Darkest Animated Film Ever?
If you go on the Pinocchio message boards, you get a lot of debate over whether or not Pinocchio is the darkest animated film ever. It didn't occur to me until today that Bambi is probably the darkest animated film ever (anime doesn't count, fyi). I don't know about the rest of you, but even with all the cute and charming characters, it used to depress the hell out of me when i was a kid! I rewatched it today, and I still have to agree it's probably the darkest animated children's film ever.
Reasons?
Bambi's mom of course, and the whole tense "don't go on the meadow" set-up, that's a notorious Disney-traumatizes-you-for-life scene. The whole hunter killing animals thing is pretty dark overall. When the quail freaks out and gets shot out of the sky while trying to escape has disturbed me since i was a kid. The forest fire caused by man. The buck trying to take Faline by force and the intense fight that follows. The scary looking dogs that look like they could be from the Resident Evil films. Bambi's distant relationship with his father.
What makes this all the more dark is that the film is going for realism, it's not a fantasy like Pinocchio or The Black Cauldron, or the other fantasies that get named. It's a story about man vs. nature, and man is the enemy.
Your guys' thoughts?