Revisiting old children's movies can be fun for nostalgia, though they tend to be far darker than we remember them. Here are some examples.
Summary
- Beloved childhood favorites can be much darker in retrospect, exploring complex and disturbing themes that may not be suitable for children today.
- Movies like The Last Unicorn and Watership Down delve into dark themes such as species endangerment and cannibalistic violence, making them visibly distressing for young viewers.
- Even seemingly innocent movies such as Harry Potter and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory have darker undertones, addressing child abuse and mistreatment of students, and featuring surreal and frightening scenes that can be disturbing in hindsight.
Many beloved childhood favorites are actually much darker movies in retrospect. Like any facet of the film industry, kids' movies are constantly evolving based on societal standards and current industry guidelines. Though it's mainly the case with older classics, many family-friendly movies are much darker than one realizes when viewing them as a child due to underlying complex ideas of harsh realities. Children's movies should certainly introduce young audiences to moral concepts and relatively tricky themes, but sometimes even G-rated movies have slipped in dim moments that don't belong.
While some movies explore these themes appropriately, others have haunting imagery, such as the witches in the Rold Dahl adaptation, The Witches, or Jim Henson's Skeksis in The Dark Crystal. In other movies, the film barely touches on the dark nature of its reality realities, leaving audiences to ponder deeper messages about the characters' lives, such as fratricide in The Lion King or the mistreatment of students at Hogwarts in the Harry Potter franchise. Several classic movies are darker than they seemed as kids.
11 The Last Unicorn
Directed by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass (1982)
The Last Unicorn is a forgotten '80s fantasy classic that's actually great, though it probably isn't acceptable for children by modern standards. The film follows a unicorn who believes herself to be the last of her kind, setting out on an adventure to find others. It's a challenging movie with bizarre moments of violence and nudity on top of its dark themes about species endangerment.
10 Something Wicked This Way Comes
Directed by Jack Clayton (1983)
Based on the fantastic Ray Bradbury novel of the same name, Something Wicked This Way Comes stars Jason Robards and Jonathan Pryce, as well as its two lead child actors. It's a PG-rated horror/fantasy movie about an ominous carnival that comes to town, led by the twisted Mr. Dark, who preys upon the locals, including children. The film has spooky-looking characters, such as clowns and other circus freaks, but its true darkness is in its faithful adaptation of the book's themes.
9 Watership Down
Directed by Martin Rosen and John Hubley (1978)
Based on the classic novel of the same name, Watership Down is about a group of rabbits embarking on a perilous journey to find a new home. In their travels, they encounter various threats to their survival. While it may be an animated film about animals, it explores complex, grim themes and even displays truly gruesome cannibalistic violence between rabbits. Watership Down is one of the more visibly distressing children's films, and the bloody rabbit violence scene was traumatizing for many.
8 The Witches
Directed by Nicolas Roeg (1990)
The Witches is another children's movie that's dark and challenging to get through for a child. Not to be confused with the 2020 remake, the 1990 version is considered a classic kids' movie, following a young boy who stumbles upon a group of witches planning to turn kids into mice. The Witches' natural appearances are downright terrifying, far surpassing the Wicked Witch of the West in terms of a frightening villain.
7 Coraline
Directed by Henry Selick (2009)
Coraline
- Release Date
- February 5, 2009
- Director
- Henry Selick
- Cast
- Dakota Fanning , Teri Hatcher , Jennifer Saunders , Dawn French , Keith David , John Hodgman
- Runtime
- 100 minutes
Coraline is a relatively modern animated horror movie for kids, offering an aesthetic similar to films like The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride, based on a Neil Gaiman novella. It tells the story of a young girl who discovers an idealistic parallel world but quickly realizes it holds its own darkness. It's a classic tale of a character learning the grass isn't necessarily greener elsewhere, though in this case, Coraline experiences some twisted things first. The Other Mother character is terrifying, even for an adult viewer.
6 The Dark Crystal
Directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz (1982)
Like The Witches, The Dark Crystal has some terrifying characters. Jim Henson, who created the Muppets, directed the classic '80s dark fantasy movie alongside frequent collaborator Frank Oz, telling the story of a young character who goes on a quest to heal the Dark Crystal and defeat the Skeksis. The puppet creatures of the Skeksis are eerie and creepy and participate in some violent scenes. In retrospect, The Dark Crystal is hard to pass as a kid's movie.
5 Return To Oz
Directed by Walter Murch (1985)
The 1980s sequel to The Wizard of Oz, Return to Oz, is a twisted, dark children's movie that misses much of the original film's charm. Following Dorothy in her return to Oz, she finds it in ruins and must team with new companions and battle new villains to save the once-magical land. Only it's a darker, more surreal film than the original, with scary characters and a generally unsettling atmosphere. The villain carries her own head around and has terrifying minions called the Wheelers that don't belong in a kids' movie.
4 Pinocchio
Directed by Ben Sharpsteen and Hamilton Luske (1940)
Despite many modern iterations, the original Pinocchio is still one of the best Disney animated movies and a pop culture staple. Pinocchio is a classic children's fairytale about a wooden puppet brought to life, embarking on a journey to become a real human boy. Looking back on the film after nearly a century, strange choices were made for a kids' story, as it has subjects of child kidnapping and trafficking, including children in cages at a place called "Pleasure Island."
3 Harry Potter
Eight films from 2001 through 2011.
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is one of the most popular media franchises of the 21st century, and while it certainly doesn't hide many of its dark ideas, some fly under the radar within the context of the movies. Aside from children being used to battle an oppressive, evil mastermind, the Harry Potter universe sees child abuse and mistreatment of students in almost every installment. There are several scenes in the Harry Potter books that were too dark for the movies, but even still, many of the darker subject matters, like Harry having PTSD and no adults ever addressing it, are apparent in the films when watching as an adult.
2 The Wizard Of Oz
Directed by Victor Fleming (1939)
The Wizard of Oz
- Release Date
- August 25, 1939
- Director
- Victor Fleming
- Cast
- Margaret Hamilton , Jack Haley , Judy Garland , Bert Lahr , Ray Bolger
- Runtime
- 102 minutes
The Wizard of Oz is one of the greatest movies ever made and seems like one almost every child has seen. Aside from the behind-the-scenes Wizard of Oz stories like the Dead Munchkin myth or the life of Judy Garland, the film has darkness in its own story. The Wicked Witch and her flying monkeys are terrifying and intense, but the aspect that's most dark in retrospect is that the Witch's real-world counterpart, Miss Gulch, is never accounted for at the end. She'd likely return to have Toto taken away shortly after the film's ending.
1 Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory
Directed by Mel Stuart (1971)
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
- Release Date
- June 30, 1971
- Director
- Mel Stuart
- Cast
- Jack Albertson , gene wilder , Peter Ostrum , Denise Nickerson , Julie Dawn Cole
- Runtime
- 100 minutes
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is another classic musical kid's movie that's considered timeless. Looking back, the film has some surreal and frightening scenes, specifically when the characters travel through the "Tunnel of Terror." It's still a brilliant classic, but in many ways, the film is scarier and more disturbing fifty years later.
