10 Children's Movies That Are Actually Way Better For Adults

4. Watership Down

Few films are as frightening, disturbing and emotionally-scarring as that of Watership Down. For children the world over, this tale of lapine destruction was the cause of countless tears and numerous sleepless nights. Understandably, the film - like the book - is rather difficult to appreciate and understand as a child. The near-constant barrage of animal brutality is at points unbearable and the ever-present bleakness practically denies the possibility of anything remotely positive being salvaged from the warren's difficult journey. Thankfully, with age comes enlightenment and what was once upsetting, still is, but for drastically different reasons. As children, it's difficult to understand the connotations of such perturbing subject matter, but as adults, Watership's themes hit infinitely harder. The cast of rabbits stop becoming mere animals being butchered and start becoming actual characters with purpose and dimension whose deaths actually means something in the grand scheme of the narrative. Watership Down, like The Plague Dogs after it, wasn't supposed to simply be a familial joy-ride about talking animals, but that of a story with motivation; with something to say about the world, people and the things they do to each other and believe. From the opening to its final, painfully beautiful image of Hazel's passing, Watership Down is a benchmark for animated catharsis that shouldn't be forgotten.