Something we don’t always consider when watching animated movies is what happens when the film is released internationally. How do they make the film more viewer-friendly and relatable to specific audiences?
You might not have put a lot of thought into it before, but it’s fascinating to see the changes that have been made to animated films for an international audience!
From the text within the film to the food and characters, these animated movies have several details adjusted so that they can resonate beyond a North American crowd. Here are some examples:
1. Zootopia. Filmmakers switched the moose depending on where the film was being shown. As seen in the image below, the moose was swapped out for a panda for Chinese audiences.
2. Up. Some films will adjust the text in their movies to cater to every language, in this instance from the animated film Up they simply replaced the words “Paradise Falls” on the jug with a picture of the location.
3. Toy Story 2. This scene in Toy Story 2 had to be adapted to be inclusive of every country. They even had to change the music since the US national anthem was playing in the original.
4. Inside Out. Children in North America might consider being forced to eat broccoli the ultimate punishment, but children in Japan enjoy eating it. In order to make this scene work, filmmakers changed the broccoli to green peppers.
5. Inside Out. Although hockey might apply to North America, especially Canada, it doesn’t make much sense to be the sport of choice for the rest of the world. For its international audience, Inside Out used soccer instead.
6. Monsters University. Another example where an animated film avoided translating text into a multitude of languages, Monsters University decided to go Greek to avoid the extra work.
7. Monsters University. Text on cupcakes would get tricky when translating “be my pal” into a variety of languages. In order to avoid this confusing change, filmmakers switched the letters to adorable little Minion faces.
8. Making changes in a scene to work for every country doesn’t always pan out smoothly. Here’s an example of an instance where filmmakers missed out on an extra laugh with their adjustment.
