Random Kids' Movies That Proved Surprisingly Controversial (15 items)

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  (#7) Beauty and the Beast

  • Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Kevin Kline and Josh Gad with the voices of Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson

  Bill Condon, the director of Disney's live-action Beauty and the Beast remake, sat for an interview with Attitude magazine in which he teased "a nice, exclusively gay moment" at the end of his film. In the process, he kickstarted a controversy.

  The owners of the Henagar Drive-In Theatre in Alabama heard about this interview and promptly canceled all screenings of Beauty and the Beast, citing their Christian values as the reason for their objection. The scene in question is arguably inconsequential; it amounts to an incredibly brief shot of LeFou dancing with another man. The movie went on to earn more than $500 million domestically at the box office. 
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  (#8) Where the Wild Things Are

  • Mark Ruffalo, Forest Whitaker, James Gandolfini, Catherine O'Hara, Chris Cooper, Catherine Keener, Spike Jonze, Lauren Ambrose, Paul Dano, Max Records, Ryan Corr, Angus Sampson, Michael Berry Jr., Steve Mouzakis, Mark McCracken, Brian La Rosa, Alice Parkinson, Sonny Gerasimowicz, Nick Farnell, Kalia Prescott, Joshua Jay, John Leary, Pepita Emmerichs, Madeleine Greaves, Garon Michael, Joshua Evans, Vincent Crowley, Tess Grimshaw Lloyd, James Epinfaniou, Sam Longley, Nathan Veal, Lucas Haynes, Max Pfeifer

  Controversy over Spike Jonze's screen adaptation of Maurice Sendak's children's book Where the Wild Things Are began before general audiences ever saw it. Kids in preview screenings allegedly fled in terror because the movie was too dark and scary.

  Warner Bros. went into panic mode, as the film cost a hefty $75 million to produce. The studio brought in a new writer to lighten up the script, then had Jonze embark upon extensive re-shoots. 

  Ironically, the amended version was still deemed too sad and scary for young viewers, with many parents publicly expressing their displeasure. 
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  (#12) Home Alone

  • Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, John Candy, Catherine O'Hara, Lionel Barrymore, Daniel Stern, Hope Davis, John Heard, Kieran Culkin, Kristin Minter, Roberts Blossom, Ralph Foody, Bill Erwin, Gerry Becker, Mike Maronna, Gerry Bamman, Billie Bird, Larry Hankin, Peter Siragusa, Devin Ratray, Angela Goethals, Ken Hudson Campbell, Matt Doherty, Hillary Wolf, Paula Newsome, Jim Ortlieb, Senta Moses, Alan Wilder, Ann Whitney, Anna Slotky, Larry Nazimek, Monica Devereux, Dan Charles Zukoski, Diana Rein, Clarke Devereux, Mark Beltzman, Ray Toler, Jedidiah Cohen, Jeffrey Wiseman, Michael Guido, Terrie Snell, Dianne B. Shaw, Victor Cole, Jim Ryan, Linda Wylie, Porscha Radcliffe, Sandra Macat, Peter Pantaleo, Luciano Saber, Michael Hansen, Tracy J. Connor, Robert Okrzesik, Richard J. Firfer, Brittany Radcliffe, Jean-Claude Sciore, Kate Johnson, Leo Perion, John Hardy, Frank Cernugel, Edward Bruzan, Virginia Smith, Lynn Mansbach, Eddie Korosa, Vince Waidzulis

  In Home Alone 2, young Kevin McAllister (Macaulay Culkin) is on his own in New York City, pursued by the same pair of bumbling thieves he encountered in the original film. While that doesn't sound controversial on the surface, some people worried children might imitate the traps he sets to foil the bad guys. 

  A group called Mothers Against Child Endangerment disliked how Home Alone 2 upped the ante on the traps. They said the filmmakers were "guilty of gross negligence" for making it seem appealing for kids to play with dangerous devices.

  The fact that all these things are played for laughs bothered the group further. 
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  (#5) Cars 2

  • Owen Wilson, Michael Caine, Vanessa Redgrave, Eddie Izzard, Larry the Cable Guy, Jason Isaacs, Emily Mortimer, Bruce Campbell, John Turturro, Cheech Marin, Lewis Hamilton, Jeff Gordon, Joe Mantegna, Tony Shalhoub, Bonnie Hunt, John Lasseter, Katherine Helmond, Franco Nero, Jeff Garlin, John Ratzenberger, Jenifer Lewis, Richard Kind, Edie McClurg, Paul Dooley, Thomas Kretschmann, Jess Harnell, Darrell Waltrip, Brent Musburger, Sig Hansen, Colleen Villard, Peter Jacobson, Brad Lewis, Stanley Townsend, Michael Wallis, David Hobbs, Guido Quaroni, Velibor Topić, Junichi Kajioka, Teresa Gallagher, Lloyd Sherr, Memo Rojas, Michel Michelis, Barbara Kottmeier, John Mainieri, Patrick Walker, Sonoko Konishi, Daniel Okeefe

  Cars 2 takes Pixar's beloved talking autos and injects them into a wildly different kind of plot. Protagonist Lightning McQueen trades in the racetrack for the world of international espionage, complete with all of the dangers associated with that field. 

  Some parents felt the movie was too violent, especially considering the tame G rating. They especially objected to a scene in which a car is tortured for information. 
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  (#11) The Lion King

  • Whoopi Goldberg, Jeremy Irons, Matthew Broderick, James Earl Jones, Rowan Atkinson, Cheech Marin, Nathan Lane, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Frank Welker, Jim Cummings, Robert Guillaume, Moira Kelly, Ernie Sabella, Philip Proctor, Madge Sinclair, Brian Tochi, Jason Weaver, Catherine Cavadini, Niketa Calame, Daamen J. Krall, David McCharen, Mary Linda Phillips, Judi M. Durand, David Randolph, Zoe Leader, Evan Saucedo

  The Lion King made it through its 1994 theatrical release without controversy. Once it hit home video, where viewers could pause or rewind to closely examine the images, a major firestorm hit. A few eagle-eyed viewers claimed flying dust particles spell out the word "SEX" when Simba flops down on a cliff. Some were amused, while others believed it was a subliminal message encouraging children to engage in promiscuous behavior.

  Disney's animation team insisted the particles were a great big in-joke and that they really spell "SFX," a common abbreviation for "special effects." 
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  (#4) The Adventures of Milo and Otis

  • Dudley Moore, Shigeru Tsuyugushi

  A lot of people grew up loving The Adventures of Milo and Otis, a 1986 movie about a dog and kitten duo who embark on a perilous river journey. However, once fans hear some of the alleged behind-the-scenes details, they tend to like it a lot less.

  It has long been rumored that the lives of at least 20 cats were lost during the making of the film. The felines were allegedly put in hazardous situations and were even tossed into a river. Another scene involving a pug and a bear was reportedly filmed with insufficient safety precautions.

  American Humane attempted to verify these claims but was unable to do so. 

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