Disney's princesses break with tradition in 'Wreck-It Ralph 2'

ANAHEIM, Calif. (Reuters) -17 JULY 2017: Disney princesses wearing sweat pants and discussing their flaws in a scene from upcoming animated movie "Wreck-It Ralph 2" became the most talked-about moment on Friday at Disney's annual D23 convention.

The clip from the film, a sequel to 2012's "Wreck-It Ralph" about retro arcade video game characters, sees Ralph and the mischievous Vanellope enter the world of Internet. They land in a Disney website that resembles a virtual Disney theme park and Vanellope interrupts a gathering of Disney princesses from past and present.

"Seeing all the princesses together, we wanted them to actually have a nice moment with Vanellope ... she recognizes (them) being real and that does break down the stereotypes," said John Lasseter, chief creative officer of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Disney's princess tales have been criticized by some for portraying female leads as helpless and in need of rescuing by a man, such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. Films such as "Brave" and "Moana" have seen young princesses breaking free of tradition to carve their own fate.

In the scene, the princesses - including Snow White, Jasmine, Tiana, Rapunzel, Elsa and Moana - determine if Vanellope is a princess by asking her if she has been enslaved or if she has daddy issues. When she says no to the latter, the princesses chime "neither do we!"

They then swap their gowns for t-shirts and sweat pants and discuss the challenges of being perfect - Snow White shows off her thick glasses and Princess Jasmine reveals she's allergic to cats despite having a pet tiger.

"These characters are really strong, they're really amazing characters and we love to think of them way beyond just the movie that was made," Lasseter said.

"Wreck-It Ralph 2" was part of a presentation of Disney's upcoming films at D23, a gathering for Disney fans in Southern California.

Fans were shown concepts and rough scenes for sequels to Scandinavian princess tale "Frozen 2," the adventures of a superhero family in "Incredibles 2" and Pixar's upcoming "Coco," inspired by the Mexican Day of the Dead festivities.

Actor Josh Gad, who plays "Frozen" snowman Olaf, sang one of the four new songs from the upcoming 21-minute short film "Olaf's Frozen Adventure," debuting alongside "Coco" in November.

New films include the fourth "Toy Story" and an untitled suburban fantasy tale of two brothers on a quest to spend one last day with their late father.