I watched The Iron Giant for the first time recently.

Are you familiar with this kids’ movie?

I gotta say, I was not expecting it to be that heavy and that sad. I was practically in tears by the end of it!

And it turns out there are a lot of movies and shows like this that are geared toward kids.

What kids’ movies and TV shows are actually pretty disturbing?

AskReddit users shared their thoughts.

1. Now you get it…

“The Last Unicorn.

Wore the VHS out when I was a kid, but didn’t truly appreciate the darker moments until I grew up.”

2. Here’s a secret…

“The Secret of NIMH.

The animal testing scene, scary owls with lamp like eyes, bloody sword fights, and characters being crushed to d**th.”

3. Too upsetting.

“All Dogs Go to Heaven was one of my favourite movies he’s made as a kid.

But it is too upsetting for me to watch after learning about Judith Barsi. RIP.”

4. Not over it.

“Courage the Cowardly Dog.

That was a pure nightmare fuel.”

5. A classic.

“Chicken Run!

The movie that turned my mom into a vegetarian.”

6. Go ahead and cry.

“My Girl.

“He needs his glasses! He can’t see without his glasses!””

7. Cover your eyes.

“The Road to El Dorado is extremely s**ual for a kids movie.

A lot more than I remember it being.”

8. Why, Mom?

“The Dark Crystal.

I remember when I was a kid my mom introduced me to the movie, and all I could think of was “wtf is this movie my mom is trying to show me?”

I was really young when I first watched it and had no idea what was going on, no matter how much my mom tried to explain it.”

9. Scary stuff!

“Return to Oz.

I’m 38 years old and I’m still horrified by the wheelers.”

10. And it’s Disney…

“The Hunchback of Notre Dame is pretty scary for a Disney flick.

The kiddos should consider themselves lucky that they deviated from Hugo’s ending.”

11.

“There was an animated movie of Animal Farm, based off the novel by George Orwell.

I absolutely loved watching it as a kid. I did not understand the symbolism. I saw it when it aired on tv a couple times during the day in the 1990s.

I remember during Christmas I was unwrapping at video tape and saw a pig on the cover. I was so excited! I didn’t know my parents knew I like animal farm. But then I read the title on the vhs and saw it was Charlotte’s Web. A movie I h**ed.

Also, Charlotte’s Web. A movie about a pig that is trying to be k**led for its meat, depends on a spider and other farm animals to come up with words to impress people to not want to eat him.”

12. Dealing with grief.

“The Neverending Story is actually about dealing with grief.

Bastian lost his mother at the start of the movie and depression is causing him to fail in his fathers eyes. In the imaginary world the “nothing” is consuming everything endlessly because Bastian will not confront his loss.

Bastian’s participation at the urging of the Empress, is to confront the loss and participate in the world.”

13. Disturbing.

“Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Watership Down.

These two are disturbing.”

14. I’m freakin’ out!

“Willy Wonka- are they on a boat ride or an acid trip?

I couldn’t find the clip, but Will Ferrell even lampooned that scene on SNL- he was like “hey, this movie’s for kids?!””

15. This one goes deep.

“The Transformers: The Movie (1986 animated film, not the Michael Baysplosions ones).

Like most of its 1980’s Saturday-morning peers, the purpose of the Transformers cartoon was to make kids want to buy a line of toys. The feature-length movie took everything about the cartoon and kicked it up a notch, including the capitalist motivations.

Hasbro had an entirely new generation of Transformers toys lined up, and the movie was meant to introduce them, and convince kids to buy the new Transformers instead of the existing Transformers they already had.

So how did the accomplish this?

Gratuitously murdering all of the existing characters.

They don’t even wait. Less than ten minutes in, Prowl and Brawn get shot with lazer beams just like they have been dozens of time in the cartoon, but they actually f**king d**. Ironhide, the grandpa who yells at kids from his rocker to get off the lawn, tries to d** with his boots on but suffers what can only be described as a literal execution.

Optimus Prime is a better father than your real dad, and this is what happens to him. This isn’t even the movie’s climax, this is immediately after the opening set-piece. That color of gray will haunt me.

This approach was, in retrospect, a mistake (the crying children in theaters was a tip-off). Hasbro and others have since learned to take different approaches to updating the character line-up in their toy lines and associated cartoons. The modern standard seems to be power-ups and new suits, rather than wholesale slaughter.”

What kids’ movies and shows do you find disturbing?

Let us know what you think in the comments.

Please and thank you!