Creators of shows and movies love to add hidden messages that they don’t think many people will recognize. It happens all the time, and for the most part, they do get away with it. It usually isn’t until years later that someone finds the hidden message that was put into the film or show. And this isn’t only done with shows featuring people; it happens in cartoons as well! We have put together a list of some of these moments in the history of animated shows and movies. Sit back, scroll through the list, and have a laugh at these wild moments!
Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast is a strange movie when you really think about it. But one moment that sticks out happens after the Beast is attacked in the woods. Belle finds him, and then somehow gets him onto the horse. But how? He’s a massive beast and she’s a little woman. The only real guess here is that she has super strength and lifted him. This one may always be a mystery.
In a story where a woman falls in love with a beast, we wouldn’t be surprised if she also possessed super strength. It makes more sense than a woman falling in love with an animal.
Manscaped Tarzan
It’s obvious that when Disney set out to make Tarzan, they wanted to make sure that not only did he look sculpted and chiseled, but that he is also hairless. And when you think about it, that wouldn’t have been possible. He should have been the hairiest person in the forest during that movie, but he was somehow always clean-shaven and without a single flaw. Disney dropped the ball on this one.
We’re sure that somewhere in the history of the world, something close to what happened in Tarzan happened. But we’re sure that that person was probably way hairier than Disney’s Tarzan.
Mulan
Mulan is a great movie about bravery and fighting to have your voice heard. But there were plenty of moments not meant for children. One of those came when Mushu, a dragon voiced by Eddie Murphy, says he has superpowers. One of those superpowers was his ability to see through anything. After he says this, he then looks at Mulan’s armor-covered chest. He rightfully gets slapped, but how was this one allowed in the film!
We imagine it is easy to slip these little jokes in there. Kids won’t understand them, and if they are watching with a parent, the parent may not even understand them.
Ratatouille
Having a rat in a kitchen is a cause for alarm. But in the film Ratatouille, it was a good thing. In the movie, the rat helps to make some outstanding dishes. But at one point, when he is about to be found out, one of the chefs tells a woman that he has a “tiny” and then gestures to his pants, which draws the eyes of the woman. It’s funny but inappropriate.
The thing about this joke is that it isn’t even slyly hidden. It’s just right out there in the open for everyone to see and hear. We’re really confused about how this was allowed.
The Little Mermaid
During the wedding scene of The Little Mermaid, the bishop who is officiating the wedding seems to get a little rise in his pants during the ceremony. Many viewers saw this and pointed it out, which even led to Disney coming out and saying that it was his knee. Either way, Disney removed it. Some people must watch these films closely. There is no way we would have caught that.
We’ll take Disney words on this one. We just don’t want to believe that someone making a child’s film would go as far as to put a joke like this in it!
Cars
In a movie based on talking cars, you wouldn't think that there would be room for anything wild to really take place. But in the film Cars, that’s exactly what happens. At one point, a scene shows a rest stop that is named “Topdown Truck Stop” it even has ‘’all convertible waitresses”. A child most likely won’t think much of this, but their parents who are watching it with them will be shocked.
This one is funny. It’s inappropriate, but creative when you think about it. And to be honest, there wasn’t too much to the scene other than the billboards. So, we can let it slide.
WALL-E
Depending on how you feel about machines will probably determine how you view the film Wall-E. Some people see it as a sad movie, while others see it as a happy one. And while the hidden message in it really isn’t all that bad, it is interesting. The name WALL-E stands for the name of the man behind Disney: Walter “E” Disney. We think that’s pretty clever! We would have never thought of that.
If we’re being honest, this is new information to us! We feel a little dumb not thinking about it earlier. We definitely aren’t cut out for hiding messages in films.
The Emperor’s New Groove
By now we know that a hidden adult joke is pretty much commonplace in a Disney film. And in The Emperor’s New Groove, we get one that was hard to miss. Kronk, a character in the film, is out camping in the forest. As he settles in for the night, he makes a tent, but the tent only covers his groin area. So, he pitched a tent, just in case he pitched a tent.
This is another one we’re surprised was allowed to go without getting cut out. Seems like Disney would be all over this one in today’s world. Guess it was different back then.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is the story of a man who is mistreated by almost all of those around him. But there are some lighthearted moments in all that darkness. At one point, when Quasimodo is hanging from a building, if you look in the upper corner of the scene, you will see that one of the gargoyles on the building is none other than Pumba from Lion King.
We love when this happens! We’re sure that directors get so excited to put into little acknowledgments of other Disney films that came before them. This one is cleverly hidden.
Bambi
Bambi must be one of the saddest movies ever made. Everyone who remembers the first few minutes of the movie is probably traumatized by them. But as the movie goes on, it gets lighter. And in one moment, we see one of Bambi’s friends who is a skunk get a kiss from a girl skunk. This makes his entire body go stiff. Disney wasn’t even trying to hide the message with this one.
This one has been done before, but every time it happens, it’s still funny. Those kids watching it probably didn’t have the slightest clue what was happening to the skunk.
Lilo and Stich
There is no doubting that Mickey Mouse is the biggest name and character connected to Disney. He is everywhere! And when we say everywhere, we mean everywhere. In many Disney films, directors will do their best to try to fit Mickey’s silhouette into a scene. In Lilo and Stitch, he even manages to make it into the scene disguised as fruit. This is a clever joke that never gets old.
It's always fun to try to find Mickey in a film, but some of them are much harder than others. We can only imagine how many of them we have missed over the years.
Frozen
Fan theories are made about all sorts of movies. So, it’s no surprise that there is a lot about Disney films. One of the leading ones is that Tarzan is the brother of Elsa and Anna from Frozen. How does this work? Well, it’s said that Anna and Elsa’s parents died in a shipwreck. And in the book that Tarzan is based on, it is said that his parents also died in a shipwreck!
Is this one a bit of a stretch? Sure. But it’s still fun to think that someone at the Disney studio is going around creating a massive family tree throughout the films.
Tarzan and Beauty and The Beast
So many Disney films are connected without people knowing. It is said that Jane from Tarzan is the granddaughter of Belle from Beauty and the Beast. So, it seems like it may be a familial thing with them liking creatures. But that’s not the only connection. There is a scene in the film where one of Tarzan’s ape friends is playing music on Mrs. Potts from Beauty and the Beast.f
We probably wouldn’t be able to creatively connect two films. The way some of the directors do It with Disney films is truly insane. They deserve a lot of respect!
Robin Hood
After so many movies and animation, it comes as no surprise that there is a little bit of copying and recycling going on at Disney Studios. How could there not be? One big example is that of Little Jon from Robinhood, and Baloo from the Jungle Book. There is no denying that they are the same bear. This probably is just one of many examples to exist in Disney’s films!
This one doesn’t come as much of a surprise to us. We’d honestly be more surprised if we found out that this wasn’t happening. It doesn’t make the movies any less cool to us!
Alice and Dorothy
Some of the hidden messages can be incredibly subtle. One of those that fall into this category is the dress that Belle wears in The Beauty and the Beast. It’s blue to symbolize how she must be feeling during all that she had to go through while trapped in the castle. We don’t think about things like this when we think of hidden messages, but this one is pretty good.
Belle did go through a lot during the movie, so it would be a surprise if she was not constantly feeling blue. The color blue is definitely fitting for her.
Wink at Lion King
When it comes to villainous characters in Disney films, there won’t be too many more well-known than Scar, the brother of Mufasa in The Lion King. If you were really against Scar and all that he stood for, then you will be glad to know that he was in Hercules, as one of Hercules’s headdresses. You have to be quick to catch it, but it’s clearly him. Seems like he got what he deserved!
Scar was a bad guy. That goes without saying. So, in a way, it’s almost good that he ended up this way. And it’s even more fitting that he’s being worn by a real hero!
Toy Story
Toy Story is one of the most famous animated films. And while everything in it is straightforward, one of the hidden messages in it is something that no kid at the time would have gotten. One of the toys in Sid’s room was meant to be a hooker. It was just legs, and the torso was a hook. Now, that even may have gone over the parent’s heads at the time, but we’re sure once they put it all together, they were just as shocked as we are now!
Toy Story is a legendary movie. There won’t be anything like it ever again. But this joke is insane to include in a kid’s movie. Things were so different in the 90s.
Lilo and Stitch
Once again, a director and animator have decided to hide a famous Disney character in another great Disney film. This time it is Dumbo. He is hiding a toy crate in a scene from Disney’s Lilo and Stitch. Dumbo was a big film at a time, but it came before the new wave of Disney characters. We would be surprised if kids even recognized him when they saw him there.
This must be a fun thing to do. We’re sure that when animators draw up a scene, they are just salivating and waiting for a chance to add in a character from a different movie.
WALL-E Strikes Again
Toy Story was a huge moment for animated films. And one of the famous non-speaking and non-living characters in that film was the truck from the pizza restaurant, Pizza Planet. Not only was it big in that movie, but it has been in nearly every Pixar film since then. That’s a huge achievement for something that didn’t even speak! It’s a funny little thing that just keeps going. We hope the trend doesn’t end.
Reoccurring things like this are something that casual watchers will not notice. But if you are someone who enjoys Disney films, then we are sure this isn’t news to you.
Ratatouille and Cars
Sometimes similarities in films are meant to be there for viewers to catch. Unfortunately, they don’t always see them right away. Luckily, someone caught this one. In the film Cars, there is a restaurant named Gastow’s that the main character Lightning McQueen stops by. In the film Ratatouille, there is a restaurant named Gusteau’s. It’s pronounced the same as the one in cars but spelled differently. How cool is that?
We wonder if the different people behind the films contact one another to tell them what they are going to do. We want to know how all of this happens!
Finding Nemo
Yet another cameo, and this time it’s from a favorite of many people. This is from Finding Nemo, but if you look closely at the little boy’s magazine, you will see some other famous Disney stars. It’s The Incredibles. As we’ve come to learn, Disney is so famous for doing this. It would be interesting if someone tracked all the times it has been done.
These photos are really helping us. We don’t remember these moments from when we watched the film, but looking back now, we can remember the exact scenes that they came from.
Mickey and Minnie Mouse
This is another wild one. It’s so wild, that it is almost too much to believe that it was done by accident. Someone in the studio had to have known what was going on. This is way too obvious and deliberate looking for it to have been an accident. We would love to know when this was made because it seems like something like this would be noticed in today’s society.
We’re interested in learning more about the hiring process at Disney. What do you have to do? How much experience do you need to have? They clearly aren’t checking everyone’s background.
The Not So Little Mermaid
This one is so hidden that you really won’t know that it’s there unless you look closely. But trust us, it’s there, right in the middle. We’re not sure what’s going on at Disney, but they sure do like to sneak some genitalia into their photos. We have no clue why, but it seems to happen a lot. We remember watching The Little Mermaid, and we’re almost certain that this wasn’t in there.
You can’t help but wonder if all movies do this. This list is just about cartoon movies, but there must be little hidden gems like this in films that have actual people in them.
Ninja Turtle
We can safely say that Mickey, the ninja turtle in this photo, would be facing a little bit of jail time if this had come out today. There is no way that this would be okay. But we will give him the benefit of the doubt, this looks like it’s just a freeze frame. We really hope that he isn’t groping this woman in the photo. That would be horrible!
This just shows you how a freeze frame can make nothing look like something. There is a good chance that whoever captured this probably did so on purpose for a laugh.
Naked Lady
How did this one slip by? We have to guess that whoever was working on this film did this right before it was pushed out the door. Chances are that it slipped past an editor, and they knew absolutely nothing about it. We’re sure that once word got out about this, kids were lining up everywhere to buy this movie. It was so bad, that even Disney had to recall the film in 1999.
There is no way you could mistake this for anything other than what it is. We’d like to think that it’s a mistake or just pixelation, but it’s clear that this person put that there on purpose.
Butts
Okay, this one is funny, and the meaning behind it isn’t all that bad. In the film, Lilo takes photos of some of the people as they are leaving the island. And since their backs are turned, she is going to get photos of their butts. That’s why she has a wall of butts. We feel safe in saying that nothing weird is happening here. This one is alright with us!
Lilo and Stitch is such a great movie that you don’t even recognize this in the film. This is the first we are even seeing of it! It’s actually really hilarious.
Transformer
There is no way that we can even act like this is anything other than what it really is. Whoever drew this up could have easily put the hook and arm somewhere else on the body of the machine. This looks like someone who just wanted to have a little fun and slip in something that kids would not notice, but adults definitely would. This one is wild and inappropriate.
We don’t know how things work at cartoon companies, but we imagine that these things have to go through a lot of people before they get out to the public. How did this get through?
Mama Bear
When this one aired, we’re sure that many people didn’t catch what was in the photo. But if you give it a close look, there is a naked woman in a body of water. As if that wasn’t enough, this cartoon is about a mama bear who is looking to trap a younger man. It’s a wild premise, but if we learned anything today, it’s to expect the unexpected when it comes to cartoons.
Movie people back in the day had no filter. They just did what they wanted to do and thought about the consequences of their actions later. That type of attitude wouldn’t work today.
SpongeBob SquarePants
When you look at this photo, it may not seem like it’s all that bad. But if you flip SpongeBob upside down so that his legs are in the air, then you get why this is so bad. We are starting to get concerned about people making cartoons. Luckily, we don’t think this one would really be caught by kids. And to be honest, it’s kind of funny to us!
SpongeBob usually has some questionable scenes in all its episodes. This may be one of the tamer things to happen in that in that crazy show. This list should definitely have more SpongeBob.
Hercules
This one is pretty slick. And if you weren’t paying attention, you could easily miss this one. But in Hercules, Hercules gets into a fight with a centaur named Nessus. Eventually, Hercules beats him, but not before giving him a knock on his head. This knock causes a bump that looks a little like something else when paired with his forehead. Disney was really pushing the envelope with this one.
There were a lot of raunchy moments in Hercules now that we think about it. It’s amazing that any of this was able to be shown in a children’s movie! This joke definitely wouldn’t fly today!
Powerpuff Girls
Sometimes a show will do a slight innuendo, and sometimes they will go as far as doing something like this. The Power Puff Girls was a show about a trio of sisters that fought crime, but there were tons of inappropriate moments in each episode. This is a clear example of one. We would like to say that we were surprised at this, but we’re really not. This show showed a lot worse!
We loved this show, but it did have a reputation for going a little too far. That was just the way things were in the late 90s and early 00s. People were rule breakers then!
Lion King Sky
It’s safe to say that anyone who is into Disney films has seen this one. It’s from the Lion King. Simba is sitting on the edge of a cliff, and up in the stars you can supposedly see them spelling out ‘SEX’. We’re not sure if that’s what it says, but people have run with this theory for years. We need someone to come out with the truth for this theory.
Just because this is an old one, doesn’t mean it isn’t still interesting. We’re not sure anyone knows what the stars spell, but it’s fun to keep this little joke alive!
Tweety
Old cartoon characters were nuts. They were violent, some cursed, a lot fought, and they were just overall insane to watch. But they were fun! They liked to have one or two inappropriate moments as well. One of those moments came when Tweety Bird gave the finger in their very first cartoon premiere! How crazy is that? That’s like going to work your first day and making fun of your new boss.
Out of all the cartoon characters in history, Tweety would have been one of the last we would have expected this from. Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck seem more likely to give someone the finger.
Squidward
Anyone who has watched SpongeBob probably knows that Squidward’s face resembles male private parts. It’s no secret. People have been joking about that for years! But it’s also probably not something that the creators of the show thought that kids would pick up on right away. They were very, very wrong about that. His nose and eyes were genuinely one of the first things that kids noticed when the show first aired!
This is another one of those hidden jokes that have been around forever. It’s impossible not to see it when you look at Squidward! It still makes us laugh whenever we catch an episode.
Lion Queen
If you look at anything hard enough, you can imagine something else being there other than what is there. That’s what we think is going on in this photo. Where most people see Simba’s nose and face, others are seeing a woman in her underwear. It’s there, but only when it’s pointed out. But after everything else we’ve seen on the list; we can no longer give the creators the benefit of the doubt.
We’re hoping that this one is just some fan’s imagination running wild. If this was done on purpose, then someone needs to go back and inspect all the old movie covers for hidden messages.