People Reveal Animated Movies That Traumatized Them as Children
For many Americans, watching animated movies was a fundamental part of their childhoods. Fond memories of family and laughter are commonly associated with classic films from Disney, Pixar and more.
But for other kids, thinking about seemingly mundane and harmless cartoons haunt them to this day, even in adulthood.
A recent Reddit "Ask Me Anything" has gone viral for posing the question, "What animated film traumatized you as a child?"
One commenter, RmmThrowAway, took great issue with The Brave Little Toaster, an animated musical from 1987 that follows the lives of five anthropomorphic household appliances looking for their owner. "I sincerely believe Brave Little Toaster created a lot of hoarders," the user said plainly.
Others agreed, with user yonicwave writing: "Can't believe no one has mentioned the terrifying, emotionally manipulative air conditioner that IMPLODES. I was just thinking about how scary that scene is the other day. Still haunts me..." Several agreed in the thread about how the air conditioning unit explosion scene specifically terrified them.
Reddit commenter golong25 noted that while the film was only half animated, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? was their least favorite. Specifically, they found the moment in the 1988 live-action/animated mystery in which Christopher Lloyd's character "gets run over by the steam roller" to be highly disturbing.
"That was really my first taste of tortured death," user spderweb replied. "And nobody did a thing to stop it. It was murder, and nobody even tried to stop him, including the detective. Messed up."
"And don't forget the cute animated shoe getting melted face-first in acid," user Brittamas chimed in.
The original commenter even edited his post to acknowledge others that shared disdain for the movie. "Wow, thanks for the love everyone!" they wrote. "Glad I'm not alone on this one."
Others focused on Disney animations from their youth. User Itsnotmonica took issue with Pinocchio, the 1940 film about a puppet being brought to life. "The sheer chaos of that mess got to me. THEN boys turned into donkeys and sobbed for their mother and I lost it," they wrote. "Early Disney was dark!"
Several chimed in and called the book The Adventures of Pinocchio far worse, citing accusations of Gepetto abusing Pinocchio. "The fact that Pinocchio was that traumatizing while being as watered down as it was shows just how dark the actual story was," user Inverter_of_Spines added. "Seriously, Pinocchio is an insanely dark, twisted read!"
Younger viewers described their fear associated with the modern Disney/Pixar animations. Several moments in The Toy Story franchise were mentioned — including Sid's toys and Woody's arm injury — as well as the tragic death in The Lion King. User wineshivers wrote, "We watched The Lion King in the second week of kindergarten.... the week my dad died."
Though the Reddit commenters conveyed strong opinions, film critics released their definitive list in 2018 of the best-animated movies ever made. To the chagrin of the commenters, Disney was a critical favorite.
