Why The Sidekicks Are The Best Part Of Disney Movies

It's not that there's anything wrong with animated versions of fairy tales, Chinese legends, British folklore, Greek myths, and Hamlet-with-lions. But even the most ardent fan has to admit that the main plots of Disney movies tend to be pretty serious. There were plenty of Disney deaths that traumatized us as children, and these films deal with a lot of parental loss, abandonment, war, and general peril. And that's not mentioning the emotional manipulation of every Pixar movie. 

Plus a lot of the main characters aren't exactly funny. Their strengths tend to lie in looking pretty or being good at fighting — and occasionally both. The sidekicks in Disney are the ones who deliver the comic relief that rescues the movies from being too sincere to be fun. There's a reason Disney hired Robin Williams, one of the funniest actors to ever live, to play Genie in Aladdin – they needed a comedian.

Without Olaf, Frozen is a movie about two orphaned sisters losing their kingdom to a con man. Timon and Pumbaa don't just rescue Simba, they save The Lion King from being a devastating family drama. Meeko, Flit, and Percy deliver much-needed laughs as the people in Pocahontas move ever closer to war. Sure, Disney movies are based around teaching kids, like, morals and other useful stuff. But you want to make the audience laugh at least as much as they cry. (Pixar, take note.)