Children's stories need to be dark

Guillermo del Toro directed Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy, and produced animated films for kids, including Kung-Fu Panda 2 and the upcoming Rise of the Guardians.

In an interview with i09 in November, he talked about how children's stories need to be dark, because "kids are neurotic."

"And I think that people don't acknowledge that kids have all these sides. Kids are neurotic, kids deal with fear, kids are confronted by really hostile impulses from the adults around them and the other kids, and you know, movies should acknowledge all this and create these fables that help them deal with those things."

"It's a very, very, very thin difference (between a monster movie and a dark fairy tale). I think that horror stories come from fairy tales, in a way. They share a lot of similarities. I think the difference is tonal. You know, the fairy tale contains a lot more elements of magic and whimsy and the the horror story contains a lot more, sort of, almost existential feelings — sort of dread, and ultimately they are similar melodies, played at a very different key."

Read the interview here.