Movies and TV shows take inspiration from the realm of mythology to create their fantasy creatures, such as unicorns and werewolves in the Harry Potter franchise. However, there is much inspiration to be found in the real world as well, with ferocious animals such as sharks and snakes providing interesting character designs for various film mosters.
Taking inspiration from the animal kingdom can be tough for kids' movies, however, since the designs need to be appealing and not too scary for young audiences. Making bodies rounder and eyes bigger are some of the tried and true ways to make scary creatures look cuter, and giving them endearing personalities and backstories helps audiences connect with them.
King Shark - Shark
King Shark from DC Comics is terrifying in most media, such as his hammerhead form in the comics and the tall, buff version in The Flash TV show. But The Suicide Squad reimagines the character as an adorable guy who happens to rip people apart and sometimes tries to eat his friends. The rounded body of the character, described as a "dad-bod" by director James Gunn, makes him much friendlier-looking than his other portrayals.
King Shark is called Nanaue in the movie, and, in addition to his revamped design, The Suicide Squad gives him a sad backstory to make the audience root for him more. His interactions with other characters are also cute, such as playing with a group of killer squid-fish that are trapped in a large aquarium.
Calcifer - Fire Demon
Calcifer was a falling star that was caught by Howl and is an extremely powerful creature, although he is unable to move from the fireplace without Howl's help. As a fire demon, Calcifer can talk and isn't entirely trustworthy, protecting other demons by not ratting them out to Howl.
In the Howl's Moving Castle book, Calcifer is described as scarier than he appears in the movie, with a thin blue face and orange eyes. Fire demons are also associated with fearsome creatures such as devils and the Japanese folklore of the Akuma, an entity that brings misfortune to those who see it. However, Calcifer's movie design is round and cute to help the audience root for him.
Luca - Sea Monster
Sea monsters are usually associated with images of krakens, dragons, and giant whales. However, the main character of the 2021 film Luca is an adorable kid who wants to leave the ocean and find adventure with his human and sea monster friends.
Luca's passions and imagination immediately endear the audience to him, and his ambitions to learn as much as he can make him a relatable character that audiences can root for. True to the nature of the sea monster, however, the townspeople are scared of Luca and Alberto when they revert to their true monster forms, The two friends standing up for each other against the townspeoples' violence is one of the best scenes in Luca.
Toothless - Dragon
A great Viking movie, How to Train Your Dragon follows the young boy Hiccup as he accidentally injures and befriends a dangerous dragon whom he names Toothless. Toothless can be scary with his firepower and ability to camouflage himself against the night sky, but around Hiccup he acts as a loyal friend, following him around, rolling in the grass, and creating works of art in the dirt with a branch.
Toothless is a lot like a dog, especially in the way he jumps about and sticks his tongue out. Having otherwise scary creatures act like dogs and cats is an easy way for filmmakers to make them cuter or more relatable. For another example, Maximus from Tangled is a horse that acts a lot like a dog to make him funnier, sniffing the ground and growling at Flynn Rider.
Kyubey - Manipulative Alien
Puella Magi Madoka Magica is a dark magical girl anime that follows five magical girls that strike up contracts with Kyubey, a cute mascot character that hides a terrible secret. Kyubey is part of an alien race that is powerful enough to remake the entire world but hides his true nature to make him more approachable and friendly to the humans he makes into magical girls.
Aliens in anime can be terrifying, such as the shapeshifting Parasites that can chomp human heads off in the blink of an eye, but Kyubey masks his intentions behind a cat-like face. Many magical girl anime use cute animals as companions to the main character, such as the cat Luna from Sailor Moon, and Madoka Magica uses the audience's assumptions about Kyubey's cuteness to cleverly subvert their expectations.
Alligator Loki - Alligator
In the Loki TV series (2021), the god of mischief Loki meets various versions of himself, including Kid Loki and President Loki, and must go on a time-traveling adventure to fix the timeline alongside the Time Variance Authority. Another Loki variant is Alligator Loki, a cute character that communicates via body language and bites anyone that insults him.
Alligator Loki is given a personality and intelligence beyond his scary appearance, and a funny backstory - eating the neighbor's cat - helps to endear him to the audience. His backstory and interactions with the cast make him more of a character rather than just a funny gag.
Master Viper - Snake
Master Viper from the Kung Fu Panda franchise is a master of kung fu and a student at Master Shifu's Jade Palace. Despite her slithery appearance, Viper is a kind character that helps Po the panda many times during the movies, teaching him things and checking that he is alright when he feels down.
Viper's character design has large eyes and wears two cute lotus flower clips on her head, all to make her design less scary and more appealing to a younger audience. The Furious Five kung fu masters of the movie also contain the character Tigress, who is certainly based on a ferocious creature, but her character design is more stoic and battle-focused than cute and cuddly.
Megamind's Minion - Piranha
The "fantastic fish" Minion is Megamind's sidekick, helping the titular villain take over Metro City and battle his superpowered enemies. Minion is an alien, but his design is based on a piranha, and his robotic body is reminiscent of a large gorilla, covered in purplish hair.
Minion is extremely caring and speaks in a high-pitched voice, making him a funny character that endears the audience to him. He supports Megamind as much as he can, but Minion does have feelings and storms out when Megamind refuses to listen to him. Making the alien fish an emotional character that is capable of humor makes the ferocious animal much more likable.
Kumoko - Spider
One of the funniest isekai anime, So I'm A Spider, So What? follows Kumoko, a Japanese student that was reincarnated into a fantasy world as a spider living in a dungeon. Kumoko brings tons of humor to the anime, singing and battling her way through the dungeons and trying to survive.
Kumoko has two distinct designs throughout the majority of the show, the main one being a cutesy spider with big eyes and a happy anime face that emotes brilliantly to the audience and makes her much less scary. The second is her true form, a scary-looking spider with eight eyes, but this form is still capable of comedy, making it less terrifying.
Mogwai - Devil
Gizmo from Gremlins is a sweet and adorable character, belonging to a species called the Mogwai, which have three distinct rules: never put them near sunlight, never let it get wet, and never feed it after midnight. Feeding after midnight turns the Mogwai into Gremlins, mischievous and violent creatures that wreak havoc.
The word Mogwai comes from the Chinese word for "devil" or "evil spirit," and the creatures themselves may be based on a demon from Chinese mythology that reproduces during rainfall. Gizmo's big eyes and ears make him cute, much like the house-elf Dobby from the Harry Potter franchise, but his fellow Mogwais turn into hideous Gremlins when they are fed after midnight.