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The Really Dark Original Stories Behind Classic Kids Movies

They are some of our most beloved cinematic tales, adapted from novels and mythical stories. But let’s just say when they were put on-screen, the filmmakers did a little tinkering to avoid some of the most gruesome elements of their narrative roots. Prepare to imagine how messed up your childhood could have been had they been left like they were originally written.

‘The Little Mermaid’ Ends In Suicide

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At the end of Disney’s brilliant 1989 cartoon which revitalised the company, Ariel gets her voice back, Ursula the sea witch is killed and King Triton turns his daughter into a full-time human so she can shack up with her prince on land. Very happily ever after.

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Not so in Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 story. Not only does the witch cut out the mermaid’s tongue rather than magic-ing it away, her newfound legs feel like knives every time she walks on them. Meanwhile, the prince falls in love with someone else, the mermaid is told if she kills him she’ll get her tail back but instead she lets him get married and then she dissolves into sea foam, essentially committing suicide. Yay!

In ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit?’ Roger Is Murdered

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Gary K. Wolf’s 1981 detective novel brilliantly mashed genres with its story about a private dick investigating the case of a cartoon bunny who hires him to find out why he hasn’t got his own comic strip.

Only in the book, Roger is murdered halfway through. Which doesn’t exactly chime with the family comedy vibe that director Robert Zemeckis was going for in the film (although Christopher Lloyd’s Judge Doom is one of the scariest kids movie villains going).

‘The Fox and the Hound’ Book Is Just Horrific

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While the 1981 movie has its tearful scenes, it’s nothing compared to the source novel by Daniel P. Mannix. The film sees a fox called Tod adopted and raised amongst a pack of hunting dogs, one of whom, a pooch called Copper, becomes his best friend. Unfortunately, the dogs are trained to kill foxes and Copper eventually hunts Tod, only for the latter to intervene when a bear attacks his mate and master, saving their lives. Copper refuses to allow his boss to kill Tod and the pair part as friends.

Er, the book’s very different. For one, Copper and Tod are never friends, in fact, Copper is specifically trained by his alcoholic master to kill Tod. Tod has two sets of children, both of which are killed by Copper’s owner.

Luckily it ends happily ever after…not really, Tod is chased by Copper in one epic final hunt, the fox dies of exhaustion and then after being nursed back to health by his master, Copper gets his brains blown out. Yep – that became a Disney movie.

In ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ Esmerelda Is Tortured And Hung

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Disney’s adaptation of Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel has its dark moments, but is ultimately about acceptance as it ends with Quasimodo leaving the isolation of the cathedral to be accepted as a folk hero, while his unrequited amour Esmeralda hooks up with Captain Phoebus with Quasi’s blessing.

French author Hugo was not quite so sentimental. Esmeralda is mistakenly charged with attempted murder, then tortured and hanged while baddie Frollo watches and laughs. Frollo is subsequently murdered by Quasimodo who shoves him off Notre Dame. And since he was totally in love with her, the hunchback sits by Esmeralda’s grave and stays there until he dies of starvation.

‘Mulan’ Also Ends In Suicide

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Originally a mythical Chinese poem, the core plot point of a woman dressing as a man to join the army in the place of her aging father is the same in both media.

However, while the 1998 Disney pic sees Mulan verbally sparring with a chatty dragon with the voice of Eddie Murphy and returning honourably to her dad, the verse version is far more bleak. In it, she comes back from war to find her father dead, her mother remarried and a message from the region’s ruler to come to his palace and be his concubine. Mulan says thanks but no thanks and commits suicide.

‘Pinocchio’ Killed Jiminy Cricket

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Carlos Collodi’s Italian classic is far darker than Disney’s 1940 film, with the main point of difference being Pinocchio actually killing Jiminy Cricket early on (accidentally, but still). The novel’s villainous cat and dog are also much less dandy than their screen counterparts, ending up blind and in penury.

Pinocchio’s donkey skin is eaten off by fish after he’s thrown into the sea because a ringmaster wants to make a drum from his skin. All that and the kindly fairy gets ill.

That’s what happens when there’s no singing.

‘Peter Pan’ Was A Murderer

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The film follows the traditionally saccharine version of the story, with ragamuffin boys, flying kids and a moustache-twirling villain.

JM Barrie’s origin story was born out of tragedy (the death of his brother David in a skating accident and adopting the fatherless boys of a local woman, as seen in the film ‘Finding Neverland’). As for Peter himself, well, he’s actually a bit of a psycho. Not only would he sometimes change sides during fights with pirates because he fancied it, but Barrie writes that occasionally he would “thin” out the Lost Boys, if there were too many or they got too old. So, like, he’d kill them. Tinkerbell wouldn’t approve.

‘Hercules’ Killed His Own Children

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The cinematic version of Hercules is a strong fellow who does some good Samaritan work and then defeats baddie Hades and his minions before hooking up with a beautiful girl after he rescues her from the underworld.

The mythical Hercules is renowned as a womaniser, while his father Zeus, king of the gods, raped Hercules’ human mum to get her pregnant. On top of that, Herc was temporarily sent mad by his jealous step-mother Hera leading him to kill his two kids and eventually he burned himself alive on a funeral pyre.

The Original ‘Sleeping Beauty’ Poem Revolves Around Rape

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The 1959 classic is one of the most simple of all kids films – a young princess succumbs to the curse that she’ll prick her finger and fall into a deep sleep, only to be woken by the kiss of her true love.

The story has been told by a number of different authors including the Brothers Grimm, with their tale based on a version by Italian Giambattista Basile. And let’s just say that Basile’s take was far more horrific. In his poem, a passing king wanders into Beauty’s bedroom and rapes her, leaving her pregnant with twins which she gives birth to while asleep. She eventually wakes up and finds out she’s become a mother (and later settles down with her rapist).

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Image credits: Rex Shutterstock/Everett