Disney movies have the power of bringing out the believer in the viewers, getting them caught up in the wonder and imagination that each film brings about. We suspend our ordinary ideas about reality and find ourselves lost in a mystical magical world that Disney has created for us.
Disney and magic are almost synonymous, with many of the classic and newer films consisting of spells, curses, powers, and other sorcery. It’s hard to imagine Disney movies without any magic, especially their princesses, and it’s safe to say that many of the films would not even exist as we know them. Here are ten examples of stories from Disney that would be completely different without the element of magic:
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was Disney’s first feature-length animated film, and it was a hit from the beginning. In it, a girl called Snow White runs away from her evil stepmother and happens to find a cottage in the woods where seven little men live together. The magic elements in this story include a talking mirror that alerts the queen that Snow White is still alive after the hitman delivered a pig’s heart instead of Snow Whites; a poison apple that the queen feeds Snow White; and a magic kiss from a prince that wakes the girl from her slumber.
Without the mirror, the Queen would have assumed that Snow White was dead, and Snow White would have been left to live happily with the dwarfs forever. Would she have still have met her prince? We’ll never know.
Frozen
Poor Elsa accidentally harms her sister Anna with her ice powers in Frozen, and because of this accident, Elsa must now keep her powers a secret, locking herself away in her room so as to not hurt anybody else. She becomes depressed and afraid, and Anna becomes lonely and confused.
If Elsa was an ordinary girl with no powers, there never would have been an accident, and there would not have been a reason for her to become so isolated. The two girls could have grown up together with a normal relationship, playing and having fun as two sisters should. However, we would not have had the amazing songs that we’ve come to love from the film!
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a story of three young siblings who get taken away to a strange place called Neverland by an unusual boy named Peter Pan, and the film has plenty of magic in it.
From a boy who never ages to a fairy with pixie dust that makes its wearers fly, Captain Hook’s floating ship to Neverland itself, there’s magic around every corner. Without it, would Peter Pan and the others even exist? If he did, there would be no way for him to get the children to come with him and fly to Neverland!
Cinderella
Cinderella tells of a girl who is left with her stepmother and stepsisters after her father has died, and the members of her remaining kin are simply evil. They won’t even let her go to the ball, and they destroy her dress when she tries to go anyway. Thankfully, her fairy godmother shows up to save the evening! She performs many magical transformations, including turning a pumpkin into a carriage and Cinderella’s rags into a beautiful ball gown fit for a princess. Cinderella is able to go to the ball and meet the handsome Prince Charming.
Without the fairy godmother, the story would have ended after Cinderella’s sisters destroyed her dress, and she never would have gone to the ball. Not to mention, we wouldn’t have the bouncy tune of, “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo!”
Tangled
A pregnant queen has fallen terribly ill in Tangled, and the only thing that saves her is a magic flower that she consumes. She gives birth to a baby girl named Rapunzel, who has powers from the flower, and she is soon kidnapped by an old lady who used the flower to remain youthful.
We’d like to say that without magic, Rapunzel never would have been kidnapped, but the sad reality is that if there was no magical flower, Rapunzel probably would not have even existed because her mother likely would have succumbed to her illness before Rapunzel was even born.
Brother Bear
Brother Bear is about a boy named Kenai who gets magically transformed into a bear after he angers the spirits, due to killing a bear he felt was responsible for his brother’s death. Once Kenai becomes a bear, he meets a cub called Koda, accompanies him on a journey to the salmon run, and learns an important lesson about love and family.
If the spirits had not used their magic on him, Kenai would probably still be the immature and angry young boy that he was at the beginning of the film.
Sleeping Beauty
In Sleeping Beauty, most of the magic that occurs consists of a spell cast by the wicked Maleficent, who curses Princess Aurora to prick her finger on a spinning wheel when she turns sixteen. Because of the curse, her parents send her away to be raised by three fairies who will protect her, but the curse is too strong and eventually causes Aurora to fall into a deep sleep that can only be broken by true love’s kiss.
If magic had not been a factor, there would have been no curse, and Aurora would have been free to live a normal life with her parents instead of being taken from them as a baby.
Beauty and the Beast
All of the members in the castle of Beauty and the Beast are affected by magic in the very beginning of this story when an evil witch cast a spell after Prince Adam would not answer the door for her. She turns him into a beast, and everyone else in the castle becomes a piece of furniture or household objects. Prince Adam is very angry as a beast, and we could argue that being a beast is what caused him to imprison Belle’s father.
Without the magic spell, Belle and the beast (if we can still call him that) would not have met because it was Belle who convinced the beast to let her father go in exchange for her. Looks like we have yet another film where there is no story once magic is removed.
The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid is about a mermaid named Ariel who falls in love with a human. She meets a sea witch named Ursula and decides to trade her voice for human legs so that she can meet Eric, the man she longs for. (Sounds like magic to us!) After three days together, Eric and Ariel fall in love and eventually get married, living happily ever after.
Without Ursula’s magic, the story would have probably gone something like this: Once there was a girl who had a crush on a man she could not have, and like with many impossible loves, they never met or became anything more than strangers. Talk about a dose of reality!
Aladdin
Aladdin is a poor boy who desperately wants more to life than stealing to find his next meal. He eventually finds a magic lamp with a genie that grants him three wishes. This leads him to become a prince, meet a pretty girl, and taking her on a flying carpet ride! His entire life was changed because of magic, and we think it’s safe to say that nothing would have been the same without that lamp.
He and Jasmine may have met anyway when she disguised herself to go out into the town, but who knows what kind of relationship they would have had!
