“Disney films, and to a lesser extent other animated films, have become the staple of movie fare for children, an institution we bring them up in and use to teach values. One only need to look as far as books such as The Family New Media Guide and The Movie Mom’s Guide to Family Movies to see the recommendation of Disney films for value lessons. The former title even goes on to point out that “Disney has almost become synonymous with wholesome family entertainment.” (p. 59) Neither of these books address the depictions of sexuality and gender role modeling that are an ever present subtext in Disney films.”

“Women are constantly depicted in sexually suggestive ways. Many of the human characters of animated films have suggestive mannerisms, dress or both. Aurora is flirtatious and coy. Pocahontas wears a low-cut dress with plenty of cleavage while Ariel wears nothing but a bikini top. Megara sashays her hips and her dress clings to her body like a second skin and Jasmine’s two-piece outfits are of the harem girl style rather than what real Arabic women wear. Chel dresses differently from every other woman in her tribe. And then there is Esmeralda, whose dance in The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a striptease in all but actually taking off her clothes. Esmeralda’s pole-twirling is straight out of that style. And these suggestive mannerisms are not just limited to the adult women. The little girl in The Jungle Bookis pre-teen, but has already mastered the coy mannerisms of suggestive sexuality to lure Mowgli back to the human village.  Male characters are never shown in this manner.”

http://animation.memory-motel.net/sexuality_american.html

As children, not only do you watch these movies, you see them over and over and over again.  As children your brain is developing, you’re learning about the world, what it’s like, how you fit in, what your position in society is etc.  More than likely children trust their parents completely, and so when they sit them in front of a movie, I don’t doubt that the child’s brain automatically assumes that everything they are seeing is an accurate depiction of the world. 

As far as the argument about knowing that magic etc. doesn’t exist and giving children credit… children can’t combat something they don’t even know is happening, or if they have never seen any alternative.