Walt Disney Animation Studios has a long history filled with iconic characters. For the company’s 100-year anniversary, Disney has released its new movie Wish (2023) into theaters, complete with easter eggs and surprises for its devoted fans.
If you stay through the end credits of Wish, you will be treated to over 50 cherished characters from almost all of Disney’s classic films. While the company did well to include obscure ones, it somehow omitted some major titles.
Iconic Disney Characters
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) – Snow White
- Pinocchio (1940) – Pinocchio
- Fantasia (1940) – Sorcerer Mickey
- Dumbo (1941) – Dumbo
- Bambi (1942) – Bambi
- The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) – Ichabod
- Cinderella (1950) – Cinderella
- Alice in Wonderland (1951) – Cheshire Cat
- Peter Pan (1953) – Peter Pan
- Lady and the Tramp (1955) – Lady and Tramp
- Sleeping Beauty (1959) – Maleficent
- One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) – Pongo
- The Sword in the Stone (1963) – Merlin
- The Jungle Book (1967) – Baloo
- The Aristocats (1970) – Anne Marie
- Robin Hood (1973) – Robin Hood
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) – Winnie the Pooh
- The Fox and the Hound (1981) – Tod and Copper
- The Great Mouse Detective (1986) – Basil
- Oliver & Company (1988) – Oliver
- The Little Mermaid (1989) – Ariel
- Beauty and the Beast (1991) – Belle and Beast
- Aladdin (1992) – Aladdin
- The Lion King (1994) – Rafiki and Baby Simba
- Pocahontas (1995) – Pocahontas
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) – Quasimodo
- Hercules (1997) – Quasimodo
- Mulan (1998) – Mulan
- Tarzan (1999) – Tarzan
- Fantasia 2000 (1999) – Flamingo
- Dinosaur (2000) – Aladar
- The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) – Yzma
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) – Milo
- Lilo & Stitch (2002) – Stitch
- Treasure Planet (2002) – Jim Hawkins
- Brother Bear (2003) – Koda
- Home on the Range (2004) – Maggie
- Chicken Little (2005) – Cluck
- Bolt (2008) – Bolt
- The Princess and the Frog (2009) – Tiana
- Tangled (2010) – Rapunzel
- Wreck-It Ralph (2012) – Ralph
- Frozen (2013) – Elsa
- Big Hero 6 (2014) – Yokai (Callaghan)
- Zootopia (2016) – Judy and Nick
- Moana (2016) – Moana
- Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) – Raya
- Encanto (2021) – Mirabel
- Strange World (2022) – Splat
Disney Leaves Out Several Films From Wish‘s End Credits
Someone at Disney may have made a colossal mistake when creating the end credits for Wish. While the company listed major characters in the order they appeared in the 100-year history of Disney, it left out a few major ones, and fans noticed.
Most notable is Disney’s omitting The Rescuers (1977). This film is well known to audiences and even spawned a sequel, The Rescuers Down Under (1990). Bernard and Miss Bianca’s absence from the credits did not go unnoticed, and many fans have wondered why they were omitted.
Another film left out of the legacy was The Black Cauldron (1985). This is a film Disney would most likely want to forget, as it was a box office failure and almost single-handedly sunk the company. However, it does have a cult following that cherishes it, and Taran and Princess Eilonwy were sorely missed.
The final major film to be left out of Wish’s credits was Meet the Robinsons (2007). This film was the most noticed by fans as it is an underrated gem and the most recent of the misses within the lineup of characters and movies. Lewis and Will would like to have words with their creators, we imagine.
Disney’s Wish Movie
Wish is Disney’s enchanting 61st animated feature film directed by Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn, known for their work on Frozen and Raya and the Last Dragon.
The heartwarming musical-comedy follows Asha, voiced by Ariana DeBose, in her quest to save the magical kingdom of Rosas. Assisted by the cosmic force Star, the duo faces the self-absorbed King Magnifico, played by Chris Pine.
The film boasts an original soundtrack by Julia Michaels and Benjamin Rice, with a stellar voice cast including Alan Tudyk, Angelique Cabral, Victor Garber, and more. Wish hit theaters on November 22, 2023. While many fans have praised it, the movie has received mixed reviews from critics.
You’re calling those the only major films missed, and omit Brave? Did better than the awful black cauldron. Did a half a billion in the box office and pqve the way for frozen with the non romantic love solution
You’re worse than the folks who did the credits,
Brave was Pixar, my dude
Oops! That’s a big L for pj, lol!
“The Rescuers” (1977) was notable for far more than being the first Disney classic to be given a sequel. Its major and somewhat unexpected success basically convinced Walt Disney Productions that animation was still both appealing as well as highly profitable —at the time the film entered production, Disney was basically finishing off projects that had been underway, with the intention of phasing out the animation department entirely and move on to live-action film and other forms of business.
Two films entered production in 1973: ‘The Rescuers’ and ‘The Black Cauldron’, with the latter expected to be the bigger hit, thus a bigger budget was given to it. In the end, much like what happened with ‘The Lion King’ (1994) and ‘Pocahontas’ (1995) some years later, the opposite happened. ‘The Rescuers’ turned out to be the big hit that single-handedly convinced the studio to further invest in animation. Its influence can be seen in many ways, both big and small, in many films that followed: ‘Oliver & Company’ (1988) ‘The Little Mermaid’ (1989) ‘Aladdin’ (1992) and ‘The Emperor’s New Groove’ (2000), just to name a few. It is highly likely that without the success of ‘The Rescuers’ in 1977 —and the eventual, highly demoralizing failure of the ambitious ‘The Black Cauldron’ (1985)— films like ‘Frozen’ (2013), ‘Moana’ (2016) or even ‘Wish’ (2023) might not have come to be. ‘The Little Mermaid’ (1989) gets all the credit as Disney animation’s savior after the turbulent 1980s, a myth of sorts fabricated and romanticized by the ‘Waking Sleeping Beauty’ crew, but historical facts tell a very different story.
Furthermore, as it is quite the fashion now, it is worth noting that ‘The Rescuers’ (1977) was the first feminist Disney animated film, with refreshing and healthy messages of gender equality, as well as a six-year-old captive that shattered the ‘damsel-in-distress’ trope.
That Disney would viciously neglect this all too important film from its 100th anniversary celebration film is unforgivable.