Top 10 Worst Decisions By Adults in Animated Movies
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at the most terrible and baffling choices adults made in animated films. We’ll exclude movies created for older audiences and include spoilers. What's the worst decision you've ever made? Let us know in the comments!
#10: Syndrome Leaves the Supers Alive
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“The Incredibles” (2004)
The supervillain Syndrome comes up with a brilliant plan to make himself look like a hero by publicly defeating one of his evil omnidroids. He usually tests out his creations by having them fight and kill heroes like Mr. Incredible. But after an omnidroid defeats the super, Syndrome leaves his foe alive. The supervillain makes the problem even worse by capturing the rest of Mr. Incredible’s family too. As soon as the heroes get a chance, they escape and thwart his evil plan. Syndrome’s defeat could’ve been avoided had he just taken the extra step to eliminate his foe. Letting Mr. Incredible live was just about as bad a decision as wearing a cape.
#9: Elinor Burns Merida’s Bow
“Brave” (2012)
Over the years, several animated parents have destroyed their kid’s belongings in a misguided attempt to make a point. Triton blasted his daughter Ariel’s treasures to bits to keep her away from the dangers of humanity. While that decision was bad, Queen Elinor’s choice in “Brave” was arguably worse. After her daughter Merida disrupts a traditional courting ceremony, the two get into a heated argument. The Queen ends the fight by throwing her child’s beloved bow into a fire. This rash decision sets off a series of events that results in Elinor being magically turned into a bear. If the Queen had just used her words, her animal transformation would have never happened.
#8: A Couple Eats Without Asking
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“Spirited Away” (2001)
After Chihiro and her parents stumble upon a seemingly abandoned village, they discover heaps of delicious food. It’s already suspicious that there’s not a soul in sight. But the fact that the food was steaming hot without any human supervision should’ve been a major red flag. Although Chihiro tries to discourage her parents from eating, they blissfully chow down. A few scenes later, it’s revealed that the food has transformed her parents into pigs. Chihiro has to do a ton of work to get her parents back to human form. What makes this entire situation worse is that the adults don’t have any memory of their big change. By the end of the film, the parents haven’t learned a single lesson.
#7: Mother Gothel Stays Close to the Kingdom
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“Tangled” (2010)
Once this twisted villain discovered that Princess Rapunzel had healing powers, the antagonist took the child from a castle. Mother Gothel spent the next 18 years raising the royal in an isolated tower. While keeping Rapunzel away from people was smart, making the princess live so near to the kingdom was a bad move. The royal is driven to explore the world because she’s close enough to see the lanterns that the king and queen let loose once a year. To make matters worse, Mother Gothel later reveals that she could’ve settled somewhere else. We definitely don’t support her evil plans for Rapunzel. However, we can’t help but acknowledge the obvious flaw in her big scheme.
#6: Shrek Doesn’t Ask for Details
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“Shrek Forever After” (2010)
Even ogres aren’t immune from existential crises. After Shrek starts a family and gets into a daily routine, he begins to long for the freedom of his old life. He eventually gets a chance to have a carefree day when he meets the shady Rumpelstiltskin. Shrek’s new ally promises to give the hero 24 hours of freedom. In exchange, the ogre must give up a day from his past. Since Shrek glazes over the details, Rumpelstiltskin is able to take the day the hero was born. This act erases Shrek from existence. The ogre’s one job was to sacrifice an inconsequential day between his birth and the present time. Unfortunately for Shrek, his lazy approach to this deal nearly led to his total annihilation.
#5: Royals Keep Elsa Isolated
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“Frozen” (2013)
When princess Elsa was a child, she unintentionally hurt her sister Anna with an icy blast. Although a Troll King is able to nurse the girl back to health, he makes the entire situation a lot worse. The magical being shows the King and Queen a frightening vision of Elsa’s powers. As a result, they decide to isolate the princess from the entire world. The choice to keep Elsa away from others causes her to get into the habit of suppressing her emotions. And when her feelings boil over, she unintentionally traps her kingdom in a harsh winter. Elsa wouldn’t have had to deal with a ton of heartache and snow if her parents didn’t listen to trolls.
#4: Maui Steals the Heart of Te Fiti
“Moana” (2016)
One demigod’s bad decision caused both humans and divine beings to suffer. At the beginning of “Moana”, Maui chooses to steal the heart of the nature goddess Te Fiti. Shortly after committing this offense, he’s attacked by a volcanic creature and loses the valuable item he stole. Maui’s theft of the heart also has negative effects on the vegetation and wildlife of multiple islands. The demigod insists that he went through with his theft to benefit humanity. However, Maui should’ve known that stealing the heart of a nature goddess would have serious consequences. But not even a thousand year punishment is enough to convince the demigod he was wrong. It’s not until Maui travels with the human Moana that he sees how much damage he caused.
#3: Goob Trusts An Evil Robot
“Meet the Robinsons” (2007)
At a young age, Michael Yagoobian fell asleep during a pivotal moment in a baseball game because his genius roommate Lewis kept him up. The bitter ballplayer held onto that grudge into his adulthood. So, when a jilted robot Lewis designed becomes hungry for revenge, Yagoobian teams up with the mechanical menace no questions asked. It’s ridiculously obvious that the robotic Doris is evil as soon as it tells its backstory. Despite that fact, Yagoobian helps the mechanical menace steal Lewis’ time machine and changes history. In the new timeline, Doris
rules over a terrifying and bleak world with an army of like-minded hats. The bad future is thankfully reversed. But Michael Yagoobian very nearly plunged the world into a permanent dystopia.
#2: Humans Let the Bees Retire
“Bee Movie” (2007)
Shortly after Barry B. Benson makes a compelling case in a court of law, government officials agree to return the honey back to the insects. This arrangement allows the bees to stop working. But this deal proves to be catastrophic. Since the bees had all the honey they needed, they stopped pollinating flowers. This leads to, and we’re not kidding, the death of nearly all the flowers on earth. We're guessing that the humans in charge of this universe didn’t check in with any scientists, beekeepers or kids who took a science class when they made this deal. Any one of those groups could’ve pointed out that this deal would lead to global disaster.
#1: Kingpin Turns on the Collider… Again
“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” (2018)
A grieving supervillain named Kingpin tried to get back the family he lost by finding alternate versions of his wife and son in new dimensions. This task could only be achieved if he used a dangerous collider machine. During an early trial, multiple people warn him that the device could destroy Brooklyn. But Kingpin keeps going until an explosion stops him in his tracks. Even though the plan literally blew up in his face, the supervillain kept going. Kingpin even continued his second major collider trial as reality unraveled around him. If Miles Morales didn’t swing in, the supervillain could’ve set off a chain reaction that destroyed the multiverse. It’s safe to say that Kingpin is good at villainy and very bad at decision making.
