You eagerly show these movies to your children, hoping that they will have the same experience that you did once upon a time. However, you notice things as an adult that perhaps you didn’t as a child. Here are 25 Shocking Moments in Disney Movies That Got a Little Too Dark Sid takes pleasure in ripping toys apart and putting them together in disturbing ways. Case in point: the mechanical spider with the baby head. It’s no wonder we jump with joy when the toys get revenge on the tormentor. In the movie, after being told by her magic mirror that Snow White was more beautiful than her, the queen falls into a jealous, murderous rage and tries to kill her innocent stepdaughter with a poisonous apple. When the main villain, Gaston, pays him to commit Belle’s father unless she marries him, D’Arque begins laughing and says, “I love it.” It makes one think twice before asking for help. Although we only see the death scene in shadows, it’s enough to implant the grizzly image in our heads. Until you realize it’s all a ploy to turn you into a slave-driven donkey constantly being whipped and screamed at. Pinocchio was one of the first Disney cartoons to explore child trafficking. If you factor in the fact that Princess Jasmine is a minor, it makes it even more cringe-worthy. We also can’t forget when Jafar tries to seduce the young princess. The film shows the couple in the early parts of their marriage. One particularly sad scene is when Carl and his wife Ellie prepare a room for their expected child only to have Ellie suffer a miscarriage. It centers on a young farm boy who must battle the evil Horned King. The Horned King is one of the more creepy Disney villains: a skull with glowing eyes, dressed in a long robe with antlers. It sounds funny now, but just picture yourself as a little kid. You might have viewed it differently as a child. Clayton locks up Tarzan, Jane, and Jane’s father and goes after the gorillas to poach them. Tarzan escapes and catches up to Clayton. He holds a machete to Clayton’s throat but drops it and spares Clayton’s life. Clayton grabs the machete and starts cutting through the vines of the jungle, chasing after Tarzan. He cuts the one that’s holding him, falls, and gets hung by one the vines. We actually see his body hanging. Top that off with a witch who can remove her head and you have a psychologically scarred child (and we’re not talking about Dorothy). Near the end, when she fails to kill the puppies, she turns mental and tries to ram the car they are in and shove it off the road. When they get older, they forget their bond for one another. When they meet face to face in a vicious fight, they try to rip each other apart. The scene is intense, to say the least (and it’s no surprise there is no “Fox and the Hound on Ice”). To sum up the story, Ursula is a sea-witch who grants wishes with a catch: that catch is usually something that can’t be undone or returned, so Ursula basically owns you. When we are introduced to Ursula, we can see miserable-looking squid people floating around her: lost souls who have succumbed to her power. Here’s a perfect family movie recipe. Take a sweet, innocent, adorable, baby deer. Introduce his caring mother, who loves and protects him. Have the audience grow to love the mother as well. Then have her get killed by a hunter. Yes, this scene did traumatize a lot of kids back in the day, and some likely remember the strong impact it had. Well, as adults, we might get some interesting visuals if we’ve had too much to drink. However, children may not be able to quite grasp this yet … nor should they. In Toy Story 3, when Woody and his friends are going to be burned alive in a giant incinerator, rather than fight, they hold hands and accept their fate. And don’t forget the power-hungry dictator who will cut your head off if you even breathe near her. (There’s also that chilling smile the Chesire cat manifests on a regular basis.) He also is tormented by the townspeople. When he meets a beautiful gypsy named Esmerelda, who is kind to him, he thinks he may have found love. But, alas there is a handsome guy who catches her heart and Quasi watches the two kiss as we watch his heart break. There is a particular scene in which she and her fellow warriors come back to their village only to find that it’s been destroyed and everybody killed. What makes it more unsettling is there was a big musical number right before the scene. When the villain Dr. Facilier (a.k.a. the Shadow Man) is dragged to Hell for eternity, the demons (or whatever you want to call them) take him out with a catchy musical number that only Disney can do. We’re guessing that a family therapist probably wouldn’t help this dynamic. Thank goodness the huntsman had a heart. Sensitive young viewers might find this troubling. The death of the parent is a theme we definitely see a lot of in Disney movies. He forms a mob with the paranoid people and they chant, “Kill the beast!” as they make their way to his castle. It’s a little terrifying. There are many religious overtones in this movie. Keep in mind that, like many Disney films, it is based on a book. (The book doesn’t end so well.) His evil uncle, who actually murdered Simba’s father, then convinces the young cub that Simba is to blame for Mufasa’s death. (It sounds like the type of drama found in a Shakespeare play.)
