Establishing Character Moment/Animated Films

• Mulan shows off her cleverness and resourcefulness to the viewers when she fashions a means of getting her dog to feed the chickens so she still has time to change her clothes. Soon afterward, she reveals a lack of grace during a meeting with the matchmaker, suggesting that life as a trophy wife will not properly fulfill her destiny.
• Shifu from Kung Fu Panda effortlessly evades all his students' attacks during a training session and then rebukes them for "doing well if they were trying to disappoint [him]."
• The Incredibles has Dash using his speed to pull pranks on his teachers. Violet turning invisible and shyly looking at her crush as he walked by.
  • The first minute or so of the movie also sets up a nice Subversion for Bob, Ellen, and Lucius. Bob expresses a desire to settle down and Ellen says she cant get enough of the superhero gig, veiwpoints that the both do a complete 180 on once the main story has actually started. Lucius is portrayed at first to be a womanizer who doesn't like to get intimate, but is shown to have a wife later on in the movie.
• The Nightmare Before Christmas does this for each of the main characters. Jack gets a dramatic entrance during the Halloween celebration, but it's during his song a few minutes later that his real character is shown.
  • Sally's is more subtle. In her first few seconds onscreen she is shown doing what she will spend the rest of the movie doing: gazing lovingly at Jack and rebelling against her Mad Scientist creator/father figure.
  • The Mayor gets an ECM as well, albeit a little ways into the story, when he goes to Jack's house for advice and panics when he finds Jack has disappeared. This is the first time we see him wear his second face.
  • Oogie Boogie's reputation precedes him as the most malevolent resident of Halloween Town, but his first few seconds on screen (even though only his shadow is shown) make his creepiness, evil intentions, and love of gambling very clear.
• Aladdin: Aladdin, shows himself to not only be a affable thief, but a guy whose soft enough to give bread away to children.
• Gothel from Tangled is shown discovering a magical flower that could heal people from any disease, including aging. Instead of sharing it, she hordes this flower for hundreds of years, using it for her selfish gain of remaining young.
• Gru from Despicable Me is shown to be Affably Evil as he makes a balloon for a crying boy only to pop it and when he goes into a coffee shop, he freezes everyone around him so he could be first in line but tips the cashier before he leaves (though he doesn't actually pay for the coffee or muffin).
  • Miss Hattie firmly establishes herself as a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing when she cheerily greets the girls. But as soon as Agnes ask if anyone has come to adopt them, she brutally tells them "Hmm, let me think ... NO!"
• Scar from The Lion King is introduced "playing" with a helpless mouse he is about to devour while skipping out on his nephew's birth ceremony. When Zazu reprimands Scar (causing him to lose the mouse) he immediately tries to eat Zazu.
• Prince Naveen from The Princess and the Frog gets a wordless one: his very first scene has him ripping off his royal decor, grabbing a ukelele, and totally disregarding his manservant and any royal pomp as he joins a street band, complete with immediate posse of fawning ladies. It easily establishes him as an impulsive ladies' man completely dedicated to enjoying himself.