10 Dark Moments In Disney Animated Films

Pinocchio, while you might not immediately realise it, is incredibly dark.

We not only see the protagonist actually die at one point, but we also see the conniving world he lives in repeatedly show its ugly head. Though, maybe that's to be expected when the basis is a book bearing the same name that is downright sadistic.

J. Worthington Foulfellow, more commonly known as Honest John, regularly tricked many of the residents of the village along with his sidekick Gideon, including luring Pinocchio into the hands of Stromboli, and later into the clutches of the Coachman, who is beyond any standard of evil. Even the sly fox was disgusted at the Coachman's intentions.

He tempts boys to Pleasure Island, where they could live out their troublesome and immoral desires - and if they did, they would transform into donkeys. We explicitly see this happen to Pinocchio's new friend Lampwick as they play pool, to which he claws at the puppet to help him, and cries for his mother before succumbing to his transformation.

What is also shown is that all of the boys bar Pinocchio had transformed fully into donkeys, and that they would be sold on the black market to various institutions, where they would be enslaved until their death.

But not the ones who can still talk. Oh no, they beg for release from the Coachman and to turn them back into boys again, to which he cracks his whip to silence them, and their ultimate fate is never found out.

Though this is meant to teach morality to children, this is an extremely disturbing and terrifying way to do so.