Movies

No, 'Wreck-It Ralph 2' Didn't Give Cinderella Ears – She's Always Had Them

cinderella's ears
By Hoai-Tran Bui

As per usual, people are freaking out on the internet. And as per usual, they're freaking out over nothing.

Missing appendages and body parts would be an unusual sight to see in a family-oriented Disney movie, but some eagle-eyed Disney fans thought they noticed something with the arrival of the new Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It-Ralph 2 trailer. And it has something to do with Cinderella's ears.

In the trailer, the arcade game character Vanellope stumbles into a room housing all of the Disney princesses, from Snow White to Moana — a scene that has been highly anticipated since it debuted at D23 last year. But with the arrival of a high-def trailer comes a the natural next step: picking apart every detail.

Hmm let's see, princesses look a little more cherubic, their eyes a little bigger to fit the house style of Wreck-It-Ralph's CG animation. Sure, that's not unusual. But wait — what's this? Why does Cinderella look so weird? She has...ears.

This viral tweet has set everyone off. Is it the Mandela/Berenstain Bears effect? Did their rosy memories of this beloved childhood classic film simply paste ears onto the character? Is this why the stepsisters were always yelling at her, because she couldn't hear?

No. And no again. And I'm not sure what Cinderella's actual hearing ability was, but I'm sure it was fine. Because she had ears, people.

This isn't a case of early Disney Animation artists being lazy and just forgetting to draw ears. (Hey, maybe ears are hard to draw guys! Did you ever think of that!) Because if you look at early scenes of Cinderella out of her classic ball night garb, she definitely has ears.

Okay, they may only be as detailed as little bump on the side of her head (again, drawing ears is hard, people), but she definitely has them. So why did her ears disappear once she put on her ball gown?

Again, this is not some magical exchange of a body part for the night of her dreams with her Fairy Godmother. It's because Cinderella has her hair in what we call chignon bun, a fancy French word for a semi-messy updo that uses twists, tendrils, or braids — or in this case, a tiara — to hold up the hair. And chignons sometimes cover the ears.

Were the animators being lazy? Probably not. Was Cinderella missing ears? For the last time, no.

Wreck-It-Ralph simply changed Cinderella's hairstyle up a bit (she didn't have bangs either, in case you didn't notice). And that's fine. Maybe living in a room full of Disney princesses made Cinderella a little bold and try out a new 'do. That's cool.

But you know one thing Wreck-It-Ralph did get wrong? Cinderella's dress is silver, not blue .

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