History ShownTheirWork / AnimatedFilms

** Walt Disney himself was the reason that almost all animators (even to this day) are not only asked, but required to draw animals in their studies. According to behind-the-scene stories of ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'', when Walt saw the first few rough animations of deer moving, they looked like what could be generously described as two people in a horse suit doing the PottyDance. He was so ashamed of this, he brought in a live deer the next day and forced his entire staff to spend the next few weeks doing nothing but deer drawings. It paid off, and not only is ''Bambi'' known for its beautiful animal animations, but animal anatomy has become a permanent part of nearly every single animator's training.

** In Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'', the tactics used by [[AbusiveParent Mother Gothel]] on [[MyBelovedSmother Rapunzel]] are disturbingly accurate, such as Gothel's refined verbal and emotional abuse, lying to her "daughter" and trying to make Rapunzel dependent on her. There's some FridgeBrilliance in this as well, as the way Rapunzel reacts and behaves throughout the movie (with mood swings etc.) resembles how a victim of lifelong emotional abuse would realistically behave.

*** While it does seem unusual that Jasmine would have a tiger - [[MisplacedWildlife the animals are traditionally associated with India, China, and Southeast Asia]] - her pet Rajah might actually be the now extinct Caspian tiger, which, at the time the film is set, lived in parts of the Middle East.
*** During the "Whole New World" sequence, Aladdin-pretending to be "Prince Ali"-gives Jasmine an apple, as they fly past the Parthenon. In Ancient Greece, apples were connected with marriage, and giving an apple to a woman was a form of proposal.

*** In order to understand the landscape of Africa, a select group of animators were sent to Kenya to tour the reserves and learn about the culture. It's thanks to this trip that the catchphrase "HakunaMatata" is so commonly used nowadays.

*** Judy Hopps, a rabbit, doesn't have paw pads. It's a little known fact that real rabbits have fur instead of paw pads.
*** Nick nearly gets caught sneaking by a guard shack because the wolves guarding the facility catch his scent on the wind, a subtle joke about how foxes have musk glands. Also, the film notes that Nick eats fruit which is possible for foxes as they're omnivores and actually love blueberries, apples and plums.
*** The eyes of the [[spoiler: victims of Night Howler poisoning]] take on real life [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapetum_lucidum tapetum lucidum]].
*** It's noted that the predators in the city make up only 10% of the total population. This is based on the real life fact known as the 10% Rule, where each layer of the food chain needs ten times as much energy in the layer below it to sustain it. However, it doesn't explain why the situation still exists now that civilization has eliminated the traditional food chain.
*** Mrs. Otterton is ''substantially'' smaller than her husband: a sexual dimorphism which is quite typical of otters and other mustelids.

** ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}'': During the process of designing the characters, the animators brought in lions ranging from small cubs all the way to adults even bringing in a baboon to hold a stick in order to figure out how to animate Rafiki. To add to this, many field trips to the local zoos were involved to better understand animal anatomy. The zoos that are credited include the Los Angeles Zoo, the San Diego Zoo, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and the Miami Metro Zoo.
*** In order to understand the landscape of Africa, a select group of animators were sent to Kenya to tour the reserves and learn about the culture. It's thanks to this trip that the catchphrase "HakunaMatata" is so commonly used nowadays.

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'': During the "Whole New World" sequence, Aladdin-pretending to be "Prince Ali"-gives Jasmine an apple, as they fly past the Parthenon. In Ancient Greece, apples were connected with marriage, and giving an apple to a woman was a form of proposal.
*** During the process of animating Abu's movements, the production team took inspiration from the capuchins at the Los Angeles Zoo.
*** While it does seem [[MisplacedWildlife unusual]] that Jasmine would have a tiger-the animals are traditionally associated with India, China and Southeast Asia-, her pet Rajah might actually be the now extinct Caspian tiger, which, at the time the film is set, lived in parts of the Middle East.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'' was the reason that almost all animators (even to this day) are not only asked, but required to draw animals in their studies. The story goes that when Disney himself saw the first few rough animations of the deer moving, they looked like what could be generously described as two people in a horse suit doing the PottyDance. Disney was so ashamed of this, he brought in a live deer the next day and forced his entire staff to spend the next few weeks doing nothing but deer drawings. It paid off, and not only is Bambi known for its beautiful animal animations, but animal anatomy has become a permanent part of nearly every single animator's training.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}'' also deserves a shout out due to two things.
*** During the process of designing the characters, the animators brought in lions ranging from small cubs all the way to adults even bringing in a baboon to hold a stick in order to figure out how to animate Rafiki. To add to this, many field trips to the local zoos were involved to better understand animal anatomy. The zoos that are credited include the Los Angeles Zoo, the San Diego Zoo, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and the Miami Metro Zoo.
*** In order to understand the landscape of Africa, a select group of animators were sent to Kenya to tour the reserves and learn about the culture. It's thanks to this trip that the catchphrase "HakunaMatata" is so commonly used nowadays.

** Although Walt didn't have the time or budget to devote as much effort into the realism of ''WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}'' as his past features, he did have live elephants brought into the studio in order to study their movements and appearance.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'' has many examples, and one of them is how Kerchak [[PrimalChestPound pounds his chest]]. Both times, he does it with open palms, rather than with clenched fists like most cartoon primates doing this would do.

** ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear'', like ''Bambi'' and ''The Lion King'', did extensive research on animal anatomy.

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}:''
*** Judy Hopps, a rabbit, doesn't have paw pads. It's a little known fact that real rabbits have fur instead of paw pads.
*** Nick nearly gets caught sneaking by a guard shack because the wolves guarding the facility catch his scent on the wind, a subtle joke about how foxes have musk glands. Also, the film notes that Nick eats fruit which is possible for foxes as they're omnivores and actually love blueberries, apples and plums.
*** The eyes of the [[spoiler: victims of Night Howler poisoning]] take on real life [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapetum_lucidum tapetum lucidum]].
*** It's noted that the predators in the city make up only 10% of the total population. This is based on the real life fact known as the 10% Rule, where each layer of the food chain needs ten times as much energy in the layer below it to sustain it. However, it doesn't explain why the situation still exists now that civilization has eliminated the traditional food chain.
*** Mrs. Otterton is ''substantially'' smaller than her husband: a sexual dimorphism which is quite typical of otters and other mustelids.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Balto}}'' might be VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory, but it portrays the symptoms of diphtheria in Rosy and the other sick children with heartbreaking realism: [[IncurableCoughOfDeath coughing]], a sore throat, fever, chills, exhaustion, and difficulty breathing.

* ''WesternAnimation//{{Balto}}'' might be VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory, but it portrays the symptoms of diphtheria in Rosy and the other sick children with heartbreaking realism: [[IncurableCoughOfDeath coughing]], a sore throat, fever, chills, exhaustion, and difficulty breathing.

*** In fact, one of their lead animators was a martial arts expert, and eventually all the animators actually took kung fu courses to help them better draw the moves of the various characters and stay true (for the most part) to the different styles. Other research shows in the authentic Chinese landscape, art, and architecture.

** A small one during the "All I Ever Wanted" scene; when Moses reads the hieroglyphics, he reads them right to left; this is how Egyptian hieroglyphics were actually read.
** The hairstyle worn by Rameses in his teen years-and later by his son-is a real hairstyle that Ancient Egyptian teenage boys sported.