Where animated movies have lines that weren't in the original script.
- Roddy's "Ice-Cold Rita" song from Flushed Away was created on the spot by Hugh Jackman. Jackman was supposed to sing another song, but for whatever reason that song was unavailable, so he improvised one himself.
- Much of the Tea Party scene from Alice in Wonderland consists of Ed Wynn (the Hatter) improvising for the artists. Most notably, the entire bit with him "fixing" the White Rabbit's watch began with Ed Wynn just messing around the recording booth after he'd finished a take. Disney noticed that the equipment was still recording and decided they should use it, requiring the recording staff to put in a lot of work cleaning up the audio to make it usable.
- Phil Hartman reportedly ad-libbed most of Jiji's lines in the English dub of Kiki's Delivery Service. Mostly they wanted some sort of funny talking animal, but Miyazaki films aren't exactly known for those, so they let him go off at times when Jiji never said anything at all in the Japanese dub.
- A lot of these ad-libs, among other cases of Filling the Silence, were removed in a 2010 reissue, in an effort by Disney to make the dub more faithful to the original. Those who grew up with the earlier Disney version weren't too happy, nor were more devoted fans of Hartman, both of whom argued that it was disrespectful to his memory (as Kiki's Delivery Service was his last role prior to his 1998 murder).
- Something similar happened in the English dub of Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13!. Originally, the title form of Android 13, as well as Androids 14 & 15, did not speak most of the time, the only words ever spoken by any of them being "Son Goku", and in the case of 15, "Trunks". The dub actors evidently ad-libbed a lot of dialogue.
- Beauty and the Beast
- Cogsworth originally just mentioned flowers and chocolates when advising the Beast about what present to give Belle. David Ogden Stiers ad-libbed the line "Promises you don't intend to keep."
- Not a line, but a gesture: when Gaston tells Belle that he might help keep her father out of the asylum if she agrees to marry him, he briefly scratches his cheek with his pinky finger. This is a gesture Richard White kept doing without thinking whenever he said the line, so the animators decided to put it in the character as well.
- Aladdin
- Iago, when preparing to abandon the palace with Jafar when their treachery was exposed, mentioned packing up guns, weapons, and knives, as well as a miniature picture of Iago and Jafar that he thought he was making a weird face in. According to the DVD commentary, the entire thing was Iago's voice actor, Gilbert Gottfried, ad-libbing. The story also goes that the rant was left in because it made Robin Williams laugh.
- There was another bit where Robin Williams was specifically invited to ad-lib lines: the beginning of the film when we meet the merchant. Robin was brought into a room where they had a table filled with stuff and a blanket over top of the items. Robin was asked to pull out objects without looking, it is said, and allegedly, they couldn't use a lot of the material because of the language Robin used. The line where the merchant says that the "combination hookah and coffee maker" wouldn't break... it actually broke in real life.
- In Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Phoebus naming his horse Achilles was an ad-lib by Kevin Kline, first cropping up in his line "Achilles, heel!"
- According to the DVD Commentary, while Iggy Pop was recording the "voice" of the Eldritch Abomination at the end of the 1983 animated feature Rock and Rule, he actually dropped the microphone, but didn't miss a beat and worked it into his performance.
- The 2006 film Hoodwinked!, when Big Bad Boingo has Red tied up and is issuing orders to the ski team members, he stops on Keith, the Odd Name Out, and says, "Darn it, change your name! Please? That's not scary! And I'm embarrassed to say that. 'Boris'. Try that. (cue Boris walking away) Keith! Oh, 'Watch out for Keith!'" This part was ad-libbed by Andy Dick, who really did think "Keith" was a stupid name for an evil henchman. Albeit it's kind of ironic: the names mean almost the same thing in different languages. Keith is Scottish-Gaelic for, "from the battlefield". Boris is Slavic for "battler" or warrior".
- Monsters vs. Aliens:
- One of the Crowning Moments of Funny was originally an ad-lib by Stephen Colbert during filming: "Huh. Evidently, they eat lead."
- As was B.O.B.'s line "I think that jello gave me a fake phone number" which was completely made up on the spot by Seth Rogen.
- In Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Michael J. Fox's character, Milo, is vomiting over the side of a ship. Under his breath, he mutters "Carrots, why is it always carrots? I don't even eat carrots...", which was an ad-lib. Also, apparently, Jim Varney (who played the vegetable-allergic "Cookie") improvised a lot of his lines. The directors explained that they would bring him in for maybe five lines but would schedule for four hours because everything he came up with was solid gold.
- In The Road to El Dorado, voice actors Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh were put together in a single "voice box" so that they could bounce off of each other (voice actors generally aren't given this option). This naturally led to a good deal of ad-libbing from both (think the "loquacious" line from their opening "duel").
- When Osmosis Jones comes back from "The Zit" he greets Leah by saying "Brandy— oh, I mean, Leah". Brandy Norwood was the voice of Leah. The error was left in because the director thought it was funny.
- The cast from Twice Upon a Time was composed of improv actors, and as a result, the movie has several "alternate" versions, including one with language that was very much not suitable for children.
- For the voice acting of All Dogs Go to Heaven, much like the instance of The Road to El Dorado, as mentioned above, Burt Reynolds and Dom De Luise were put in the same sound booth to record their dialogue, and as a result, much of the back and forth between them was improvised.
- In The Princess and the Frog, the line "That's new" (delivered right after Naveen attempted to woo Tiana, only to have his throat balloon like a frog) was supposed to be spoken in a confused, surprised way, but Naveen's voice actor said it suavely, and it got into the film that way. It works.
- In The Lion King, Timon's line "What do you want me to do, dress in drag and do the hula?" was an ad-lib by Nathan Lane. The line ended up spawning a scene where Timon's 'idea' causes a famous Gilligan Cut, which gets lampshaded in The Lion King 1 ½.
- How to Train Your Dragon (2010):
- In the scene with all the kids and Gobber sitting around a fire and grilling various foods, much of the dialogue was ad-libbed.
- For the scene where Toothless is trying to buck Astrid off, Jay Baruchel ad-libbed the line "Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile!" This became one of the most quoted lines in the movie's trailers and commercials.
- In How to Train Your Dragon 2, during a tense reunion between Stoick and Valka, Craig Ferguson ad-libbed the line "This is why I never married. That, and one other reason."
- Shrek:
- There's a scene where Donkey chastises Shrek for belching, saying it's no way to behave around a princess — which is followed by Fiona unleashing an impressive belch of her own. Fiona's belch was real and unscripted — Cameron Diaz had been drinking Coke while recording her lines. She stayed in character, and Eddie Murphy improvised the next line, "She's as nasty as you are!" and it was kept in the final take.
- Mike Myers also improvised the line "You're heading the right way for a smacked bottom" after getting annoyed at one of the directors (note that the line is recycled from Austin Powers).
- Madagascar: King Julien's character was almost entirely thrown in. He was originally an extra with only three lines, but when Sacha Baron Cohen started ad-libbing in an over-the-top Indian accent at his audition, the producers found it too good to leave out. Even then, many of his lines are improvised (such as his quip about the gecko on his crown, which prompted the animators to add said gecko).
- Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted: Marty dancing around with a rainbow afro wig while belting out "that classic circus tune"note was Chris Rock's idea, and the resulting "Afro Circus" song (you know, the one in every advertisement for the movie) was entirely ad-libbed.
- Megamind: The commentary reveals that a large portion of the jokes were improv, which isn't that surprising when you get Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, Jonah Hill, David Cross, and (to a lesser extent) Brad Pitt together.
- Metro City being pronounced Metrocity was due to a French screenwriter, who pronounced it that way innocently, and they decided to run with it. Will Ferrell took it from there and started mispronouncing other words as well.
- Jonah Hill added in the line "And Megamind, this is for Space Step-Mom. You lied to her!" (originally the line was "And this one is all yours!")
- Tina Fey came up with "Girls! Girls! You're both pretty! Can I go home now?" when they were trying to figure out to cut the dialogue short.
- In Sita Sings the Blues, there are three narrators. The original screenplay called for none. These three people were originally being interviewed for their take on the story. The discussion was so interesting, that Nina Paley added narrators, so she could use it.
- The Emperor's New Groove:
- The squirrel was a gag drawn on the original storyboards. The crew liked him so much he was put into the movie and ended up being a plot device.
- When Yzma gets turned into a kitten, she starts talking only to interrupt herself with a surprised "Is that my voice?" Eartha Kitt really was surprised at how high her voice got, but the line was so perfect they left it in.
- In TMNT, while Raphael is fighting the Jersey Devil, a fridge falls over on the monster, and the background music goes silent for a moment before he bursts out again. That moment of silence was a mixing accident, according to the commentary.
- The whole scene in Treasure Planet with Jim and Silver trying to get Morph to bring them the map was ad-libbed.
- Also, David Hyde Pierce improvised the "Go Delbert, Go Delbert" line.
- The Little Mermaid:
- Not by an actor, but by an acting coach: Howard Ashman ad-libbed Ursula's aside ("...Pathetic!") to Flotsam and Jetsam while Pat Carroll was recording her Villain Song.
- According to this interview
, Samuel E. Wright attempted to do this in the initial recording for Sebastian, only to be chided for doing so and told "You're not Robin Williams." Soon after, Disney had a change of heart and invited Wright back to perform a special recording session where he was told to go wild with Sebastian however he pleased. As a result, much of his unscripted material made it into the final film. - Ariel's gestures◊ when she meets Eric and tries to communicate with him were improvised by actress Sherri Lynn Stoner during the shooting of the live-action reference material. Some of Ariel's reactions, such as her blowing her hair in frustration◊ during the same scene, were also unscripted and inspired by Sherri's own mannerisms in real life.
- During a recording session for Brother Bear where Joaquin Phoenix and Jeremy Suarez recorded their dialogue together, Phoenix messed up the line "your friend Bucky" as "your friend Binky". Suarez corrected him with, "First of all, his name's Bucky, not Binky and it wasn't a pine-cone it was a pine-nut! And it was huge! Even bigger than your fat head!" This ended up in the film.
- An In-Universe example happens in A Goofy Movie. At the Powerline concert, Goofy breaks out of the crystal ball on stage and starts dancing, followed by Max swinging onto the stage on a beam rope and joining in. Powerline is briefly surprised but is completely okay with the interruption, doesn't miss a beat of the song, and even correctly copies the dance moves himself. It was convincing enough that Roxanne still believed Max knew Powerline after the show.
- Big Hero 6:
- T.J. Miller ad-libbed most of Fred's dialogue.
- A lot of Maya Rudolph's facial expressions were copied for Cass, especially the faces she makes when talking about her extra-spicy hot wings.
- Joaquin's Say My Name habit in The Book of Life was ad-libbed by Channing Tatum.
- In My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks, Rarity's line "We've forgiven you for your past... ahem... boo-boos" was ad-libbed by Tabitha St. Germain.
- At the beginning of Strange Magic there is a part where Marianne makes fun of all the boys that her sister Dawn likes, making funny expressions and waving her hands around. Marianne's voice actress Evan Rachel Wood actually made those expressions in the recording booth and the animators used them in the movie.
- Meet the Robinsons did this not to a line, but to an actor—at one point, Lewis asks Wilbur what his father looks like, and after a Beat, Wilbur replies "Tom Selleck." This is a lie In-Universe (Wilbur's dad actually looks like an older Lewis), and the line itself was originally just a placeholder. Not only did they keep it in, they added a "family photo" that looked like real life Tom Selleck, and also then hiring Selleck to voice him.
- The movie opens with Goob talking about his Halloween costume while helping Lewis; apparently this was just something that Matthew Josten, the kid who played him, said that the creators decided to include.
- Hercules' Hades was originally supposed to be a stoic, menacing villain, but when James Woods came to audition, he decided on a whim to make him a fast-talking huckster. The crew liked it, and according to Woods, most of his lines in the movie are ad-libbed.
- In Zootopia, during the scene where Judy reunites with Nick and begins to cry, her voice actor Ginnifer Goodwin actually started crying while reciting her lines. The directors used this take, because it sounded so authentic, and fit the mood of the scene perfectly.
- Most of Jane's description of meeting (and being saved by) Tarzan was ad-libbed by Minnie Driver.
- In a documentary on The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Paul Winchell, the voice of Tigger, revealed that Tigger's Character Catchphrase "TTFN, ta-ta for now!" was an ad-lib on his part.
- Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure: While recording the end of the Scary-o Song, Richard Steven Horvitz improvised Billy’s last singing line “I could use something to eat, I’m really really hungry!” It was mostly due to the fact that the production crew had recorded the song so many times that they started to hunger.
- Toy Story 2:
- As revealed in the bonus features, one of the early animation tests showed Bullseye accidentally standing fully upright, upon which he covers his privates with his front legs and shuffles off embarrassed. This was so funny that it got written into the script.
- Al was given a mustache and a goatee when the production crew noticed that Wayne Knight had been growing out his facial hair. A remnant of clean-shaven Al can be seen when Etch draws him up for the crime scene investigation.
- An in-universe example occurs in the Hilarious Outtakes. For the scene where Jessie throws Woody and pulls him back with his pull-string, the string ends up breaking, causing Woody to crash offscreen, and Jessie asks if that be part of the movie.
- Turning Red:
- Sandra Oh improvised the French-Canadian pronunciation of Céline Dion's name during the scene when Ming complains about 4*Town.
- Abby's rant in Korean after finding out she'd mixed up the dates for the 4*Town concert was completely improvised by Hyein Park.
- Up: The "That's not gonna work" gag started out as a joke ending to an early version of a scene, where Carl really did try to get Russell out of the house on a rope. They kept it.
- Wreck-It Ralph: All of the actors, many of whom were experienced with improv, were recorded together, resulting in a lot of ad-libbing.
- With both Frozen and Frozen II, the actors were recorded together to get a sense of the characters and allowed to ad-lib. Of note is Josh Gad, who adlibbed a few of Olaf's infamous lines, including his nonchalant "Oh, look - I've been impaled." in the original and calling out for a "Samantha" and laughing as he realizes there's no "Samantha" in the second movie.
- At one point in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Peni enters the scene by sliding in on her heels, revealing that she's wearing Heelys. She was designed with normal shoes, but the animators needed a way to quickly get her into the shot and didn't have enough time to show her walking in, so they just decided to give her Heelys.
