Image via Focus Features.
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.
✕ Remove Ads 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 . 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.
✕ Remove Ads 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.
✕ Remove Ads 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.
✕ Remove Ads 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.
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 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.
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