Walt Disney did not invent animation, he just turned it into an empire. He did that back in 1937 when he gambled everything he had to make Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs into the first full-length animated feature film. That turned out to be one of the single greatest moves in business history.

Not only was Walt Disney a pioneer of animated feature films, he was a visionary that created the happiest place on earth and a name that would be considered the happiest ever. How many people hear the word Disney and instantly think of dark and sad?

No one does because that is not what Disney is about. They are all about creating a world filled with happiness and smiling people. Even their animated films have been considered to have the happiest of endings when it comes to film.

However, they have not always created a happy ending. Some of their films, or the following 20 animated Disney films, had an ending that was not even close to happy.

20 The Little Mermaid (1989)

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What happens if Eric turns out to be a creep? For the majority of The Little Mermaid, Ariel is chasing after this handsome man she spotted on a ship that sailed over her home in the ocean. She ends up wanting to be with him so badly she makes a deal to give up her voice in exchange for human legs.

She did all that before meeting him. But the ending of the film shows her father, King Triton, granting her the ability to have human legs and become a human, allowing her to marry Eric and ride off into the sunset.

But what happens if it does not work out? She can't go home and is now forced to live life in the human world, alone.

19 101 Dalmatians (1961)

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101 Dalmatians is one of the scariest Disney animated films thanks to Cruella de Vil. She is a true villain and spends the entire film trying to take puppies so she can skin them and use their fur.

After her evil plan fails, and the original Dalmatian puppies escape, they also bring with them the rest of the puppies she had taken for their fur, all 99 of them. As happy as you think the ending is, there is no one this planet who can take care of 99 puppies for long.

18 Peter Pan (1953)

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The Lost Boys were planning on going back to London with the rest of the Darling family to get adopted and become members of a real family. However, at the last minute, they change their minds and head back to Never Land instead.

But the ending gets even worse when we realize that Peter Pan will never return and that Wendy is no longer going to be a child, it was time to grow up and forget about fantasies like Peter Pan.

17 Bambi (1942)

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Not all endings happen in the film's final few minutes. If we watch just the last couple minutes of Bambi, it is a happy ending full of joy and a baby deer. But it is what happens just before the birth of the twins that makes for an uncomfortable ending.

The year before the actual ending saw Faline nearly getting eaten before being saved by Bambi while the forest, their home, catches on fire. The entire forest burned down, leaving them all to find new homes.

16 Toy Story 3 (2010)

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The actual ending of Toy Story 3 is great. But the ending we all thought we were getting, and the toys too, was extremely sad and depressing.

By the time Woody, Buzz, Jessie, and the rest of the group gets to the dumpster, they are trapped in the trash machine that burns all the trash. After trying to escape, they come to a point where they think it is over and instead of trying, they give up. They hold each other's hands and close their eyes to prepare for the end.

It is one of the saddest and darkest endings to one of the happiest stories from Disney.

15 Coco (2017)

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Coco is actually one of the more impressive Disney animated films thanks to Pixar's creation turning a film about dead skeletons into something we can all enjoy. How did they make us forget that we are watching a film starring dead people stuck in purgatory?

Regardless, the ending of the film is probably the saddest of all the Disney films because we are reminded that everyone we spent two hours falling in love with was actually deceased, and they will return to wherever they go, leaving Miguel to live his life without ever seeing any of them until he passes.

Sad and complicated for a Disney picture, right?

14 Aladdin (1992)

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When we first meet him, Aladdin is trying to get out of the slums and make something of his life. But then he meets Princess Jasmine, without knowing exactly who she is, and his only goal becomes winning her heart and becoming a prince. He then finds a genie and is granted three wishes.

However, the entire film focuses on how the law is the law and only a prince can marry a princess. So for nearly two hours, Aladdin tries to win her heart and become a prince so he can live happily ever after with her.

Yet, it takes the entire film before the sultan realizes he is in charge and can change the law if he wants to. How come he did not just do that to begin with?

13 Hercules (1997)

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Since Disney is in the business of making children happy, their animated films are created for a specific audience. Without knowing much about Hades and the underworld, aka Hell, children can just chalk this film up to a good conquering evil adventure.

Except, when you look at it as an adult, you see this unfaithful woman, Meg, who was lying to Hercules the entire film, sell her soul to the devil. She eventually perishes and is sent to the underworld before Hercules sacrifices his life to save her. He then gives up living with his parents just to be with her.

12 Inside Out (2015)

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Inside Out is actually pretty sad when you think about it. It tears away the childhood innocence we all grew up with and brings us back to a time when we began turning into an adult.

But what makes this ending so uncomfortable is knowing that Riley is no longer going to be that same happy child we met in the beginning of the film. Instead, she is going to become a young adult with sadness now given the ability to effect all of her core emotions.

11 Pinocchio (1940)

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When Pinocchio wakes up from his slumber, he is a real boy after Geppetto's wish is finally granted, and they all dance the night away, happy as a kid at Disney World. However, it's the entire premise of how this wooden boy has to perish before a magical fairy resurrects him back to life, as a new boy, that sours the finale.

What makes this even more uncomfortable is thinking about all the boys on Pleasure Island who were turned into a donkey, and then left to remain so for the rest of their short lives.

10 The Lion King (1994)

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Today, Disney has gotten away from making films where many of the characters perish. They tend to keep any demises off screen and away from the viewers. But in The Lion King, we are treated with one of the worst on-screen animated losses ever with Mufasa.

Later on in the film, after convincing his nephew, Simba, who was just a tiny cub at the time, that it was his fault his father passed, Scar is also slain and we get to see it. Only, instead of Simba getting his revenge, he gives Scar over to the hyenas, who then proceed to devour him alive.

9 Big Hero 6 (2014)

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It is bad enough that Tadashi perishes within the first 30 minutes of the film, but when the movie finally reaches its epic conclusion, we have to part ways with Baymax too? It just does not seem very happy for any kind of child hoping to enjoy a super awesome Disney flick.

Although we are told throughout the entire film that Baymax is just a programmable robot, the ending changes everything when Baymax sacrifices himself to save the lives of Hiro and Abigail.

8 Wall-E (2008)

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Wall-E is quite possibly the greatest Disney/Pixar film ever made. But it has always been considered underrated because of a lack of support from Disney fans out there. Some people just do not like the truth and this film gives it to us like a punch to the jejunum.

In a surprising twist, the ending shows that if we continue living the way we do, in real-life, we will end up ruining our planet, leaving nothing but trash and machines left to clean up the mess. Once we get past that shock, we are left watching humans return to Earth, where they have to learn how to rebuild and live on the planet again.

7 Beauty And The Beast (1991)

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It is a tale as old as time and is one of the greatest Disney animated feature films ever, but the one thing that people who love Beauty and the Beast seem to forget about is the film's ending.

After spending many years trapped as a clock, candelabra, duster, wardrobe, and several other pieces of furniture, they all turn back into their original selves once the spell is lifted through the Beast and Belle. Except, they return to being servants to the Beast and his new lover, Belle, in the same castle.

Not too happy now, is it?

6 Tarzan (1999)

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For what it's worth, not too many people saw this Disney film anyways, so they might not have seen just how incredibly uncomfortable this film's ending was, especially for children who went to see it in theaters.

For starters, Clayton is hanged by the neck in some vines, and we even get to see his eyes nearly pop out his head while doing so; but the real awkward situation is when Jane decides to stay with Tarzan, a human raised by gorillas that grew up in the wild, and live with him on his island. Nigel also jumps off the boat and supposedly swims to shore too, but we only see him jump into the water.

5 Dumbo (1941)

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Believe whatever you want about Dumbo, he is an adorable baby elephant that is forced into the circus, becoming a main attraction of the show because of his gigantic ears. As happy as that might have sounded in 1941, it becomes even more sad in today's age.

Even though he gets to be with his mother, finally, and is the star of the show, animals in the circus are still caged animals forced to do things for humans entertainment. Dumbo might have overcome his fears and gone from the bullied babe to the star, but he is still a prisoner in the circus, forever.

4 Monsters, Inc (2001)

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Yes, we all understand that Sully had to bring Boo back to her room eventually— she could not live in Monstropolis forever— but when Mike and Sully finally save their home, Sully is forced to part ways with Boo forever.

Once he returns to Monstropolis, Boo's door is shredded so that Sully, and no one else, can ever go back to visit her. If that was not sad enough for you, they even show us Boo, back in her room after Sully leaves, running to her closet door to open it expecting "Kitty" to be there, and getting nothing but her closet.

3 The Brave Little Toaster (1987)

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If you ever wondered how Pixar came up with the idea for Toy Story, look no further than The Brave Little Toaster. The only difference is making it more believable and not letting the humans see the inanimate objects actually alive.

The ending to this film sees our favorite little toaster sacrificing himself to save his owner, Rob, by jumping into the crusher's gears, destroying the machine and stopping it from destroying Rob. Although Rob goes on to save them, the fact that most of them perished during the epic finale is very uncomfortable for any Disney fan.

2 The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1996)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame
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Disney wants us to feel good when walking out of one of their theatrical films but they failed miserably with The Hunchback of Notre Dame, if not because of the story itself being very dark and sad.

Just when you think there is an outside chance Quasimodo could end up with Esmeralda, she falls in love with a guard named Phoebus, and he is forced to watch them be happy as a couple. And no, we are not happy that the people accepted him, that was not what the film was trying to get us to believe.

1 The Fox And The Hound (1981)

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Right away, we are shown an innocent baby fox watch his mother get shot. He is then rescued by a farmer and an old lady named Widowe, meeting her neighbor's puppy, Copper in the process. The two of them instantly become best friends.

But over time, the two natural enemies are forced to separate and go their own ways. Tod never gives up on Copper until Slade, Copper's owner, burns the forest just to get rid of Tod. This leads to a moment where Copper protects Tod from being shot only to be taken away and the two never see one another again.

If this is supposed to be about friendship and happiness, then why are we forced to watch best friends turn into enemies?