And I Must Scream in Animated Films.
- Aladdin shows that until his lamp is rubbed, a genie's existence is depressingly restrictive and empty. They are near omnipotent, but until summoned are confined in that small object with nothing to do - as Genie summed up: "PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERS - itty bitty living space". And before Aladdin released him, Genie had to wait for ten thousand years! Jafar was bound to the same fate when he requested to become a genie himself, becoming sealed in his own lamp, which Genie then tossed away. However, Jafar dragged Iago along while being sucked by the lamp, and the sequel Aladdin: The Return of Jafar shows the lamp only resurfaced because the parrot managed to get through its nozzle and then dig through tons of sand. Iago even notes "If it weren't for me, you'd be stuck down there forever!"
- The short film Alma is about a little girl lured into a sinister toy shop by a doll that looks just like her. The short ends with her touching the doll, and either becoming (or her soul being stuck in) the doll, unable to do anything except move her eyes. Then the shop displays another doll to lure the next unsuspecting victim. But the Fridge Horror kicks in with two things: One doll resembles a baby, and a doll resembling a Japanese child wearing early-era Japanese clothing. The former implies that infants have been trapped in the shop, while the latter indicates that the shop has been around for centuries.
- Played with in Beauty and the Beast. The Beast has been cursed by an Enchantress and unless he can learn to love someone and earn her love in return by the time the last petal on the rose fell, then the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast forever, which means if he can't love someone, then there will be no point in trying to lift the curse as he will become a beast forever.
- Dark Fury has Riddick go up against a madwoman who "collects" criminals and keeps them awake but practically frozen in artistic poses as part of a grotesque, living gallery. She created a type of stasis that slows their bodies down to a crawl but lets their minds be fully functional. It takes them a day and some excruciating pain to even blink their eyes.
- The House (2022): In Chapter 1, this is the awful fate of Raymond and Penny, transformed into furniture and left almost completely paralyzed but still conscious enough to be aware of their plight. In the end, they can't escape the fire that Van Schoonbeek has arranged... though given their misery, it's doubtful that they'd ever want to.
- Hoodwinked! has this bit from "Be Prepared":Ohhhhh an avalanche is coming and I do not feel prepared
It's running like a mountain lion, I must say that I'm scared
But if not for the witch's spell, you'd hear just how I scream
But since I'm only singing, I'll just yodel 'til we're creamed! - In The Jungle Book 2, when Kaa hypnotizes Shanti, she becomes so mesmerized that she can only obey his commands but inwardly freak out. But she can clearly figure out his intentions, and when she snaps out of it she is relieved to be released but surprised to see Ranjan rescuing her.
- Legends of Valhalla: Thor ends with Hel being imprisoned in ice by her own magic sword with nothing but King Thrym — who had been rendered senile by Old Age — for company. With Odin't eye still in her head, she's forced to watch Odin revel in his victory as Thor is celebrated as a hero for defeating her
- The LEGO Movie:
- Master Builders are locked up by the Big Bad in "Think Tanks", machines that suck away all of their creativity... while they're fully conscious. Yikes.
- Anyone affected by the Kragle is completely frozen in place. The Big Bad's plan was to inflict this on the whole universe so that nobody would be able to mess up his stuff.
- This also happens to Emmet after he falls off the edge of the universe and into the real world, where, as just a toy, he's able to see, hear and think, but is unable to move, unless he makes a lot of effort, and even then he only manages to twitch around.
- At the end of The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, Morgana gets trapped in a block of ice and falls into the oceans below. As she does, we see her moving her eyes in panic.
- Tai Lung in Kung Fu Panda was locked away for twenty years, in the bottom of a Tailor-Made Prison. His arms were held tight by chains, and his back covered with a turtle-like shell that prevented him from moving anything but his tail. It's no surprise that he is absolutely pissed when he escapes, and he already had anger management problems.
- Penguins of Madagascar: Dave's ultimate fate - trapped inside a snow globe.
- Pixar Shorts: Near the end of Monster Truck Mater, Tormentor (Mater's monster truck wrestler alter ego) actually traps Paddy O'Concrete (an Irish modified cement mixer monster truck) in his own cement. Granted, this one's less bad because Paddy's mouth is sticking out of the block that ends up being formed, but unless someone gets him out of there, he's never getting out.
- Pinocchio: Done to children by the demonic Coachman. They have mouths but all they can do is bray... trapped in a nightmare of slavery, torture and anguish that will only end with their Cruel and Unusual Death.
- In Rise of the Guardians, this happens to both The Hero and the Big Bad.
- Jack Frost is not as bad as some other examples, considering he's free to roam the Earth and can play with kids even while they don't see him. Still, people hardly know he even exists; they can't see or hear him, they pass right through him, and while he has minimal contact with some of the Guardians, he doesn't have friends among spirits either. Jack has lived like this for 300 years.
- As Pitch points out, his situation is similar to Jack's. People walk right through him, and judging by his words about being an outcast, he, too, doesn't hang out with other spirits much. Downplayed Trope as well, since at least, he is not confined anywhere. In the end, though, the nightmares drag him into his lair sealing the entrance behind them.
- Scooby-Doo Direct-to-Video Film Series:
- The zombies from Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island. They were once normal people who had their life force drained by the cat people, turning them into immortal zombie monsters but still retain their consciousness.
- The fate of Ben Ravencroft from Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost. Sarah pulls off a Taking You with Me by sealing him inside of her wicked book, making him suffer an eternity of being mercilessly haunted by her.
- In Frankencreepy, it's implied that Velma is aware of the terrible things she's doing while she's hypnotized.
- Space Chimps: Anyone who ends up in the Fresnar will essentially be turned into living works of art.
- In the The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, the people controlled by Plankton's bucket helmets apparently know to an extent they're being controlled, since after SpongeBob destroys the first one, the fish says "I'm free" instead of something like "What happened?"
- Likewise, Mr. Krabs is also shown to be aware of what's happening while he is frozen.
- This is the fate that befalls the Evil Queen in the Golden Films version of Snow White. After the Magic Mirror reveals Snow White survived the poisoned apple and is going to marry her prince - at a wedding the queen was obliviously going to attend - she has a Villainous Breakdown and starts smashing all the mirrors in her throne room. That's when the Magic Mirror begins to pull her inside, having had enough of the queen's vanity and punishing her for trying to murder her stepdaughter by trapping her on the other side of the glass forever. The last we see is the queen futilely banging her fists behind the mirror before her image fades away.Evil Queen: What manner of sorcery is this?!
Magic Mirror: Your jealousy has become a curse, your luck has gone from bad to worse. You're passing through an open door where you'll behold yourself no more. Your wicked face no more you'll see, you'll stay here for eternity. So welcome to my special place, and nevermore you'll see your face. - Toy Story:
- Toy Story: The number one rule of being a toy is that you must always pretend to be lifeless if you can be seen by a human. Even if you know that a human is about to do something horrible, including strapping an explosive to your body.
- Toy Story 2: Jessie, Bullseye, and Stinky Pete having been kept in storage for who knows how long. It can be reasonably assumed that they were conscious of it at the time, based on Jessie's reaction to the prospect of going back into the storage box. Then there is the idea of them being sold to the museum and ultimately being trapped in a glass case for who knows how long.
- In Toy Story 3, the Big Bad Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear gets strapped to the front of a garbage truck as an ornament, doomed to be pelted with dead bugs and the elements while being unable to move for years to come.
- Unico in the Island of Magic: Any of the folks changed into puppets and used to build skyscrapers.
- Wish (2023): Magnifico ends up imprisoned inside the crystal that was on top of his staff, and Queen Amaya orders a guard to have it hung up on a wall in the castle dungeon, meaning that Magnifico will likely be trapped forever.
- Wreck-It Ralph:
- This is the general concept of the movie: Ralph is always — always — the bad guy in Fix-It Felix Jr. The Nicelanders always treat him like garbage, he's always thrown off the roof, and then it all starts all over again. And if he (or any other video game character) ever leaves his own game, the game itself will be unplugged, leaving every resident homeless (or, if they're still in the game world when it's unplugged, sucked into an endless black void). The plot kicks off when Ralph has been doing this for thirty years, and finally can't take it anymore, which is why he leaves his game in an attempt to become a hero.
- Turbo's death. In his Cy Bug form, he's forced to fly towards the beacon and be incinerated... while being aware the whole time.
