Top 10 Times Animated Movies Were Censored

This opening song to Disney’s 1992 “Aladdin” initially possessed a very different set of lyrics. The original version of both the film, and its accompanying CD soundtrack featured a line in the opening song which referenced dismemberment and brutality in the protagonist’s homeland. It was seen by some, including the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee as disparaging and insulting. The offending line was altered, instead, to reflect the oppressive heat of the region. The succeeding lyrics, “It's barbaric, but hey, it's home”, feel a lot more striking with the context of what they were originally in reference to.

The 1980s sitcom landscape was littered with “very special episodes,” ones that were designed to teach important lessons to their respective audiences. One particularly memorable example of this trend occurred on “Punky Brewster,” specifically that time Cherie Johnson got locked in an old refrigerator. A similar scene was edited and changed from 2002’s “Lilo and Stitch” where Lilo is seen hiding inside of a dryer. In newer releases of the film, for example the one that appears on Disney+, the dryer door has been replaced with a pizza box so that children watching at home won’t get any ideas about copying Lilo’s stunt.

This controversial Disney film from 1946 may be only partially animated, but its legacy as one of the company’s most discussed time capsules remains secure. It’s true that “Song of the South” contains one of Disney’s earliest hit movie tunes, “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah,” which actually won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. However, the film has also widely been criticized for racist content, including the diminishing or otherwise glorifying of enslavement. A complete version of the film has yet to be released on home video in the U.S., although “Song of the South” can be found on VHS and Laserdisc in Europe, Asia, and Latin America.

“Fantasia” remains an important step in the Disney evolution, thanks to its unique assembly of classical music and gorgeous, hand-drawn animation. However, the versions of “Fantasia” available to view today contain a very different take of the film’s “Pastoral Symphony” sequence. The movement is set to Beethoven, and features frolicking, animated centaurs. Among these beasts are a pair of female, African-American centaurs, named Sunflower and Otika. Both were animated with over-the-top, culturally insensitive features. Otika and Sunflower were also depicted as being subservient to the other centaurs. The pair were edited out for future prints of the movie.

The term “casting couch” gained more infamy than ever in the aftermath of the

Those seeking out a fully uncut version of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” may just have to seek out their old VHS and LaserDiscs, because this film has a long history of edits. There’s Baby Herman’s middle finger that’s been removed from an outburst early in the film. Betty Boop’s brief wardrobe malfunction at The Ink and Paint Club was also changed. Then, there’s Jessica Rabbit’s infamous underwear reveal. They’re scenes the animators probably didn’t ever think would see the light of day since they happen so quickly but all viewers needed was a pause button and some patience.

Younger viewers may not know this, but the depiction of tobacco imagery was an omnipresent one for decades, even within content aimed at children. Walt Disney, for example, was a heavy smoker, and many older Disney animations, such as “Melody Time” with Pecos Bill, featured cigarettes. The removal and censoring of this imagery is a comparatively recent practice, as a result, and can be seen retroactively in animated features, across the board. Even something as innocuous as “The Muppet Christmas Carol” was censored on Disney + to remove a street choir conductor smoking.

George Orwell’s anti-authoritarian critique of the Stalin-era Soviet Union crafted an ending that was different to the one contained within its film adaptation from 1954. This animated version was actually funded by the CIA and featured an ending that reflected an anti-Communist sentiment. The pigs at the end of Orwell’s novel remain in control of Manor Farm, although the critique of their rule remains the same. “Animal Farm” 1954 depicts the other animals overtaking the pigs and reclaiming Manor Farm. This was done in order to incite hope that a Communist state could be smashed. Additionally, the character of Snowball, who was modeled on revolutionary Leon Trotsky, was shown less sympathetically, as a political fanatic.

Has the time for this skunk’s admittedly one-sided search for love come and gone? That’s what the creators of 2021’s “Space Jam: A New Legacy” seemed to think, since Le Pew’s scenes were edited out of the finished product. Actor Greice Santo actually objected to her scenes with Le Pew being cut from “Space Jam,” since these scenes were actually intended to highlight the UN-acceptable nature of the skunk’s behavior. Santo felt that axing the character altogether let Le Pew “off the hook” for his actions where there was opportunity to instead condemn them.

The emergence of Mickey Mouse into the public domain in 2024 caused a lot of commotion. This wasn’t only due to Disney’s fight for copyright, but also the reminders about how violent and troublesome Mickey used to be in his younger days. The original version of “Steamboat Willie” featured a scene that was edited out in the ‘50s, where The Mouse physically abuses a mother pig and her piglets. The full film seems to have been reinstated in a number of places, including the company’s streaming platform, where you can catch Mickey doing all sorts of terrible things and generally being a menace.

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