Why were the Old Pixar Films So Dark?

The old Pixar films I have seen featured such dark moments, or the entirety of the films had dark storylines. I feel that Pixar really did appeal to both audiences, but I felt that the old films were aiming more for adult audiences, when it came to the hidden dark moments within their storylines. 

The first example would have to be the Incredibles film, which was considered to be the darkest Pixar film ever made.

How the developers even got away with making the film in the way that they did was impressive, and it still was a huge fan favorite among young audiences too! In this film, we get a whole political storyline of superheroes, who were unfortunately banned from the world after the public no longer wanted their assistance. 

One such reason was in the beginning of the film, where Mr. Incredible was trying to save a man from ending his life. That was insane how the writers got away with that storyline…and it only gets darker from here. Mr. Incredible is brought to a facility where he can become a superhero again, where he learns that his archrival, Syndrome, had murdered multiple superheroes who wanted the same thing. What's crazy is that some of these superheroes had their deaths coming. 

While some of these people were true heroes, the majority of them were hinted to be evil in their own ways, and I guess it was a good thing that Syndrome took care of them in his own way. There was even one superhero was that hinted to be going through a mental thing behind the scenes, and fans think that he allowed himself to be killed by Syndrome's creations, which makes sense, because he was considered to be impossibly strong.

Another example would be the film Wall - E.

This storyline features a robot named Wall - E, who is now living on Earth all by himself, that is now considered unlivable for humans. This turns out to be a huge lie, when Wall - E discovers a live plant, and takes it to the ship that is now housing the human population, who are now all fat from lack of exercise. We learn that the ship that is being controlled by the wheel, named Auto, is under strict orders to not let the humans go back to Earth. 

Auto goes as far as to attempt murder on Wall - E, while trying to fight off the captain that is determined to help his people. 

And if you think that is bad, there was a deleted scene for the film that I wish had been added, but it was way too dark for the poor kids. The president ended up having a full-on panic attack on live TV, telling the world that Earth is doomed, before the screen shuts off. That would have been INSANE to add to the final cut of the film, but I can see why it would have been a bad idea for the audience to witness. This is just as bad as the beginning of the Incredibles film, where that one dude attempted to end his life. And I'm sure that scene in the film pissed off a lot of parents.

The last example I want to mention here is the beginning to Finding Nemo.

The fact that the writers were willing to traumatize a bunch of kids in the very first scene of the film was pretty ballsy. We witness a father lose his wife and a bunch of his children to a dangerous looking fish, and this event leads to the main storyline of Nemo. We now know why his father is so overprotective of his son, and it turns into a film run on trauma of a poor father as he is desperate to search for his son throughout the ocean. 

Which Pixar film do you think is the darkest one among the list? Am I forgetting any other Pixar films?

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Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn