Top 10 Disney Plot Holes You Never Noticed (Live-Action)
#10: Billy's Butcherson’s Body “Hocus Pocus” (1993)
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When witch Winnie Sanderson needed some extra muscle in 1993’s “Hocus Pocus”, she brought her ex-lover Billy Butcherson back from the grave as a pale, emaciated zombie. According to his headstone, he died in 1693. If Billy died three hundred years ago, his body should have decomposed to dust. But let’s say Winnie had the power to restore his muscles and skin and so on. Wouldn’t Billy have been much more useful as a FULLY revived human that could have kept his head on? Either Winnie is a worse witch than we thought, or the writers just hoped we wouldn’t notice. In any case, Billy Butcherson should have looked a lot different!
#9: Why Wait to Use the Lamp? “Aladdin” (2019)
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The first time Aladdin rubs the lamp, the Genie appears in around ten seconds. His speedy appearance would’ve been extremely useful in the movie’s climax. When Jasmine steals the lamp back from Jafar, she jumps onto the magic carpet and takes flight with Aladdin. Jafar responds by turning Iago into a giant creature to pursue them … about fifteen seconds later. Even while flying on a carpet, our heroes had enough time to summon the genie for help. Genie could have easily taken care of Iago and gotten them to safety within minutes. But since our heroes hesitated, Iago has time to steal the lamp and nearly secure Jafar’s victory.
#8: “King” Stefan’s Broken Promise “Maleficent” (2014)
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After King Henry is wounded in a battle against Maleficent, he promises the crown to anyone who kills her. Stefan seizes this opportunity by drugging Maleficent, cutting off her wings and convincing everyone she’s dead. When Maleficent later confronts King Stefan at his daughter’s public christening, his subjects … do nothing. No one in his kingdom seems to acknowledge his gigantic lie. In fact, they continue to follow King Stefan blindly as he descends further into madness. While it’s possible he could have abused his royal privileges to stay in power, the fact that none of his followers cry foul at their false king is hard to believe.
#7: How Does Edward Afford New York City? “Enchanted” (2007)
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In “Enchanted”, Prince Edward travels from the fairy tale land of Andalasia to the gritty world of New York City. Upon his arrival, he struggles to understand modern conveniences like buses and televisions. So how did he figure out how to pay for everything? We never see proof that Edward has American or royal currency. Yet he’s able to get a full meal and a motel room without an issue. Although Nathaniel later arrives to assist, we never see him bring any money along either. Without any defined source of real world income, we have to assume Edward stole everything he acquired in the city. Let’s hope this prince has diplomatic immunity!
#6: More People Should Have Seen the BFG “The BFG” (2016)
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Within the film’s first act, Sophie is abducted by the big friendly giant AKA the BFG, and taken to his home. He explains that he only took her because she spotted him. But are we really supposed to believe that the BFG isn’t seen more often? Although he’s quick and tends to move around at night, he’s still a 24-foot tall giant who makes plenty of noise. The BFG should have been spotted by dozens of night shift workers or late-night partiers by now. Also, even if Sophie saw him, she correctly points out that few people would believe her. The kidnapping may be crucial to the movie’s plot, but the reasoning behind it makes little sense.
#5: The Glass Slippers Last Past Midnight “Cinderella” (2015)
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Kenneth Branagh’s live-action “Cinderella” managed to fix a few plot holes from the original story. But it couldn’t solve the slipper problem. When the fairy godmother is conjuring Cinderella’s dress, carriage and footwear, she says that everything will return to what it was before when the clock turns twelve. But when Cinderella flees the prince’s ball after midnight, she leaves a shoe behind. All of Cinderella's magic items then turn back to normal … except for the shoes. Since the Fairy Godmother created them from thin air, they should have disappeared with her other enchanted items. Instead of going door to door with footwear, the prince realistically would’ve needed a Cinderella wanted poster to find her again.
#4: Jack Frost’s Safe Escape “The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause” (2006)
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To become the new Santa Claus, Jack Frost needs to break into a safe and steal a certain snow globe. When we see current Santa Scott access this safe, he enters a secret combination that he hides from view. This causes the floor and wall to rotate him into the safe. Once inside, Scott re-enters the combination to leave. While Jack Frost takes advantage of the rotating wall to sneak inside the safe, he shouldn’t have been able to leave again. He wasn’t in the room when Scott first entered the combination. Even if he snuck in, Scott’s body blocked the combo from sight. Jack Frost’s evil journey should have ended with him being locked inside a safe.
#3: Mary Poppins Works on Her Day Off “Mary Poppins Returns” (2018)
Families can count on Mary Poppins to look after their children every day of the month...except for two. Whenever Poppins offers her services as a nanny, she asks for every second Tuesday off. Her employment contract was seemingly broken however in “Mary Poppins Returns”. After chipping a ceramic bowl at night, Poppins takes the Banks children to her cousin Topsy to fix it the next morning. But Topsy initially refuses to help because she doesn’t work on second Wednesdays. That means that Poppins was working on the second Tuesday, which she should’ve had off. Did she forget to check her calendar a couple days into employment? Or did the writers just forget?
#2: Inconsistent Magic “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” (2003)
During the first “Pirates of The Caribbean” movie, Captain Barbossa establishes that he and his crew suffer from a curse that renders them unable to die or feel anything. However, there are multiple times when cursed pirates appear to feel pain. Ragetti panics when embers are poured over him, and several pirates react to being stabbed. To make matters more confusing, there are also moments when Captain Barbossa clearly doesn’t feel any pain. The pain reactions weren’t the last time the franchise’s rules have been inconsistent. In “Dead Men Tell No Tales”, Davy Jones appears in his cursed form after a magic trident literally broke every curse at sea. We guess we shouldn’t be too surprised that these pirates don’t follow the rules.
#1: Why Does Clu Try to Kill Sam? “Tron: Legacy” (2010)
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Clu was a controlling computer program that wanted to leave the digital realm of the Grid to reach the human world. Knowing that he needed Kevin Flynn’s identity disc to break out, he brought Sam Flynn into the Grid. He then places Sam in the deadly light cycle arena. But why would Clu jeopardize such a huge bargaining chip? If he held Sam prisoner, he could have demanded Kevin’s disc in exchange for Sam’s freedom. If Clu aimed to create dangerous situations to get Kevin’s attention, why risk killing Sam instead of faking it? The sinister program went through a lot of trouble for his master plan. Seeing Clu risk the life of the biggest advantage he’s had in years just doesn’t compute.
