10 2000s Kids' Movies That Are Actually Traumatizing (2024)

Generally, when making a family movie, there is a metaphorical book, a set of guidelines that filmmakers ought to adhere to so as to be enjoyable for both children and adults. This approach usually means everything must be kid-friendly, involving no brutal violence, no cynical or pessimistic lessons about adult life or the end of the world, and a suspended sense of realism so as to detach the film from the harshness of the real world.

But apparently, not everybody got the book. During the 2000s, a ton of family films came out that had some really heavy concepts or scary visuals, which, despite how good or bad they are, have left a major mark on their young audiences that they have carried well into their adult lives. These 2000s kids' movies can be described as nothing short of "traumatizing" due to how grim or macabre they are, how unintentionally (or intentionally) creepy the film looks, or how pessimistic they can be.

10 'Finding Nemo' (2003)

Directed by Andrew Stanton

Finding Nemo is largely about ocean life and the dangers that lurk in the deep. Immediately at the start of the movie, audiences are treated to a monstrous barracuda killing Marlin's (Albert Brooks) love interest and eating all of their eggs save for one, Nemo (Alexander Gould), who is taken by humans one fateful day.

As Marlin sets off on his quest to save his son, he encounters many terrifying creatures, including sharks and vicious angler fish. Meanwhile, Nemo ends up in a fish tank in a dentist's office, where he is set to be gifted to the dentist's niece, Darla (LuLu Ebeling). Darla is known amongst the other fish in the tank as a fish killer and often shakes the bag containing her presents until the fish inside is dead. Perhaps one of the most unnerving parts is when a bunch of fish are caught in a net and begin to panic. Despite having talking fish, Finding Nemo is actually pretty realistic in its portrayals of ocean life and the consequences of human intervention, neither of which are pretty to watch.

Finding Nemo

G

Animation

Adventure

Comedy

Family

Where to Watch

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*Availability in US

Release Date

May 30, 2003

Cast

Albert Brooks , Ellen DeGeneres , Alexander Gould , Willem Dafoe , Brad Garrett , Allison Janney

Runtime

100 Minutes

Writers

Andrew Stanton , Bob Peterson , David Reynolds

9 'Coraline' (2009)

Directed by Henry Selick

Coraline is about the titular Coraline (Dakota Fanning), a girl who moves into a creepy new house with her family. There, she finds a crawlspace that leads to a parallel dimension, one where everybody is replaced by identical figures with button eyes, giving them an oddly terrifying appearance. There's just something about the empty black buttons in place of eyes that is just so creepy.

Coraline has all the making of a classic Tim Burton movie, even if he didn't personally direct it. Burton is known for his dark style, but Coraline is even darker than some of the things Burton has made, diving deep into stranger danger, mortality, and the concept of the Other, all through the lens of a seemingly innocuous children's movie.

Coraline

PG

Family

Animation

See Also

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Thriller

Fantasy

Drama

Where to Watch

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*Availability in US

Release Date

February 5, 2009

Cast

Dakota Fanning , Teri Hatcher , Jennifer Saunders , Dawn French , Keith David , John Hodgman

Runtime

100 minutes

Writers

Henry Selick , Neil Gaiman

8 'Zathura: A Space Adventure' (2005)

Directed by Jon Favreau

Remember the original Jumanji film? You know, the one with the late Robin Williams about a jungle-themed board game that brings the dangers of the wilderness to life? Imagine the same concept, only it's a couple of kids, and the board game is space-themed. That's basically the gist of Zathura: A Space Adventure. Turns out, space can be just as scary as the jungle, even if it does feature a bunch of sci-fi concepts and alien life that probably doesn't actually exist.

In this movie, one of the major events is the arrival of the Zorgons, an alien species that visits the kids' house and attempts to devour them. Aside from the Zorgons looking creepy, they have four-eyed goats, which many kids find genuinely frightening. The end also features a black hole sequence, which is a terrifying concept in itself, given that not even light can escape the void of a black hole. Even if it is kid-friendly, Zathura showed how scary space is and made many kids reconsider their aspirations of becoming astronauts.

Zathura: A Space Adventure

PG

Science Fiction

Adventure

Family

Release Date

November 6, 2005

Cast

Jonah Bobo , Josh Hutcherson , Dax Shepard , Kristen Stewart , Tim Robbins , Frank Oz , John Alexander , Derek Mears , Douglas Tait , Joe Bucaro III , Jeff Wolfe

Runtime

101 minutes

Writers

David Koepp

WATCH ON NETFLIX

7 'Dinosaur' (2000)

Directed by Eric Leighton & Ralph Zondag

Dinosaur is a huge departure from anything Disney had done before. To its credit, it's a pretty solid dinosaur movie, with realistically-drawn animation and beautiful cinematography. As the name implies, the story is largely about dinosaurs, but right away, it opens on what dinosaur life was like. The beginning stars a small herbivore that follows a bird into a forest, only to begin running for his life when he attracts the attention of a large, vicious carnivore similar to a T-Rex. Various other dinos take the hint and flee, but one poor triceratops isn't quite fast enough, and the carnivore kills and eats it right in front of the audience.

Granted, the nasty details are obscured by a cloud of dust, but this isn't the only traumatizing thing about the movie. Early on, the Great Meteor arrives, causing a massive cataclysm of apocalyptic proportions. The panic and frantic running about of the various creatures and sense of impending doom is pure nightmare fuel, and the view of how the once-thriving ecosystem gets reduced to dust afterward is truly haunting. Sure, dinosaurs are cool, especially to kids, but this movie showed exactly why prehistoric times were so dangerous.

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6 'The Polar Express' (2004)

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

There's actually nothing inherently wrong with the story of The Polar Express or the concepts it tackles. It's a Christmas movie about an unnamed boy (Daryl Sabara) who doesn't really believe in elves or the North Pole or anything. On Christmas Eve, a magical train visits him, whisking him away to the North Pole to see things firsthand.

The creep factor lies in its animation style. The movie was animated to look as realistic as possible... perhaps a little too realistic. What follows is a mashup of realism and surrealism that thrusts the entire movie into the deepest, darkest reaches of the uncanny valley. Sure, The Polar Express might be a beloved Christmas adventure movie for many, even 20 years later, but there is certainly no denying how eerily "off" all the faces in the film are.

The Polar Express

G

Animation

Adventure

Family

Fantasy

Where to Watch

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Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

November 10, 2004

Cast

Tom Hanks , Leslie Zemeckis , Eddie Deezen , Nona Gaye , Peter Scolari , Andy Pellick

Runtime

100 minutes

Writers

Chris Van Allsburg , Robert Zemeckis , William Broyles Jr.

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5 'Up' (2009)

Directed by Pete Docter

It's hard to imagine what Pixar was thinking when they wrote Up because the beginning of the movie is so unnecessarily depressing and cruel. The infamous opening sequence starts several decades in the past, where a young boy and girl begin to fall in love, imagining all the adventures they plan to have. They grow up and get married, but things begin to set them back. The woman has a miscarriage, later falls ill, and then dies, leaving the poor old man all alone, never getting to experience his dream with the person he loved the most.

All these things happen in literally just the first five minutes. The old man, Carl (Ed Asner), eventually meets up with a young, adventurous boy named Russell (Jordan Nagai), and the two finally embark upon Carl's dream vacation. It's a pretty happy movie following the intro sequence, but this heart-wrenching beginning is what tends to linger in the audience's mind the most, emphasizing the finality of death and the tragedy of regret.

Up

PG

Animation

Adventure

Comedy

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
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*Availability in US

Release Date

May 29, 2009

Cast

Edward Asner , Christopher Plummer , Jordan Nagai , Bob Peterson , Delroy Lindo , Jerome Ranft

Runtime

96 minutes

Writers

Pete Docter , Bob Peterson , Tom McCarthy

4 'Bridge to Terabithia' (2007)

Directed by Gábor Csupó

Bridge to Terabithia is based on a novel by Katherine Paterson, following a poor farm boy named Jesse (Josh Hutcherson) who befriends the new, quirky girl in school, Leslie (AnnaSophia Robb). Leslie encourages Jesse's imagination, and the two conceive a wondrous fantasy world that only they can see and can only be accessed by swinging across a stream in the woods on an old rope. Jesse then goes on a trip to a museum without Leslie and returns to find out that she tried to swing across the rope, but it broke, and she fell into the stream and drowned.

This moment is a swift gut punch that is hard to see coming, and it changes the emotional tone of the movie entirely. No longer is the film a tale of whimsy and imagination but of grief, loss, and moving on. Bridge to Terabithia remains somber pretty much until the end. The story was so unexpectedly heavy for a kids' movie and taught a harsh lesson about the mortality of anyone, regardless of age. Kids and adults alike cried at the untimely death, with the scene leaving a deep scar on those who have seen the film.

Bridge to Terabithia

PG

Drama

Fantasy

Release Date

February 16, 2007

Cast

Josh Hutcherson , AnnaSophia Robb , Robert Patrick , Zooey Deschanel

Runtime

95 Minutes

Writers

David L. Paterson , Jeff Stockwell

WATCH ON DISNEY+

3 'Chicken Run' (2000)

Directed by Peter Lord & Nick Park

Chicken Run is a British stop-motion claymation movie about a bunch of chickens that try to learn to fly after their farm is visited by a newcomer. The intention is to fly straight over the fence to escape their evil farmers, so it feels sort of like a prison break movie. The farmers themselves are super menacing and can easily leave a lasting impression on the mind of a child, but let's not forget the core concept here.

The movie is about chickens on a farm, so obviously, they are poorly treated. Plus, the farmers intend to slaughter them and turn them into a meal. Let's be honest, nothing is super unrealistic about this — it's well-known that livestock is often mistreated on farms and is regularly slaughtered and sold to the public in grocery stores for consumption. Everyone knows that, but this movie made the animals capable of speech, which really made some audiences reconsider their diets. It would be no surprise if Chicken Run single-handedly turned some people vegetarian because of its unsettling storyline and visuals.

Chicken Run

G

Animation

Adventure

Comedy

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

*Availability in US

Release Date

June 21, 2000

Cast

Phil Daniels , Lynn Ferguson , Mel Gibson , Tony Haygarth , Jane Horrocks , Miranda Richardson

Runtime

Writers

Peter Lord , Nick Park , Karey Kirkpatrick , Kelly Asbury , Mark Burton , Cody Cameron

2 'Spirited Away' (2001)

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

Studio Ghibli is known for its distinct visuals, with Spirited Away probably being its most bizarre movie in terms of worldbuilding and the creatures that appear. Although excellent, Spirited Away can easily scare children with its story and the spirits that appear. Almost immediately, the parents of the protagonist, Chihiro, are turned into terrifying pig creatures, and Chihiro transcends reality to enter the spirit world, where lots of scary beings lie in wait.

Among these is No-Face, who is perhaps the most frightening. He wears a spooky mask and cannot speak, but he can change his shape into some really creepy things. The visuals alone are enough to scare kids, but it's even more scarring when those kids grow up and later find out (probably through the internet) that the entire movie may be a metaphor for human trafficking and prostitution in Japan. It's a movie that is pretty much perfect, even if it is kind of disturbing.

Spirited Away

PG

Anime

Adventure

Family

Release Date

July 20, 2001

Cast

Rumi Hîragi , Miyu Irino , Mari Natsuki , Takashi Naitô , Yasuko Sawaguchi , Tatsuya Gashûin

Runtime

125 minutes

Writers

Hayao Miyazaki

WATCH ON NETFLIX

1 'Son of the Mask' (2005)

Directed by Lawrence Guterman

Let's get one thing off the table first: Son of the Mask is a terrible, terrible movie, perhaps one of the worst family movies ever. It's supposed to be a sequel to the 1990s Jim Carrey comedy film The Mask but lacks any of the charm or outrageous wit of the original; it also lacks Jim Carrey, which is pretty disappointing. This one added a whole bunch of lore about the Mask being some sort of artifact belonging to the Norse God Loki (Alan Cumming) and was absolutely unfunny in every way.

The reason it's so traumatizing, aside from how bad it is, is due to its utterly horrifying visuals. The movie utilized a lot of CGI to warp the facial structure of various characters with the intention of being funny. Instead, it came off as extremely frightening — jumpscare-level frightening. For both kids and adults, Son of the Mask may as well have been branded a horror movie because its visuals are so freaky that it is sure to haunt your dreams.

Son of the Mask

PG

Adventure

Comedy

Family

Fantasy

Where to Watch

• stream
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• buy

Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

February 18, 2005

Cast

Jamie Kennedy , Alan Cumming , Traylor Howard , Kal Penn , Steven Wright , Ben Stein , Peter Callan , Liam Falconer , Ryan Falconer , Brett Pickup , Ashley Lyons , Wayne McDaniel , Sandy Winton , Rebecca Massey , Issac Longmuir , Tayzin Fahey-Leigh , Skyla Laginha , Lochie Nazer Hennings , Andie Rogers , Trilby Glover , Josephine Chu , Solomon Freer , Ethan Coker

Runtime

94 minutes

Writers

Lance Khazei

NEXT: 15 '80s Kids' Movies That Are Actually Traumatizing, Ranked

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