If we missed any of your favorite surprisingly dark Disney movies, let us know below, and be sure to also check out our video of the Top 10 Things Only Adults Understand About Disney Villains: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rLSeaNR2q8vblqs.htmlsi=hUyupEHrvZLBp8LU

Back then Disney was okay with making traumatizing dark moments in kid movies. Pinocchio was just pure grim.

In the 1950s, Pinnochio was the first Disney animated film I ever saw in a movie theater. I remember feeling its impact and walked out of the theater as a life-long Disney fan. BTW, critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes give Pinnochio a 100% rating.

Brother Bear (my favorite) Yeah, Sika dies sacrificing himself. Kenai kills a bear in cold blood. When Kenai is a bear, his brother Denhi hunts him, trying to kill him. And oh yea, you find out Kenai killed Koda's mother in the beginning.

Thank you for showing us all 20 good G-rated/PG-rated Disney movies with surprisingly dark scenes.

Putting aside that Mufasa’s death makes me cry every time I watch it, but Pinocchio was the one that made me go to school because those boys who were mischievous would turn into donkeys and that scared me as a kid. The Fox and The Hound is a sad movie, given that it reflects in life that people go through separate ways it makes me sad that Tod and Copper will never be friends anymore

The older Disney films are darker as a general rule, but part of that is because they weren't actually "kids" movies. My dad told me that back in the 30's, 40's, and 50's, adults would go to see these films on their own for dates, or even for the novelty of seeing them because an animated film only came out once in a while and it wasn't like you could see them anytime you wanted (no DVDs or VHS back then). So naturally, the content had to satisfy all ages, sometimes at the expense of a child's sleep that night.

I have been watching all these so called “dark movies” ever since I was a kid and not once did they ever traumatize me. They actually fascinated me. I mean Disney movies shouldn’t be just for kids, right?

I really don't get why so many people hate on the Black Cauldron, I really liked it, and still think it's good.

One of the ones that surprised me about how dark it is is Beauty And The Beast because as a child you don’t remember the abuse and attempting to kill the beast. And again Peter Pan with how dark that is.

The characters in "Alice in Wonderland" were a little creepy. Still, the Cheshire Cat was a very cute animal

The Hunchback of Notre Dame to me is the darkest disney movie of its time.

I think a dark moment I always think of in a Disney film is from Treasure Planet when Mr Arrow falls into a blackhole after his lifeline rope is cut. Also there is a lot of explosions, a creepy skeleton, a mutiny and a few pirates die, not the usual prince and princess story, and I’ve always loved Treasure Planet since I was 8, shame never a sequel.

Pinocchio really left me traumatized as a child, when the kids are transformed in donkeys.. For me it was enough with watch it one time..Mufasa's death actually broke my heart when Simba begs him to wake up, and Scar blames him. In Bambi the dark moment also was the fire in the forest< Snowhite is just as terrifying as Pinocchio, too. Toy Story 3 also rewatching it, it terrifies me how twisted Lotso is when torturing other toys, but especially when as a child I saw WWoody and the toys in the incinerator, being faced with death and it seemed real that they were going to die

The Brave Little Toaster is pretty dark. From a flower dying of depression to the scary clown to the blender being torn apart to the magnet and the crusher.

I love Peter Pan because it's difficult to know if he's a good or bad guy when it's clear he enjoys both.

Night in Bald Mountain is not the only dark moment in Fantasia. Remember the scene where the T-Rex kills the stegosaurus?!

"Pinocchio" traumatised me for life, especially when the wayward boys started morphing into donkeys.

I'm surprised these weren't considered surprisingly dark: .Beauty and the Beast (1991) .The Little Mermaid (1989) .Treasure Planet (2002) .Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988) .Oliver and Company (1988)

One you missed: Oliver and Company. On the surface, it’s a light-hearted romp about talking animals overcoming the odds for a better life. But the movie has very strong overtones about poverty, homelessness, and social class, with the main conflict centered around a homeless pickpocket owing money to a seedy gangster. And the opening scene of Oliver not being adopted and instead being abandoned is on the short list of biggest gut punches in Disney history.

9:16 Chernabog is literally over the top because he’s the baddest of the bad.

One of the dark moments that I find in the Disney movie is at the end of Robin Hood when the sheriff goes after him with fire and he's almost killed

Sure, Pinocchio is a dark movie. But it’s dark because it was making a point: be a good boy and you won’t end up looking like a jackass!

learning of the peter pan back story petrified me. watching it as a child i didn’t realize how dark it was but as an adult i can see bits and pieces of the back story come to life in the animated film.

#11: Just the ending scene? Don't forget The Rite of Spring.

The Black cauldron was first a book by by Loyd Alexander and Disney thought that it would make a great film for Halloween time.

One thing that is often forgotten is that, especially the earliest movies Walt himself helmed, he wasn't making them for kids specifically. His target audience was adults, as he felt animation was a vehicle for storytelling just like live action with fewer physical limitations. Like puppetry in Europe or animation elsewhere in the world. It's the American notion that such things are for kids that leads us to judge them on their appropriateness for kids.

The part that frightened me the most in Fantasia was the Stravinsky part with the dinosaurs because their fate never failed to break my heart when i was watching... and the musix is kinda scary. Also, the scene from Snow White with the skeleton is the one that horrified me the most bc of its cruelty .. With the transformation part of course.

Let's not forget that in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" in the first 5 minutes Quasimodo's mother is killed on screen. That sets the tone.

Common misconception. Disney stumbled into children's animation. When he made Snow White, it wasn't meant for children

A lot of these Disney films come from dark stories, always darker than the Disney adaptation.

What about Peter Pan...? Let's say Neverland is a dangerous place where mermaids try to drown and kill Wendy, Captain Hook tries to slaughter Peter Pan for cutting Hook's hand off and fed it to a crocodile hunting him forever, Some kids almost got burned, Peter Pan kidnap boys and made them lost. Yeah, that's dark.

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Of coursei agree with these pics, and concidentally, all of these movies were my childhood. Have a happy monday morning, Emily. Take care and God bless you, greetings from Colombia to you as well.

The hunchback of Notre Dame gave me a very unrealistic idea of what a gypsy was

The live action remakes are way darker than the animated ones.

The first five minutes or so of "Return to Neverland" are also a bit dark. It's a pretty realistic depiction of what it was like to live in London during the Blitz, especially if you were a child at that time, but it's not so terrifying that kids would be scared to watch it, and it's a good way to introduce children to WW2 history from a child's perspective. As an adult, I think it's probably one of the best opening sequences of an animated Disney film with a historic setting!

Gotta give it to Pinocchio where Pinocchio wws drinking and smoking on Pleasure Island and Lion King when Scar kills Mufasa by pushing him off a cliff into the heard of Hyenas and wildebeests

I would included Oliver and Company. While it is a talking animal comedy full with musical numbers, goofy shenanigans and cute bonding. But we have to remember it's still an adaptation of a dark Charles Dickens book. It's pretty unflinching movie right from the start, the film opens up with a kitten all alone in the rain and then chased by ferocious dogs over a wire fence. There's a rough realism to the film's urban setting too, it's not just a spooky forest nor a fairy tale, it's a shady part of an American City where real world threats lurk around every corner. Skyes is surprisingly a pretty dark villain, because he doesn't hold any of traits or tropes that you'd expect from a Disney baddie. He has no musical numbers, he doesn't have an exaggerated campy personality, no supernatural powers and his design isn't colorful or quickly, he a very real loan shrak that's been animated and voiced like a cold gangster from a Scorsese movie, it's almost like he doesn't belong in a Disney film.

That "Disney Fantasia" gave me nightmares. Especially the "Pink Elephants" from "Dumbo" movie.

No. 17, still one of my favorite CG animated Disney movies of all time here. And I'm very excited for the sequel soon 🦊❤️🐰

Mostly it is said that 'Night on the Bald Mountain' is the most scary part of Fantasia. But the scene from 'Sacre du Printemps' in which the land dried out and the dinosaurs starved, also freaked me out as a child.

With the content in the Hunchback of Notre Dame movie, I'm surprised that it wasn't voted as number 1

FINALLY!!! Thank you for finally acknowledging the birds in the grass in "Bambi". To me, that scene was 10x worse than the death of Bambi's mother. I'm almost 60 years old and I'm still crying over that scene here.

Am I the only one who sees Bambi darker than Pinocchio? Jezz, that movie traumatised me.

To this day Pinocchio still freaks me out. I only watched once when I was kid and never watched it again I still freak out with the turning into Donkeys scene especially if I lied to my mum she told me I would turn into donkey if I kept Lying to her so at the time I thought it was true so I never tried to lie to her after that.

I'm surprised Atlantis the Lost Empire didn't get an honorable mention as theres a high death count in that especially at the beginning when Atlantis sinks with half the population dying. BTW i know the Jungle book isn't quite as dark as the others on this list but originally they were going 2 make it darker but Walt Disney decided 2 make it more light hearted.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame. When Frollo was chasing the mother, the horse terrified me. Still do when I watch that scene

Fairy tales from around the world going back many centuries traditionally are dark. They often feature children who are orphaned, or abandoned, or abused, or simply lost. Their journey brings them through obstacles, challenges and hazards that would be equally difficult for adults. Many fairy tales include deaths, near-deaths, or illnesses and may include undeserved incarceration or unfair punishments. The children learn self-reliance, independence, creativity, ingenuity, and almost always grow emotionally and psychologically in addition to physically and mentally. When a death of the main character occurs, there is often a redemption and the goal is to instill those aspects of growth in the listener or reader of the fairy tale. Perhaps, because in prior times children were exposed to or surrounded by so many diseases, terrible accidents and deaths, stories developed to help make sense of the world and reinforce the idea that hope always existed and that positive efforts were worth pursuing.

We also have to remember that the old/classic Disney movies were trying to teach kids lessons; for example, in The Fox and the Hound, friends do go their separate ways. It also just reflects reality, hounds ARE bred to hunt foxes simply because of the latter's nature to wreak havoc on farmers.

Those are the kinds of movies that I like the most. Fun, happy movies are also my favorite, but there's just something about those Disney movies that intrigues me: a perfect balance between light-heartedness and grim darkness. The yin to the yang, you know. Nowadays, Disney movies feel off-balance, leaning more towards the yin than the yang to please some sissy snowflakes. Well, all of that is going to change once I get a job at Disney as a 2-D artist. I'll get those kinds of movies back. I'll make new movies that showcase the perfect balance between light-hearted moments and dark, grim moments.

Creepiest part of any Disney movie ever is when Lampwick turns into a donkey. It scared me as a kid and I’m almost 20 and it still scares me. Snow White running through the forest was scary as a kid but the whole concept of a stepmother trying to take her stepdaughter’s heart out is much creepier once you get older and realize what’s going on.

Good thing walt Disney is not around to see what a colossal disasterous mess his legacy has become today.

The misconception of Pinocchio he’s all joy and laughs but his world is absolutely grim

The Fox and the Hound is one of those movies that Disney always seems to forget about. You hardly ever see any merchandise related to it, and there have never been cast members dressed up as Tod and Copper at any park (I don't think?). Which is surprising, since it has good animation and a good story. I mean, it's no Lion King, but I wish it got more love.

What about Treasure Planet!? That movie has some insanely tense moments.

why should it be 'surprising' that THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME is dark, given the source material? What's surprising is how it was jollied up, with the fake beautiful=good message and Frollo being uncomplicatedly bad rather than tragic.

Saw "Snow White" for the first time when I was six. Those creepy trees which scared her in the forest had me VERY glad my Dad was with me when we saw the shadows of tree branches across the house as we came home!

Excellent list! I thought that The Black Cauldron was going to be #1, but I agree with Pinocchio. I think that all of Disney movies have something dark within them.

Fantasia man that part of the movie still scares the crap out of me.

When my late grandfather took my (now late) mother to see "Snow White" at the movies - she must have been about 3 - she screamed and hid under her chair, when she saw the witch. So she wasn't taken back to the movies, for a while

I could be mistaken here. But, it seems like adults are more scared of these things than kids are nowadays. I saw The Black Cauldron when I was 6 and Fantasia when I was 7 and was then convinced that Disney was a unique company than made horror movies for kids. Disney knows that many kids love to get spooked. It is so much fun. I loved them all then. I am 38 and still love them now. 👍😉

The Incredibles is actually dark, it shows a middle age crisis and Syndrome killed dozens of heroes, and Mr Incredible's reaction when he finds out that Elastigirl and Frozone are still alive

how did we not notice this as kids

You pick Fantasia for the Chernabog section, and while that is indeed dark, I think the scene is with the dinosaurs where the t-rex literally kills a stegosaurus on-screen is darker.

Peter Pan you missed for sure

Wiggins one liner kills me every time 😂 he delivers it so nonchalantly

The Black Cauldron and The Hunchback of Notre Dame are two of the most underrated Disney films ever. They just go to show that just because a film is dark in tone doesn't mean it's unsuitable for younger audiences

There is a truth you come to realize about most of these movies as you get older - they are so frightening, or heartbreaking, because they are SO GOOD.

Finally!!

We need this disney back

Fantasia also had the Rite of Spring segment with the volcanic eruptions, the microscopic forms, and Dinosaurs. The dino segment wasn't scary but had that bit with Tyrannosaurus and Stegosaurus that was pretty dark, soon after you hv the drought bit where the dinos die out.

I will admit that some scenes were pretty dark for Disney to do for kids, but at the same time, kids these days are being raised on Marvel, Star Wars, and, good grief, what else. In some ways, kids are also being raised too sensitive.

200: The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr Toad scared me when I was a kid. I wasn’t a fan of the ride

And to think most of the movies on this list were made all the way bac tok when they first released Snow White all the way up to the end of the Disney renaissance. And since it was a different time it's really not all that surprising that Disney went through a phase of making dark films.

Anastasia isn't a Disney movie but the villain scared the shit out of me as a kid. He legit sold his soul with the purpose of getting the royal family killed

Great picks! Pinocchio surely deserves #1!

Definitely a great list. I'd have added Beauty and the Beast somewhere but nonetheless I can't argue with your selections

Why the heck did you not mention my favourite Disney movie dinosaur?!!! It has literally the scariest Disney or even another villain I’ve ever seen in my life, that still gives me nightmares to this day in the Carnotaurs, Not to mention the whole movie is about survival and near death!!!

Pinocchio and Zootopia are my favorite ones by far because of this. However, I do like also The Lion King, Hunchback of Notredame and Tarzan.

Alice in Wonderland, Zootopia, Sleeping Beauty, Fantastia and 101 Dalmatians are lighthearted movies with dark scenes, there’s a difference between that and dark movies. Dumbo and Bambi are more depressing than dark, although dark movies can be depressing too.

I definitely agree with this list.

The fact you do not have "Song of the South" on here is bizarre, it treats slavery like a party at times and at other times like it really was

If Pinocchio was released today, due to the word Jackass being used at least once in the movie, it would’ve gotten a PG rating.

Omg Dumbo came out in the 1940s 🥺

I think the darkest Disney movie that i ever watched was probably between Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Sleeping Beauty, but like could you imagine like pricking yourself on a spinning wheel and fall asleep into a death like sleep and never awake that TERRIFIED me as a kid, like literal terror.

Hunchback is my favourite man class film with the best Disney villain ever

I saw Pinocchio when I was 8 years old. I still remember laughing my head off when seeing Lampwick transform. I thought of him as a bad boy getting what he deserved. The word scary would not have clicked for me then and still doesn’t now. Today’s Disney watchers are wimps. 🙄

For years, I couldn't bear to watch "Night on Bald Mountain", it had terrified me so much!

I remember being terrified of those scenes in Dumbo and similar scenes in Winnie the Pooh. I didn’t see Black Cauldron until later and thought it was cool. However, if we can remember that the 80s was the time of Unico, The Last Unicorn, and the Rainbow Brite movie with that black vacuous villain, Black Cauldron just fits that culture.

Its a shame that Disney don't use opportunity for making a live action remake of the Black Cauldron cause if Disney could execute it so well , It will be smashing success

What about "Dinosaur (2000)"? We have an apocalypse which wipes away an entire island and most of its inhabitants (besides the protagonist and his family), countless of dinos and an entire species with the exception of one speciman, dinos forced to migrate across a desert under the command of a tyrant while they lose members of the herd due starvation, dehydration and/or heath, predators stalking them and we also see the carnivores attacking and eating their preys on screen, violent scenes, characters dying in traumatic ways and a movie who has no qualms about showing blood. Just like your typical Disney movie...

I totally agree that all these are dark movies 😮

20. I remember watching this movie. I'm surprised that you didn't mention the Rhino. There was something mysterious yet nightmarish about it. 😰 19. Mulan is a Disney movie that centers around a war. I mean, that's a very heavy topic for a kids film. Also, fun fact, Mulan is the only Disney Princess with a Kill Count. 18. Toy Story 3 was the perfect finale for the franchise! Toy Story 4's ending was very disappointing.☹️ I wish the fifth movie will right the wrongs of 4. 17. That's one of the best Disney movies in my opinion. At least the shock collar isn't in the final cut. That detail would have made the movie really bleak.😢 16. When you pose at the right time, you can see Clayton's hanged body's shadow. WTF 🥶 15. Fun fact: Madame Medusa was originally going to be Cruella De Vil, but then they decided to make her an original character. 14. And speaking of Cruella... 13. The art style of this movie is top notch.😍 Way ahead of its time! 12. Personally, I don't remember being disturbed by the Pink Elephants. 11. Never watched this film, but I will watch it one day. Though the Bald Mountain segment is freaked up, really. Fun fact: The art director of that segment was Kay Nielsen, the most important fairy tale book illustrator from Denmark. 10. Not a dark movie. Quite trippy, though. 9. Quite of a tear jerking movie. 🥺 The original book is 100% darker. Todd by the way is freaking cute as a cub! 8. As for the Headless Horseman segment, when I was young I thought that Icabott Crane survived and started a family. Later on, I learned that this was just a speculation scene and not what really happened. Instead, we don't know what happened to him. Yikes, Disney. 7. Great movie. Also the vultures that follow the Evil Queen are a great detail, well ahead of its time. The skeleton prisoner with the vase though... 😱 6. A masterpiece! But yeah, it can get pretty dark. This movie contains easily the darkest and most mature example of sibling rivalry in a kids movie. 5. Cuuuuuute!!!!! 4. The "Savages" song is the most risky song Disney ever created. How they got away with it in the 90s? 3. Underrated masterpiece! ❤ And a dark yet beautiful movie. 2. What was Disney thinking back in the 80s? 1. Three words: THE. DONKEY. SCENE. 😭 The poor boys!!! Frick that Coachman 😡! I remember I was 11 when I first watched this movie. I didn't knew this... thing was in the Pinocchio story, though I knew from merchandise that Pinocchio had donkey ears but I didn't know why. Then I learned. I was crying genuinely at the scene with the donkeys, especially when Alexander said "I wanna go home to my mama". Those boys will never see their parents again. Their mothers will propably grieve so much for them, to the point they might become suicidal zombies. Why Disney why??????

The Black Cauldron came out the year i was born (1985), i saw Hunchback of Notre Dame with i was 11 and boy is it dark, Hellfire's a great song though =)

Black cauldron was also the first to use computer animation. It’s one of my favorites, and It’s the only live action movie I desire from Disney

The Black Cauldron was one of my top favorites

Fun fact: Lewis Carrol, author of Alice in Wonderland only wrote books as a hobby. His actual career was as a Math professor

When you think of dark films you almost never think of Disney