor little crazy,]] her role is a mix of the previous three Maids, being a helper to everyone in her realm like Willow, a matchmaker that breaks a curse like Potts, and a magical old lady that teaches tricks and gives gear like the Fairy Godmother.
%%* MarryForLove
%%* MisplacedWildlife
* MumLooksLikeASister: [[MissingMom If a mother appears at all]], odds are she'll look to be only in her twenties, even if she's still around when her child reaches his or her late teens. To whit:
** ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'': Aurora's mother.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'': Post-time skip, Sarabi doesn't look any older than when Simba was a cub, even though he has grown up to strongly resemble his long-deceased father.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'': Averted for his [[MuggleFosterParents mortal foster mother]], [[JustifiedTrope justified]] for his immortal goddess birth mother.
** ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'': Sarah to Jim.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'': Invoked by Gothel, who uses Rapunzel's hair to keep herself looking young while posing as her mother. Played straight for her birth mother, who has no such round-the-clock access to de-aging hair, yet barely ages a day eighteen years after Rapunzel's birth. [[spoiler: Their resemblance is ''especially'' pronounced after Rapunzel's ImportantHaircut.]]
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'': Elsa's and Anna's mother looks to be [[StrongFamilyResemblance a brunette version]] of her [[OnlySixFaces 21- and 18-year-old daughters]], even when she lived to see them reach 18 and 15 in the [[AMinorKidroduction prologue]].
* NeverASelfMadeWoman: Surprisingly often, the hero/heroine or heroes have a connection to a relative who is greatly revered (in most cases, a royal parent; but in other cases, [[WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}} a war hero dad]] or [[WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire a renowned scientist grandfather]] will do just as well).
** Only a handful Disney movies subvert or avert this trope. In some examples, [[WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}} John Smith]] (explorer), [[WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron Taran]] (pigkeeper/peasant) and the main characters of ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'' (soldier, son of a gypsy, gypsy performer) are self-made heroes.
* NoAntagonist: There are several films with no real villains in them:
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}'': Dumbo has no clear cut villains; the conflict came about mainly because Dumbo's ears made him a target for mockery—Dumbo lived in a selfish, rather than hostile, world that causes his problems. The other elephants simply looked down on him and his mother, the ringmaster had no idea what to do with Dumbo once he's forced to lock up his mother, the clowns had their own problems to deal with, and the kids that got Dumbo into the whole mess were just insensitive, not outright malicious.
** ''WesternAnimation/SaludosAmigos'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheThreeCaballeros'' have no villains either.
** Neither ''WesternAnimation/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'' nor ''WesternAnimation/WinnieThePooh2011'' have a real villain in them -- they're just figments of the characters imaginations.
** ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear'': Kenai blames a bear for the death of one of his brothers and kills her in revenge, but [[KarmicTransformation his own experience as a bear]] helps him realize that the bear was just a mother trying to get food and that killing her was a prime case of RevengeBeforeReason. Denahi, Kenai's own brother, keeps on trying to kill Kenai for most of the film, but that's because he doesn't know the bear he saw next to Kenai's [[EmptyPilesOfClothing empty clothes]] was Kenai and instead jumped to the logical conclusion that the bear must have killed his one remaining brother. The plot's major conflicts are essentially the product of multiple misunderstandings.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'': Meddlesome TV executives and dog catchers cause problems for the main heroes, and [[WindmillCrusader Bolt]] initially blames "[[ShowWithinAShow Dr. Calico]]" for everything, but in reality there is no central villain.
** ''WesternAnimation/RalphBreaksTheInternet'' The movie has no villain [[spoiler:(though the closest things to villains are Arthur, the virus from the Dark Net and the clones of Ralph it creates)]], but rather a series of conflicts [[spoiler:caused mainly by Ralph himself, who acts out of concern that he and Vanellope might no longer be friends when she finds the Slaughter Race game more appealing and Vanellope looks up to Shank as a CoolBigSister figure.]]
** The closest thing ''WesternAnimation/FrozenII'' has to a villain is [[spoiler:King Runeard]], whose actions set up the plot of the film. The catch is, by the time the film takes place, [[spoiler:he's been dead for 34 years]], and as a result doesn't directly oppose the heroes in any way.
* NonHumanSidekick: Most of the main characters and/or their love interests have one, as do some villains.
* NonStandardCharacterDesign: Most of their films centering on a human cast (especially their princess ones) use this type of design formula: The lead characters, such as the prince and princess, and sometimes their parents, have hyper-realistic designs, while the rest of the cast have more cartoonish and exagerated proportions.
* NoSmoking: Since July 2007, Disney has banned onscreen smoking from being depicted in any of their films. Even before they enforced the ban, they edited a couple (but not all) of their older films to remove instances of smoking, such as Goofy lighting up a joint in ''Saludos Amigos'' (the uncut version was eventually released as a bonus feature on the ''Walt and El Groupo'' documentary) and any instance of Pecos Bill with a cigarette in ''Melody Time''.
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: A lot of the less sinister villains of the franchise are known for being very fanciful, hammy and at face value outright buffoonish and vain, though during the climax can prove to be just as calculating and deadly as the more serious ones:
** Prince John of ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'' is depicted as cowardly manchild, and he and his forces most of the early half of the film suffering slapstick humiliation, to the point of ending up a laughing stock with the rest of Nottingham. He does ''not'' take this well however, and increases taxes and arrests to an extreme detriment and plans to have Friar Tuck executed simply to leave fear in the town. Robin intervenes, though still almost perishes after a far more fearsome battle from the equally buffoonish Sheriff of Nottingham.
** The hyena clan of ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' are at first set up as bungling {{Starter Villain}}s who are easily chased off by Mufasa. Then Scar utilizes them in his plan to kill Mufasa and take his place as ruler of the Pride Lands. [[spoiler:They later make a meal of Scar after he double-crosses them, quickly abolishing any suggestions of them being mere grovelling lackeys.]]
* ObviouslyEvil: A great many of these films do this, even going so far as to base their color and shape schemes around it (as talked about in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' DVD documentaries). Just take one look at a character sheet for an average Disney film and you can immediately pick out the villains. This is kind of odd when it's done with AnimalStereotypes -- bears are painted as [[BearsAreBadNews horrible, deadly,]] {{kaiju}}-[[BearsAreBadNews like monstrous demons]] in ''WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound'' and as [[BearyFriendly friendly and lovable heroes]] in ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967'' and ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear''. However, there have been subversions of this in their more recent films, such as ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}''.
* OddballInTheSeries:
** ''WesternAnimation/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'' is unique in a number of ways: in that it's a CompilationMovie of three short films released over the course of a decade ago, it's the only CashCowFranchise to come out of the studio's DorkAge, and it's not under full ownership by Disney; the estate of Creator/AAMilne licenses the rights to Disney and receives credit for every production.
** Due to moviegoers tiring of the formula used throughout the Disney Renaissance era, their later "Post-Renaissance" era contained very few {{Animated Adaptation}}s / {{Animated Musical}}s and featured highly experimental storytelling (to the point that said era is also called the "Experimental Era"). Standout examples include:
*** ''WesternAnimation/{{Dinosaur}}'' was produced by a SpecialEffects company called the Secret Lab, using CGI characters, over photography-made backgrounds. It's also one of few pieces of DinosaurMedia made under the Disney banner. Because of these oddities, UsefulNotes/{{Europe}} doesn't even consider this a part of the Canon, instead replacing it with ''WesternAnimation/TheWild'', which was made by C.O.R.E. Feature Animation and distributed by Disney.
*** ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'' is ''very loosely'' tied to ''Literature/TheEmperorsNewClothes'', but not enough to be considered an adaptation. Instead, it's a DenserAndWackier "{{Buddy|Picture}} {{Road Trip|Plot}}" {{comedy}} in a {{Purely Aesthetic|Era}} {{Mayincatec}} {{setting}}. Since it more closely resembles a traditional Disney flick than ''Dinosaur'', the fact that it bucks most of the Canon's staples makes it stand out more.
*** ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'' is an {{action|Genre}} SciFi epic, and the second film after ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'' to be rated PG (this being before Disney started to AvoidTheDreadedGRating).
*** Disney was rather hands-off for the development of ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'', and it shows. Further information can be found on [[Franchise/LiloAndStitch its franchise's page]]. The fact that it was the only real success of Disney's "Post-Renaissance" Era makes its oddities stand out more, to the point that Disney really played up its oddness in comparison to other Disney films in its marketing. It's quite fitting that the film's protagonists are regarded as weird InUniverse.
*** ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'' is an adaptation on ''Literature/TreasureIsland'', but is one of few Disney adaptations to use the RecycledInSpace treatment, and does so with such boldness.
*** ''WesternAnimation/ChickenLittle'' went down in history as Disney's ill-fated attempt at a more "sharp-edged" brand of humor not unlike that seen from Creator/DreamWorksAnimation. It's also one of few Canon films to be set in a WorldOfFunnyAnimals.
** ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' does with VideoGames what ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' does with {{Toon}}s and ''Franchise/ToyStory'' does with {{toys}}, crafting an original story about their relationship to humanity starring a cast of {{Exp|y}}ies, with {{Guest|Fighter}} {{Cameo}}s playing a supporting role.
* OneWingedAngel: Their use of this trope is only surpassed by Creator/SquareEnix.
* OutsideContextProblem: [[spoiler: Prince Hans from ''Frozen'']] is this for the entire canon. Unlike every other villain in the canon, there is no indication whatsoever that [[spoiler: he]] is even morally suspect until the MotiveRant at the climax. In a canon defined by [[EvilIsHammy hammy]] {{Classic Villain}}s, [[spoiler: he]] is entirely defined by PragmaticVillainy, a [[TheSociopath flawless mask]] and [[ManipulativeBastard skill at manipulation]] to which even the audience is not immune.
** [[spoiler:Hans]] would be followed by the villains of Disney's next two movies, [[spoiler:Robert Callaghan from ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'']] and [[spoiler:Dawn Bellwether from ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'']], both of which are [[TheReveal revealed]] as being the main antagonist after only brief prior appearances in which they were helpful and supportive to the main protagonist, were not particularly hammy, and did nothing that would directly indicate anything morally suspicious about their character[[spoiler:, and Callaghan was even presumed dead by the time of his reveal as Yokai]].
* ParentalAbandonment: At least 28 of the features either have their parents missing, dead, or separated from their kids.
* PeriodPiece: While all of the films in the canon take place at some time in the past, there is only twelve films are set in ThePresentDay of when they were made: 1. ''WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}'' (early 1940s; according to the newspaper at the end of the film, which sets the film in March 1941), 2. ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'' (late 1950's-early 1960s, setting the film in November 1958), 3. ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'' (1970s), 4. ''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany'' (1980s), 5. ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuersDownUnder'' (early 1970s), 6. ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'' (early 2000s), 7. ''WesternAnimation/ChickenLittle'' (mid-2000s), 8. ''WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons'' (mid-2000s when not in the future), 9. ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'' (late 2000s), 10. ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' (early 2010s), 11. ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'' (mid-2010s) and 12. ''WesternAnimation/RalphBreaksTheInternet'' (late 2010s). And then there are the relative indeterminates: ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' take place in an unknown time period (''Bambi'' can be narrowed down to anytime in the last 2-3 centuries), and ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'' and ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' are set in a constructed universe.
* PigeonholedVoiceActor:
** Creator/PhilHarris (''The Jungle Book'', ''The Aristocats'', ''Robin Hood'') and [[Creator/CheechAndChong Cheech Marin]] (''Oliver & Company'', ''The Lion King'') are particularly glaring examples of this.
** Creator/KathrynBeaumont (''Alice in Wonderland'', ''Peter Pan'') who voiced both Alice and Wendy Darling (respectively).
** Creator/HansConried (''Peter Pan'', Sleeping Beauty'') who voiced Captain Hook/Mr. Darling and the announcing servant called Lord Duke (later a major character in the first segment of Aurora's story in ''WesternAnimation/DisneyPrincessEnchantedoTalesFollowYourDreams'') respectively, is best known for voicing and portraying villains, authority type figures, servants, or foils. Ironically, Conried modeled for King Stefan and initially auditioned for Stefan until that role went to the late Taylor Holmes, making an unsolved mystery of the herald's voice actor.
** Creator/BarbaraJoAllen (''Sleeping Beauty'', ''The Sword in the Stone'') who voiced both Fauna and Lord Ector's scullery maid, respectively.
** Tudor Owen (''101 Dalmatians'', ''The Sword in the Stone'') and Junius Matthews (''101 Dalmatians'', ''The Sword in the Stone, and ''The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh'').
** [[invoked]]Creator/VernaFelton only ever voiced either energetic characters/stuffy villains (''Dumbo'', ''Alice in Wonderland'', ''Lady and the Tramp'') or kindly matriarchs (''Dumbo'', [[TalkingToHimself again]]), ''Cinderella'', ''Sleeping Beauty'', ''The Jungle Book'').
** Creator/PatButtram (''The Aristocats'', ''Robin Hood'', ''The Rescuers'', ''The Fox and the Hound'') used his own distinct rural Alabama accent for every character he voiced.
** Creator/AlanTudyk (''Wreck-It Ralph'', ''Frozen'', ''Big Hero 6'', ''Zootopia'', ''Moana'') is a more recent example, if only for playing [[spoiler:antagonists]] in four movies in a row, two of which were [[spoiler:examples of EvilOldFolks]]. A downplayed example as he brings a good deal of vocal variety to his characters and is being considered the "good luck" voice of the Disney Revival.
* PluckyComicRelief: A cute, goofy sidekick will show up a lot in these movies, from Dopey in ''Snow White'', to Olaf in ''Frozen''.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Several of the movies villains fall into this, such as the animal abusing, fur skinning Cruella De Vil, the misogynistic Gaston, the xenophobic John Ratcliffe and genocidal racist, and the religious zealot and would-be rapist Judge Claude Frollo.
%%* ThePowerOfFriendship: Several films in the canon show how a good close friendship can help resolve their conflicts.
* ThePowerOfLove: This is brought up in a few films, particularly true love's kiss, or other acts of true love.
* PragmaticAdaptation: A few films in the canon fall into this:
** ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad'': Very much so in the Mr. Toad segment. It does avoid being an InNameOnly adaptation by keeping Toad's personality the same as in the book (even if other characters are very different) and staying true to the basic story structure of the Toad parts of Literature/TheWindInTheWillows, but it does change a few things up, attempting to turn Toad more sympathetic by [[AdaptationalHeroism having him actually innocent of the crime he's imprisoned for.]] The Sleepy Hollow segment on the other hand is quite true to [[Literature/TheLegendOfSleepyHollow the original tale]], both story and character wise. A few liberties were taken, but none that really change the story or characters of the story.
** ''WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland''; The film is actually a combination of the [[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland original book and its sequel "Through The Looking Glass"]]. Keeping every character from the books would basically be impossible, so the movie uses the most iconic ones from each book, while the plot itself is based off Wonderland. Tweedledee and Tweedledum, The Walrus and The Carpenter and the singing flowers are originally from Through The Looking Glass.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'': The [[Myth/ClassicalMythology original Heracles myth]] -- and Greek Mythology in general -- were as family unfriendly as you can get and had a ''lot'' of built-in ValuesDissonance (the basic conflict ''alone'' was unacceptable for a family film, since Hercules is a product of Zeus' adultery with a mortal, and Hera, Zeus' wife, is the villain who constantly makes Hercules' life miserable because of this), so the studio was forced to [[DisneyFication heavily rework the concept]]; it borrows the character names (not so much the personalities), story points and the setting from the myths, but [[AdaptedOut throws out]] and [[CanonImmigrant adds in]] things from other parts of Greek Myth (such as Pegasus and the Muses, who were not in the original Heracles story), and reworks everything else (such as expanding Hades role in the story [[EveryoneHatesHades by turning him into the main villain]]), ultimately making the film less an adaptation of Greek Mythology and more like a [[JustForFun/XMeetsY mashup of]] ''Film/SupermanTheMovie'' and ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' [[RecycledInSpace set in a]] [[TheThemeParkVersion burlesque of Ancient Greece.]]
* PrinceCharming: Played straight for early Disney classics (to the point that the official marketed name of Cinderella's prince is this trope) and later played with in recent Disney films. They can be refusing their royal duties ([[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Simba]]), be jerks at first (though later [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold become better]]) ([[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Beast]], [[WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove Kuzco]], [[WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog Naveen]]), actually start off as commoners who reach their role as prince through marriage ({{WesternAnimation/Aladdin}}, [[{{WesternAnimation/Tangled}} Flynn Rider]]), [[spoiler: or even be the BigBad ([[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Hans]])]].
* PrincessClassic: The princesses before the renaissance are absolutely pure and good, but later princesses still could have these elements.
* PublicDomainCharacter: Their movies are often based on {{fairy tale}}s, that are public domain stories.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Q-T]]
* RandomEventsPlot:
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'': The film eschews traditional narrative in favor of episodic mood pieces with an overarching theme of friendship, love and growing up tying it all together. Considering the film is meant to be a naturalistic portrayal of nature, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools this works perfectly in the films favor.]]
** ''WesternAnimation/SaludosAmigos'': The film has no overarching story, since it's just four cartoon shorts stitched together into a mini pseudo-feature. The only thing that ties it all together is the South of the Border setting.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheThreeCaballeros'': There's no real storyline. It's about Donald Duck (along with Jose Carioca and Panchito Pistoles) going through a series of increasingly bizarre vignettes on Donald's birthday.
** ''WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland'': Like with [[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland the original books]], there is no real story going on; the whole film is about Alice going through a stream of conscious series of RandomEncounters with the bizarre residents of Wonderland.
** The films solely directed by Woolie Reitherman (''The Sword in the Stone'', ''The Jungle Book'', ''The Aristocats'', ''Robin Hood'', ''The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh'', and ''The Rescuers'') tended to have very loose, episodic story structures.
* RecurringCharacter: With five speaking/starring appearances to his name, Donald Duck is by far the most commonly used character within the canon[[labelnote:note]]His appearances being ''Saludos Amigos'', ''The Three Caballeros'', ''Fun and Fancy Free'', ''Melody Time'', and ''Fantasia 2000''[[/labelnote]]. The only other characters who come close are Jose Carioca[[labelnote:note]]''Saludos Amigos'', ''The Three Caballeros'', ''Melody Time''[[/labelnote]], Mickey Mouse [[labelnote:note]]''Fantasia'', ''Fun and Fancy Free'', and ''Fantasia 2000''[[/labelnote]], Eeyore[[labelnote:note]]''The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh'', ''Winnie the Pooh'', ''Ralph Breaks the Internet''[[/labelnote]], and Queen Elsa and Princess Anna[[labelnote:note]]''Frozen'', ''Ralph Breaks the Internet'', ''Frozen II''[[/labelnote]] with three such appearances each. Jiminy Cricket, who recurs in many a Disney work, has two appearances within the canon, in ''Pinocchio'' and in ''Fun and Fancy Free''. And this doesn't include the numerous non-speaking cameo appearances made by other characters in multiple films (in which case Mickey and Donald and Jose's appearances in ''The Little Mermaid'' for the former two and ''Alice in Wonderland'' for the latter one would have to be taken into account).
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: But there are a few exceptions, including Bill the lizard from ''WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland'', Louis the alligator and [=JuJu=] the snake from ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'', and Pascal the chameleon from ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}''.
* ReusedCharacterDesign: Very common. Compare...
** [[WesternAnimation/TheRescuers Orville]] to [[WesternAnimation/TheRescuersDownUnder Wilbur]] to [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 Scuttle]].
** [[WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}} Figaro]] to Dinah: Early versions of Dinah look much like Figaro down to the black and white tuxedo pattern and white face.
** [[WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} Lucifer]] to [[WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland The Cheshire Cat]].
** [[WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany Sykes]] to [[WesternAnimation/TheRescuers Percival McLeach]] to [[WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}} Clayton]] to [[WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire Lyle Tiberius Rourke]].
** [[WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone Squirrel Merlin]] to [[WesternAnimation/TheRescuers Rufus]].
** WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} to [[WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet Jim Hawkins]].
** [[WesternAnimation/PeterPan Captain Hook]] to [[WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog Dr. Facilier]]. ([[WordOfGod This case was confirmed to be intentional.]])
** [[WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians Cruella de Vil]] to [[WesternAnimation/TheRescuers Madame Medusa]] to [[WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove Yzma]].
** [[WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} Lady Tremaine]] to [[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney Claude Frollo]].
** [[WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967 Baloo]] to [[WesternAnimation/RobinHood Little John]]. (Complete with same voice actor! This one is mainly because cels from ''The Jungle Book'' were reused to cut costs for ''Robin Hood''.)
** [[WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland The March Hare]] and [[WesternAnimation/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh Rabbit]] to [[WesternAnimation/HomeOnTheRange Lucky Jack]].
** [[WesternAnimation/PeterPan Captain Hook]] to [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} Jafar]] to [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Scar]].
** [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Snow White's]] prince and WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'s prince to [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Prince Phillip]].
** [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Anna and Elsa]] to [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Rapunzel]], who in turn is a CGI [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 Ariel]].
** [[WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967 Kaa]] to [[WesternAnimation/RobinHood Sir Hiss]].
** [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Phillipe]] to [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Maximus]].
** WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} to [[WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad Katrina Van Tassel]].
** [[WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad Ichabod Crane]] to [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Lumiere (as a human)]]
** WesternAnimation/RobinHood to [[WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}} Nick Wilde]].
* RoguesGallery: Holy cow, the Disney Animated Canon has one of the largest, most iconic group of villains in not only animation, but ''media in general'', and they are often some of the popular elements of the Disney movies. Even though the movies are mostly self-contained, you'll see them grouped together as bad guys almost as often as you'll see the princesses grouped together, especially in crossover series like ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'' and ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''. It got to where an entire book, [[Creator/DisneysNineOldMen Frank and Ollie's]] ''Literature/TheDisneyVillain'', was written about them, all because over 50 of the Renaissance Era Disney animators asked them to do it. And then they got a live-action spinoff, CGI and book series inspired by (but not quite) starring them, ''Film/{{Descendants}}''.
* RunningGag: RecycledTheSeries, as well as importing (usually faster-paced) songs to serve as theme songs for the same.
* SadlyMythtaken: Disney is not known for accuracy when it comes to adapting myths. Their Hercules adaptation is infamous for this, to the point where it [[SadlyMythtaken/{{Hercules}} has its own folder in the trope's subpage for works based on the myth]].
* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Most of the male and female partnerships in modern movies, both romantic and platonic.
* SceneryPorn: Disney's animated films are usually praised by fans and critics for having beautiful environments, and in turn often end up being just as memorable as the stories and characters. Read the list over on [[SceneryPorn/AnimatedFilm the trope's page for Animated Films]] for the many stand-out examples.
* {{Sequel}}:
** Sequels are a rare sight in the animated canon. Walt Disney himself was extremely against making full follow-ups to his features (however, he was OK with the odd follow-up short cartoon) and almost all attempts to make feature-length sequels never got beyond the planning stages -- the lone exception is debatably ''The Three Caballeros''. It wasn't until the early 90's that another sequel, ''The Rescuers Down Under'', would come out, but its box office failure put the kibosh on more official sequels for years -- ''Fantasia 2000'' was the lone exception, and the 2011 ''Winnie the Pooh'' film was more of a SoftReboot than a true sequel. As of the late 2010s, Disney is showing signs of lightening up on this with [[WesternAnimation/RalphBreaksTheInternet the]] [[WesternAnimation/FrozenII sequels]] to ''Wreck-It Ralph'' and ''Frozen'', with a follow-up to ''Zootopia'' also being currently in the planning stages.
** In the 90s and 2000s, Creator/DisneyToonStudios did make numerous DirectToVideo and made for TV follow ups to their films, but none of them are considered part of the canon.
* ShadesOfConflict: The films generally rely on BlackAndWhiteMorality, and occasionally dip into grayer morality on occasion.
* ShadowArchetype: In addition to being {{Classic Villain}}s, the villains of many Disney movies reflect a potential flaw or weakness of {{the hero}}es, meaning that they must overcome themselves as well as the odds against them.
* SharedUniverse: Defied. Disney enforces the stance that each film (and its sequels/spinoffs, if there are any) stands on its own, with any "crossover" works declared non-canon and subject to certain rules to ensure they don't mingle too much. For example, ''Disney Princess'' merchandise can show the Princesses together in group shots, but they can't make eye contact, which would imply they know each other. In ''Kingdom Hearts'', there's a rule that each world involved can only interact with Mickey and his friends and OriginalGeneration characters, not with each other. ''Ralph Breaks the Internet'' stretches this furthest, as it involves several Disney characters, but it uses the excuse that these are Internet fansite versions of the characters and not the real deals.
** There are occasionally rare exceptions to this. ''Aladdin'' and ''Hercules'' crossed over in the latter's TV show, and ''Tangled'' and ''Frozen'' are commonly held to share a universe since Rapunzel and Flynn make a FreezeFrameBonus appearance in the latter. ''Lilo & Stitch'' teaser marketing involved the latter character messing with the big four Renaissance films, with its original theatrical poster having many of Disney's characters revolted by his appearance, and [[Franchise/LiloAndStitch its franchise's]] [[WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries first TV series]] crossed over with not other Disney films, but rather [[Franchise/DisneyChannelAnimatedUniverse with other Disney animated shows]].
** Several special ''Disney'' featurettes do play the crossover trope perfectly straight however, though many of these make use of the AnimatedActors trope to further their discontinuity. The ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'' TV series is probably the most iconic case of this, with almost every noteworthy character from the Disney films made at the time shown interacting throughout the show, PlayedForLaughs of course.
* ShiftedToCGI: All movies made post-2011 are no longer traditionally hand-drawn and are entirelly 3D CGI.
* ShooOutTheClowns: During most the intense or dramatic climaxes, the comic relief characters aren't usually present. It's so prevalent that the canon has [[ShooOutTheClowns/DisneyAnimatedCanon its own page]].
* SissyVillain:
** Scar from ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' is easily the most limp-pawed feline ever to grace the big screen. This becomes a ParentalBonus for the Swedish viewers, where Scar is dubbed by the '''very''' gay and '''very''' out Actor/Singer Richard Wolff. How out is he? He penned a song describing his ComingOutStory titled [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J67JyB3PxVo "Beautiful Boys, Beautiful Men."]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rJODmZtvuI Don't worry, Scar is still awesome.]]
** ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'''s anthropomorphic depiction of Prince John out-swishes Scar to such a degree, the ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Lion King]]'' villain looks positively {{Leatherman}} by comparison.
** Ratigan of ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective''. Until he drops the veneer and goes feral during the climactic ClockTower scene, anyway. (He was still rather imposing even before then, due to his enormous size and strength compared to the other characters. Well, as imposing as a [[IAmNotWeasel big mouse]] can get, at least.)
** "Honest" John Worthington Foulfellow in ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'' has his moments, though it may be more of a LargeHam persona thing. See the bit where he prances around and mimes throwing flowers while describing Pleasure Island "where ''every'' day is a holiday!"
** Disney's human villains aren't immune either. Take ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'' 's mincing, flouncing, bow-wearing villain Governor Ratcliffe, for one. Most of that facade was forced on him by his assistant, Wiggins, who was extremely effeminate. Ratcliffe had his boisterous and rowdy side on occasion, though it was often just an act as well; when his men stood up to him, he folded.
--> "Nothing says sinister like little pink bows on your pigtails!" -- '''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick'''
*** Also to mention is Captain Hook of ''WesternAnimation/PeterPan''.
** King Candy from ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'', [[spoiler:up until the moment it's revealed that it was an act to conceal his ''real'' identity, Turbo]]. Lives in a ''[[InsistentTerminology salmon]]''-coloured castle, has a lisp, hops around with various effeminate mannerisms. [[spoiler:The castle's actually a plot-point: it's girly because he stole it from a 10-year-old princess.]]
* SlidingScaleOfAdaptationModification: The films in the canon that adapt pre-existing stories are all over the place with this. Some, such as ''Snow White'' and ''101 Dalmatians'', fall into Near Identical Adaptation. ''The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad'' is a special case, as the ''Wind in the Willows'' segment is a Recognizable Adaptation, while the ''Sleepy Hollow'' section is close to being a Near-Identical Adaptation with some PragmaticAdaptation elements sandwiched in. ''Alice in Wonderland'' falls onto the PragmaticAdaptation end. Some films like ''Pinocchio'', ''The Sword in the Stone'', ''The Little Mermaid'', ''Beauty and the Beast'' and ''Aladdin'' fall into the RecognizableAdaptation category. Several film adaptations, such as ''The Jungle Book'', ''The Fox and the Hound'', ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'', ''Hercules'', ''Frozen'' and ''Big Hero 6'' fall squarely on the InNameOnly end of it.
* SlidingScaleOfAnimalCast: It varies.
** A big chunk of the canon falls on the Level 7 end of the scale, with many of the films having human protagonists with an animal NonHumanSidekick or two.
*** ''Cinderella'' has Gus and Jacques the mice and Lucifer the cat and in its supporting cast.
*** ''Sleeping Beauty'' has Diablo the raven as the sidekick of Maleficent, the humanoid wicked fairy.
*** ''The Little Mermaid'' stars humans and humanoid merfolk, but also has Flounder the fish, Sebastian the crab, Scuttle the gull and Max the dog, as well as Flotsam and Jetsam the eels.
*** ''Aladdin'' has Abu the monkey, Raja the tiger and Iago the parrot.
*** ''Pocahontas'' has Percy the pug, Meeko the raccoon and Flit the hummingbird.
*** ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' has Djali, Esmeralda's pet goat.
*** ''Mulan'' has Cri-Kee the cricket and Khan the horse as Mulan's sidekicks, and Hayabusa the falcon as Shan Yu's sidekick.
*** ''Tangled'' has Maximus the horse and Pascal the chameleon.
*** ''Frozen'' has Sven the reindeer.
** Films like ''Dinosaur'' and ''The Lion King'' have an entire cast of animals with no humans at all.
** Films like ''Bambi'' and ''The Great Mouse Detective'' have a human cast implied but never or rarely physically present.
** Films like ''Winnie the Pooh'' and ''Oliver and Company'' where the cast is predominately animal but also have a human (or humans) as major supporting characters.
** Films like ''The Jungle Book'' where the protagonist is human but the bulk of the cast is animal.
** ''Pinocchio'', ''The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad'', ''The Rescuers'' and ''The Rescuers Down Under'' feature an equally human and animal cast.
** The first act of ''Tarzan'' zigzags between 4 and 7 on the scale--the first act is Tarzan living among the gorillas, but In the second act, the humans arrive, including Jane and Clayton, pushing the animal characters to the background and the film to Level 7.
** ''The Emperors New Groove'' is a Level 6; it stars Kuzco the llama, although he's actually a human who fell victim of BalefulPolymorph. The rest of the cast are humans, except for Bucky the squirrel.
* SlidingScaleOfAnimationElaborateness: The films uniformly land at the top of the scale.
* SlidingScaleOfEndings: The films generally end with happy endings, and occasionally feature the odd BittersweetEnding.
%%* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: The films uniformly land on the idealistic end of the scale.
%%* SlidingScaleOfPlotVersusCharacters: The films generally fall onto the "More Plot Than Characters" end of the scale.
* SlidingScaleOfRealisticVersusFantastic: Most of the Disney Animated Canon falls into the Fantastic part of the scale. Beauty and the Beast is a (if not the) prime example of internal consistency in a fantastic story where the background and the basic rules concerning the magic spell which transformed the prince to a beast (and his servants to house objects), and how it can be undone are disclosed in the opening narration. Some films like The Three Caballeros throw out the notion of realism altogether and land on the Surreal end of the scale.
* SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness: It depends on the film, but the films generally tend to roller coaster back and forth between having comedic and serious elements.
* SlidingScaleOfVisualsVersusDialogue: The older films tend to put more emphasis on visual storytelling than dialogue (''Bambi'' is particularly notable for having less than 900 words of spoken dialogue) while the newer films tend to strike a balance of visuals and dialogue.
* SmallParentHugeChild: A common trend in Disney animated films is for tall beautiful heroines to have short elderly fathers that can be half their daughters' height. Examples include Belle and Maurice in ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', Jasmine and the Sultan in ''WesternAnimation/Aladdin'', and Jane and Professor Porter in ''WesternAnimation/Tarzan''.
* TheSociopath: A recurring characteristic of the villains. Notable examples include [[WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} Lady Tremaine]], [[WesternAnimation/TheRescuers Percival C. McLeach]], [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Gaston]], [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Scar]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Mother Gothel]], [[WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph King Candy]][[spoiler:/Turbo]] and [[spoiler: [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Prince Hans]]]].
* StockFootage: Since Disney often ran into financial trouble from trying so much to show off with their animation, this became a vital cost saver. See [[http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1906578 this video]] for examples, with ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'' being the most extreme.
* StorybookOpening: Many of their animated films and shorts opened this way, from ''Snow White'' to ''Beauty and the Beast''.
* StrictlyFormula: During the 1990s, Disney had a very successful run from 1989 till 1994, but after that they were often accused of enforcing this trope. {{Rebellious princess}}es who want to marry for love, heroines looking for something beyond what they know, bumbling or fantasy-forbidding fathers, [[DisneyVillainDeath bad guys falling off great heights]]. ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'' especially was accused of adhering to Disney formula, which does have some merit as a complaint. Ironically though, the problem seems to have been that all these movies came out in succession, as every single movie of the Disney Renaissance has been VindicatedByHistory and is now well-loved (some more than others: ''Pocahontas'' is still not thought of as a great movie, and ''The Rescuers Down Under'' has gained a cult following but isn't anywhere near mainstream).
* TalkingAnimal: From the mice in ''Cinderella'' to the swamp creatures in ''The Princess and the Frog''.
* ThatRemindsMeOfASong:
** Surprisingly, avoided for the most part. Though some have argued that "Trashing the Camp" from ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'' qualifies. There's also "Everybody Wants To Be A Cat" from ''WesternAnimation/TheAristocats'' and "Whistle While You Work" from ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs''.
** "Human Again" from ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' and "Morning Report" from ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' were un-needed additions to their respective films, since the movies didn't have them originally. ("Human Again" was a BigLippedAlligatorMoment that rendered the story's timeline confusing, a realization that convinced Editor-In-Chief and studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg to send it to the scrapboard, while Alan Menken and Howard Ashman relocated some of the parts about Belle's and the Beast's love blossoming to the replacement song "Something There". "Morning Report" didn't even exist until the time came for ''The Lion King'' to hit Broadway.) They aren't terrible songs, nor ''completely'' irrelevant (they're both in the stage versions of the respective movies, too). Neither of them exactly advanced the plot or provided much if any character development, but both are in the Special Editions released during the TurnOfTheMillennium. The 2011 3D conversions of both movies removed "Human Again" and "Morning Report" once again.
* TheThemeParkVersion: While many of the movies in the Disney Animated Canon are {{Pragmatic Adaptation}}s, they are often seen as Theme Park Versions of their sources due to PublicMediumIgnorance. It doesn't help that most people are generally familiar with the ''actual'' Theme Park Versions, from the literal theme parks, spin-offs/sequels, crossovers, or merchandise. Considering the popularity of those Theme Park Versions however, the company obviously has no intention of correcting this mindset towards the original films, much to the vexation of fans.
* TimeSkip: Several movies in the canon started adopting this measure beginning in the Disney Renaissance period (though it had been used since the earliest movies), and continuing to this day. It got really egregious during the height of the Disney Renaissance period, when films like ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'' would have two or more timeskips within the expanse of a 3-minute song.
* ToiletHumor: Averted. Gross-out gags are a rare sight in the canon, and are virtually nonexistent in the older films (the only notable example is Pumbaa farting in ''The Lion King''). The newer films occasionally have them (i.e. ''Zootopia'', ''Moana'') but only in very small doses and strictly as throwaway gags.
* TomboyPrincess:
** ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'': Princess Eilowny. Although heavily watered down from her original characterization, which fits this more.
** Ariel from ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}''. Very feisty, active and adventurous, and can hold her own against a shark—the start of a Renaissance-era tradition involving the ''Disney Princesses''. Her daughter Melody in the sequel fits as well.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'': Nala (although she's never called a princess), as seen when she play-wrestles with Simba on her way to an elephant graveyard with him. That far into the movie, they're just friends (and they don't take seriously the idea that they'd grow up to be more than friends) and you could almost forget they're opposite genders if not for the voices. ''The Lion King'' has its protagonist and princess more similar to each other than most Disney movies do. Her [[RebelliousPrincess rebellious]], boisterous young daughter Kiara is another example, especially as Nala matures and becomes more regal.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'' has the titular character, who is athletic, scales mountains, climbs trees, jumps off cliffs, and steers her canoe into turbulent waters. After Merida, she's probably one of the most tomboyish Princesses.
** The eponymous character of ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'' is not a princess, but she is part of the official [[Franchise/DisneyPrincess Disney Princess lineup]], and she's tomboyish to the extent of [[SweetPollyOliver pretending to be a man to join the army]].
** ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'': Princess Kida, which seems to be part and parcel of her being TheChiefsDaughter, right up to the point where they actually show her climbing up a large rock structure while wearing a long, flowing dress at the end of the film!
** Princess Merida from the Creator/{{Pixar}} film ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}''. This is the root of the conflict with her mother; she hates the courtly education Elinor gives her and doesn't want to marry. She just wants to ride horses and practice archery.
** [[spoiler:Vanellope von Schweetz]] from ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'', a spunky and tomboyish little kart racer, [[spoiler:is revealed to be a princess at the end of the movie, although she gives up that title to become a President instead.]]
* TrainingMontage: Featured in ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'', ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}''.
* TheEnd: Prior to 1985's ''The Black Cauldron'', every Disney animated film (excluding ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'') ended with a screen saying "The End", and below that, "A Walt Disney Production" (during Walt's lifetime) or "Walt Disney Productions" (after his death). ''The Great Mouse Detective'' (1986), ''Aladdin'' (1992), ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' (1996), and ''The Emperor's New Groove'' (2000) also had "The End" screens, without the Walt Disney credit.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:V-Z]]
* TheVerse: Possibly with all {{the cameo}}s and {{Easter egg}}s and what not. If ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' is considered, each movie takes place in its own world that exists separate from the others due to the events of [[GreatOffscreenWar the Great Keyblade War]].
** ''Tangled'' and ''Frozen'' are all but explicitly confirmed to exist in the same universe, with {{Fanon}} generally accepting Rapunzel, Anna, and Elsa to be cousins by way of their respective mothers being sisters. A common theory also places ''The Little Mermaid'' in this same universe with the sunken ship Ariel explores at the beginning being the same one that carried the king and queen of Arendelle[[labelnote:note]]Traveling from Norway to, presumably Rapunzel and Eugene's wedding in Germany, would mean the ship would go down off the coast of Denmark, where ''Mermaid'' is set[[/labelnote]].
* VanityPlate: With Lasseter's arrival at Disney, newer films (starting with ''WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons'') now have a vanity plate paying homage to the studio's roots in traditional animation and WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse's first hit short ''WesternAnimation/SteamboatWillie''. Like the RKO Radio Pictures/Buena Vista/Walt Disney Pictures logos, it too got an alteration for a film (in this case, ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'').
* VerySpecialEpisode: ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'' deeply explores the nature of social bias between two groups (predator and prey) that have a historical tension between them in a way unexpected of most animated films, let alone Disney movies. It's especially notable given the increasing racial tensity of TheNewTens. It is also an incredibly thorough deconstruction of how a WorldOfFunnyAnimals would actually work.
* VictoriousChorus: Commonly used at the end of some films.
* VileVillainSaccharineShow: However, the "Saccharine Show" becomes less notable with its more mature films.
* WarriorVersusSorcerer: Some of the movies feature heroic warriors fighting evil wizards or witches.
** ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'': The climax has the titular dwarfs arming themselves with [[ImprovisedWeapon their mining tools]] and going after the Evil Queen who is also a WickedWitch.
** ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'': Prince Philip fights the evil fairy and sorceress Maleficent while armed with a KnightlySwordAndShield. As Maleficent has [[ScaledUp transformed into a dragon]], this example is also a crossover with DragonsVersusKnights.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid'': Prince Eric is one of the most notable {{Action Hero}}es among the Disney princes. In the film's climax, he kills the sea witch Ursula.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'': Aladdin doesn't have much in the way of fighting skills in this film but he still uses a sword when fighting the EvilSorcerer Jafar.
%%* WhatMeasureIsANonCute
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: There are things that anthropomorphic animals do in ''Oliver & Company'', ''Beauty and the Beast'', ''Lady and the Tramp'', and ''The Lion King'' that Disney would ''never'' allow in human portrayal.
* WhiteMagic: From {{Fairy Godmother}}s to [[AnIcePerson Snow Queens]], magic can be used for good in these films.
[[/folder]]

!!Tropes common to the Disney Animated Canon:

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'': In the [[Literature/{{Bambi}} book]] Bambi spends more and more time with his mentor and parent-figure the Great Old Prince of the Forest. He in turn becomes distant from everyone and loses interest in his mate Faline. Bambi ends up [[GenerationXerox becoming much like the Great Prince]], a distant and aloof buck. In the film there is a fire where Bambi's father, the Great Prince of the Forest (a younger CompositeCharacter of the book character and Bambi's sire), helps him and his new doe Faline escape. Both the book and film end with Bambi and Faline having twins, however in the book [[DisappearedDad Bambi is absent in their life]] just like a real deer. The film also excluded the part where Bambi sees the body of a dead hunter and the part where Faline's AdaptedOut brother comes back [[spoiler:and gets shot]]. Curiously the sequel to the novel ''Bambi's Children'' retconned the original book's ending anyway, with Bambi turning out to be closer and more sentimental towards Faline and his children after all (though Disney never adapted the second book into film, their ComicBookAdaptation expectedly follows the same tracks).

* ShooOutTheClowns: During most the intense or dramatic climaxes, the comic relief characters aren't usually present. It's so prevalent that the canon has its own folder on [[ShooOutTheClowns/AnimatedFilms the trope's subpage for animated films]].

This category does not include productions from Walt Disney Animation's sister studios Creator/{{Pixar}} and [[Creator/BlueSkyStudios Blue Sky]], nor does it include every animated feature released by Disney (such as the DirectToVideo {{Sequel}}s and [[WesternAnimation/AGoofyMovie other]] [[WesternAnimation/RecessSchoolsOut films]] [[WesternAnimation/MickeyDonaldGoofyTheThreeMusketeers created]] [[WesternAnimation/{{Planes}} by]] Creator/DisneyToonStudios, Creator/StudioGhibli dubs, animated films made under a different Disney banner such as ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'', which was made under Creator/TouchstonePictures, or animated films distributed by Disney but produced by non-Disney studios). There don't seem to be any hard-and-fast rules as to which movies get to be part of the canon and which don't, but generally, the canon films are made by the Disney feature animation unit (live-action/animation hybrids like ''Film/SongOfTheSouth'' and ''Film/MaryPoppins'' tend not to count unless the animation is the bulk of the film, as in ''WesternAnimation/TheThreeCaballeros'', ''WesternAnimation/FunAndFancyFree'' or ''WesternAnimation/MelodyTime''). Wiki/TheOtherWiki has a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Disney_theatrical_animated_features set of lists]] for both the canon and non-canon films.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' heavily changes the ending of the story -- in the original [[Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame Victor Hugo novel]], both Esmeralda and Quasimodo die; in the Disney version, they both survive, Esmeralda marries Phoebus and Quasimodo gets accepted by the society. Interestingly, the ScreenToStageAdaptation of the Disney movie brings back the DownerEnding.

** While not ''attractive'', Quasimodo from [[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame Disney's version]] of ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' is upgraded from hideous to UglyCute. Presumably, if they added the little details of how ugly he is, it would be a pain on the animators, and would have scared the children in a movie that's already pretty dark to begin with.

** Captain Phoebus from ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' is transformed from a dishonest cad to a genuinely heroic figure, being a JerkWithAHeartOfGold at worst.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'': While still a heroic character, book Quasimodo was much more asocial and inclined to violence, displaying a softer side only toward Frollo and Esmeralda due to [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe them being the only human beings to treat him somewhat decently]]. This incarnation pretty much is a NiceGuy with no resentment​ or animosity toward anyone.

** In ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', compared to their book counterparts, Quasimodo is much more gentle, Esmeralda is smarter and less naive, and Phoebus is more heroic, with his womanizer tendencies dropped. Meanwhile, Frollo gets AdaptationalVillainy and loses all his redeeming traits (which are given to an original character, the Archdeacon of Notre-Dame).

** ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'': [[SinisterMinister Claude Frollo]] was [[AntiVillain a more sympathetic character]] in [[Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame the original novel]] by Creator/VictorHugo. While driven to evil deeds later by his lust for Esmeralda, he willingly adopts and cares for Quasimodo, instead of threatening to throw him down a well as he did in the Disney version of the story. All while looking after his layabout of a brother, Jehan (who most movie adaptations [[CompositeCharacter composite with Claude]]), and being orphaned himself to boot. He was also more tolerant of gypsies, asking only that they keep their activities away from the cathedral rather than actively hunting them down. Also, Frollo was originally archdeacon of Notre Dame; in the movie, the archdeacon is a [[DecompositeCharacter separate, kindly character]], who induces a guilt trip on Frollo at the beginning and is beaten up by him at the end. In a sense, both these scenes depict the man struggling with ''himself''. It's believed the reason for this AdaptationalVillainy was due to Disney being concerned that having a priest for a BigBad would offend people, and their solution was to divide the literary character in two and give one all the good qualities and the other all the bad.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'': Again, it's what's inside that counts.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'': Quasimodo [[DidNotGetTheGirl didn't win Esmeralda's heart]]. But she survives, Frollo is defeated and the people of Paris finally accept Quasimodo as one of their own.

** Especially in ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'' (the brainy lead character selfish and the brainy villain character is evil, the brawny lead character is warm and fatherly and the brawny villain sidekick who gets [[WesternAnimation/KronksNewGroove his own movie]] outside of the canon is not actually evil), ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' and [[spoiler:''{{WesternAnimation/Frozen|2013}}'' (The brawny Kristoff is good and the calculating Hans is evil)]], but it might be apparent in other Disney movies too.

* DarkerAndEdgier: ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'', ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'', and ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' are frequently considered unusually grim story content for Disney.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' -- [[spoiler:Quasimodo]]

** ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'': The reason why Judge Claude Frollo was so monstrously cruel was because Disney wanted to avert the EvilIsCool trope, which was common among Disney villains at the time (and continues to be so). Just like Scar, Frollo ended being a LoveToHate example.

** Although ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' has some dark moments, it was created as a lighter followup to the infamously edgy ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''.

* LightIsNotGood: This and DarkIsNotEvil are in ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', ''{{WesternAnimation/Tarzan}}'', ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'', and ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}''.

** Only a handful Disney movies subvert or avert this trope. In some examples, [[WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}} John Smith]] (explorer), [[WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron Taran]] (pigkeeper/peasant) and the main characters of ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' (soldier, son of a gypsy, gypsy performer) are self-made heroes.

** [[WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} Lady Tremaine]] to [[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame Claude Frollo]].

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: The Disney Animated Canon has several examples:
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' has Abu as Aladdin's NonHumanSidekick.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'' was based on ''Tarzan of the Apes'', but Disney did work the monkey trope into a wacky lather in the film, particularly with Tarzan's loud-mouthed female gorilla sidekick Terk, her not-too-bright buddies Flynt and Mungo, and the mischievous baby baboon Manu. On the other hand, some primate characters are completely serious (i.e. Kerchak, the stern silverback and Kala, Tarzan's loving foster mother) or are more [[ManiacMonkeys threatening]] than funny (the baboon horde).
** ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' had the shaman-type, Rafiki, who was an African vision-having kung-fu mandrill.
** King Louie from ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967'' was Disney's original addition to the movie, yet arguably, [[AdaptationDisplacement feels very much as if he belongs to Mowgli's world]]. The original book ''does'', however, have a scene where the monkeys try to make Mowgli their leader, and won't let him go. He was later transplanted to ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin''.
** A few Disney geeks have a theory that this trope is the ''only'' acceptable reason why there are "[[MisplacedWildlife lemurs]]" in the Late Cretaceous period in ''WesternAnimation/{{Dinosaur}}''.
** Gorillas and monkeys appear as background characters in ''WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}''. A ferocious gorilla tries to escape from its cage during a parade, and a whole family of monkeys sleeping on a swing can be seen during the "Baby Mine" number.

* MohsScaleOfViolenceHardness: The canon is all over the place with this. You have films like ''Three Caballeros'' and ''The Emperor's New Groove'' with nothing but cartoony violence, and the canon rarely stays beyond that level of violence to keep the tone of the movies family-friendly. But on rare occasions, the films will dip into the 2 scale, such as the scene of Quasimodo's mother getting brutally killed onscreen in ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame''.

* TheEnd: Prior to 1985's ''The Black Cauldron'', every Disney animated film (excluding ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'') ended with a screen saying "The End", and below that, "A Walt Disney Production" (during Walt's lifetime) or "Walt Disney Productions" (after his death). ''The Great Mouse Detective'' (1986), ''Aladdin'' (1992), and ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' (1996) also had "The End" screens, without the Walt Disney credit.

* PeriodPiece: Most of the films in the canon take place at some time in the past. Only twelve films are set in ThePresentDay of when they were made: 1. ''WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}'' (early 1940s; according to the newspaper at the end of the film, which sets the film in March 1941), 2. ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'' (late 1950's-early 1960s, setting the film in 1958), 3. ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'' (1970s), 4. ''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany'' (1980s), 5. ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuersDownUnder'' (early 1990s), 6. ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'' (early 2000s), 7. ''WesternAnimation/ChickenLittle'' (mid-2000s), 8. ''WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons'' (mid-2000s when not in the future), 9. ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'' (late 2000s), 10. ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' (early 2010s), 11. ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'' (mid-2010s) and 12. ''WesternAnimation/RalphBreaksTheInternet'' (late 2010s). And then there are the relative indeterminates: ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' take place in an unknown time period (''Bambi'' can be narrowed down to anytime in the last 2-3 centuries), and ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'' and ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' are set in a constructed universe.

** Creator/HansConried (''Peter Pan'', Sleeping Beauty'') who voiced Captain Hook/Mr. Darling and possibly as the herald called Lord Duke (later a major charcter in the first segment of ''WesternAnimation/DisneyPrincessEnchantedTalesFollowYourDreams'') respectively, is best known for voicing and portraying villains, authority type figures, or foils. Ironically, Conried modeled for King Stefan and initially auditioned for Stefan until that role went to the late Taylor Holmes, making an unsolved mystery of the herald's voice actor.

** ''WesternAnimation/ChickenLittle'': The importance of communication.

See also Creator/DisneyToonStudios, Franchise/DisneyPrincess, ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'' (an AffectionateParody of Disney's own films), ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'', a video game series which also seems to follow the rule of only using canonical characters from [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters nearly all of these films]] ([[WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas and]] [[Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean th]][[WesternAnimation/ToyStory en]] [[Film/{{Tron}} so]][[Film/TronLegacy me!]]), or ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'' which represents almost every canonical movie up to 2001 with at least a cameo appearance. ''Series/OnceUponATime'' is a live-action fairy tale series shown on Disney-owned ABC, with versions of the fairy tale characters heavily and obviously indebted to the Disney animated film versions. ''Film/{{Descendants}}'' is a similar all-DAC crossover Creator/DisneyChannel Original Movie, featuring the offspring of classic Disney characters in a live-action musical. The Film/DisneyLiveActionRemakes refers to a series of films that remake DAC films in live-action format.

** ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' does with VideoGames what ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' does with {{Toon}}s and ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' does with {{toys}}, crafting an original story about their relationship to humanity starring a cast of {{Exp|y}}ies, with {{Guest|Fighter}} {{Cameo}}s playing a supporting role.

** Some non-villainous Disney characters (heroic, neutral and villain sidekick alike) who ''really'' did bite the dust:[[labelnote:Click here]]Bambi's mom, Willie the Whale, Slew Foot Sue, Cinderella's dad, Tod's mother, Bartholomew and Felicia the cat, Roscoe and DeSoto, Flotsam and Jetsam, Mufasa, Kocoum, Quasimodo's mother, Kerchak, Mr. Arrow, Sitka, Tiana's father, [[spoiler:Ray the Firefly]], King Agdar and Queen Idun, and [[spoiler:Tadashi Hamada]].[[/labelnote]]

[[caption-width-right:350: [[HumbleBeginnings "I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing — that it was all started by]] [[WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse a mouse."]][[note]]Ironically, ''WesternAnimation/SteamboatWillie'', the short depicted in the company's main logo, is not considered to part of the animated canon.[[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350: [[HumbleBeginnings "I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing — that it was all started by]] [[WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse a mouse."]]]]

** ''WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone'': In the original book, both Sir Ector (Wart's foster father) and Kay (his older half-brother) were much more shaded and sympathetic in personality. Ector's JerkWithAHeartOfGold qualities were much more clear—he was stern towards Wart and Kay, but not mean, and he truly cared for their welfare and actually wanted Wart to have a tutor to educate him, and was even proud of him well before he pulled out the sword, and not to mention Ector was on much better terms with Merlin, to the point where he was as distraught to see him leave as Wart. Kay could act like a jerk, but he had a justifiable reason, since he suffered from an inferiority complex and SiblingRivalry with Wart. The Disney adaptation [[TookALevelInJerkass throws out most of their sympathetic qualities and plays up their flaws in turn]]--Ector is almost a 180 in personality, becoming a bossy, demanding and judgmental disciplinarian who is against Wart being educated because it would mess up his rigid schedule, while Kay is reduced to a one dimensional bully who hates Wart for no good reason.

** Sir Ector of ''WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone''. While he's a [[JerkAss jerk to Wart]], he's not evil, just a [[MiseryBuildsCharacter very strict and demanding]] ControlFreak.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'', ''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany'', and ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'' were intended by Roy E. Disney and (then-new) studio heads Jeffrey Katzenberg and Peter Schneider to take Disney animation in a lighter, more 1980s direction after former studio head Ron Miller's attempts in the late 1970s/early 1980s to take the studio in [[WereStillRelevantDammit a darker and moodier direction]] with ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'', ''WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound'', and ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'' pretty much ended in failure (''Rescuers'' and ''Fox and Hound'' were still financial successes, with ''Rescuers'' getting a sequel from the new guard; ''Cauldron'' was NOT a success, and almost killed the canon off). ''The Great Mouse Detective'' itself was retitled from ''Basil of Baker Street'' after Michael Eisner decided that the original name was "too English" for American kids, which led to a major backlash from the animators who were working on the film; they protested with an infamous fake memo that Katzenberg got, and said memo made it to the press and on to ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'', embarrassing Schneider in the process; Schneider repaid the favor by ripping into the department in a meeting for the stunt (Katzenberg was also unamused with the decoy memo at first, but he lightened up to the situation according to the documentary ''Film/WakingSleepingBeauty'').

* PeriodPiece: Most of the films in the canon take place at some time in the past. Only twelve films are set in ThePresentDay of when they were made: 1. ''WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}'' (early 1940s; according to the newspaper at the end of the film, which sets the film in March 1941), 2. ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'' (late 1950's-early 1960s), 3. ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'' (1970s), 4. ''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany'' (1980s), 5. ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuersDownUnder'' (early 1990s), 6. ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'' (early 2000s), 7. ''WesternAnimation/ChickenLittle'' (mid-2000s), 8. ''WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons'' (mid-2000s when not in the future), 9. ''WesternAnimation/{{Bolt}}'' (late 2000s), 10. ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' (early 2010s), 11. ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'' (mid-2010s) and 12. ''WesternAnimation/RalphBreaksTheInternet'' (late 2010s). And then there are the relative indeterminates: ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' take place in an unknown time period (''Bambi'' can be narrowed down to anytime in the last 2-3 centuries), and ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet'' and ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' are set in a constructed universe.

** Creator/HansConried (''Peter Pan'', Sleeping Beauty'') who voiced Captain Hook/Mr. Darling and possibly as the herald called Lord Duke (a major charcter in the first segment of ''WesternAnimation/DisneyPrincessEnchantedTalesFollowYourDreams'') respectively, is best known for voicing and portraying villains, authority type figures, or foils. Ironically, Conried modeled for King Stefan and initially auditioned for Stefan until that role went to the late Taylor Holmes, making an unsolved mystery of the herald's voice actor.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'' is loosely inspired by the novel ''Literature/TheEmperorsNewClothes''.

** ''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany'' is a loose adaptation of the Creator/CharlesDickens novel ''Literature/OliverTwist''.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheAristocats'', as both movies [[WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967 preceding]] and [[WesternAnimation/RobinHood succeeding]] have antagonists who are far more threatening.

* VileVillainSaccharineShow: However the "Saccharine Show" becomes less notable with its more mature films.

[[folder:A]]

** Emperor Kuzco from ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'' is a rare example of the ''protagonist'' being this, and (almost) all of it is PlayedForLaughs. Kuzco, while charismatic, is a [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist completely unsympathetic character]] at the start who is only a [[NotSoDifferent hair-breadth away from being as bad as the actual villain]] Yzma, being a cruel, narccisitic and selfish jerk, and is basically a [[HeroInNameOnly protagonist solely]] [[NominalHero by designation]] who was [[LaserGuidedKarma asking for pretty much]] [[BreakTheHaughty everything bad that came his way]]—until the third act, where he [[HeelFaceTurn finally starts]] [[JerkToNiceGuyPlot mellowing out]] into a nicer, [[ReformedButNotTamed if still foolish and flamboyant]], person.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/996921b6_1a93_4d64_a565_1e19fead741f.png]]

[[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wdas-logo.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:225: [[HumbleBeginnings "I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing — that it was all started by]] [[WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse a mouse."]]]]

* HappilyEverAfter: [[BittersweetEnding Averted]] with both ''[[spoiler:WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound]]'' and ''[[spoiler:{{WesternAnimation/Pocahontas}}]]'', however.

* ShooOutTheClowns: During most the intense or dramatic climaxes, the comic relief characters aren't usually present. It's so prevalent that it has its own folder on the trope's page.

* MohsScaleOfViolenceHardness: The canon is all over the place with this. You have films like ''Three Caballeros'' and ''The Emperor's New Groove'' with nothing but cartoony violence, and the canon rarely stays beyond that level of violence to keep the tone of the movies family friendly. But on rare occasions, the films will dip into the 2 scale, such as the scene of Quasimodo's mother getting brutally killed onscreen in ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame''.