These movies from the House of Mouse are more disturbing than they appear! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Disney films with a serious dark side.
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00:00You know what's on my mind? You'll be dead before you can get to her.
00:03That's not a problem, is it?
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the Disney films with a serious dark side.
00:10So typical of your kind to twist the truth to cloud the mind with unholy thoughts.
00:17Number 10, The Beast's Curse, Beauty and the Beast.
00:20The devil's in the details when it comes to this animated Disney classic.
00:24We're speaking specifically of how the prince in Beauty and the Beast is transformed into this titular self.
00:28On winter's night, an old beggar woman came to the castle and offered him a single rose in return for shelter from the bitter cold.
00:39The 1991 film version contains a beggar woman who curses the prince, but La Belle et la Bête adds a sexual twist.
00:46The OG fairy tale includes a literal fairy, and it's this fairy that serves as a guardian for the prince after the deaths of his parents.
00:53Ashamed of his monstrous form, the beast concealed himself inside his castle with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world.
01:03This fairy actually grooms the prince as a romantic interest, but she ends up turning him into the beast because he spurns her advances.
01:09This definitely wouldn't have flown with Disney then or now.
01:12I warned you never to come here!
01:15I didn't mean any harm!
01:16Do you realize what you could have done?!
01:20Stop!
01:21Get out!
01:23Number 9 – The Real Snow Queen – Frozen
01:26The inherent darkness present within most classic fairy tales is fairly well known at this point.
01:31Your power will only grow.
01:35There is beauty in it, but also great danger.
01:41Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen is no different, although at least both the Disney version and its source material include happy endings.
01:47The differences here involve the journey and the adult themes of death and humanity.
01:51The devil himself actually appears in the Hans Christian Andersen tale, creating a mirror that, when eventually shattered, creates shards of hate that embed themselves within the people's eyes.
02:00No, stop!
02:01But then she doomed herself, and you were dumb enough to go after her.
02:05Please!
02:06All that's left now is to kill Elsa.
02:09The Snow Queen isn't a hero in this story either, instead imprisoning a boy named Kai, leaving it up to the boy's best friend, Gerda, to mount a rescue.
02:17Anna? But she froze your heart.
02:20The only frozen heart around here is yours.
02:24Number 8 – Disney-fied for the win? – The Fox and the Hound
02:29Disney's 1981 adaptation of the 1967 novel by Daniel P. Mannix changed a lot from the source material.
02:36I don't want to see you get killed.
02:38Break him down, boy!
02:43I'll let you go this one time.
02:45This may be a good thing, however, if we're being honest, because we don't feel that Mannix's original manuscript would have made for a good children's film.
02:52For starters, the friendship at the core of Disney's version doesn't last too long in the book, with Todd and Copper primarily being at odds.
02:59If it's the last thing I do, I'll... I'll get you for this!
03:05There's also a lot of depressing deaths to be found in Mannix's novel, including Chief the Hound, Todd, and even Copper himself, at the hands of Master, no less.
03:14Sure, Disney's The Fox and the Hound has some tense moments, but we're honestly glad they changed things up.
03:18Your foot is bending fine. You'll soon be yourself.
03:23Oh, man's sakes. I don't know if I like that.
03:27Number 7 – Pan's Darkness – Peter Pan
03:30We don't really need to tell you guys the problematic nature of both the original Peter Pan novel as well as Disney's 1953 film adaptation.
03:37Much has been made about the film's song, What Made the Red Man Red, and its depiction of indigenous peoples.
03:42Quite savage, you know.
03:43Let's go get him!
03:44Come on, we'll get him!
03:45Gentlemen!
03:46Gentlemen!
03:48First, we must plan our strategy.
03:49Additionally, the Peter Pan archetype is often portrayed in a negative light with regard to immature and arguably toxic masculinity.
03:56Go on. Go back and grow up.
03:59But I'm warning you. Once you're grown up, you can never come back. Never!
04:06That said, the original play and novel feature Captain Hook getting devoured by that devious crocodile.
04:11While it's also heavily implied that Pan utilizes lethal force to thin out his lost boy horde.
04:16It's me!
04:20It's me!
04:22It's me!
04:24Number 6 – A Prince's Burden – Tangled
04:27Now look what you've done, Rapunzel.
04:30Oh, don't worry, dear. Our secret will die with him.
04:34The finales of both Rapunzel and Tangled, like Frozen and The Snow Queen, wind up happily resolved.
04:40However, the prince in the OG by the Brothers Grimm certainly has a tough time of it, after being tossed from Rapunzel's tower by the Wicked Witch.
04:47Everything is going to be okay, though.
04:48No, Rapunzel!
04:49I promise, you have to trust me.
04:51No!
04:51Come on, just breathe.
04:53I can't let you do this.
04:55And I can't let you die.
04:57He's blinded by the fall, and it isn't until the prince is finally reunited with Rapunzel, guided by her singing, that her tears restore his sight.
05:03It's all a bit more harrowing, and we struggle to think of how the Disney team could have thought up a song highlighting these dark events that Mandy Moore could have performed.
05:11Bring back what once was mine.
05:18What once was mine.
05:20Number 5 – Mythology and Murder – Hercules
05:23Did anybody really think that the Disney version of Hercules and his labors could possibly approach the violent and sexualized original myths?
05:31The gods of Mount Olympus are constantly siring children, with and without the consent of their partners, and Hercules was no exception.
05:38Here, keep those away from the baby.
05:41Oh, he won't hurt himself.
05:43Let the kid have a little fun.
05:46Zeus and Hera are portrayed as a loving couple and supportive parents in Disney's film, but the Greek myths make it a point to underline Zeus' frequent infidelity.
05:54But why did you leave me on Earth?
05:56Didn't you want me?
05:57Of course we did.
05:59Your mother and I loved you with all our hearts.
06:02Hera was also jealous of Hercules' entire existence, and made it a point in the myths to make attempts on his life.
06:08After all, Hercules was a constant reminder of her philandering husband.
06:11You were willing to give your life to rescue this young woman?
06:16For a true hero isn't measured by the size of his strength, but by the strength of his heart.
06:23Number 4 – Misbehaving Children – Pinocchio
06:27Here's a question.
06:28What did you take from Disney's 1940 adaptation of Carlo Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio?
06:33Did the themes of honesty ring out to you?
06:35Of a father's love?
06:36And I get a cunt?
06:37A crunch.
06:39And someday, I'm gonna be a real boy.
06:42A real boy. It's my wish. It's come true.
06:46Collodi's Pinocchio is, in all honesty, a pretty bad boy.
06:49He winds up killing the cricket character, and gets both himself and his father Geppetto tossed in jail.
06:55Oh boy, a scrap!
06:58Come on, let's go in and poke somebody in the nose.
07:00Why?
07:00Ah, just for the fun of it.
07:02Okay, Lampy!
07:03Collodi met his Pinocchio as a primer of what not to do for its audience of children and their parents.
07:09There was little in the way of tenderness or understanding here.
07:12But instead, a cautionary tale of fear to keep naughty, misbehaving kids in line.
07:17Pinocchio!
07:21Oh, Pinocchio!
07:24Pinocchi-
07:25Ah!
07:27Number 3, No Happy Endings.
07:30The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
07:31On one hand, we get it.
07:33Claude Frollo is one of literature's great villains,
07:35and we want Quasimodo to exact some vengeance for all of his mistreatment.
07:39This is an unholy demon.
07:40I'm sending it back to hell, where it belongs.
07:43See there, the innocent blood you have spilt on the steps of Notre Dame.
07:49That said, the original manuscript from Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame
07:53does showcase Frollo in a semi-sympathetic light during its onset.
07:56However, Esmeralda is also depicted as a teenager,
07:59yet Frollo also lusts after her in a fashion similar to the Disney version.
08:03What are you doing?
08:05I was just imagining a rope around that beautiful neck.
08:10I know what you're imagining.
08:12Frollo winds up having her killed after she spurns his advances.
08:15Quasimodo murders him in retaliation,
08:17and dies of a broken heart alongside Esmeralda's corpse.
08:20Listen to me, Quasimodo.
08:22No, you listen.
08:23All my life, you have told me that the world is a dark, cruel place,
08:27but now I see that the only thing dark and cruel about it is people like you.
08:36Disney's adaptation of English author Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book
08:39was probably the first time many young audiences were exposed to the man's work.
08:43Shere Khan has returned to this part of the jungle,
08:48and he has sworn to kill you.
08:50Kill me?
08:51But why would he want to do that?
08:53He hates man.
08:55Kipling was born in British India,
08:56and it was living under these circumstances that provided a huge influence on his art,
09:00including his Jungle Book duology,
09:02as well as a poem titled The White Man's Burden.
09:05A man-cup!
09:06Oh, this is treason!
09:08Sabotage!
09:09I'll have no man-cup in my jungle!
09:12It's not your jungle!
09:13Disney's The Jungle Book presents characters and imagery
09:16that mirror Britain's own colonialist approach to Indian rule.
09:19While Kipling's source material further explains Shere Khan's motivations against humanity,
09:23he's scared and angry after an altercation when he was younger
09:26left him with physical and emotional scars.
09:29Everyone runs from Shere Khan.
09:33You don't scare me.
09:35I won't run from anyone.
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09:55Disney's Pocahontas was largely criticized
09:58even at the time of its initial release for its historical inaccuracy.
10:02All around you are spirits, child.
10:05They live in the earth, the water, the sky.
10:10If you listen, they will guide you.
10:13The story of the real-life Pocahontas is unfortunately
10:16one of colonial violence, tragedy, and injustice.
10:20She was known as both Amanute and Matawaka in her tribe,
10:23and she was younger than 10 when a nearly 30-year-old John Smith
10:26entered her village under a pretense of aggression.
10:29My name is Pocahontas.
10:36I'm John Smith.
10:38Her husband was eventually murdered.
10:40Her life traded for a copper pot.
10:42The historical Pocahontas was essentially kidnapped,
10:45anglicized, and utilized as a political tool.
10:47It should be said that there is evidence that Pocahontas,
10:50now named Rebecca, eventually came to love her English husband John Rolfe,
10:53but the cinematic love story between her and Smith is unequivocally false.
10:57You have to go back.
10:59But I can't leave you.
11:01You never will.
11:03No matter what happens, I'll always be with you.
11:07Forever.
11:08Did any of these stories shock you?
11:10Let us know in the comments.
11:12I can't be bothered with that.
11:13I have no time for that sort of nonsense.
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