Disney’s Biggest Forgotten Rival Hid This Distracting Trick In SO Many Movies

If you grew up in the ’80s and ’90s or fell in love with the animated features from those decades, you’ve probably seen a few Don Bluth films. They’re a certain part of our childhood, which makes it so shocking that we didn’t notice this one common thread years ago. If you sit down and watch a bunch of his films back to back, you’ll notice something peculiar. A lot of faces, notably two male faces, keep appearing across half a dozen different films. They’re not the same character, but while their hair color and clothing may change, it is very much the same face. Seriously, it’s so obvious we’re wondering how we ever missed this one.

Don Bluth spent years working for Disney Animation before branching out on his own. In 1979, he formed Don Bluth Productions alongside Gary Goldman and 10 other Disney animators. Their goal was to create an animation company that could rival the likes of Disney, and boy, do we wish that had worked out better for them. Together, they created a plethora of amazing (yet criminally underrated) animated films, including Titan A.E., Anastasia, Thumbelina, The Secret of NIMH, and many others.

Since Don Bluth and Gary Goldman were effectively trying to develop their own animation style, there are several similarities that tie all of these movies together. It’s like the Disney formula or Pixar’s animation style, right? In this case, the distinctive style includes large expressive eyes, exaggerated cheekbones, pointed noses, etc. Between that and leaning on animation techniques such as rotoscoping and model sheets, we get a particular style of animation that you’re not going to find anywhere else.

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The Repeating Faces of Animation

Remember how we mentioned that Don Bluth and Gary Goldman used model sheets? Well, that may explain how these faces keep coming back, again and again. Model sheets are effectively reference drawings that animators would use, helping to keep a semblance of consistency across a film or brand. If they carried these model sheets over from one film to the next, that would explain this uncanny repetition.

Stop and take a look at the faces in some of your favorite films from this time. Let’s start with the hunt for one particular face, which appears in Titan A.E., Anastasia, and Thumbelina. Titan A.E. is the newest of these three films, and its story dives headfirst into post-apocalyptic sci-fi. It’s unlike any of the other films on this list, as far as the plot is concerned. The leading character is Cale Tucker (voiced by Matt Damon and Alex D. Linz).

Take a good look at Cale’s face. Now look at Thumbelina. This 1994 film enchantingly brings Han Christian Andersen’s story to life, and while it got mixed reviews, it certainly had an impact on its audience. Prince Cornelius is the primary love interest (voiced by Gary Imhoff), and doesn’t he look an awful lot like Cale Tucker?

Finally, look to Anastasia, a 1997 film that combined historical fantasy and musicals to create something wholly unique. It’s arguably one of the most popular films from the studio, and yet it also has familiar faces. Dimitri (voiced by John Cusack, Jonathan Dokuchitz, and Glenn Walker Harris Jr.) looks just like the previous two examples. Furthermore, one could argue that Anastasia and Thumbelina look alike, though their similarities aren’t as sharp as those of their male counterparts.

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Another Face in the Mix

Now, it might be tempting to joke about how one face keeps appearing in Don Bluth films, but there’s also a second face. There’s a second male character design that appears quite often, including in Anastasia. Vladimir Valya “Vlad” Vonitsky Vasilovich (Kelsey Grammer) is a former nobleman and the best friend of Dimitri. Yes, that means he’s also a con artist, and we love him for it. His face looks a lot like Papa Mousekewitz (Nehemiah Persoff) from An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. Obviously, it’s not an exact one-for-one match, but given that one is a human and the other is an anthropomorphized mouse, we can all forgive some changes.

At the end of the day, we have to admit that these faces repeating across so many classics don’t diminish their impact in the least. If anything, it helps us appreciate how much hard work and dedication go into filmmaking. It’s good to remember that all creatives will develop their unique style with time. Furthermore, when it comes to animation, there will always be required shortcuts to make the process more expedient and affordable.

Have you ever looked back at a childhood favorite and had a surprising realization? What was it?