History LighterAndSofter / AnimatedFilms

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Elemental|2023}}'' lightly homages ''Theatre/WestSideStory'' 'with Ember and Wade being expies of Maria and Tony. However the racial conflict and clash between their respective cultures backgrounds while still apparent is heavily downplayed compared to ''West Side Story'' and while like the musical, the Pixar film has one member of couple dying at the end, [[spoiler:Tony [[spoiler:Jack due to getting shot and Wade evaporating, Wade being a water person is able to reform himself and reunite with Ember unlike ''West Side Story'' [[DownerEnding where Ember has to cope with Tony's death]].]]

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Elemental|2023}}'' lightly homages ''Theatre/WestSideStory'' 'with Ember and Wade being expies of Maria and Tony. However the racial conflict and clash between their respective cultures backgrounds while still apparent is heavily downplayed compared to ''West Side Story'' and while like the musical, the Pixar film has one member of couple dying at the end, [[spoiler:Tony [[spoiler:Jack due to getting shot and Wade evaporating, Wade being a water person is able to reform himself and reunite with Ember unlike ''West Side Story'' [[DownerEnding where Ember has to cope with Tony's death.]]

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Elemental|2023}}'' lightly homages ''Titanic'' with Ember and Wade being expies of Rose and Jack. However the conflict between their respective backgrounds while still apparent is heavily downplayed compared to ''Titanic'' and while like ''Titanic'', the Pixar film has one member of couple dying at the end, [[spoiler:Jack due to getting hypothermia and Wade evaporating, Wade being a water person is able to reform himself and reunite with Ember unlike ''Titanic'' [[DownerEnding where Rose has to cope with Jack’s death]].]]

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' while it has a few dark moments is still sufficiently softer than the original ''Literature/{{Rapunzel}}'' tale. In the original the prince (Eugene in the film) gets Rapunzel pregnant with twins and the witch cuts off Rapunzel's hair and banishes her into wilderness in response. When the prince comes back to the tower, he finds the witch who tells him he'll never see Rapunzel again and he falls off the tower and into a thorn bush which [[EyeScream scratch out his eyes]] forcing him to stagger around blind until he finds Rapunzel and their twin children in the desert and is healed by Rapunzel's tears. The Disney version changes it so that Eugene is stabbed in the side instead, which while dark is still less gruesome than the original tale.

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Elemental}}'' lightly homages ''Titanic'' with Ember and Wade being expies of Rose and Jack. However the conflict between their respective backgrounds while still apparent is heavily downplayed compared to ''Titanic'' and while like ''Titanic'', the Pixar film has one member of couple dying at the end, [[spoiler:Jack due to getting hypothermia and Wade evaporating, Wade being a water person is able to reform himself and reunite with Ember unlike ''Titanic'' [[DownerEnding where Rose has to cope with Jack’s death]].]]

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Elemental}}'' lightly homages ''Film/Titanic1997/{{Titanic}}'' with Ember and Wade being expies of Rose and Jack. However the conflict between their respective backgrounds while still apparent is heavily downplayed compared to ''Titanic'' and while like ''Titanic'', the Pixar film has one member of couple dying at the end, [[spoiler:Jack due to getting hypothermia and Wade evaporating, Wade being a water person is able to reform himself and reunite with Ember unlike ''Titanic'' [[DownerEnding where Rose has to cope with Jack’s death]].]]

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Elemental}}'' lightly homages [[Film/Titanic1997 ''Titanic'']] with Ember and Wade being expies of Rose and Jack. However the conflict between their respective backgrounds while still apparent is heavily downplayed compared to ''Titanic'' and while like ''Titanic'', the Pixar film has one member of couple dying at the end, [[spoiler:Jack due to getting hypothermia and Wade evaporating, Wade being a water person is able to reform himself and reunite with Ember unlike ''Titanic'' [[DownerEnding where Rose has to cope with Jack’s death]].]]

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Elemental}}'' lightly homages ''Film/Titanic'' with Ember and Wade being expies of Rose and Jack. However the conflict between their respective backgrounds while still apparent is heavily downplayed compared to ''Titanic'' and while like ''Titanic'', the Pixar film has one member of couple dying at the end, [[spoiler:Jack due to getting hypothermia and Wade evaporating, Wade being a water person is able to reform himself and reunite with Ember unlike ''Titanic'' [[DownerEnding where Rose has to cope with Jack’s death]].]]

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Elemental}}'' lightly homages ''Film/Titanic'' with Ember and Wade being expies of Rose and Jack. However the conflict between their respective backgrounds while still apparent is heavily downplayed compared to ''Titanic'' and while like the James Cameron movie, the Pixar film has one member of couple dying at the end, [[spoiler:Jack due to getting hypothermia and Wade evaporating, Wade being a water person is able to reform himself and reunite with Ember unlike ''West Side Story'' [[DownerEnding where Rose has to cope with Jack’s death]].]]

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Elemental}}'' lightly homages ''Theatre/WestSideStory'' with Ember and Wade being expies of Maria and Tony. However the racial conflict between their respective cultures while still apparent is heavily downplayed compared to ''West Side Story'' and while like the musical the Pixar film has one member of couple dying at the end, [[spoiler:Tony due to getting shot and Wade evaporating, Wade being a water person is able to reform himself and reunite with Ember unlike ''West Side Story'' [[DownerEnding where Maria has to cope with Tony’s death]].]]

** ''[[WesternAnimation/PoohsGrandAdventure Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search For Christopher Robin]]'' averts this. In a possible attempt to avoid this trope this direct-to-video sequel was chock full of NightmareFuel.

** ''[[WesternAnimation/PoohsGrandAdventure Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search For Christopher Robin]]'' averts this. In a possible attempt to avoid this trope this direct-to-video sequel was chock full of Nightmare Fuel.

* While the WesternAnimation/DCUniverseAnimatedOriginalMovies line normally provides DarkerAndEdgier fare, it did also produce [[WesternAnimation/AllStarSuperman an adaptation of]] ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman'', which was PG. Not only is it lighter than the normally PG-13 ([[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheKillingJoke and four]] [[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueDark R-rated]] [[WesternAnimation/BatmanGothamByGaslight movies as]] [[WesternAnimation/SuicideSquadHellToPay of 2018]]) fare of the line, it's also lighter than the comics as Superman doesn't completely bend Atlas's elbow the wrong way. ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternEmeraldKnights'' and the [[WesternAnimation/BatmanReturnOfTheCapedCrusaders tie-in]] [[WesternAnimation/BatmanVsTwoFace movies]] to ''Series/Batman1966'' are also PG.
* ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'''s sequel, ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory'', has been regarded as a step downward from the first film drama-wise. Of course, being a Pixar movie, it still takes itself seriously throughout.

* ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'' is much lighter in tone than its predecessor with a greater emphasis on action and comedy in general. There's no gratuitous mook deaths, less overall destruction and the film is generally less intense overall. Thematically, the movie is this as well. The first film dealt with several darker character issues. Bob is listlessly shuffling through his post hero life in a job as an insurance agent, Helen is frustrated with Bob trying to relive the glory days of being a hero, the kids are trying to come to terms with their superpowers in a world where acting as a superhero in public is illegal, and there is a subplot where Helen thinks Bob is having an affair. The sequel focuses more on the action, and the character subplots are more limited to Bob trying to raise the kids without Helen, Violet having boy problems, and Dash struggling with his math homework, all while Helen is out doing superhero work.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime''. The first one, while still primarily aimed at children was very dark, featuring the child dinosaurs coming very close to dying several times, adult dinosaurs actually dying, including Littlefoot's mother, who fought Sharptooth, getting a nasty gash on her neck among other things, with Sharptooth also being an unstoppable, terrifying force of nature that wouldn't be out of place in a slasher film. And then the ''incredibly'' controversial sequels came. NeverSayDie was introduced, to the point where it seems the Sharpteeth at most just want to scare the herbivores, and put very little effort into feeding. There are also [[DisneyAcidSequence big musical numbers]], something the original never had, and almost all the appeal for adults was thrown out the window.
** This was par the course for every Creator/DonBluth movie ever to receive a sequel. The most major example is ''[[WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH2TimmyToTheRescue The Secret of NIMH 2]]''; it is far more lighthearted and family-friendly than the very dark original.

** In ''Literature/SnowWhite'' the EvilQueen demands the huntsman bring her Snow White's heart, like the [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs animated version]] he can't go through with it but in the book brings the queen an animal's heart instead. This subplot was understandably omitted from the Disney film. Also the ending is much softer than the original tale, [[spoiler: as Snow White actually takes revenge on the queen making her wear a pair of red-hot iron slippers and ''to dance in them until she drops dead''. In the Disney version, the queen falls to her death during the climax]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime''. The first one, while still primarily aimed at children was very dark, featuring the child dinosaurs coming very close to dying several times, adults dinosaurs actually dying, including Littlefoot's mother, who fought Sharptooth, getting a nasty gash on her neck among other things, with Sharptooth also being an unstoppable, terrifying force of nature that wouldn't be out of place in a slasher film. And then the ''incredibly'' controversial sequels came. NeverSayDie was introduced, to the point where it seems the Sharpteeth at most just want to scare the herbivores, and put very little effort into feeding. There are also [[DisneyAcidSequence big musical numbers]], something the original never had, and almost all the appeal for adults was thrown out the window.

** In ''Literature/SnowWhite'' the EvilQueen demands the huntsman bring her Snow White's heart, like the [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs animated version]] he can't go through with it but in the book brings the queen an animal's heart instead, this subplot was understandably omitted from the Disney film. Also the ending is much softer than the original tale, [[spoiler: as Snow White actually takes revenge on the queen making her wear pair of red-hot iron slippers and ''to dance in them until she drops dead''. In the Disney version, the queen falls to her death during the climax]].

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'' while still darker than most animated Disney films made nowadays, is still leaps and bounds softer than Carlo Collodi's twisted [[Literature/{{Pinocchio}} original novel]]. In the book Pinocchio is a vicious and wicked creature who ''kills'' the talking cricket shortly after Geppetto creates him, bites off the fox's paw during an attempted ambush and commits numerous other crimes before he becomes a human boy. The films omits much of the violence and cruelty of the original book, [[SparedByAdaptation the cricket survives]] and Pinocchio is a much nicer protagonist who is merely misguided rather than antagonistic like the book version.

*** Interestingly, ''Hamlet'' itself is something of a DarkerAndEdgier take on the Danish epic of Amleth, whose protagonist does many of the same lethal things, but ia presented as a sly trickster figure while doing them, rather than Shakespeare's brooding soliloquizer.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound2''. Whereas the original movie (toned down from the original though it may be) is one of Disney's best-loved and most mature works, the sequel is a light, fluffy romp about the eponymous duo [[WackyWaysideTribe joining a band]].

** ''WesternAnimation/HomeOnTheRange'' takes this UpToEleven, even by Disney standards. Whether this was a good thing or not [[BrokenBase depends on who you ask.]]

** The sequel to ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'', especially as the original movie is one of the darkest Disney movies of all time. Comparing the villains of both installments ([[HangingJudge Judge]] [[SexIsEvilAndIAmHorny Claude]] [[TheFundamentalist Frollo]] vs [[SissyVillain Sa]][[TheScrappy rousch]]) makes it even moreso.

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'' loosely follows Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs' RatedMForManly books but has a few key differences which make it's story and characters lighter and softer than the [[Literature/TarzanOfTheApes book]]. In the original story rather than being killed offscreen by Sabor the Leopard, Tarzan's mother died of sickness and his father was killed by KillerGorilla Kerchak who almost kills Tarzan as well before Nala steps in and saves him. In the Disney movie Kerchak is nicer, not harming Jane when given the opportunity and only becomes violent when his troop is threatened by Sabor or Clayton, he also accepts Tarzan as his son when the latter rescues him and rest of the Apes from Clayton. Tarzan's first meeting with Jane is a lighter affair, in the book she's kidnapped by another Gorilla Terkoz [[MarsNeedsWomen who plans to rape her]] before Tarzan saves her; in the Disney movie Jane just ticks off some Baboons who chase her forcing Tarzan to swoop in and pull Jane out of danger. Also a lot of the racism and UnfortunateImplications of Burroughs's books are omitted from the animated film and Tarzan is a much less bloodthirsty character.

* The 2011 Christian animated film ''The Lion of Judah'' is the most kid-friendly re-telling of the [[PassionPlay Passion of Jesus Christ]] compared to other works focused on Jesus' life and death (such as ''Film/ThePassionOfTheChrist'' and ''Film/TheLastTemptationOfChrist''). It's mainly focused on a group of talking animals (a cow, rooster, pig, horse, donkey, and mouse respectively) trying to save [[SweetSheep Judah the baby lamb]] who's about to get sacrificed for peoples' sins on Good Friday. However, [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} Jesus' Crucifixion]] is taken very seriously and [[ShooOutTheClowns tones down the comedic humor from some of the animals characters]] (Judah the Lamb, Jack the Donkey, Esmay the Cow, and Slink the Mouse are the most serious of the animal cast) leading up to Jesus' death. While the film does include Jesus getting whipping, alongside keeping the crown of thorns, and Jesus gets nailed on the cross. Besides the [[BloodlessCarnage removal of blood and other graphic imagery]], most of the violence during Jesus' crucifixion would either [[AnimalReactionShot cut to the animals reactions]] [[GoryDiscretionShot or obscured]] ([[TheFaceless since most of the humans are only seen from the knees down]]). The film does have a much happier ending when Judah finally meets Jesus (now resurrected) and thanks him for his sacrifice which occurs moments before Mary Magdalene, Salome, and Mary visit Jesus' tomb.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheAristocats'', as both movies [[WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967 preceding]] and [[WesternAnimation/RobinHood succeeding]] it had gut-wrenching moments and violent, possibly frightening imagery, if still as cartoony in execution.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyANewGeneration'' is lighter than ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie2017'' in that in the former, the settings are friendlier, the stakes are lower, the loss of Equestria's magic keeps the AntagonistAbilities that were prevalent in [=FiM=] out of this film, and the heroes aren't constantly pursued.