Funny / Once Upon a Studio

No one gets trolled by the Cheshire Cat like Gaston!

• Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde are among the first to pop out of the photos as Judy tells everyone to hop to it, and Nick snarks about the obvious bunny pun before almost being crushed by Louis.
• At Mickey's request, Thumper calls Orville out of his photo first, which goes as well as how you expect it would go if you seen the film he first appeared in. Rhino's reaction to this is priceless.
  Rhino: AWESOME!!!
• The ocean dispensing Moana into the lobby, then dropping Flounder into her hands.
  Flounder: [meekly] ...Water!
  Moana: [panics and immediately rushes offscreen to find Flounder some water]
• Merlin is the barista at the studio commissary, using his magic to make tea for the Mad Hatter and March Hare (and served by Mrs. Potts and Chip) despite Cogsworth telling them they don't have time for tea. Dr. Krunklehorn is also in line, no doubt looking for coffee.
  • When Moana asks Merlin to help her find water for Flounder, Merlin's idea is to conjure up some water and use the Hatter's hat as a fishbowl. Luckily, the Hatter doesn't mind and even makes a joke about it.
    Hatter: Oh, waiter, there's a carp in my cap!
• As Anna and Elsa walk down the hall, they see Stromboli furiously banging on a vending machine while cussing in faux-Italian as Anna asks the obvious question.
  Anna: Yikes. Do you think all the villains will show up?
  [Hans is about to jump out of his photo when Elsa nonchalantly freezes it]
  Elsa: Not all.
  Hans: [muffled moan]
  • The scene's even funnier when you realize that Hans is shown in the final shot in the short, meaning that he made it to the group photo after all! Additionally, while her comment was directed towards Hans, Elsa's ultimately proven right about not every villain appearing for the photo, with baddies such as the Coachman, Monstro, Horace, Jasper, Sykes, Shan Yu, Kron, Rourke, Helga, Captain Gantu, Scroop, Slim, the Stabbington Brothers, the Duke of Weselton, Yokai, and Tamatoa not present at all.
• Flash takes his sweet time walking to the elevator, to the chagrin of Donald Duck, Humphrey, Ranger Woodlore, Terk, Carl, and Mother Gothel. When Flash finally makes it and thanks Donald for holding the elevator, Donald has his arms crossed and is narrowing his eyes, visibly struggling to not burst into one of his infamous temper tantrums. Shortly thereafter, Baymax shows up and squeezes his inflatable self in, at which point Donald finally loses it.
  Donald: Aw, COME ON! (angry duck noises)
• Olaf trying his hand at animating on paper, having to sit on a book just to reach the desk.
  Timon: Hey, Frosty! Shake a leg, will ya?
  Olaf: The leg won't make a difference. It's all in the wrist.
  [Genie explodes out of the drawing, sending Olaf to pieces]
  Genie: Oy! I haven't seen a fall like that since Rome! [poofs Olaf back to normal] HO! Much better.
  • That's not just some random book Olaf's sitting on, by the by — it's the legendary The Illusion of Life. Either Olaf was really doing his research... or he's completely ignorant of the book's subject matter and importance and just really needed a boost.
• Gaston gloats over his good looks and kisses his own bicep while freshening up in the men's room with some other male Disney characters when the Cheshire Cat suddenly materializes in front of him, briefly making it look like he's got his wide eyes and manic grin.
  • One of the characters present in this scene is the Headless Horseman, who primps in the mirror despite his obvious lack of a head.
  • This is followed by Minnie bursting into the men's room telling them to hurry up, courteously covering her eyes as she does.
• Winnie the Pooh, just as he did at Rabbit's front door, gets stuck in his picture while his friends have to pull him out.
• Joanna the Goanna tries to eat Jaq and Gus until Pluto scares her off, rescuing the two mice.
• Kristoff warns some Dalmatian puppies, who are watching the "Night on Bald Mountain" segment of Fantasia on TV, that they'll get nightmares from watching that. Chernabog then promptly pops out of the TV and scares them away.
  • Also, Lucky, as usual, is in the front.
  • They also cause Scrooge McDuck to drop his bags of money, which Robin Hood and Little John steal.
• Splat falls in love with Ursula, but she's clearly not interested.
• As Cinderella and Prince Charming walk down the staircase, it's Charming who loses his shoe rather than Cindy, which he and Cindy both laugh about. Then Max runs down the stairs and makes off with the shoe, much to Charming's annoyance and Cinderella's amusement.
  Charming: [indignant] Hey, Max! Eric, get your dog!
  Cinderella: [laughing] Go, Max, go!
• Kaa slithers down the hall with Clarabelle Cow in his trance. After Mickey tries and fails to get Kaa to stop, Rapunzel (who's following behind Kaa) assures him she can handle the situation and casually whacks Kaa offscreen with her trusty frying pan.
• As everyone goes outside, Ralph walks smack into the glass door.
  Mickey: Ralph, you okay?
  Ralph: Never better, Garfield.
  • Ralph proceeds to trip over a garbage bin right after that, and the next character to exit the building is Scar, who starts to lament about how he's Surrounded by Idiots...only to be cut off by the following moment right below.
• Mr. Toad has now found a new vehicle to go on a wild ride as he steers Aladdin's magic carpet around the courtyard. His archival line of "I'll show you the world" also serves as an unintentional Waxing Lyrical of "A Whole New World".
• As Goofy is clumsily carrying the ladder, Ichabod Crane ducks his head for a second which makes it look like he lost his head.
• Flora and Merryweather get into another "pink-or-blue" argument, this time over the giant Sorcerer Hat perched atop of the studio entrance.
• Luisa lifting up not just Cyril, Small One, Rutt and Tuke, but also Grace, Ms. Calloway and Maggie, the latter of the three bovines looking particularly unimpressed.
• As usual, Bruno is hiding, this time behind Pacha.
• While everybody else is distressed at seeing Goofy cause the ladder to tip over, Jafar smirks at his partner Iago gleefully counting down to the inevitable fall.
• When Goofy accidentally breaks the camera, seemingly ruining the shoot, Eeyore laments "Maybe we can try again in another hundred years."
  • And to add insult to injury, Stitch starts gnawing on the plate before Lilo drags him away.
• During the song finale:
  • As the song starts low and starts to pick up, Hades comments "I knew this was gonna happen" (not that it stops him from joining in).
  • As Ariel sings her verse, Scuttle attempts to join in by squawking off-key, just as he tried to do at her rowboat date. Baloo has to clasp his beak shut.
    • Also, the squawking makes Dolores visibly cringe. Bear in mind that, as a certain song will tell you, this is a character who "can hear a pin drop".
• There are a few chuckleworthy moments present right before the photo is taken:
  • Simba smacks Nala with his tail, and then looks at her with a sheepish "sorry" grin. Right next to them, Timon is shaking his hips in a way reminiscent of his famous hula dance. Also, Scar is seen with a big, smug smile as he sings, enjoying the moment not unlike when he bombastically asked us to "be prepared for sensational news!"
  • Nani and David are wearing Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet.
  • The Headless Horseman of all characters is wagging his finger back and forth to the music while holding his pumpkin head in his other arm.
  • A couple of Dalmatian puppies can be seen scratching their ears. Others can be seen peeking behind taller characters. Dopey almost drops the one he's holding.
  • The Mad Hatter, still holding up Flounder in his hat full of water, also nearly drops him as he sings, not letting the poor fish finish his verse properly.
  • Maui is holding Heihei in his hand by the neck. Also the Magic Carpet pops into the frame at the very last second, waving at the camera from behind Maui's head.
  • Flash can be seen very slowly peeking in from behind Dr. Facilier and Prince Naveen.
  • Boy Tree and Lady Tree are doing nothing but smiling and staring at the camera, not noticing the lipstick-marked paper plane stuck in the latter's branch.
  • Gideon, standing next to Honest John, just nods and smiles stupidly as always.
  • Madame Medusa is throwing up her arms in an over-the-top way like the Large Ham she is.
  • After everyone finishes singing, Oaken gleefully waves for the camera, while Baymax simply raises his hand up and makes a single wave.
  • At the same time, Benjamin Clawhauser claps giddlily, clearly being the most excited for the photo.
• The credits:
  • Lucifer eyes Professor Ratigan as his latest prize. The former's Slasher Smile and Ratigan's Oh, Crap! face sell it.
  • Stitch takes a bite out of Man of Action Studios' credit, leaving a mark vaguely reminiscent of the iconic Disney castle.

Meta

• In some fun behind-the-scenes footage of the voice recording shown during the ABC premiere of Encanto, there are some fun outtakes:
  • Jason Bateman attempts to turn his one line into a one-hour monologue.
  • Idina Menzel briefly sings her line.
  • Ginnifer Goodwin giving almost 100 different inflections of her line, calling herself "an editor's nightmare".
  • Raymond S. Persi actually carried with him a puppet of Flash, and, in character, asked the director if he wanted his dialogue slower.