I hate so-called "cool, calm, and collected" characters being presented as superior beings that are shown being correct so often that the consumer take-away message is that being emotionally cold and abrasive makes them smart too. :reddit-logo: worshiped characters like that pretty much since Digg collapsed and also LARPed as being the same way in their own self-descriptions. The "misanthropic genius asshole flattered by the script and by total screen time" cliche is related to this too.
The Comedy Relief Sidekick, especially in kids movies. This has been true since I was a child.
Characters I absolutely despised as a kid: Dory, Mater from Cars, Dug from Up, Olaf, Pumba, the firefly in Princess and the Frog, and both Flounder and the pelican from Little Mermaid. The main exception to this rule is Mushu from Mulan.
I think Mushu is a good exception. He's got a detailed backstory and has his own stakes in seeing Mulan succeed. He follows her and helps her at several points.
The cricket bothered me a little, but at least he didn't talk or have a musical number like the others you mentioned.
Also Eddie Murphy is like, actually funny unlike Ellen Degeneres and Josh Gad.
And yeah I don’t mind the mute animal sidekicks nearly as much, especially when they don’t do much. The chameleon in Tangled is fine, the horse is kind of annoying though because he’s plot important. If the comic relief character has their own song I’ll want to kill myself watching it (Olaf 👀)
That song bothered me on so many levels. It's so annoying and the anachronism bugs the nitpicking part of my brain. In my head I thought it would've been better for Anna to build a nonliving Olaf as a show that regardless of her amnesia, she loves Elsa and her powers.
Having Elsa make him and bring him to sentience just starts uncomfortable questions about Elsa and what she could do.