They say the only things you can count on in life are death and taxes. On a more positive note, another thing you can probably count on staying the same, through the good times and the bad, is your favorite animated movie characters remaining just the way you remembered them.
But what if movie toons obeyed the laws of time just like you? We know full well from real life that some child actors don’t exactly blossom into lookers (sorry, Danny Bonaduce) while others get even more charming with age (way to go, Ryan Gosling). Some movie franchises have even produced sequels that catch up with these beloved cartoon characters years later, which can also be hit and miss. For this list, however, we’ve decided to turn to fandom to get a glimpse of what might be in store for some of your favorite animated toons in their adult years.
15 Harris, Hubert and Hamish from Brave
The computer animated movie Brave wasn’t just groundbreaking in the way it animated luscious locks of red curls; it also continued Pixar’s streak of featuring strong female role models whose story lines weren't motivated by romance. Like all great animated flicks, Brave also relied on a colorful cast of supporting characters to provide comic relief and keep the tone of the movie light enough for kids.
The triplets Harris, Hubert and Hamish were Princess Merida’s younger siblings and the source of much of the movie’s shenanigans, thanks to their adorable antics and messy mops of curly red hair. This piece of fan art, courtesy of Banbons, turns the heart-warming trio into full-on heartthrobs, giving them smoldering eyes, high cheekbones and tousled scarlet hair. We guess some things do get better with age.
14 Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote
Before you cry “fowl” on this one because you remember the Looney Tunes characters from TV, back in the old days Warner Brothers animated shorts played in theaters before feature presentations, so this totally counts.
There have been quite a few depictions of the Looney Tunes gang over the years, but we haven’t found a whole bunch of them showing them in their twilight years…until now. Thanks to this artist, we’d like to present you this possible future rendition of the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote.
Clearly, the years haven’t been kind to either of them. The Road Runner is wheelchair-bound from years of pushing his physical abilities and Wile E. Coyote’s eyesight has deteriorated, probably from countless hours of drawing up blueprints for contraptions meant to catch the Road Runner. On the bright side, however, it looks like the two of them have finally put their differences aside—unless Mr. Coyote has another plan up his sleeve!
13 Lilo Pelekai
Lilo Pelekai isn’t your typical Disney heroine. She’s rather squat and round (not tall and graceful like your typical caucasian Disney princess), and at times her opinionated attitude can be borderline annoying. But it’s that feisty rebelliousness and determination to stand up for what’s right that makes her appealing, even though she hasn’t quite grown into her looks yet at this stage in her life.
This fan art by CassJCossette fast-forwards Lilo’s progression a few years into her late teens or early 20s and we have to say, it captures everything we love about the character. The choice of attire perfectly captures some of Lilo’s tomboy characteristics without making her too tough looking. We also love the continuity provided by the flower in her hair and ever-so-slight tweaks to her features that make her recognizable, but still a little different. One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is her inability to get Stitch to behave.
12 Dash from The Incredibles
While the Fantastic Four are widely regarded to be the first family of superhero crime fighters, they still consist of four adults; only two of whom are related by blood. If you want to see a real family of dysfunctional superheroes in action, nothing can top Pixar’s The Incredibles.
The Incredibles 2 is set to be released this year, but despite the real-world time gap the sequel appears to keep our protagonists suspended in time. Although Pixar may be reluctant to age its heroes, we’re glad the Internet is a goldmine for creative illustrators. This illustration by Mark Yong captures the speed and impetuous attitude of middle child Dash as an older hero who looks more confident and in control of his super speed. While most people might be tempted to right off Dash as a Flash rip-off, we think this design shows that despite the similarities in powers, Dash is clearly in a league of his own.
11 Littlefoot and company
If you were a kid in the '80s before Jurassic Park was released, then your love for dinosaurs probably stemmed from the animated feature, The Land Before Time. Directed by animation legend Don Bluth and executive produced by Steven Spielberg, this movie was about a group of young dinosaurs led by an Apatosauraus named Littlefoot, who were separated from their herd and had to find their way home. Along the way, they discovered the meaning of friendship, teamwork and other heartwarming values that people loved about Spielberg movies of the '80s.
Several direct-to-video sequels were made, still featuring the dinos as kids. But if you’re curious as to how your favorite adolescent dinosaurs would look fully matured, take a look at this piece of fan art. While most artists would be tempted to draw the adult versions as stock dinosaurs, this illustration still manages to capture some of the sugarcoated nostalgia of the original characters, which is fine by us because The Land Before Time was an awesome movie!
10 Fievel Mousekewitz
You just can’t talk about great animation without mentioning Don Bluth, so we’ve added yet another entry of his to this list: An American Tail. Set in the 1880s, this animated movie captured the experience of Russo-Jewish immigrants in America, but told through the point of view of animated mice, specifically one feisty mouse named Fievel Mousekewitz.
Throughout An American Tail and its sequels, Fievel kept audiences engaged with his innocence, optimism and never-give-up spirit. This fan piece done by Maxl654 shows an older Fievel who looks like he’s toughened up a little, but still has that same glimmer of hope in his eyes. While no animated adventures have been made of an adult Fievel to date, we hope somewhere out there in some fandom, an older Fievel is continuing to fight the good fight and keep his mousey chin up.
9 The kittens from The Aristocats
Although Disney is well-known for producing sweeping animated epics based on traditional folktales (such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast), it also produced a lot of original content in the '60s and '70s that are equally impressive. One overlooked gem is The Aristocats, which featured an aristocratic lady cat, Duchess, a street-smart alley cat love interest and Duchess’s three adorable kittens: Toulouse, Marie and Berlioz.
This illustration, by artist Perlenmond, shows the latter three all grown up into respectable adult aristocats. Toulouse—the eldest—still looks as confident as ever, Marie still carries herself like a lady (but seems slightly less snobbish about it) and youngest brother Berlioz still appears to be the introvert of the family. Hopefully, all three felines have still retained their musical talents because they certainly could carry a tune. Not bad for a bunch of cats.
8 The pups from 101 Dalmatians
Yet another Disney classic that is often overlooked in favor of princess movies, 101 Dalmatians was released at a time when Disney was untouchable when it came to hand-drawn cartoons. Boasting an actual 101 dogs that had to be separately drawn and animated, the movie (thankfully for the animators) focuses mostly on two adult dogs—Pongo and Perdita—and their 15 biological puppies.
Since animated characters have to follow model sheet guidelines, it can be difficult to give animated animals their own defining traits. Artist Stray-Sketches, however, does an awesome job here at differentiating all the grown-up puppies by giving each one subtle tweaks to their faces, gestures and spots to show their unique personalities. Here’s a litter of dogs whose adventures we wouldn’t mind following if Disney were to produce future animated spin-offs based on them!
7 Mowgli
Disney’s The Jungle Book, based on a series of adventures by Rudyard Kipling, depicts an abandoned human boy named Mowgli who is raised by wolves and is forced to choose between living as an animal, or growing up to be man. Spoiler alert: in the end, Mowgli chooses to return to the humans, even though he vows never to forget his animal friends. But have you ever wondered what happened to Mowgli after that?
This illustration by Fairloke shows Mowgli settled in to civilization quite well. In addition to learning how to cover himself up more modestly, he’s also responsibly dividing the chores with his wife and looks every bit the doting parent. Part of us still wonders though if he has the tendency to howl at the moon when it’s full. He was raised by wolves, after all.
6 Arthur Pendragon
The tale of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table is a story that has withstood the test of time because its lessons of bravery and chivalry are still qualities to be striven for. Although most of the legend depicts Arthur from the moment that he draws the sword from the stone and becomes king, Disney took an original approach in The Sword in the Stone by focusing on Arthur “Wart” Pendragon when he was still a young squire.
While Arthur’s further adventures as king might be a little too adult-oriented for family audiences, it would still be interesting to see an adult King Arthur—who has been under the tutelage of an eccentric, time-traveling Merlin—drawn in the traditional Disney style. This artist does not disappoint with this spot-on version of an older Arthur who has earned his crown, but still looks like a deer caught in the headlights. Some might say that’s a weak quality in a king, but we think it makes Wart, er Arthur, all the more loveable.
5 Eggs from The Box Trolls
Laika animation’s Box Trolls split audiences in spite of its amazing stop-motion animation and creativity because some of the character designs weren’t exactly easy on the eye. Nonetheless, it’s still an impressive achievement in storytelling and design.
Alas, not all movie protagonists grow up happily ever after the movie credits roll. In the movie the protagonist, Eggs, is orphaned as a baby, raised by underground box trolls and is pursued by a dastardly villain before eventually getting the girl and reuniting with his presumed-dead (but now thoroughly insane) father. While everything seems to end on a happier note, the trauma of all those experiences appears to have taken its toll on adult Eggs here, drawn by Junkpazz. But hey, how would you feel if you had to go through all of that?
4 Dumbo
Animated movies appeal to kids and adults alike because they often depict sympathetic characters facing impossible odds and winning because they stayed true to their hearts and ideals, no matter how improbable the situation. For example, there’s no way Dumbo should be able to realistically fly no matter how big his ears are. But the moment he does is one of the greatest cinematic moments in history.
This artist decided to fast-forward a few years to Dumbo’s adulthood. Even though he looks to be several tons heavier (and a little bit wrinklier), grown-up Dumbo looks like he’s still living the dream and soaring the blue skies because he believes he can fly. That said, we still advise any kids reading this article not to jump off the roof of their houses because you can’t fly.
3 The kids from The Nightmare Before Christmas
Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas brilliantly combines his whimsical sense of humor and his love of the macabre. A key aspect to its appeal to kids was a rather dark Greek chorus of kids in Halloween Town who were called Lock, Shock and Barrel.
Driven by an almost maniacal devotion to carrying out Jack Skellington’s plan of “kidnapping the Sandy Claws,” this terrible trio of tots displayed some disturbing behavior that most children usually grow out of. However, given that they live in Halloween Town, where everything abnormal is considered normal, this fan art of Lock, Shock and Barrel as grown-ups seems to indicate that some habits just don’t change with time. In fact, they might even be a lot worse.
2 Christopher Robin
Of all the great children’s stories out there, the adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh in the Hundred Acre woods continues to resonate with children almost a century later. After all, what kid hasn’t pretended that his stuffed animals were real and gone on imaginary adventures with them?
But like all things in life, everyone eventually gets older, including Christopher Robin, Pooh’s owner and best friend. But just because you grow up and stop being a child, it doesn’t mean that you have to stop being childish, as this drawing shows. In it, a grown-up Christopher Robin and Pooh bear appear to be menacingly plotting against another now grown-up kid with a stuffed toy that came to life when no one was looking: Calvin and Hobbes. We only hope that Pooh doesn’t muck up Christopher Robin’s plans by being a silly old bear.
1 Hogarth Hughes
Released in 1999, but capturing everything we loved about family values, friendship and the Cold War paranoia of the late 1950s, The Iron Giant was a milestone in animated movie history. One of the first movies to flawlessly blend traditional animation with computer-rendered imagery, this movie continues to warm the hearts of children and adults because of its breathtaking visuals and heartfelt story.
This original illustration by artist Bobby Timony fast forwards the action 10 years, depicting Hogarth Hughes as a young adult in the 1960s. Since The Iron Giant was a movie about peace and carving out your individual identity, it’s only fitting that grown-up Hogarth is a hippie who chooses to spread the message of making love, not war. We also love the added touch of the peace symbol on the Iron Giant’s chest in keeping with the '60s theme of peace and free love.