10 Animated Movies That Are Definitely Not for Kids

The medium of animation has been through many ups and downs since its creation in the late 19th century. It originally dominated popular culture as theater shorts and stop-motion projects, before hand-drawn animation broke into feature films with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. As Disney and other companies began making more films, especially based on fairy tales, the medium came to be seen as kids’ entertainment, a sentiment that still dominates the modern pop-culture landscape despite numerous attempts to prove otherwise.

Of course, this hasn’t stopped creatives from using animation to tell very adult stories that no kids should see. Since animation can be used to bring virtually anything to life, it can be used to tell provocative stories that criticize society and shine a light on the ugliest parts of the world, while still telling uplifting stories about hope and a better tomorrow. Their existence is a reminder that animation is for anyone, regardless of age, and that any attempt to pigeonhole it is a detriment to the craft of storytelling.

10

‘Sausage Party’ (2016)

Directed by Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan

As shoppers make their way through the supermarket, the food products on the shelves, who view humans as gods, eagerly hope that they will be chosen to travel into the Great Beyond. This includes a hotdog named Frank (Seth Rogen) and his bun girlfriend, Brenda (Kristen Wiig), who hope to finally leave their wrappings and have sex. However, a returned jar of Honey Mustered (Danny McBride) claims that the Great Beyond is a lie before committing suicide, causing a crash that sees Frank, Brenda, and several others scattered in the isles and on a quest for answers.

Sausage Party contrasts its Toy-Story-inspired premise and characters with unprecedented levels of vulgarity. Every character speaks in a tryade of swears, many of the jokes are of a sexual nature, and the non-sexual jokes are based on racial stereotypes represented by foods associated with different cultures. Its story also touches on themes that might fly over the heads of most kids, such as blind belief and the debate about whether it’s better to live a lie or know an ugly truth.

9

‘Felidae’

Directed by Michael Schaack

Francis (Ulrich Tukur) is a domestic tuxedo cat who moves into a new house with his owner, and soon discovers the murdered both of another cat. Teaming up with a gruff Maine Coon named Bluebeard (Mario Ador), Francis begins investigating the murder, which turns out to be the first of many. His search leads him to discover a cult dedicated to a mysterious figure named Claudandis, disturbing records of animal testing, and a mysterious breed of cat that is both old and new.

Don’t let Felidae’s bright colors and cartoonish design fool you: this movie is a film noir murder mystery that does not shy away from horror. Bodies are left mangled and torn open, cultists throw themselves into electrical currents in ritual sacrifice, dream sequences involve puppeteered feline corpses, and there’s even a cat sex scene. However, it’s also a really gripping narrative, and touches on heavy themes of eugenics and animal testing.

Directed by Gerald Potterton

An astronaut (Don Francks) comes home to his daughter (Caroline Semple) with a surprise to find her. Unfortunately, the object disintegrates him and identifies itself as the Loc-Nar (Percy Rodriguez), the sum of all evil. It corners the astronaut’s daughter and forces her to bear witness to how it spreads evil across time and space, told through a crazy anthology series involving zombies on a bomber, a taxi driver who can liquefy anyone in his cab, and an arrogant space-captain standing trial.

Heavy Metal utilized numerous animation companies to bring the individual stories to life, resulting in a beautiful mixing of art-styles that creates one of the most unique-looking animated films. It’s completely unapologetic with its use of sex and gratuitous violence, which really accentuates the atmosphere of certain stories, such as the claustrophobic zombie-thriller “B-17”. It’s also backed up by a phenomenal soundtrack, consisting of rock bands like Black Sabbath, Journey, and Nazareth.

7

‘Fritz the Cat’ (1972)

Directed by Ralph Bakshi

Fritz (Skip Hinnant) is a young tabby cat who finds himself caught up in the crazy and rampant counterculture movements of the 1960s. In a short stretch of time, he has run-ins with the law, destroys several buildings, and befriends a crow named Duke (John McCurry) and gets a first-hand view of the prejudice against crows. In between these adventures are copious amounts of sex, drugs, and violence.

Fritz the Cat was both the first animated film to receive an X rating, and the first film in the crazy career of Ralph Bakshi. It is an unapologetic look at this turbulent moment in history, showing both the division and camaraderie that formed between people of all walks of life, and the ugly aspects of counterculture that are often lost to nostalgia. It’s also full of plenty of dark comedy and isn’t afraid to take shots at people from all ends of the political spectrum.

6

‘Padak’ (2012)

Directed by Dae-Hee Lee

A mackerel (Hyen-jee Kim) is caught from the ocean and given to a South Korean restaurant that uses live fish to make sashimi. She meets a collection of other fish who play dead to avoid being eaten and follow the teachings of a cruel flatfish named The Master (Young-jun Si), who claims to be from the ocean. Unwilling to accept her fate, the mackerel, nicknamed Padak by her tankmates, tries to lead the others in escaping to the ocean before they are served as food.

Padak is a deceptively dark film that uses its colorful fish characters and fun song sequences to tell a survival-horror story that touches on the ugly aspects of human nature. The fish adopt a cult-like worship of the Master and his stories, which shines a light on how humanity will turn to any means order and structure in a bleak world, and will happily turn on one another for survival. However, the story is also one about hope for a better future, and how one person’s failure can encourage another’s success.

5

‘The Plague Dogs’ (1982)

Directed by Martin Rosen

Sniffer (Sir John Hurt) and Rolf (Christopher Benjamin) are two of many dogs used in cruel experiments until they manage to escape from their facility. They meet a wild fox (James Bolam) who agrees to help them in exchange for some of their food, but the dogs are ill-suited to life in the wild and struggle. What’s more, Sniffer accidentally kills a man when he activates his shotgun, and soon armed forces are hunting the dogs for the threat they pose to humans.

Plague Dogs is a grim movie that does not shy away from showing how difficult these dogs have it. The animal testing scenes are disturbing, especially concerning Rolf, who is repeatedly drowned and resuscitated, leaving him with an understandable fear of water. The few deaths that happen are quik, but brutal, and the film ends on a grim cliffhanger ending that leaves the fate of the protagonists up in the air.

4

‘Watership Down’ (1978)

Directed by Martin Rosen

When a young rabbit named Fiver (Richard Briers) has a vision of destruction coming to their warren, his older brother, Hazel (Sir John Hurt), attempts to warn their leader. He refuses to heed the warning, so Hazel leads Fiver and a handful of others in seeking a new home. The journey is a perilous one, filled with predators, humans, and rival rabbits, and not all of them survive to the journey’s end.

Watership Down is the poster child for dark xenofiction stories, thanks to its likable characters and phenomenal worldbuilding. Author Richard Adams created a living, breathing mythology for the rabbits that shows how they perceive the world, on top of a language with strange words that sound alien yet totally in-keeping with the rabbit’s culture. Still, kids should stay away until they’re a bit older, as quite a few of these fluffy rabbits suffer grisly fates.

3

‘Heavy Traffic’ (1973)

Directed by Ralph Bakshi

In New York City, Michael Corleone (Joseph Kaufmann) turns to cartoons and pinball to escape his bleak and turbulent domestic life. He and his girlfriend, Carole (Beverly Hope Atkinson), try to find their own path forward, but are faced by financial stagnation and discrimination. Meanwhile, Michael’s mafioso father, Angie (Frank de Kova), views the relationship as a betrayal of the family, while Carole is stalked by the jealous bouncer at her old job.

Heavy Traffic is a forgotten gem of the 1970s that offers a ground-level and honest look at living in the big city. The main theme of the film is dissociation, which is shown through Michael’s use of animation as escapism, the use of pinball as a metaphor for life, and the unhappy marriage between Michael’s parents, especially his mother, who has a poignant moment where she realizes just how much her life has changed. It’s also full of the usual level of Bakshi sex, violence, and crazy imagery, but this works to the film’s benefit and adds to its authenticity.

2

‘South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut’ (1999)

Directed by Trey Parker

The kids of South Park sneak into the theater to see the new Terrance and Phillip film, Asses of Fire. When they begin speaking in profanity after the viewing, Sheila Broflovski (Mary Kay Bergman) forms the Mother’s Against Canada to have Terrance and Phillip censored and arrested. Meanwhile, Kenny (Matt Stone) is killed when trying to imitate a prank from the movie and his spirit travels to Hell, where he meets the Devil and Saddam Hussein (both Trey Parker), who prophesize that the deaths of Terrance and Phillip will bring about the apocalypse.

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut see some of the best of Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s hilarious and biting satirical writing. The story tackles themes of censorship and scapegoating, best seen in the film’s most iconic song, “Blame Canada!” Even its nature as a musical is some great satire, as it parodies Disney’s trend of releasing animated musicals in the 1990s, and gives some hilarious numbers like “What Would Brian Boitano Do?”.

1

‘Akira’ (1988)

Directed by Katsuhiro Otomo

30 years after Tokyo was destroyed by a sudden psychic blast, the new city, Neo Tokyo, is a haven of corruption and violence, where teenage gangs make open war with one another in the streets. During one of these battles, Tetsuo Shima (Nozomu Sasaki/Jan Rabson/Joshua Seth) crashes his bike into a mysterious child, which unlocks his latent psychic powers. The government takes him in for testing, but Tetsuo escapes and sets off to find Akira, the psychic who destroyed Tokyo.

Akira is one of the most important films in animation history, thanks both to its gorgeously detailed animation and for breaking the stigma against anime, which allowed it to gain a foothold in the West. Its story is full of adult themes, such as the corrupting nature of power, the cycles of violence, and the struggle to find identity in a chaotic world that feels like it’s out to get you. That gorgeous animation also leads to some truly gruesome depictions of violence and body horror, especially when Tetsuo’s powers begin to warp him.

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