Animation has come a long way in the past few decades, and the animation studios have expertly crafted the most beloved and influential animated films. One of the legends among animation studios is, without a doubt, Pixar. Pixar has had a huge impact on the film industry with its introduction to the greatest 3D animation technology and designs.
Even before the merge with Disney, Pixar has been making the greatest animated films. However, no creator is perfect, and even Pixar has some skeletons in their closet that they’d rather not talk about. Unfortunately for them, the true fans never forget.
10 Lightning McQueen Can’t Count
Granted, there were a lot of problems with Cars and its entire trilogy. One mistake that frustrated more than enough viewers was Lightning McQueen’s opening speech. He opens with the dramatic quote, “one winner, forty-two losers.” When the race is on, that number proves to be inaccurate.
Counting the racecars, the number is actually 36. The oversight isn’t confirmed to be a slip-up of the character himself, and there’s no hinting that McQueen is bad with numbers. The blame for this mistake has to fall on Pixar.
9 Finding Dory’s Animators Forgot One Detail Among The Aquarium Halls
While there is a great deal of debate over Pixar’s Finding Dory, the one thing everyone seemed to agree upon was the gorgeous animation. The hyper-realistic water took the audience’s breath away. As phenomenal as Finding Dory was for animation, there was ironically an animation slip-up that’s pretty embarrassing.
When Dory and her new friend Hank sneak through the Aquarium’s halls, a change in the camera angle reveals a surprise water fountain that didn’t exist in the former shot. Though it’s a minor detail, it becomes very jarring after taking a good look at the mistake.
8 WALL-E’s Trash Compacting Was Supposed To Save Space
Even amongst Pixar’s better films, mistakes can be made and WALL-E is no exception. WALL-E’s opening scenes do an excellent job of telling the audience everything they need to know, with barely any dialogue. There was one issue with Wall-E’s design.
The purpose of the WALL-E robot is to clean and organize the trash, and to compact it so it takes up less space. The problem with WALL-E‘s execution is that the size of the cubed trash is no smaller than the original pile. Surely, the world’s environmentalists were not happy with that.
7 Ratatouille: Skinner Never Dials The Phone To Call His Lawyer
Ratatouille is sophisticated enough for adults, and expertly builds up its plot and characters. One scene is almost comical when it leaves out one realistic touch. In Ratatouille‘s most dramatic scene, the Head Chef of Gusteau’s, Skinner, reads a letter written to the late Gusteau by Linguini’s mother. It states that Linguini is Gusteau’s son and therefore the heir to the famed restaurant.
In a frantic panic, Skinner leaps to his dial phone and shouts into the phone’s microphone “Get my lawyer!” The oddity with this scene is that Skinner doesn’t dial any numbers. Perhaps it makes sense for cinematic reasons to skip over dialing any numbers. It’s still comedic to think that the call didn’t go through because he simply forgot.
6 Brave: Merida’s Mom Should Have Been Noticed Right Away In The Castle
Not everyone was happy after watching Brave. One moment at the end of Brave had everyone scratching their heads. Merida and her mother, in her bear form, are trying to sneak back into the tapestry room of the Castle unnoticed. With all the men from the four clans present in the Castle, Merida thought she’d distract them all with an inspirational speech. All the while, her mother snuck behind them and made her way to the tapestry room to break her curse.
It makes sense to give the men something to focus on so they don’t look to the back of the room to find a black bear prowling around. However, not all the men were facing the same way. Merida’s father and his men were already facing the back of the room and could very easily see the giant bear. Perhaps Merida’s speech was just that rousing for them.
5 Toy Story 2: Fake Buzz’s Disappearing Utility Belt
Toy Story 2 is arguably the best of the Toy Story saga, but it has its fair share of mistakes for fans to point out. In a swift change of pace, Buzz is replaced by another Buzz Lightyear toy, who still needs to realize he’s only a toy. This “fake” Buzz is ready for action, fully equipped with a newly designed utility belt, which the original Buzz was after.
In one scene, the gang is being led by Fake Buzz through an air vent system. The animators forgot about the utility belt in a few frames. One moment he has his trusty belt, the next he doesn’t, and then it magically reappears. A great failure in animation continuity indeed.
4 Toy Story 3: One UK Network Forgot To Give Spanish Buzz Subtitles
After its release in the US, Toy Story 3 proved to be a huge success. Over in the UK, both parents and their children were baffled by one mistake that should have never been. For whatever reason, the UK network BBC1 failed to add English subtitles in any scene where Buzz was in his Spanish mode.
Since Spanish isn’t a secondary language in the UK like it is in the US, no one knew what Spanish Buzz was saying. The lack of translation threw UK audiences off completely. Thankfully BBC1 realized their error and added the necessary subtitles in as soon as they could, sparing Toy Story 3‘s UK ratings.
3 Up: Russell Is Never Seen Under Or Around The House As It Takes Flight
Even one of Pixar’s Oscar-worthy pictures, Up, has a very glaring mistake that continues to baffle viewers who’ve rewatched the iconic film. Before Carl takes flight in the comfort of his own flying house, he meets Russell, a young Wilderness Explorer. Russell is essentially a Boy Scout, looking to earn a badge in assisting the elderly.
Carl tricks Russell into believing a creature called a Snipe is hiding under his porch, so the naïve boy spends his time down there looking for the made-up animal. When Carl is up in the air, he’s surprised to see Russell again. Apparently, Russell was under the porch the whole time. Despite this, the shot of the house detaching from the ground doesn’t include him, or even a hint of him.
2 Inside Out: Joy And Sadness Never Had To Rush To The Control Room
The main conflict of Inside Out happens when Joy and Sadness, along with a few happy memories, are accidentally sucked out of the control room. Riley is slowly crumbling emotionally from the stress of moving. Joy does everything she can to return to the control room to help Riley smile again, but the unlikely duo fail to realize a simple way of controlling the situation.
When they see some maintenance workers sending a memory to the control room, that would’ve been the perfect time for Joy to send the happy memories for Riley to see. Even the director of Inside Out, Pete Docter, is aware of the plot hole. Docter has since admitted that they “box[ed] [the screenwriters] in a corner a little bit” with the maintenance workers’ special ability. Granted, the point of Inside Out was to show how important a good cry is. In hindsight, the scene with the maintenance workers is either a plot hole, a waste of film time, or both.
1 Monsters University Completely Forgot About Mike and Sully’s History
By the time Monsters University premiered in theaters, the generation that grew up with Monsters, Inc. happened to be experiencing college or about to. Unfortunately, Monsters University‘s depiction of the college experience had a huge plot hole that many fans couldn’t get over.
As great as young Mike and Sully’s budding friendship was in Monsters University, it was already established in Monsters, Inc. that the two had known each other since they were children. This ruins the continuity between the two films which was a pretty big gripe that viewers have had.