For the majority of us, our first introduction to movies came courtesy of Walt Disney. But even though Disney films are categorized as children’s movies, there are some that most definitely are not.
Many Disney moments remain fresh in our minds and not for necessarily good reasons.
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So to reflect, here are 10+ Disney movies ranked by how badly they ruined our childhoods.
15. *The Great Mouse Detective*
I remember being terrified to sleep after watching The Great Mouse Detective as a child.
I couldn’t shake the thought of a scary peg-legged bat coming in through my window.
14. *101 Dalmations*
If a film about a woman who wants to kill a litter of puppies solely to turn their fur into a fine coat isn’t enough to throw you, watching Cruella DeVille drive like a maniac should do the trick.
13. *The Hunchback Of Notre Dame*.
Forget the fact that the film begins with Quasi Moto’s mother being murdered; this is NOT a movie for kids.
It’s a violent, emotionally abusive onslaught of a film.
12. *The Fox And The Hound*.
At its core, The Fox and the Hound is a film about two best friends who are torn apart by circumstances beyond their control.
It’s practically Shakespearean.
11. *Lady And The Tramp*.
This might have been the first time I was ever actually scared by a movie. I don’t know what it is about those cats that I find so unsettling?
Perhaps its the blatant racist undertones?
10. *Peter Pan*.
Peter Pan is a tweenage boy who breaks into children’s bedrooms, kidnaps them in the night, and whisks them off to a faraway place where they’ll never see their parents again.
You’re right, nothing wrong about that at all.
9. *The Black Cauldron*
Have you seen this movie? For one thing, it was the first Disney film to ever be rated PG-13.
If that doesn’t tell you all you need to know, I don’t know what will.
8. *The Nightmare Before Christmas*
I give you the 2nd Disney film to ever receive a PG-13 rating! Forget the terrifying animation or the fact that Halloween Town is just inherently creepy.
The song lyrics are so incredibly violent it’s not funny.
7. *The Rescuers Down Under*
The Rescuers Down Under proves that there’s nothing more dangerous than a desperate man.
The final scene with Cody and the crocodiles still gives me the willies!
6. *Sleeping Beauty*
“Before the sun sets on her 16th birthday, she shall prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel, and die.”
That’s a pretty heavy premise for a child.
5. *Beauty & The Beast*
Beauty & The Beast is a film all about the duality that exists in nature and beyond. The ugly and beautiful.
The Beast is also the stuff young children’s nightmares are made of.
4. *Bambi*
Bambi marked the first time I was ever confronted with the concept of death; the death of a parent no less.
It’s somewhat paradoxical to think about how a children’s movie can be riddled with such adult concepts.
3. *Dumbo*
This film deals heavily with bullying and concepts of child abandonment.
It’s violent, racist, and pretty heavy on the substance abuse for a kid’s movie.
2. *The Lion King*
The Lion King is a modern-day Shakespearean tragedy. I still can’t watch the stampede scene to this day.
Even now I’m getting choked up just thinking about it…
1. *Pinocchio*
This is maybe the darkest most disturbing Disney film of all. Remember the sequence where the bad little boys get turned into donkeys?
And how Pinocchio smoked and drank? Not exactly the film I’d be showing my little ones.
