A couple of days ago I got all comfy in my bed to watch a Disney movie. I was relaxing and getting all nostalgic since I hadn’t seen this movie for a long time, when all of a sudden this plot twist happens that I never even appreciated before. I was sitting there thinking to myself, “holy crap that’s a fantastic plot twist!” If I had never seen this movie before, I would have been stunned. And yes this movie made it on my “Top Ten Greatest Disney Plot Twists,” but you’ll have to read on to find out which movie this was.
In recent years, Disney has gone full force on the plot twists. Most new Disney movies I have been to have had crazy twists that left my mouth gaping open in the movie theater. For this list, I stuck to strictly Disney and Pixar Movies- Star Wars and Marvel movies are not included. Sorry, fans.
Anyway, here they are, folks, Disney’s best plot twists EVA!
SPOILER WARNING: do not proceed if you haven’t seen any of these movies because it will spoil them for you. Also, I am writing this list expecting y’all to have seen all of the movies, so I won’t be doing summaries (also, I’m lazy haha).
10. Big Hero 6: The masked villain is Callaghan
I mostly ranked this list on how shocked I was when I first saw the movie, and although Big Hero 6 took a huge turn, it wasn’t memorable. Of course I expected there to be a twist because Hero thinking Alistair Krei was the villain was just way too easy. However, I did not expect it to be Callaghan. I applaud Disney for its quick yet predictable turn here.
9. The Princess and the Frog: Getting married turns them human
This was sooooooo cute. Ugh, I love this movie, and this was a phenomenal plot twist and honestly deserves more recognition than 9th place. However, this delightful surprise is not considered a plot twist, but a twist ending. I still included it because it deserves to be on the list. I was genuinely shocked when I saw this and it was pure cinematic genius.
8. Wreck-it Ralph: King Candy Is Turbo
This was very interesting. When I first saw this movie I was like whattttttttt. But after watching it for the second time, I was like omg how did I not see this coming. It’s pretty predictable yet shocking none the less. It was easy to understand there was something up with Sugar Rush, but I honestly did not expect the leader of a sugar rush to be a completely different character. Also, the all-around creepiness of Turbo added to the shock factor. I mean, look at him. Yikes.
7. Coco: Hector is Miguel’s great-great-grandfather
This was so heartwarming. Oh man, I love this movie. This was a perfect plot twist! And the best part was it had multiple parts to it! First, we THINK Ernesto de la Cruz is Miguel’s ancestor. Then, we find out he’s evil and he worked with Hector AND he killed him. Finally, we find out Hector is his real ancestor! This movie was chock-full of surprises.
6. Zootopia: Assistant Mayor Bellwether is the villain
Honestly, this twist ending had a bunch of other little twist endings to go along with it. The whole movie had like a million twists. I mean it was a mystery, so I guess that’s to be expected, but nonetheless this ending was a great twist to a crime story. The movie did a great job of making the “wolf in sheep’s clothing” look innocent.
But the reason this wasn’t higher up on the list is because it didn’t pack a punch. The whole scene of Bellwether trying to take the evidence from Judy was very slow motion. It didn’t have a big reveal like the ones below.
Bonus: I was actually more shocked when I found out Nick and Judy were faking their whole attack scene. The reason I didn’t add this scene into the list is because it wasn’t technically a plot twist, as in it didn’t affect the plot. I just wanted to point it out. On with the list.
5. Moana: Te Kā is Te Fit
This twist was very creative. I honestly loved that the beautiful Earth goddess got all cranky and turned into a fire demon because her heart was stolen. Like man what a mood. It was a genuinely good plot twist, but it just didn’t stand out.
4. Sleeping Beauty: Maleficent can change into a dragon
I know what you’re all thinking, but let me explain. Yes Maleficent was magic, yes this was totally predictable, but the reason I put this on my list is because it was, in fact, a great plot twist. Even though Maleficent turning into a dragon was predictable, it actually happening was not predictable. Also, can you imagine the shock it had on people back in the ’60s? Plot twists didn’t exist in cartoons! They would never have seen this coming.
3. Tangled: Eugene cuts Rapunzel’s hair
The thing that made this one so incredibly shocking was that animators made it look like he was leaning in to kiss her first. Even if you guessed that he was going to cut all her hair off, you did not think it was going to be at that moment. It was beautifully done, and the slow motion made it even better. This was definitely gasp-worthy, as I distinctly remember gasping in the movie theater.
2. Brother Bear: Kenai killed Kola’s mom
This, ladies and gentlemen, was the plot twist I didn’t fully appreciate until recently. Like holy guacamole, this one was crazy! The thing that made this plot twist so incredibly brilliant was that the whole movie was centered around it. Without the plot twist, the movie wouldn’t even be able to exist. Also, it was completely devastating, and it changed the entire dynamic of the characters. I truly wanted to make this plot twist number one, but the reason I didn’t was because it was slightly predictable. Any intelligent adult could easily guess this because Koda losing his mom and Kenai killing a bear is just way too big of a coincidence.
And our number one plot twist is…*drum rolls*
1. Frozen: Hans is an evil Douche
Yeah, this was a total bomb. I 100000000% did not see this coming, and there was no indication of it earlier in the movie. Good job Disney, this was flawless.
I do have to say that I when Hans was leaning for that kiss, I totally thought Disney was setting up for another “oh the kiss didn’t work because he doesn’t love her” type situation, but then BAM he’s an evil d*ck. Beautiful.