Thanks for mentioning Splash.
Some of us are actually old enough to recall the Disney movie.
Most other folks immediately recognize the characters are classic folk characters: the sly fox, the trickster rabbit, the dumb bear.
The sly fox is right out of pretty much EVERY children's folks tale, isn't it? Fox and the Crow, Gingerbread Man, The Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Wasn't that archetype also played upon in the recent Zootopia? We were supposed to assume the fox was the bad guy, and the lamb was innocent?
Brer Rabbit comes right out of (African) American folklore, and African traditions before that.
At the time the movie was made, American adults actually told folks tales to their children, so they would have (likely) known these specific characters. I don't know, are you old enough to know the tall tales of Paul Bunyan? Pecos Bill?
You know most of the early Disney fairytales long predate Disney, right? As soon as you see the witch, you have some idea she's a bad guy, right?
And to bring it back to Star Wars, the original movie was full of classic character types. As soon as we see Darth Vader, we have a pretty good sense, he's a bad guy.