Disney Movies Used To Be…Cartoons?

By: Zack Peercy

Okay, people. This may seem a little crazy, but the Word Brothel team did some digging and it turns out that that all of the Disney Movies we know and love (Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, The Jungle Book, Alice in Wonderland, the list goes on!) were all… cartoons? Like really old flat cartoons? From like the 80s or something?

We’re all surprised too! I mean, when you think of Cinderella, obviously you think of Lily James. But apparently back in 1950, during the great depression or whatever, this random lady named Ilene Woods was the “voice” of Cinderella. In a cartoon. That people drew with their hands. I guess the same thing is true for The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast, and the upcoming Beyonce movie where she’s a lion. All of them used to be these weird GIFs, but like longer.

And it’s not just those movies! Apparently there are some classics that we know of that are actually “re-imaginings”? Like that old movie Maleficent is actually like based on an older movie called “Sleeping Beauty” that’s about the evil king’s daughter for some reason? Like, she’s asleep and deserved to be cursed, so who cares? And that action-packed Nic Cage movie The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is based on something called “Fantasia” where no one talks, it’s just like old people music from elevators. Super weird.

Don’t get me wrong. There are some old cartoons that are great! Spongebob Squarepants, even though it’s old, still holds up as a classic cartoon. But it’s surprising that Disney would let it leak out that these legit good movies were based on crappy old cartoons that no one has ever heard of. Thank goodness they thought to remake them! Can you imagine growing up having to crank a record player next to a not-flat TV as it played cartoon cassette tapes? And think that was fun? Ew.