Just when it seemed like animated movies were done surprising audiences, Disney's Zootopia
arrived to blow the doors off of Disney's opening weekend numbers, proving how hard
it is to judge an animated book by its cover. But most audiences will never know about the
work that goes into these films months, or even years ahead of time. To help solve that
problem, we're back with another rapid-fire dose of movie trivia, giving a peek behind
the scenes of some of Hollywood's biggest animated hits in the latest installment of
Know Your Movies: 20 Awesome Facts About Animated Movies.
Zootopia
The movie begins when Emmet Otterton is reported missing, but most viewers are too young to
realize that the writers are quietly concluding the story of the star of "Emmet Otter's Jug
Band Christmas," a children's book published in 1977, and adapted into a TV special with
help from Jim Henson. As a young police officer out to prove her
skills, Officer Judy Hopps does her namesake proud. The inspiration is obviously Officer
Judy Hoffs, Holly Robinson's character on 21 Jump Street, the late-80s TV show following
an entire cast of fresh-faced young cops.
Frozen star Kristen Bell only appears for a single scene, but her cameo as a sloth working
Zootopia's DMV is probably one of her favorite roles to date, since the actress' crippling
love of the slow-moving mammals is well-documented - she even owns one.
Big Hero 6 The robot hero of the movie, Baymax, manages
to emote even with an expressionless face. But his look actually comes from the Japanese
bell known as suzu - the same bell that the Pokemon Ching Ching is inspired by.
Most fans won't realize that Big Hero isn't just set in a futuristic city, but an alternate
future dreamed up by the writers. In the movie's version of history, the 1906 earthquake that
destroyed 80% of San Francisco was rebuilt by Japanese immigrants, explaining the architecture,
and the new name: San Fransokyo.
Tangled The first CG fairy tale from Disney was a
massive hit, but it actually began as a sort-of sequel to Enchanted, a movie about a cartoon
Disney princess thrown into the real world. Rapunzel would have been turned into a squirrel
just like Enchanted's Pip, with a girl from the real world being thrown into her place
in the animated one. Thankfully, some changes were made.
The Little Mermaid The movie, and the studio, owed most of its
success to one of its most lovable leading ladies: Ariel. But most fans don't know that
her quirks, ticks, or endearing personality came from copying actual scenes performed
by Sherri Lynn Stoner, whose natural improvisations wound up being etched in Disney stone.
Frozen The production team headed for Norway to do
all their research before creating Frozen's kingdom of Arendelle - including some stranger
local stories. You might just ignore the two subjects arguing over the right way to stack
firewood, but it's a nod to a real controversy that struck Norway in 2013, when a TV live
feed of a fireplace received dozens of complaints that the wood was placed incorrectly - completely
split between bark up, or down. Talk about an inside joke.
The Lion King The name of the movie seems pretty straightforward,
but its original title was actually "King of the Jungle." Marketing materials and merchandise
had even been made before the studio realized... lions don't live in the jungle. Since the
movie was pitched to the screenwriter as "Bambi in Africa Meets Hamlet," there as another
working title, too: "Bamlet," for short.
Wreck-it Ralph For all the video game companies that gave
rights to Disney for this retro adventure, the makers of the Mortal Kombat series weren't
as willing. From the red eye, robot arm and tribal tattoos, fans may think they spot the
classic character Kano in the Bad-Anon meeting, but he's actually credited as "Cyborg" for
legal reasons. Even though he still executes the fighter's signature finisher.
There are almost too many video game easter eggs to count in the movie, but one stands
apart. Pay close attention to the Fix-It Felix arcade cabinet, and you'll notice the high
score of 120501 - or December 5th, 1901 - the birthday of Walt Disney himself. Who knew?
How to Train Your Dragon Audiences didn't know what to make of Toothless,
the movie's titular dragon, since he doesn't fit the usual design of the flying fire-breathers.
He was originally going to look more like a wolf, and closer to a traditional dragon
- but when a team member's screensaver of a black leopard popped up, the design was
changed immediately.
It's no surprise that Toothless looks more than a little like the alien star of Disney's
Lilo and Stitch. But for all the movie's fans, Pixar boss John Lasseter wasn't among them.
When he took the reins for Disney Animation, he let the directors go. DreamWorks swooped
in, landing the duo, and one of their most successful properties to date.
Despicable Me Against all odds, the reformed super villain
Gru wound up becoming a household name for young fans of the movie. But the movie actually
reveals, thanks to his adoption paperwork, that Gru is his last name - his first name
is "Felonius." Considering how famous the character really is, and what a catchy name
it is in total, Felonius Monk should look out.
The language of the Minions might sound like gibberish, but the production team really
did write out all the dialogue, translating each and every word into Minion-ese. Since
the crew spanned the United States, France, Spain, and beyond, the blend of languages
that seem to be spoken by the yellow goons makes perfect sense.
Kung Fu Panda It's fair to say that this martial arts movie
turned out far better than most expected, and that's mainly due to the years of research
the team put into learning martial arts filmmaking, and Chinese history in general. The result
was so respectful and accurate, the movie actually urged heads of Chinese cultural and
government groups to try to find out why they hadn't made something close to it themselves.
The LEGO Movie Nobody predicted that this toy-turned movie
would be as good as it was, but the people actually making it didn't cut any corners.
When it came time to record music for the movie's Old West Land, composer Mark Mothersbaugh
didn't settle for just an homage to legendary director Ennio Morricone, but tracked down Alessandro
Alessandroni, the man who delivered the famous whistling notes to record some for the movie.
There were a ton of jokes that only adults could appreciate, but one actually had to
be cut. Lord Business runs a tight operation, but one scene showed that a team of Scuba
Cops was spending their time getting romantic with mermaids instead of doing their job.
It was one of the only things test audiences thought was a little too adult for kids,
and was cut (along with... not much else).
Happy Feet Everyone knows the story of Mumble, the penguin
who couldn't sing, but could dance like a regular Fred Astaire - literally. Plenty of
Fred Astaire's footwork was drawn upon for the motion capture dancing, but even Mumble's
design was tweaked to resemble the famous dancing actor. There's the suggestion of a
bowtie on mumble's neck, and even three black spots on his ankle to subconsciously pay homage
to spats worn in old Hollywood musicals.
The Iron Giant It became a criminally underrated sci-fi story,
but The Iron Giant was almost a musical from The Who's lead guitarist, Pete Townshend.
Townshend had been working for years on an adaptation of the same novel, "The Iron Man,"
planning a concept album alongside it. His producing partner thought animation might
be better, and successfully pitched the story to Warner Bros., with Townsend staying on
to executive produce.
Those are the bits of trivia, easter eggs and behind-the-scenes secrets we found for
some of our favorite animated films, but which ones did we miss? Let us know in the comments,
and remember to subscribe to our channel for more videos like this one.