History WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids / Film

* ''Film/ReturnToOz'' is meant to be seen as a kids' adventure film, yet there are the infamous scenes such as shock therapy, the disembodied heads of the Lollipop Guild, and of course, the [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Nome King]].[[note]]''Return to Oz'' follows Baum's spelling of Nome. Ruth Plumly Thompson changed the spelling to Gnome in her Literature/LandOfOz novels.[[/note]]

* ''Film/MissionToMars'' is a PG-rated Disney production. Now try telling someone that with a straight face after showing them the opening scene out of context, which features [[CruelAndUnusualDeath one of the most unpleasant and gory deaths ever put to film, where an astronaut gets violently spun around and ripped to bits by]] [[EldritchAbomination a sentient Martian storm.]] [[NotHyperbole Which isn’t even an exaggeration]]; even obscured by dust the blood and gore is very clearly visible. The whole thing looks more like a Fatality in a Netherrealm-produced ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' game than a Disney production.

* ''Film/MissionToMars'' is a PG-rated Disney production. Now try telling someone that with a straight face after showing them the opening scene out of context, which features [[CruelAndUnusualDeath one of the most unpleasant and gory deaths ever put to film, where an astronaut gets violently spun around and ripped to bits by]] [[EldritchAbomination a sentient Martian storm.]] [[NotHyperbole Which isn’t even an exaggeration]]; even obscured by dust the gore is very clearly visible.

* ''WesternAnimation/SherlockGnomes'' has characters being kidnapped, characters seeming to die, and an antagonist who wants to commit genocide on all the gnomes in London.

* ''WesternAnimation/JonahAVeggieTalesMovie'' focuses on a man who wants to see God kill everyone in a city he despises. It also [[spoiler: keeps the DownerEnding of the original story]], unlike most retellings of ''Jonah'' aimed at children. It says something when Amazon's print of the movie rates it for ages 7 and up.

** The original ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' had a scene where the second lead is ''gunned down by Libyan terrorists''. On the other hand, when Marty found himself in 1955, he made it a point to try and save Doc from his future fate... [[spoiler:and succeeds; it was more of an extremely delayed DisneyDeath.]] There's also Marty's plan to get George and Lorraine together at the dance involved him faking a rape attempt on his own mother, which was then broken up by a real rape attempt from Biff.

* ''Literature/RingingBell'' starts out as a cheerful film about a [[SweetSheep cute little lamb]], but when a wolf kills the lamb's mother, [[MoodWhiplash it becomes a dark and depressing tale]] about revenge, [[spoiler:with the lamb becoming a fierce ram who tries to help the wolf kill his flock, and [[DownerEnding an ending where he's left to wander on his own]]]]. Believe it or not, Creator/{{Sanrio}} (the company who made ''Franchise/HelloKitty'') produced this movie.

* ''Anime/RingingBell'' starts out as a cheerful film about a [[SweetSheep cute little lamb]], but when a wolf kills the lamb's mother, [[MoodWhiplash it becomes a dark and depressing tale]] about revenge, [[spoiler:with the lamb becoming a fierce ram who tries to help the wolf kill his flock, and [[DownerEnding an ending where he's left to wander on his own]]]]. Believe it or not, Creator/{{Sanrio}} (the company who made ''Franchise/HelloKitty'') produced this movie.
* This was a contributing factor to the American release of ''[[{{Anime/Robotech}} Robotech: The Movie]]'' not going any further than it did. Midway through the film, a rape is nearly being depicted (to say nothing about the violence also present in [[Anime/{{Megazone 23}} the source material]]).

* ''Animation/ElArca'' is a Spanish animated film loosely based on [[Literature/TheBible Noah's Ark]] that mostly focuses on the [[FunnyAnimal animals on Noah's Ark]]. The film contains a sex scene (not an implied one at that), a strip club, a big breasted panther named [[MsFanservice Panthy]], and a fight scene which at one point [[FamilyUnfriendlyViolence shows visible blood]] (only a little, but still). This was a kid's film.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'' is generally lighter and more comedic in tone and more faithful to the source material compared to the 1993 live-action movie, but it has quite a few of scary things, jumpscares and dark things here and there. First off, Bowser is dark, villainous and scary like never before in almost 40 years of appearences: he tortures Luigi by nearly tearing his mustache off to get information about Mario, gets Toad tortured too until Peach gives up and agrees to marry him so that he wouldn't get die from the torture, then he fires a huge Bomber Bill with the power of a nuclear missile that nearly destroys the Mushroom Kingdom, he becomes more and more deranged as the movie goes on, especially with his incredibly unhealthy and obsessive crush over Peach, he nearly kills all of the prisoners (including Luigi, Cranky and the other Kongs, the Penguins and Lumalee) by sacrificing them to the lava pool for his marriage with Peach and goes on a rampage in a by the time Mario and Donkey Kong manage to come in time to rescue everyone. As this happens in the final battle, Mario gets brutally beaten up and thrown all over the streets of Brooklyn like there's no tomorrow and gets badly injured, with realistic bruises on his face and a black eye, both he and Donkey Kong are nearly killed, not even Peach is able to do much against Bowser and the reason Mario and Luigi don't die as piles of ashes from his fire breath is because they got the Super Star. Apart from that, the Paratroopa general kamikazes himself with his Blue Shell in an attempt to kill Mario and Donkey Kong, who are then eaten by a huge Maw-Ray, Lumalee says nothing but macabre jokes about the sweet relief of death with a cheery attitude, some the violence can be a bit overwhelming at times, the movie starts with Bowser destroying the Ice Kingdom before stealing the Super Star, and not long after, Francis the dog attacks Mario and Luigi over the fact that Luigi accidentally stepped on and broke his favourite bone. While the Mario series had a few games with a surprisingly dark tone, it was always a franchise of family games, with the main target being children, and this is a PG movie based on said franchise.

%%* Averted with ''Film/{{Paddington}}''. The main reason why the film has become such a critical darling is that for a modern-day kids' film, there aren't any obnoxious characters for kids to mimic or any rude jokes to keep adults entertained. It's unashamedly a kids film that adults can enjoy too.

* ''Animation/SheepAndWolves'' starts off like a comedic animated movie with an [[IdiotHero foolish wolf]] who [[ForcedTransformation gets turned into a sheep]], but it gets darker later on, [[spoiler:with [[TheBigBad its antagonist]] ''[[MoralEventHorizon intentionally]]'' [[TheUsurper killing his ailing leader to take his position]]]]. And the female wolves, ''including'' the main characters' LoveInterest, are [[MsFanservice heavily sexualized]].

* The ''Film/ShortCircuit'' movies have swear words (biggest offender was a black guy in the second film saying "motherfucker"), and even [[spoiler: Johnny getting slaughtered by Oscar's goons, especially the bleeding]] would probably not fly by today as PG.

* ''Film/OsmosisJones'' has a rather dark villain and some not too subtle sexual innuendos for a PG-rated movie set in the human body. Said villain happens to be an anthropomorphic virus who enjoys murdering cells and gloats about killing all the human hosts he's encountered (including a little girl). His introductory scene involves murdering a cell who is shown graphically deteriorating and squirting liquid while screaming in pain. Not to mention that there are several references to sperm cells and jokes about [[ADateWithRosiePalms "division"]]. In fact, the movie was to be rated PG-13 at first.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' while still kid-friendly, still has quite a few dark moments. It has heavy violence such as Maurice almost getting attacked by wolves, the Beast's and Gaston's {{DisneyDeath}}s and the infamous wolf scene with Belle. And that's not even getting into the main antagonist being a MemeticMolestor.

* ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven'' undoubtedly has to be Creator/DonBluth's darkest film (with the possible exception of ''WesternAnimation/TitanAE''), with relatively small "kid-friendly" scenes in between the controversial themes of gambling, first-degree murder, theft, drinking, terrifying images of {{Hell}} and {{Satan}}, and the real clincher, [[spoiler:the killing of the main protagonist at the end]], something unheard of in Western animation for children. Thankfully, the sequels and television series are much lighter and softer in tone, embracing sci-fi elements and slapstick humor.

* Stated InUniverse by one of the kids in the FramingDevice of ''WesternAnimation/TheBookOfLife'', when characters of the story apparently start getting killed.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'' is a family film based on the Día de los Muertos, which gives a lot of focus on the concept of death, [[spoiler:including a backstory scene where one of the main characters is shown dying on-screen from poison.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/FrozenII'' has Elsa investigating the shipwreck from the previous movie [[spoiler: and learning her parents died trying to help her]], having the characters learn about a war [[spoiler: that their grandfather was responsible for]], and [[spoiler: having a scene where Elsa and Olaf undergo a DisneyDeath, but unlike most instances of this, it takes a long time for both of them to come back to life, especially the latter character. And one of the most optimistic characters talks about not sure she knows how to keep on living after her remaining family members die, saying "darkness, I'm ready to succumb," but still going on in part because she feels the need to correct the internationally disastrous repercussions of her grandfather's crimes]].
--> ''Can there be a day beyond this night?''\\
''I don't know anymore what is true''\\
''I can't find my direction, I'm all alone''\\
''The only star that guided me was you''\\
''How to rise from the floor''\\
''When it's not you I'm rising for''

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGoodDinosaur'' was criticized by parents for being surprisingly violent for a PG-rated movie (but they might be at fault as well for acting like it's a G-rated movie even though it's rated PG, which should have implied that it's not neccessarily for young children[[note]]However, the movie was released during a time when [[AvoidTheDreadedGRating the G-rating was becoming rarer and rarer]][[/note]]) for things such as Poppa Henry's death [[note]] What's worse is that this scene was shown in some of the trailers for the film.[[/note]], the acid trip sequence, the part where Thunderclap '''eats a cute little animal onscreen''', Spot tearing apart a bug and forcing Arlo to eat it, Spot peeing on one of the dinosaurs when he meets them, and one of the dinosaurs having a violent backstory, which was said to traumatize several children. This is considered by some industry experts as a major reason why the movie bombed.

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2'' has genocide, mental trauma, and ParentalAbandonment as main plot points.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'' has Littlefoot's mom getting a chunk of flesh bitten off of her by Sharptooth (it would've been more frightening without the ShadowDiscretionShot), the mega-quake that split Pangaea, and at one point, the heroes get stuck in a tar pit.
* ''Film/TheLastUnicorn'': Not only does it have graphically adult content (such as a triple-breasted harpy), but its emotional themes go way beyond a children's film.

* Despite ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie'' being based on a toy franchise (the main reason it got away with so much violence was that it would be far more brutal in live-action), the main villain [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Lord Business]], who constantly crosses the MoralEventHorizon, presides over a dystopia which is basically a CrapsaccharineWorld and PoliceState combined. [[CulturePolice Creativity is severely discouraged]], with threats of [[SecretPolice being "put to sleep" if you don't follow the instructions]]. The undertones are incredibly dark, involving satire based on [[BreadAndCircuses bland, repetitive entertainment such as the media distracting the population from the oppressive regime]] whereby Lord Business plans to unleash a [[WeaponofMassDestruction superweapon]] that will make everything perfect the way he wants it by gluing it all in place. Let's not forget the fact that for 8 1/2 years, Lord Business' lieutenant GCBC and his robot militia have [[ColdBloodedTorture captured and tortured plenty of Master Builders]] by either ''melting them'' or putting them in the Think Tank for use in providing instructions for the rest of the city of Bricksburg.
** GCBC himself is not free from this oppression, as the scene where he is [[spoiler:forced to glue his parents for [[YouHaveFailedMe failing to capture the Special]]]] is extremely significant. Lord Business also [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown twists the knife further by exploiting not only every single part of GCBC's emotions and love for his parents, but the dedication to his job in a faux-friendly tone]] during this ordeal. However, Lord Business practically uses MindRape on GCBC by going so far as to [[spoiler:remove Good Cop's face with nail polish remover to entirely discourage disloyalty after he protests his parents' innocence]]. All the while, Lord Business [[PsychoticSmirk enjoys the suffering he inflicts on his lieutenant]].
** Later on, [[spoiler: Vitruvius is killed in cold blood by Lord Business by being decapitated, and it comes as a complete shock to virtually everyone involved]]. Let's not also forget that Lord Business planned on self-destructing the Think Tank with all the Master Builders in it whilst rubbing the apocalypse in Emmet's face before he went down with the others.
** While ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGONinjagoMovie'' has a generally more childish disposition (more than the [[WesternAnimation/{{Ninjago}} series]] itself), it contains jokes about cultural appropriation and sensitivity that seem downright esoteric to its target demographic.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}'' is a [[Theatre/{{Hamlet}} story built around a murder]] (something unheard of in a Disney movie) and a subsequent frame-up and coup. If that wasn't enough, for most of the time Simba believes he somehow killed his father, which could be traumatizing for children. It also has a lot of violent scenes, to the point where you can see blood as Scar digs his claws in Mufasa and Simba's paws, and handles adult themes like vengeance, death and rebirth. The ''Washington Post'' even said about the film, "Of the 32 animated films Disney has produced, this story of a young African lion's search for identity is not only more mature in its themes, but it is also the darkest and the most intense. Shakespearean in tone, epic in scope, it seems more appropriate for grown-ups than for kids. If truth be told, even for adults it is downright strange."
** ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingIISimbasPride'' is just as dark, if not a bit more. GreyAndGrayMorality is portrayed very clearly; Simba comes close to becoming an antagonist and is very heavily implied to have PTSD; Zira's VillainSong is explicitly about turning her son into a killer and conquering an entire kingdom out of petty revenge; there is a clear DomesticAbuse setting depicted as having horrific consequences; and Kiara and Kovu's romance is blocked due to explicit prejudice and discrimination, along with [[spoiler:Nuka and Zira dying in fairly horrific ways, the former doing so onscreen]].

* ''Anime/OkkosInn'' is a cute anime movie about a girl working at the inn with the help of ghosts that she sees. It also had a separate anime adaptation released around the same time that played before ''WesternAnimation/ElenaOfAvalor''. However, the main character constantly has panic attacks about her parents dying, and at the end, [[spoiler: a man who stays at her inn that she tried helping make special meals for reveals that he was the one who accidentally killed her parents, causing her to cry in front of the man's son and wife]].

* ''WesternAnimation/ParaNorman'' is not only a zombie movie (and thus rather gory), but it milks its PG rating for all its worth. And TheReveal about the identity of the "witch" [[spoiler: (she was an 11-year-old girl who was hanged for speaking with the dead, and underneath 300 years of rage and bitterness, [[TearJerker is still just a scared child who wants to see her mother]])]] is '''really''' dark.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'' may seem like a fun, lighthearted animated film at first, but it gets a lot darker as it goes on, with Pinocchio being forced to work for a cruel puppeteer who locks him in a cage and threatens to chop him into firewood if he can no longer perform. And he's later lured over to an island with hundreds of other boys, which is seemingly paradise but is actually a trap where they eventually transform into donkeys and are shipped off for labor for profit, with possibly no way to reverse it. Pinocchio is the only one to escape with the help of his conscience Jiminy Cricket, but the Coachman, the mastermind behind the operation, gets away with it scott free, something that normally never happens in a Disney film.
* The trailers for ''WesternAnimation/ThePiratesInAnAdventureWithScientists'' made it look like a nice little movie about silly pirates doing silly things, and while that's technically true, there's more to it than that. The movie has BlackAndGrayMorality (to the point that almost ''no one'' in the story is completely good), the onscreen deaths of two minor characters and many near-death moments, [[{{Double Entendre}} innuendos]] that don't even try to be subtle, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking jokes that'll go right over little kids' heads.]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' movies have mild swearing and sexual innuendos that most kids would laugh at, but not know why it's funny. WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird has Fiona's pregnancy in which sexual elements are also emphasized.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'' is one of Spidey's more tamer mainstream film due to being a family-friendly film in comparison to the PG-13 films Spidey had. Even then it still featured some things like some notable deaths, the lore of the Spider-People from other dimensions not being able to stay that long in Miles' dimension, and [[spoiler:Prowler's true identity who just so happens to be uncle Aaron.]]

* The original ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1'' got this reaction when we get to meet Sid, who tortures and mutilates toys, but that's nothing compared to ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3''. Lots of kids were frightened and often even left when the CymbalBangingMonkey appeared (a few theorized that the 11-year SequelGap resulted in Pixar aiming for a DarkerAndEdgier route).
** Perhaps the scariest and most horrific moment in the third film occurs at the climax, [[spoiler: when Lotso sends the toys to an incinerator ''[[UngratefulBastard after Woody and Buzz saved him]]'', and they would have died if not for the Little Green Men]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'' appears to be a BuddyCopShow film with funny animals, but is actually more mature than it seems, featuring:
** [[spoiler:Savage animals that will not think twice about attacking those nearby. There's a news report stating that one such attack actually ''leaves a citizen in critical condition'', and even shows the victim being wheeled into an ambulance by paramedics.]]
** Racial/speciesist overtones between predator/prey animals, and between prey species of different strengths and sizes. The plot itself is [[spoiler:basically about someone trying to start a ''race war'' between predators and prey]].
** Scenes and flashbacks where young Judy and young [[spoiler: Nick]] are victims of traumatic species-based physical bullying at the hands of cruel, bigoted kids and [[TraumaButton still carry the emotional scars well into adulthood]].
** [[spoiler:A scene with a location analogous to a drug lab.]]
** Naturist animals who are nude all the time, but with no proper body organs to be seen, at least.
** [[spoiler:Dawn Bellwether, a public official]], engineers the [[spoiler:murder of Judy to cover up her own agenda involving savage predators, and even remains at the scene to watch it happen.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse}}'' is one of Spidey's more tamer mainstream film due to being a family-friendly film in comparison to the PG-13 films Spidey had. Even then it still featured some things like some notable deaths, the lore of the Spider-People from other dimensions not being able to stay that long in Miles' dimension, and [[spoiler:Prowler's true identity who just so happens to be uncle Aaron.]]

* The original ''Film/{{Clash of the Titans|1981}}'' is an adventure film for kids and with cool special effects, brief scenes of a woman breastfeeding, another emerging from a bath full frontal, and Medusa getting gorily decapitated and oozing blood everywhere.
* ''Film/CloakAndDagger'': You'd think that a PG spy caper about two kids keeping a video game away from villains would be a kid-friendly romp, but it's filled with a surprising amount of bloody murder. Our kid hero is stuffed into a car trunk with a corpse on two separate occasions and even has to gun down one of the villains.

* Though still a fun family-friendly kids' movie, ''Film/ChipNDaleRescueRangers2022'' had characters being placed in a bootlegging fiasco that causes the fictional characters to be altered into some cartoonish abominations regardless if they look weird or funny yet even then the film's lore is horrific once you learn about the bootlegging process. And who could not forget the time when Sweet Pete turned into a chimera monster of various toons with a voice that alternates a lot to the point of feeling like a demon? Granted there's nothing too bad but still.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Soul}}'' doesn't have anything inappropriate and it's still a family-friendly kid's film but the theme is very mature as it talks about the meaning of life albeit in a more serious yet cartoonish way without having to be jarring. And then there is the part where [[spoiler:22 mutates into a lost soul at one point]].

** Now what about ''Puss in Boots'' you ask? Well let's talk about ''WesternAnimation/{{PussInBootsTheLastWish}}'' where it's much darker than the predecessor due to The Wolf aka Death trying to stalk and kill Puss which isn't taken comically in the first place. Not to mention that Puss only has one life left so it makes Death's vendetta for Puss more serious. Death is on par with Lord Shen in terms of darkness.
* Though not the worst example, but ''WesternAnimation/{{Sing2}}'' had a fair share of that trope all because of Jimmy Crystal who is depicted as a no-nonsense villain. You see, the film gradually reveals his true colors as a corrupt celebrity from attempting to kill Buster twice just by throwing him off a high building to hiding his true nature in public and that was not played for laughs but rather out of seriousness. Who could not forget the scene where Ash and Buster got electrocuted by Clay's fence and that was also not played for laughs and the chase scene where the guards try to capture Buster and his friends which is also not played for laughs either as you start to realize how cruel Jimmy is and he's by far the darkest villain ever put in ''Sing''.