15 Fun Facts About Children’s Movies That You May Not Have Figured Out Until You Grew Up

When we are children, we could enjoy movies without analyzing too much about what we see. But when we watch them again as adults, it is possible to discover some hidden jokes or questions that escape all logic and make us laugh. For example, why don’t we ever wonder what’s wrong with Cinderella’s foot?

At Bright Side, we conducted a watching marathon with our favorite childhood movies and on this list, we will show you some details that we definitely didn’t notice before.

1. The Bank of Evil in Despicable Me

During childhood, the experience of borrowing money is totally foreign to us, and if that wasn’t enough, to make the adults in the room laugh the Bank of Evil is captioned “Formerly Lehman Brothers,” a banking association that failed during the great financial crisis of 2008.

2. The singing vultures in The Jungle Book are inspired by the Beatles.

You probably missed it as a kid, but these funny characters not only have the same hairstyles as the Liverpool quartet, but they also sing a lot like them. If you pay attention, you may notice that Flaps represents Paul McCartney, Ziggy represents John Lennon, Buzzie represents Ringo Starr, and Dizzy represents George Harrison.

In fact, for the 1967 production of the film, the Beatles were sought to voice these characters, but that was not possible for unknown reasons. Years later, for the live-action remake, an attempt was made to get Paul and Ringo to participate but, again, it did not happen.

3. How poorly undercover the agents were in Matilda

One thing no adult could fail to wonder is how a 5-year-old could spot them so quickly and take so little time to plan a way to distract them.

But let’s be honest, those 2 didn’t even bother to disguise themselves; they were practically disguised as agents, with suits, suspenders, hats, and dark glasses. Plus, they were too obvious when investigating, with every possible cliché, including walkie-talkies. How could 2 FBI employees be so bad at their jobs?

4. How fast Pocahontas learned English

This is quite a case study. In theory, a person could become acceptably proficient in a new language by studying at least 10 hours a day for 48 days. And since we never see Pocahontas study English, we can simply say that we wish we had the superhuman intelligence of this princess.

5. The speed at which the magic carpet flies

You probably never noticed, but Aladdin and Jasmine travel through at least 3 countries, pass in front of the pyramids in Egypt, and finally sit down to watch the fireworks in China, all in the space of a simple song.

An internet user calculated the approximate distance of their journey at almost 15,008.4 km, so they would have to have flown at 1,876.05 km per hour for 8 hours! In short, the magic of animated movies.

6. Mulan doesn’t have the right fan and she has no fingernails

Yep, you read that right... it really caught our attention to see that neither Mulan, nor her father, nor General Shang have fingernails, but instead, the ancestors of the Fa family do.

On the other hand, the type of fan she carries to her meeting with the matchmaker is made in a style that is well after her time. The savior of China should carry a round silk one, traditional in her country, known as tuánshàn.

7. Where does Edward get ice from?

At the end of the film, after a lousy experience living with people, Edward secludes himself in his castle and spends his time sculpting ice figures, the remains of which produce the snow that covers the town in the winter.

It’s all very nice, but we’re intrigued: How exactly does he get so much ice? Does his castle have running water and a refrigerator? Did he give up on Kim’s love, but does keep in touch with an ice salesman? We’ll never know.

8. Tarzan and the lianas

Apparently, the skills Tarzan learned from being raised by the monkeys go beyond the laws of physics, as he is somehow able to hold Jane with both hands and still hold on to the vine.

9. Donkey’s original story

This film is full of amusing references to classic children’s stories. However, we had to grow up a bit to realize that Donkey is probably one of the children that were transformed on the Island of Games featured in Pinocchio. That would explain his mischievous attitude and his ability to talk.

10. Cinderella’s shoe size

We are not only intrigued by the fact that the prince has fallen in love with a girl and cannot remember her face well enough to go out and look for her himself. But we are also curious as to how it is possible that absolutely no one in the kingdom shares a shoe size with Cinderella... quite an enigma.

11. Po’s father

When we were kids, we didn’t question for a moment that Mr. Goose could be Po’s dad. But by the time Kung Fu Panda 3 came out and the true parents of the Dragon Warrior were revealed, we had already grown up and could only accept that it was obvious from the start. Still, we can’t deny that Mr. Goose is one of the best and most loving fathers in animated cinema.

12. Mr. and Mrs. McFly’s amnesia

In Back to the Future, when Marty and Doc fix everything, many things change for the McFly family, which means that their intervention in the past has left significant traces.

But somehow they manage to make it so that neither George nor Lorraine literally remembers meeting their son in high school. And while it’s understood that they named him Marty at Calvin Klein’s suggestion, they never make any reference to how much their son looks like him? Or do they just prefer to not bring it up?

13. Ariel could write

One big unknown that we couldn’t overlook now that we’re older is that when Ariel signs the contract for Ursula, she does so by writing her name with perfect, beautiful penmanship! However, over the course of the entire movie, she doesn’t write a single note to Prince Eric, which at no point is forbidden by the agreement.

We will always question why they didn’t try to write to communicate, or if Ariel knew how to write other things besides her name. If so, the love story could have been resolved a little more easily.

14. The rogue bus driver in Hocus Pocus

The scene goes something like this: The Sanderson sisters board the bus to continue the chase and when Winifred tells the driver that “they want children,” he replies “it may take a while, but I don’t think it will be a problem.”

15. The villain in The Hunchback of Notre Dame is just TOO evil.

We were shocked to see this Disney classic again, as it undoubtedly has one of the most evil villains in the history of children’s movies. Claude Frollo not only tried to throw Quasimodo into a well when he saw his baby face, but when he was arrested, he decided to lock him up and spend his whole life mocking him and making him feel bad about his appearance.

As if this were not enough, when he falls in love with Esmeralda, he pursues her with great insistence, but when she rejects him, he has all the gypsies in Paris imprisoned. And those are just some of his evil deeds — he commits many more throughout the film.

There is no doubt that the movies that marked our childhood are so good that they will never cease to amaze us. Have you noticed all these things?