Someday, my prince will come… Well, probably not. But according to the films I grew up on, I just need to wait a little longer! Or I might turn into an evil villain soon.

I love a good Disney movie as much as the next person, and there’s no doubt that some of them have incredible soundtracks. But once we grow up, we’re able to look at these stories a bit more critically. And it turns out that they don’t all have the best messages.

Redditors have recently been calling out Disney movies that convey questionable themes to kids, so we’ve gathered some of their valid critiques below. Enjoy reading through, and be sure to upvote the replies that you can’t help but agree with!

#1

I have a running joke with my wife that Aladdin is about a young man who lies to and gaslights a woman, but she doesn’t care because he has a cool car.

Image credits: Saxman8845

#2

The Little Mermaid – an underage girl with body issues is trafficked by an older woman and objectified by an older man.

Image credits: AnimatedCarbonRod

#3

Any movie which pushes marrying someone you just met.

Image credits: InviteAromatic6124

#4

They had to repeatedly assure people the message of The Hunchback of Notre Dame was not, "Be grateful for the pretty girl's friendship and step aside for your handsome friend, because that's clearly the best you can hope for."

Image credits: jimes00

#5

Cinderella.

Poor woman with no hope in sight meets rich man, spends part of an evening dancing with him, neither of them have any idea who the other person really is, but when he finds her again, they are instantly married and just when the real story and character development could take place, that’s the end, of course happily ever after.

Boys: your goal is to be a wealthy provider, and then you’ll be happy because you’ll have a pretty woman…

Girls: find a rich, charming man and he will take care of you and you’ll be happy the rest of your life.

And neither are going to do well in relationships if they internalize this message.

Image credits: FelixTook

#6

Live Action Mulan: Be born special and just be better than everyone else by default. That's the only way you can succeed as a woman.

BladeSoul69:

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but didn't the 2020 Mulan remake ruin the original message that a woman can be the same as a man with the same training by making her naturally gifted with Chi.

No more hard work, you just have to be born special.

Image credits: shino4242

#7

The Lion King is my favorite movie about running away from your life's problems until you are old enough to k*ll your uncle.

Image credits: cperdue

#8

I’m not a fan of the end of Encanto, where the message seems to be forgive your narc Abuela even though she made everyone miserable.

Image credits: RedsChronicles

#9

"Wish", easily.

copper-feather:

I believe this movie would have worked better if they had tried to go with the message "Not every wish should be granted".
Instead they went with the message "There are no bad wishes, only bad genies".

Image credits: Squirrelkid11

#10

Does Rise of Skywalker count?

After Last Jedi set up a message of "It doesn't take being born special or being part of a certain bloodline to make a difference," Rise of Skywalker went "LOL NEVERMIND, ONLY THE SUPER SPECIAL PEOPLE BORN INTO THE SUPER SPECIAL FAMILIES CAN BE COOL, AND PEOPLE WILL ONLY LISTEN TO THE FAMOUS CELEBRITIES IF YOU NEED HELP!!!"

God what a sh**show of a movie.

Image credits: TheBrianJ

#11

Everyone's going for the classics, here's a more recent one:

Raya and the Last Dragon.

You should have faith and trust everyone, even the woman who stabbed you in the back and has shown repeatedly that she cannot be trusted.

MysteryGirlWhite:

Raya was apparently "you have to learn to trust others", even though the movie has her being betrayed over and over again

Image credits: Praesil

#12

I love the movie, but Mrs. Doubtfire.

The dad is and acts unhinged for no reason other than to play pity party. He throws a huge birthday bash that gets the cops called, property damage, and breaks a boundary with his wife. Apparently, he has a history of doing that so his wife is rightfully fed up with all of it AND having to clean up the mess/keep it together financially (because he quit another job due to his “morals”).

The he gets hissy when he finds out his wife was completely serious in divorcing him. He gets more upset when he doesn’t get joint custody (even though at the time, he had no job or decent place to live). He is motivated to get a place but doesn’t bother cleaning it up for his children (you could argue the Chinese dinner scene is right after moving, but it is still s****y by the time the social worker comes).

He gets an absolute insane scheme of dressing up as a woman and lying to get close to them. Then sabotaging her dates with a nice man so he… can… win her back?? Exact revenge?

Meanwhile, the wife is trying to keep it together and take care of her kids (who are turned against her because dad is so fun and cool while she is a rule person). SHE buys the clothes. SHE buys the food and entertainment. SHE sets the school expectations, but she is a b***h for parenting?? For finding a guy who has his c**p together like an adult??

Then the kids find out and are on Dad’s side because “dad is so fun and he does this insane c**p because he loves us!!!” But at no point does anyone say to him “why don’t you… idk… work on your issues and clean your damn place??? Go to work and get some responsibility beyond party?”

He does get promoted (by luck) and gets caught. The judge rightfully condemns him. Dude is crazy. He was a step away from killing those kids and killing himself – that whole speech in the courtroom screams “I am mentally unstable.” The mom feels bad (yeah, she made rude comments out of anger, but she DID HER PARENTING RIGHT) and gives him what he wants.

Moral of the story: act unhinged towards everyone and everyone will understand that you are right to be unhinged and give you stuff.

Image credits: jfsindel

#13

Sleeping Beauty for making it seem like the princess’s only role is to be rescued by a prince, which can feel pretty outdated.

Image credits: NothingOk648

#14

If you look at the original story behind Pinocchio and keep it in mind while watching, the moral is that Italians treat each other poorly at any given opportunity. .

Image credits: HeroToTheSquatch

#15

I love, love, love Up, and think it has great messages about love, unlikely friendships and giving people a chance. But just lately, “scientists are the villains” didn’t do the world any favors. Also, trophy hunters were right there if they needed a villain who hunts the last rare bird.

Image credits: heynatastic

#16

For me it’s The Little Mermaid. Change everything about yourself for a guy? No thanks.

Image credits: SandStoneVox

#17

Pinocchio. People think the message is “don’t lie,” but Pinocchio is punished for lying when he’s actually telling the truth as he understood it. Meanwhile, people are luring children, then trafficking them as slaves after turning them into donkeys. That guy doesn’t get punished, neither does the man who tries to abduct Pinocchio for his traveling puppet show. People won’t believe you and the world is filled with criminals who will exploit you and get away with it. That’s the message. Later, Pinocchio saves Gapeto from a fish, thereby proving his selflessness and the blue faire turn him real. The message there is clear. The only way you’ll be rewarded is to obey your parents even if you have no clue how the world works, and don’t expect anyone to guide you, especially not a useless cricket.

Image credits: OneHumanPeOple

#18

Hot take, but Encanto.

People who are mistreating you are simply under pressure, misunderstood, and/or doing what they think is best for everyone. Redemption and forgiveness is always possible.

As someone who has lived for far too long around families like this, I can tell you that Abuela’s character arc was completely unrealistic and unbelievable. If they replaced Abuela with Mother Gothel from Tangled, it would be such a better movie.

Image credits: Valcyor

#19

Mr. Magoo. They got so much backlash from the blind/visually impaired community that they had to put a disclaimer at the beginning saying the character did not accurately represent people with poor eyesight.

Image credits: SailorVenus23

#20

Though it was my fav growing up, Sleeping Beauty should probably be on this list.

Takeaway messages:

A) The gifts the fairies are bestowing upon infant-Aurora are all superficial (until the last one). Being pretty > being smart, kind, healthy, etc

B) It’s a-ok for a dude to kiss an unconscious woman. In fact, it makes you a real man, a hero even.

Image credits: People_Blow

#21

Beauty and the beast. Stockholm Syndrome at its finest.

Image credits: givebusterahand

#22

Individually the messages of Wreck It Ralph and Wreck It Ralph 2 are fine. Together it’s incoherent. Why does Ralph have to learn to accept his position in life but Vanelope get to live her dream in a different game? The two movies have diametrically opposing messages and it drives me insane.

Image credits: QuickMolasses

#23

Oliver and Company: The best way to free yourself of money payments is not to learn how to be better with handling money but to k*ll your creditor. You just gotta make it look circumstantial.

Image credits: HardBoiledOne

#24

Chicken Little.

It effectively amounted to ‘People will only believe you if you are popular and successful regardless of the truth.’ That may have not been their *intended* message, but it’s what it amounted too. Though so much of that was also having one of the worst dads in Disney history as a major character.

Image credits: Snowtwo

#25

A lot of them are bad, but I've always struggled with The Princess and the Frog…. *Amazing* hard working woman, so close to achieving her dreams, has to learn to….calm down on her bad*ss work ethic to make room for a guy who hasn't worked a day in his life? Don't love it. I *expect* the classics to be awful. It's more jarring when the main character is fully competent and prepared to make her dreams come true without a man.

Image credits: V_is4vulva

#26

Coco and Encanto tells you that your family will immediately and substantially change their negative behaviors if given logic information.

Image credits: sketchysketchist

#27

Not sure if it still holds but for the longest time, all Disney hero’s had American accents and villains had foreign accents. Even when they were from the same culture. Remember kids – foreigners are scary.

Image credits: cupidslament

#28

I’m going to make a very controversial pick and say “Inside Out”. But with a heavy caveat. Only in regards to boys/men. The emotions of women when shown are complex and deep. The male counterparts were gag jokes and stereotypes.

Image credits: JxSparrow7

#29

‘Dumbo’ sends an outdated and insensitive message about exploiting physical differences for entertainment.

#30

The disney movie about superheros and sidekicks, Sky High, is basically about class warfare and eugenics. “Youre either born a sidekick or a superhero” is kinda enough.

#31

Turning Red is supposed to be a metaphor for Puberty but she literally starts selling her body at 13 years old and then her whole family condones her selling her body at the end so they can pay for the millions of dollars of damage they did to Toronto. I think this is obviously problematic and strongly outshines any points about family acceptance.

#32

Not really a message, but Parent Trap was just creepy to me.

A couple is married and the wife has twins. Then they get divorced soon after the births. Each gets custody of one child and move far apart from the other. Not only do the girls have zero contact with their other parent, they aren’t even told they have an identical twin sister.

#33

Tomorrowland.

The whole planet is going to burn/melt/freeze/drown but if we can convince random people with ‘hope’ to come join our cult, we can probably save it.

Not physicists or engineers or anything like that. Final scene shows hotel cleaning staff, kids busking with guitars – that’s who is going to save us from ecological disaster.

#34

Why is no one talking about Zootopia? The whole movie is about institutional racism and corrupt law enforcement. But they don’t solve anything. In fact, at the end, the career criminal becomes a cop. While it is probably the most realistic Disney movie, the moral ends up being “Everybody sucks at least little bit so let’s have a party.”.

#35

I think most Disney and Pixar movies promote extreme individualism over collectivism, which I’m not much of a fan of. Many also promote this fallacy of a “true self” and self actualization over the reality that our selves are mutable, complex and constantly changing. To be fair these points tend to be the default western philosophy, but I’d love to see a feel-good Disney movie that espouses the importance of social cohesion and the dangers of self-worship and extreme individualism.

#36

I have to say, Monsters University sends a pretty disheartening message. The movie essentially tells us that no matter how hard you try, you can’t always achieve your dreams. This is evident through Mike’s journey. Despite his passion and relentless effort to become a scarer, he ultimately fails because he simply doesn’t have the innate ability for it. Instead of promoting the idea that hard work and determination can help you achieve anything, the film suggests that some goals are just unattainable no matter how much effort you put in. While it’s a dose of reality, it’s not exactly the inspiring message I was hoping for from a family movie. I might have got it wrong tho.

#37

Inside out 2 was basically : You can treat your longtime friends like complete garbage to impress newer ones. And when you’ll realize you f****d up and feel terrible they’ll instantly run to comfort you and forget everything.

And this by betraying them, publicly mocking them, and physically hurting one of them and not even checking to make sure they’re fine afterwards. The movie was still visually beautiful but hard to get over how little consequences there was for Riley’s behaviour.

#38

Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, so I think it counts. The short, Boundin.

I mean seriously… It’s the sheep version of “just lay back and enjoy it.”

It’s the grossest message I’ve seen. They’re going to come out here, steal your dignity (And your property), and you need to just accept that and be happy about it!

Eff that.

#39

Worst literal message: The Fox & the Hound boiled down to, “It’s cute if you want to be friends but let’s face it, some differences are insurmountable and ultimately there’s just less conflict with segregation, amirite? Let’s just agree to like each other while being very, *very* segregated.”

Worst overall message: Tomorrowland (because it was f*****g incomprehensible).

#40

Someone once pointed out that the lion king is a very pro monarchy authoritarian story but in the original the animation is so beautiful you can look past that. But in the remake you’re forced to realize what the story is like.

#41

Little Mermaid.

She left her family and her world and sacrified too much for someone she didn’t even know because he was handsome.

#42

Tinkerbell in Peter Pan, what a mean girl bully.

#43

The actual message of Frozen is good, but the song Fixer-Upper stands out as something they really should have been cut in favor of more storytelling. Replace that song with a scene of Anna regaining her memories or at least learning the truth about her past from the trolls and suddenly the whole movie is a 10 instead of an 8.

“Our son kind of sucks but you can fix him” is just a terrible song and it’s played for laughs on purpose so take my ranting with a grain of salt.

#44

Wasn't Cars 2 the one where the disabled were the villains?

Lisija123:

Yes, the "lemons" were demonized throughout the entire movie for using fossil fuel. Even though that's not their fault, that's just how their body works. They didn't choose to be born (built?) as lemons.

#45

High school musical 2: be jealous of your friend whose hard work is paying off for them. Whine and b***h that he didn’t get to come to your cookout because he was being recruited by a college basketball team, and, as a group, put a lot of pressure on him to feel guilty. Be even more pissed off because someone you don’t like has connections, and he’s able to take advantage of those connections. Bring him down to your level!

#46

I’m sorry in advance, I swear this is not a contrarian take; but the message in “Soul” always rubbed me the wrong way. It always seemed tantamount to a billionaire telling a homeless person “money doesn’t buy happiness pal.” I mean, it’s a movie made by successful film makers and writers telling people who aren’t able to accomplish their dreams often due to just s****y luck and circumstance to just be content with their lives. It’s like the barber that fell into his job because he couldn’t afford veterinary school but he’s happy anyway because…he’s just learned to accept his life and enjoy it…okay? I’m sure that’s a comfort to people stuck working in jobs that they hate through no fault of their own consuming 90% of their lives.

I get it’s trying to say that everyone has a reason to live, even if it’s just to spend every day eating pizza and collecting leaves or something innocuous like that. We find out that 22 doesn’t feel she deserves to be alive because she isn’t talented or special with a traditional “spark” and she learns that she doesn’t need to be, to be given life, just being herself is enough. Joe learns that after he achieves his “dream” and lives his spark and feels empty and unfulfilled that it’s not the be all and cure all for sadness and depression….

Nevermind…I think I answered my own question…I believe I just might like this movie now…

#47

Blank Check.

bruingrad84:

Taught me to spend all my money fast before the authorities take it back…. The dumb And dumber philosophy.

Image credits: BookerTeet

#48

The live action remake of The Jungle Book, human kids should just stay in the jungle.

Image credits: Monsterlover526

#49

Song of the South.

SchillMcGuffin:

The movie is actually set after the Civil War, in the Reconstruction era – presumably pre-1877 when the full-on Jim Crow era commenced. The ex-slaves are continuing to work as sharecroppers on their old plantation because they consider it their home, it's basically the only career open to them, and their strangely progressive ex-mistress apparently manages it justly.
The kid protagonist is staying at his grandmother's plantation (and hearing Uncle Remus' tales) with his mother, because his father is editor of an apparently pro-Republican newspaper and is under threat of KKK violence.
The movie definitely dances around the issues of slavery and race relations — It doesn't broadly support the idea that "Slavery wasn't so bad", but also works hard to not step on any toes of 1946 white southern movie audiences who presumably largely bought into the "Lost Cause of the Confederacy" narrative. The sympathetic portrayal of the plantation-owning grandmother and her benevolent treatment of her former-slave sharecroppers is probably the most contentious thing about it.
The ending has some possibly ambiguous overtones — the protagonist apparently recovers from a bull attack after calling semi-consciously from his convalescent bed for his friend Uncle Remus to tell him another story. Once he's later up and walking with Remus and his other friends, they're joined by the animated characters from the tales — possibly raising the question of whether he actually survived after all…

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