History Main / Disneyfication

A form of editing, known for often falling into AdaptationDecay, that renders a story "safe" for juvenile audiences (or the parents thereof) by removing undesirable plot elements or [[PoliticallyCorrectHistory unpleasant historical facts]], adding Broadway-style production numbers, and reworking whatever else is necessary for a LighterAndSofter HappilyEverAfter Ending. There is often a clearer line between [[BlackAndWhiteMorality good and evil]]. TalkingAnimal sidekicks tend to be tacked on somehow.

** Which is closer to being [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_Revolution historically correct]]. Bolsheviks were not a major power until November in 1917. Well, except for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_(council) Soviets]], given you [[AdaptationDisplacement recall what that word originally meant]].

->''"It was much earlier even than that when most people forgot that that very oldest stories are, sooner or later, about blood. Later on they took the blood out to make the stories more acceptable to children, or at least to the people who had to read them to children rather than children themselves (who, on the whole, are quite keen on blood provided it's being shed by the deserving), and then wondered where the stories went."''

* ''Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics'' plays this trope straight with the Cinderella episode. Based on the Grimms' version, it does not contain the part where the stepsisters cut off their feet (nor do they get their eyes pecked out), and Cinderella's pigeon friends talk. The magic tree is cut down on the orders of the WickedStepmother rather than the father.
** However, the series generally averts the trope. A few darker stories were featured (the darkest being "Bluebeard"), while several non-evil characters on the show are KilledOffForReal (including the tree in "Cinderella").

Named for its most notorious practitioner, Disney studios, although it actually started [[OlderThanTheyThink before the Victorian Era]]. Ironically, the TropeMaker would be TheBrothersGrimm, who despite the TropeNamer for {{Grimmification}}, actually were the first ones to make fairy tales more suitable for children. The violence and sex were actually toned down tremendously from the originals.

* ''{{Disney/Tarzan}}'' is a case where Disneyfication ''improved'' the original work. For instance, Burrough's virulent racist and xenocentric material was removed and a century's worth of scientific research about the true peaceful nature of gorillas was incorporated into the story.

* In addition to changing its heroine from a quiet, thoughtful girl into ShirleyTemple's usual brassy, vivacious smart-aleck, the 1939 film of Frances Hodgson Burnett's book ''Literature/ALittlePrincess'' softens the hardships Sara undergoes, changes the villain's weak and complicit sister into a heroic brother, and imposes a DisneyDeath on Sara's father, while ladling generous quantities of TastesLikeDiabetes over the entire story. There have been more faithful adaptations since, but even the 1995 AlfonsoCuaron version has her father survive.

* A particularly egregious case occurs in ''WesternAnimation/TheKingAndI''. The king's advisor Kralahome is turned into the BigBad. Animal sidekicks are omnipresent, and they serve little actual purpose in the story. The slave girl Tuptim is given as a love interest to King Mongkut's eldest son instead of Mongkut himself to avoid the implications of a fifty-something man interested in a teenage girl. The King's multiple wives are omitted too. Bad comedy is put in the movie in exchange for the stuff taken out. And yet the film includes a rather stereotypical caricature in the form of the villain's sidekick. The estate of Rogers and Hammerstein was not pleased with the film, and as a result it no longer allows animated adaptations of its musicals.

* This actually happened to ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'', of all characters, in TheMovie, where they ditched most of the slapstick, [[SuddenlyVoiced started to talk and sing]], became best friends, and helped an annoying little girl reunite with her father. Needless to say, [[FranchiseKiller nobody liked it]].

* The 1995 Hollywood Pictures film version of ''TheScarletLetter'' starring Creator/DemiMoore not only has [[spoiler: Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl riding off into the sunset, but also Dimmesdale is saved from hanging by a convenient tribe of Native Americans]]. Do filmmakers do this just to prank lazy students who didn't read the book?

* ''TheBlackCauldron'' mishmashed plot elements from LloydAlexander's book of the same name with his earlier ''The Book of Three'', gave the amalgamated villain an annoying sidekick, turned the truculent dwarves into cute little pixies, and made beast-man Gurgi the very definition of TastesLikeDiabetes. No songs, though. Disney itself acknowledges the failure of this movie nowadays, and wishes they could give their fans a more book-accurate version. Why they don't, given that they still own the adaptation rights to the series, is anyone's guess.

** Also it's worth noting that in the credits it is stated that "Disney/{{Frozen}}" is inspired by "The Snow Queen" rather than an adaptation of it.

* LittleRedRidingHood. In the earliest version, the wolf kills the grandmother, tricks the girl into eating her flesh and drinking her blood, then eats her. Perrault's version leaves out the cannibalism, but still ends with the girl's death. Only the Brothers Grimm added the huntsman.

Named for its most notorious practitioner, Disney studios, although it actually started [[OlderThanTheyThink before the Victorian Era]].

* Disney also did this to Shakespeare when they adapted ''{{Hamlet}}'' in to an animated film featuruing an entire cast of talking animals, [[IWantSong I Want Songs]] and a HappyEnding rather than the DownerEnding of the original play. Luckily, the end product was so good that it went on to be the most financially successful animated film in the Canon, and is commonly considered the MagnumOpus of the Renaissance. The name of the film? ''Disney/TheLionKing''.

** And she didn't actually marry John Smith. She married John ''Rolfe''. The sequel addresses this, albeit in an inaccurate way, playing with drama between the two Johns.

** And she didn't actually marry John Smith. She married John ''Rolfe''. The sequel addresses this, albeit in an inaccurate way, playing with drama between the two Johns. History dictates that when she met John Smith in London, she slapped his face.

* Fairies in general. Case in point: Tinker Bell(who [[KilledOffForReal dies for real]] in the original novel). Though you do see some of it peeking through in the first Peter Pan movie, all traces of traditional Fair Folk sociopathy are gone in later appearances.

** Strangely, it's also LostInAdaptation: The film owes a fair bit more to the black-and-white movie based on the novel. And speaking of the clearer line between good and evil, Frollo alone makes the movie ''incredibly'' dark for a Disney flick by being the most twisted villain they ever came up with. And strangely, unlike the other examples, ''he was nicer in the book''.

* Actually [[SubvertedTrope mostly subverted]] with ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'': the only particularly dark element ''removed'' from [[TheSnowQueen the original story it's loosely based on]] is [[{{Satan}} the devil-troll]] and his evil mirror. Disney compensates by adding much ''more'' dark elements to the story than are in the original tale: the film's protagonists are notably older than the ones in ''The Snow Queen'' and go through much deeper psychological turmoil than they did.

* "''[[CuteyHoney Cutey Honey Flash]]''" changed the original story from a violent and sexy ActionGirl series into a magical series, quite similar to SailorMoon.

* It's quite common to parody 4Kids censorship practices by making "If 4Kids got X" videos, with the dialog badly dubbed over, anything non-American or not "kid-friendly" poorly censored, and the storylines [[{{Bowdlerization}} bowdlerized]] into unrecognizability. One of the better-known ones is [[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5UfIRmkv28 this]] GagDub of HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi, called "Casey and Friends".

* ''{{Asterix}}'' does this for TheRomanRepublic and the Roman conquest of Western Europe. Plenty of PoliticallyCorrectHistory is used - for instance, the historical Gauls were big fans of human sacrifices and killed enemies often in highly disturbing ways to serve as a deterrent, but the Gauls in the comic are big-hearted, childish party animals who love a good, friendly brawl and to poke fun at authority, and NobodyCanDie is in full effect (save for a single HoistByHisOwnPetard death in a particularly dark story). Slaves in the comic are usually shown in such a way that the horror of being literally owned by another human being is nullified; the gladiators in one story all decide they prefer playing parlour games to fighting; the pirates, while not quite ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything, are way too incompetent to actually get any pillaging done; and the complicated politico-sexual mess between Cleopatra, Caesar and Mark Antony is completely glossed over in favour of excising Mark Antony and making Caesar and Cleopatra a happy (if prone to bickering) husband and wife, with Cleo being something of a softening influence on him. Brutus, one of Caesar's eventual murderers in RealLife, is portrayed as ObviouslyEvil and just there for DramaticIrony HorribleJudgeOfCharacter jokes.

* The Dreamworks movie ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'' was relatively faithfully adapted from [[Literature/TheBible the book of Exodus.]] However, it still Disneyfied the potential drowning of Pharaoh. Kind of odd, since they included the deaths of his soldiers and two separate genocides (one by the Egyptians against the Hebrews and one by God against the Egyptians).
** Then again, what with the relationship between the Pharaoh and Moses in the movie (and the movie's efforts to humanize him), killing the Pharaoh off would have been a pretty bad dramaturgical choice. [[spoiler: (The last time we see him he's roaring Moses' name to the heavens in despair, while on the other side of the Red Sea Moses whispers "good-bye, brother.")]]
** There is also spontaneous chariot racing for whatever reason.
** The original text reveals Moses as actively deciding to kill the Egyptian taskmaster for beating a Hebrew slave. And then he (unsuccessfully) tried to cover it up to avoid blame
** Moses was [[BadassGrandpa 80 years old]] and father of two sons when he came to see the Pharaoh. He also was "[[SpeechImpediment slow of tongue]]" and so Aaron did the talking. Moses as a younger man is probably more due to the influence of ''Film/TheTenCommandments'' than this trope.
* ''{{Anastasia}}'' manages to show the Russian Revolution [[HammerAndSickleRemovedForYourProtection without mentioning Communism]]. Instead, Rasputin is plucked out his historical context for use as a pure EvilSorcerer (ignoring his ''complex'' relationship with the Romanovs), and given an annoying talking bat as a NonHumanSidekick. They didn't even mention Lenin, the Soviets and the Bolsheviks when they attacked the Czar's palace!
** Which is closer to being [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_Revolution historically correct]]. Bolsheviks were not a major power until November in 1917. Well, except for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_(council) Soviets]], given you [[AdaptationDisplacement recall what that word originally meant]].
** There was one Communism joke. One. "That's what I hate about this government: everything's in red!" They get out of the USSR about [[TravelingAtTheSpeedOfPlot as fast as the plot can carry them]], saving it from any further inconvenient relevance to the cute-little-bugs musical numbers.
* This actually happened to ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'', of all characters, in TheMovie, where they ditched most of the slapstick, [[SuddenlyVoiced started to talk and sing]], became best friends, and helped an annoying little girl reunite with her father. Needless to say, [[FranchiseKiller nobody liked it]].
-->'''Tom:''' ''"Don't... you... believe it!"''
** Nowadays, they are back to their usual characterization, but they were also portrayed in a more pleasant light in the 1970s TV show too, thanks to MoralGuardians trying to crack down on slapstick.
* The WarnerBros animated feature ''QuestForCamelot'', supposedly based on Vera Chapman's novella ''The King's Damosel'', itself a feminist retelling of the [[KingArthur Arthurian]] tale of Linette and Gareth. Similarities between the book and the film are, in total, that the lead character is an ActionGirl with a falcon, she's accompanied by a blind man, and it's set in Arthurian England. [[AdaptationNameChange Change all the lead characters' names]], add ''three'' {{Non Human Sidekick}}s, dump the BittersweetEnding in favour of "Kayley" living HappilyEverAfter with "Garrett" (an amalgamation of Lucius [the blind man] and Gareth) and you're done.
* ''TitanicTheLegendGoesOn'''s alters history so that (almost) everyone survives, including bad guys who would be considered an AcceptableTarget, and also shoehorns some really bad singing and dancing in. It's a ripoff of a bunch of more famous movies, such as like James Cameron's ''{{Titanic}}'', with comic scenes practically lifted wholesale from Disney movies.
** It's even worse in ''TheLegendOfTheTitanic'', released at the same time as the former in Italy, where the ship is rescued from sinking by a giant octopus [[TheAtoner atoning]] for having chucked the iceberg in the ship's way in the first place. And in this one, ''everyone survives'', even the captain and the band. The only possible saving throw is the ending, which implies that the narrator of the story, as a sailor, exaggerates and makes up stuff. This does absolutely nothing to excuse the ''sequel'', which involves mermaids, Atlantis, talking toys, and evil mice.
** Parodied in a 1998 installment of ''SaturdayNightLive'''s animated "TV Funhouse" segment, there's a RealTrailerFakeMovie for a Disney film called "Titey" in which the Titanic is a singing, dancing ship and the story mangles history in countless ways - the ship swordfights a singing, dancing iceberg voiced by Whoopi Goldberg, and then "refuses to stay sunk" by being rescued by a gang of wise-cracking whales. (The final line of the skit is "See it, or your children will ''hate'' you!") The sad thing is, this skit predated the two above films -- and if ever became a real movie, it'd probably ''still'' manage to be better than them.
* ''TheSwanPrincess'' for the most part stays true to the original ''SwanLake'' fairy tale, but makes the classic set of changes: talking animal sidekicks, a healthy dash of women's lib, and a happy ending in which the swan and the prince marry instead of drowning themselves in the lake. They even went on to star in direct-to-video sequels and are still alive and kicking!
** Stagings of the ballet are divided on this: some have the lovers die (or parted forever as Odette is condemned to remain a swan), while others have them live happily ever after. Creator/MercedesLackey's retelling ''Literature/TheBlackSwan'' splits the difference: [[spoiler: Odette and Siegfried throw themselves in the lake but are restored to life by a turned-good Odile.]]
** Research suggests that the happy ever after one might be the originally intended ending of the balett... which would push it in the [[{{Grimmification}} opposite trope]].
* The Rankin-Bass movie adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/TheHobbit'' makes a few questionable changes (all death is represented by the screen spinning) but is actually less destructive than you would expect. But for a sequel, Rankin-Bass got to make a mawkish version of ''WesternAnimation/TheReturnOfTheKing''.
** However, it also manages to avert this trope at the end, [[spoiler: as not only does the mortally wounded Thorin die on screen, but a total of seven of the thirteen dwarves are killed in the Battle of Five Armies, as opposed to the three who are killed in the original book.]]
* A particularly egregious case occurs in ''WesternAnimation/TheKingAndI''. The king's advisor Kralahome is turned into the BigBad. Animal sidekicks are omnipresent, and they serve little actual purpose in the story. The slave girl Tuptim is given as a love interest to King Mongkut's eldest son instead of Mongkut himself to avoid the implications of a fifty-something man interested in a teenage girl. The King's multiple wives are omitted too. Bad comedy is put in the movie in exchange for the stuff taken out. And yet the film includes a rather stereotypical caricature in the form of the villain's sidekick. The estate of Rogers and Hammerstein was not pleased with the film, and as a result it no longer allows animated adaptations of its musicals.
* ''ArthurAndTheMinimoys'' was an international hit and yielded two sequels, but the American release of the first film, retitled ''ArthurAndTheInvisibles'', failed miserably at the box office. This might be because the American release completely removed the romantic subplot between Arthur and Selenia.
* ''TheSecretOfNimh'' is based on a book called ''Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh''. There were a number of small changes between the books, notably, Mrs. Frisby of the novel became Mrs. Brisby in the film (mainly to avoid trademark issues with the Wham-O! company) and a shift of focus from the rats' time at NIMH to Mrs. Brisby's looming crisis. Some of the characterizations are obviously much more whimsical and goofy than in the novel (particularly [[TheKlutz Jeremy]]). However, the biggest and most Disneyfied change is the random inclusion of magic and mysticism, which plays an important role in the movie, but was not present in the book whatsoever. Many fans prefer the movie to the books -- enough that a [[BrokenBase large schism]] is present in the ''NIMH'' fandom.
** Then there's the treatment of Jenner, which actually inverts this trope and adds more drama and darkness with making him the evil, murderous BigBad out to take control of the rats, while in the book he's never even ''seen'', just mentioned as a rat that disagreed with the way the tribe was living, and so he and some people that thought the same way packed up and left (However, it's implied that he and they are the dead rats found in an electronic store, and this sets up the last act of the book, as the rats who stayed behind must leave the farm before human authorities track them down too.)
** There's also a larger death count in the film. Oh, and Justin says "Damn" once.
** And then, in came the sequel. ''Timmy To The Rescue'', despite being an example of LighterAndSofter of the highest order, actually uses some elements from the book the novel neglected (eg. Brutus turning out to be a GentleGiant, the NIMH survivors being six rather than two). That said, these mostly do play more into softening the tone of the film, and naturally also cause some contradictions with the first film.
* It didn't hit much harder than in ''WesternAnimation/TheThiefAndTheCobbler''. What was intended to be Richard William's magnum opus (and a decidedly anti-Disney film) eventually became a victim of ExecutiveMeddling, and the film was edited by different studios to fit into the Nineties Disney format. The theatrical versions added musical numbers, half of which were [[AwardBaitSong very dated pop ballads]]; Yum Yum became a stock RebelliousPrincess; and the two [[TheVoiceless voiceless]] title characters were given dialogue and would simply [[LullDestruction not. Shut. UP.]] Critics even dismissed the movie as a knockoff of Disney's ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'' despite the former's production beginning [[DevelopmentHell three decades earlier]].

* The animated adaptation of ''AnimalFarm'' is Disneyfied in a similar manner to the later live action version, although a notable difference is that while the animals in the live action adaptation express their displeasure of Napoleon's policies after a cumulation of him sending Boxer to the butcher shop and altering the entirety of the animal seven commandments, especially the seventh, by simply leaving the farm, the animals actually rebel outright against Napoleon and his pigs and successfully depose his regime.

* ''Dino Babies'' often adapted stories this way. For example, their adaptation of ''Literature/OliverTwist'' ended with Oliver finding his mother, while in the original story she was dead from the start.

* Fairies in general. Case in point: Tinker Bell. Though you do see some of it peeking through in the first Peter Pan movie, all traces of traditional Fair Folk sociopathy are gone in later appearances.