5 Disney Animated Movies That Were Made For Adults

Disney might be one of the leading purveyors of entertainment for children, but if you think everything they put out is solely intended for the young, you'd be dead wrong. Over the years, the house of mouse has released films with complex ideas, frightening moments, and truly throat-tightening instances of tension. They even released an animated film that was rated PG by the MPAA, a fact that might shock even longtime fans of the studio. There have been plenty of Disney movies that have dealt with the sudden death of a parent, of course, but they have also released movies about aging, environmentalism, religious persecution, and the importance of forgiveness.

Grown-ups who aren't afraid to enjoy children's entertainment should be thrilled by this list, which contains Disney (and Disney/Pixar) films which will touch their hearts, make them think of their mortality, and even scare them. Here are five can't-miss movies for grown-ups who love animated films and want to be emotionally challenged.

Its opening minutes contain one of the most heart-tugging montages of all time — and its resonant themes of aging, coping with death, and finding a new purpose are just starting to percolate. "Up" will please children, with its talking dogs, tropical birds, and cheerful child characters, but adults will look at Carl Fredricksen (Ed Asner) and see their own losses, sense of mortality, and hope for the future reflected back at them. Carl thinks he wants a future far from civilization and the harassment of a society that looks down on him as helpless and feeble, but he really wants a community where he's valued. He manages to get it — all while experiencing adventure.

Carl is a widower, having lost his beloved wife, Ellie, recently. His retirement plan involves sending their beloved home skyward via hundreds of helium balloons, then landing in Paradise Falls in South America, where he and Ellie had always planned to go. He doesn't expect to have a stowaway in the form of earnest boy scout Russell (Jordan Nagai), who insists on helping him against his will. When they land, they become the quarry of Carl's long-lost old childhood idol, Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer), who has gone mad while trying to protect a rare bird. Carl must then decide between staying in South America or ultimately returning home.

Only an adult might notice that "WALL-E" boldly posits that humanity will destroy itself if it doesn't look up from its monitors and television screens every once in a while. It leaves behind a dire warning regarding an overreliance on living a virtual life instead of a real one, and the horrors of waste. Add on references to old-fashioned musicals, and you end up with a movie that will resonate with grown-ups — and continues to feel like an eerily prescient window into our present world.

WALL-E (Ben Burtt) is a little trash-collecting robot who's still doing his duty on earth years after humanity abandoned the planet to live on spaceships. There, it continues to indulge in the rampant consumerism, producing even more waste as they live from floating armchairs. Down on earth, a lonely WALL-E learns about life from classic films — and eventually meets EVE (Elissa Knight), a robot that scours planets looking for vegetation and thus prove it can support human life. The twosome fall in love and are soon tasked with convincing humanity that earth is once again ready to be inhabited by humans.

The very first Disney animated film to ever receive a PG for dark and scary imagery, "The Black Cauldron" was a rare animated Disney movie that bombed at the box office, turning into a financial miss for the house of mouse. While kids will definitely like it, the movie's rather firmly made with grown-ups in mind and will appeal to them. After its financial failure, Disney iced any further sequels for the property, and continues to largely ignore its legacy. It has since become a rare thing in the Disney animation canon — a cult classic. As is, it's a deeply interesting movie that any grown-up will enjoy.

Taran (Grant Bardsley) is an assistant pig keeper who is destined to do more with his life. The wicked Horned King (John Hurt) becomes obsessed with locating the mythical, titular Black Cauldron. Dallben the Enchanter (Freddie Jones) tasks Taran with protecting his pig, Hen Wen, whom Dalban thinks the Horned King will want due to his predictive nature — a hunch that proves correct when the pig is kidnapped by the Horned King's minion. Taran is off to find Hen Wen. Along the way, he meets with the chattering Gurgi (John Byner) and the tough Princess Eilonwy (Susan Sheridan). Together, the trio must find Hen Wen before The Horned King can create his own undead army using the cauldron.

"Coco" is about memory, forgiveness, family history and inheritance. It'll strike a chord with little kids who might become curious about their family trees after watching it, but for adults who have witnessed their own families feud and heal, it will take on new shades of bitter-sweetness.

Miguel Rivera (Anthony Gonzalez) is a talented young guitarist whose family has shunned music for generations. He idolizes the late Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt), a contemporary of his great-great-great grandfather. He finds a potential connection between the Riveras and de la Cruz in the form of a hidden image within the family ofrenda. It turns out that his great-great-grandmother, Mama Imelda (Alanna Ubach), banned music from the Rivera household in response to her husband abandoning their family to follow his dreams — and his grandfather had Ernesto's guitar with him at some point. Miguel eagerly admits to the family that he loves music, but his grandmother smashes his guitar in response. Miguel swipes Ernesto's guitar from his mausoleum — resulting in his becoming invisible to the living. Since it's the Day of the Dead, Miguel's long-lost relatives walk among him and can now see him — and the truth about the Rivera's connection to de la Cruz is soon revealed.

"The Hunchback of Notre Dame" may be the darkest mainstream Disney film to ever be released. True, some parts of Victor Hugo's story are sanitized for the film — which is why Disney faced backlash from Hugo's descendants when they announced their version of the piece. To wit: Quasimodo (Tom Hulce) is given talking cement gargoyle friends, and Esmeralda (Demi Moore) a cute pet goat. But Judge Claude Frollo (Tony Jay) is one of the most shamelessly frightening villains in the history of animation, and the movie begins with him pushing Quasimodo's mother to her death — then contemplating drowning the infant she left behind.

While he allows Quasimodo to live within Notre Dame Cathedral as a bell ringer, Frollo definitely considers himself better than his charge and only takes him in to avoid the damnation of his immortal soul. He plans on wiping out the Romani population of Paris but cannot stop himself from lusting after Esmeralda, who makes it plain she wants nothing to do with him. While the shy Quasimodo begins to come out of his shell and fall for Esmeralda, Esmeralda begins a romance with Captain Phoebus (Kevin Kline), and each of them choose to defy Frollo in their own way to stop him.