Even a company as careful as Disney is not always able to avoid disturbing scenes deleted from kids movies. Whether that be scenes that went on too long and into much darker territory than their theatrical versions did or sequences that were entirely cut from the film due to their thematic material, there are a number of examples of creepy children's movie scenes.
Here are just some of those dark or gross kids movie scenes that were, thankfully, excluded from their theatrical releases. Vote up the dankest ones you're glad you never saw as a kid!
It's not uncommon for a Disney movie to deliver on the kind of tragic scenes that end up leaving lifelong marks on their young viewers. Along with Mufasa's death in The Lion King or Dumbo's farewell to his mother is the death of Bambi's mother early on in the animated classic eponymous film.
Killed by a hunter, the scene in Bambi is already tragic enough as it is, and is widely regarded as one of the saddest scenes in movie history. But it turns out the scene was originally going to last much longer, and would have become even darker than it already was. Bambi's mother wasn't just going to be shot by the hunter, but we were also originally going to see her lifeless corpse be dragged away by him. Just the thought is enough to send anyone crawling into a dark corner to cry for awhile.
Scar is one of the greatest Disney villains of all time, mostly thanks to his scheming personality and just overall sliminess. But Scar's appeal also comes from his show-stopping and terrifying Nazi-esque musical number, "Be Prepared."
As a deleted scene from the film reveals too, it turns out that Scar is directly responsible for Nala heading out into the jungle to reunite with Simba in the first place. Not just because of his terrible job being king of Pride Rock, but because he tries to creepily force her into marrying him, which at the time, was set to a different version of "Be Prepared."
Does the scene make Scar even creepier than he already is? Yes. But it also adds a layer of subtext about consent that might have been more trouble than it would have been worth for The Lion King to try and tackle.
Zootopia came out in 2016 to widespread critical acclaim, not only for its writing and animation, but for how well it managed to deal with themes of racism and social divide. However, a deleted scene reveals that the film might have taken its "obedience" plot point into too dark of a turn for any young viewer to stomach, or even the adults for that matter.
The scene would have reportedly followed Nick and Judy Hopps as they found themselves at a "Taming Party." Already boasting a sinister name, the scene would go on to reveal that the party was about young animals being given shock collars that would zap them anytime they showed too much emotion. Yikes, indeed.
Pinocchio is already a fairly scary and dark animated film in Disney's history, despite also being considered one of the studio's all-time classics. But in case the film's dark story points weren't already enough, it turns out there was another deleted scene from the film that would have likely tipped the scales into being too dark for Disney to release.
The scene in question takes place when Gepetto and Figuero are trapped inside the stomach of the whale, Monstro. Starving to death, the duo have a brief moment where they consider actually eating their goldfish friend, Cleo. Suffice to say, it's a good thing Disney decided to not include this scene in the film.
It's established early on in Home Alone that Kevin McAllister has basically the worst siblings and relatives of all time. Sitting right near the top of that list too, is his creepy Uncle Frank, who calls him a jerk in the first film and who Kevin later jokingly records while showering in the sequel.
But in case Uncle Frank wasn't already bad enough, this deleted scene from the first film would have been utterly horrifying. Not only does it involve Frank picking on and calling Kevin silly names again, but it ends with his Uncle pantsing him and walking away. Inappropriate in about every way imaginable, and as such, wisely cut from the theatrical version.
The Santa Clause has become an integral piece of annual Christmas viewing for many families, thanks to its fun premise and lovable characters. But in one of the film's original cuts, there was a joke that is very clearly not suitable for a kids movie, let alone a supposedly family-friendly holiday film.
The joke in question happens early on in the film, when Tim Allen's Scott Calvin makes a joke about the phone number for his ex-wife's new husband's mother being "1-800-SPANK-ME." Scott takes it even further, saying that he "knows that number."
Aside from the obvious sexual context of this exchange, the film actually led to kids calling the number in question, thinking it might connect them to Santa Claus. Instead, it just got their parents a whole lot of charges from different actual sex lines.
