History Main / ButNotTooEvil

* ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''. Disney was forced to cut several minutes of footage (including most of the [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic awesome]] VillainSong) in order to secure a General Release rating in Australia.

[[folder:Film]]
* In ''Film/LordOfWar'' the in-character reason that Yuri never supplied Al Qaeda is that Osama was [[PragmaticVillainy bouncing cheques]], but the scriptwriters' reason was almost certainly to allow him to be amoral, but not too amoral for the audience to handle [[DistancedFromCurrentEvents only four years after 9/11]].
* ''Film/{{Downfall}}'' drew quite a bit of controversy among some MoralGuardians for depicting UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler as too sympathetic. It follows his last days as the Red Army closes in on Berlin, and largely Hitler is something of an old ship captain trying to retain some dignity and grace in a hopeless situation, a man capable of showing genuine kindness and charm around people and things he likes, but also cruel, petty, ineffectual and paranoid. Before you start feeling too sorry for him, there's a notable scene where he reminds you that he's Adolf Hitler by giving a big speech where he expresses pride in killing millions of people and hopes that the entire German people get wiped out for failing him.

* ''Film/{{Moonwalker}}'': The Blu-Ray release was edited; we no longer see Mr. Big attempt to inject Katie, nor do we see [[Music/MichaelJackson Michael]] (try to) threaten Mr. Big

* The outrage over the goosestepping hyenas in ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994''. Apparently, this happens to Disney a ''lot''.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''. Disney was forced to cut several minutes of footage (including most of the [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic awesome]] VillainSong) in order to secure a General Release rating in Australia.

* All the way back before any actual ''{{Transformers}}'' fiction was created, Hasbro representatives initially complained that the name "Megatron" sounded too dangerous, until reminded that the character was ''intended'' to be the BigBad.

* Gary Karkofsky a.k.a Merciless: The Supervillain without MercyTM in ''Literature/TheSupervillainySaga'' is the VillainProtagonist of the series. However, its repeatedly brought up he's not nearly as evil as its required to be one in [[WretchedHive Falconcest City]]. As such, he mostly restricts himself to robbing the super-rich and PokeThePoodle pranks.

MoralGuardians often get into a tizzy over any sort of naughty, nasty, or even questionable business portrayed in the media. After all, in their minds those kids will [[DontTryThisAtHome imitate anything they see on the screen]]. This tends to result in a [[BlackAndWhiteMorality world of clear-cut heroes and villains]] in media marketed as being "kid-friendly".

** Daniel Handler eventually stated in an interview that he was deliberately trying to provoke this kind of thing, and was actually disappointed that he got so little attention compared to ''Literature/HarryPotter''. His one real "victory" was the series being banned from a Georgia school due to Olaf trying to marry his own relative in the first book. After jokingly hinting at why southerners in particular would object to that plot point, he went on, "I'm at a loss for how to write a villain who doesn't do villainous things."

* ''Literature/VillainsByNecessity'': The villains never do much that's ''really'' bad (mostly killing to save the world or in self-defense, while Arcie's thefts never cause harm). Valerie is the worst, who [[KickTheDog kills some dolphins]] just [[ForTheEvulz for fun]].

* ''Film/Moonwalker'': The Blu-Ray release was edited; we no longer see Mr. Big attempt to inject Katie, nor do we see [[Creator/MichaelJackson Michael]] (try to) threaten Mr. Big

But villains are supposed to be evil, right? They can get away with doing all sorts of [[KickTheDog nasty things]] the moral guardians wouldn't approve of because they inevitably get [[KarmicDeath what's coming to them]] [[HappilyEverAfter in the end]]. But sometimes the guardians complain anyway, as if the viewers are too dumb to tell who's right and who's wrong (or the guardians might be afraid that EvilIsCool, in the mind of kids who like acting someone cool). It's like they don't ''want'' the bad guys to be evil...and, of course, since most of these moralists believe in BlackAndWhiteMorality, this attitude steers them dangerously close to LogicBomb territory.

* ''Literature/VillainsByNecessity'': The villains never do much that's ''really'' bad (mostly killing to save the world or in self-defense, while Arcie's thefts never cause harm). Valerie is the worst, who [[KickTheDog kills some dolphins]] [[ForTheEvulz just for fun]].

See also DoNotDoThisCoolThing and ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything. When this is done to a HistoricalDomainCharacter, see HistoricalVillainDowngrade. Not related to EvenEvilHasStandards and ALighterShadeOfBlack, which is when a villainous character can't be as villainous as another one, in-story.

See also DoNotDoThisCoolThing. When this is done to a HistoricalDomainCharacter, see HistoricalVillainDowngrade. Not related to EvenEvilHasStandards and ALighterShadeOfBlack, which is when a villainous character can't be as villainous as another one, in-story.

* In ''Film/LordOfWar'' the in-character reason that Yuri never supplied Al Qaeda is that Osama was [[PragmaticVillainy bouncing cheques]], but the scriptwriters' reason was almost certainly to allow him to be amoral, but not too amoral for the audience to handle [[TooSoon only four years after 9/11]].

* This happened with the second book in ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'': It was banned in one school because the villain says "Damn!" and "Hell!", and the really absurd part is that Snicket uses this as an occasion for an parody of overly moralistic children's authors about how swearing is something only a villain would do.

* The [[MoralGuardians Child Care Action Project]] will count points against a movie using its [[FunWithAcronyms WISDOM score system]] regardless of which characters perpetrate the wrongdoing, even or especially if it's the villain, and even if said villain is some unlikeable loser like Prince John from Disney's ''Disney/RobinHood'', who no child would want to emulate anyway.

* The outrage over the goosestepping hyenas in ''Disney/TheLionKing''. Apparently, this happens to Disney a ''lot''.
* ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''. Disney was forced to cut several minutes of footage (including most of the [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic awesome]] VillainSong) in order to secure a General Release rating in Australia.

* The Italian dubbers of ''Anime/MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch'' apparently thought that, since Sara was [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses really a princess]] and going to make a HeelFaceTurn later on, that her VillainSong - which says that "love and dreams are an illusion" - should be replaced by something more heroic that says "have faith in the princesses and ThePowerOfLove." Never mind that this is the ''complete opposite'' of what Sara believes, and that much of the first season is spent trying to convince her of it.

* The [[MoralGuardians Child Care Action Project]] will count points against a movie using its [[FunWithAcronyms WISDOM score system]] regardless of which characters perpetrate the wrongdoing, even or especially if it's the villain, and even if said villain is some unlikeable loser like Prince John from Disney's RobinHood, who no child would want to emulate anyway.

Despite the snarky tone we're taking here, [[TropesAreTools this trope is not necessarily a bad thing.]] No matter how clear a series makes it that the villain is not to be admired, [[FamilyUnfriendlyViolence some evil acts genuinely aren't appropriate for all audiences.]] This is why fairly light kids' shows like ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' have their villains committing the more mundane crimes (theft, fraud, etc.) rather than the more disturbing ones (rape, graphic torture, etc.)

* The [[MoralGuardians Child Care Action Project]] will count points against a movie using it's [[FunWithAcronyms WISDOM score system]] regardless of which characters perpetrate the wrongdoing, even or especially if it's the villain, and even if said villain is some unlikeable loser like Prince John from Disney's RobinHood, who no child would want to emulate anyway.

* ''Series/TheHandmaidsTale'': In the original book, Gilead was racist, sexist, militarist and generally they fulfilled every possible negative stereotype of the RightWingMilitiaFanatic to the maximum extent. This adaptation actually ''amplifies'' the regime's misogyny, or at least the attention it receives, but seemingly omits the racism, even showing the system actively promoting higher black birthrates. Unlike the above examples (with ''The Handmaid's Tale'' being a million miles from kid friendly in the first place) this change was made for pragmatic reasons, as the makers reasoned that a society built around plummeting birth rates could ill afford to deport fertile women based on racial grounds. They also have black people in their ranks, and are also fine with interracial marriage.

** Similarly, the number of "bad guy" figures released in the series' accompanying toy line has diminished over the years; in ''PowerRangers''' early days, a good handful of bad guy figures were released along with the Ranger figures, sold under their own name, but nowadays you'll be hard-pressed to find even ''one'' baddie among the sea of Ranger merchandise... and if you do, it's under the generic term of "Evil Space Alien". Who exactly the kids are supposed to play-fight with their Power Ranger action figures is a mystery.

But villains are supposed to be evil, right? They can get away with doing all sorts of [[KickTheDog nasty things]] the moral guardians wouldn't approve of because they inevitably get [[KarmicDeath what's coming to them]] [[HappilyEverAfter in the end]]. But sometimes the guardians complain anyway, as if the viewers are too dumb to tell who's right and who's wrong. (Or the guardians might be afraid that EvilIsCool, in the mind of kids who like acting someone cool.) It's like they don't ''want'' the bad guys to be evil...and, of course, since most of these moralists believe in BlackAndWhiteMorality, this attitude steers them dangerously close to LogicBomb territory.

* ''Series/TheHandmaidsTale'': In the original book, Gilead was racist, sexist, militarist, anti-science and generally fulfilled every possible negative stereotype of the RightWingMilitiaFanatic to the maximum extent. This adaptation actually ''amplifies'' the regime's misogyny, or at least the attention it receives, but seemingly omits the racism, even showing the system actively promoting higher black birthrates. Unlike the above examples (The Handmaid's Tale being a million miles from kid friendly in the first place) this change was made for pragmatic reasons, as the makers reasoned that a society built around plummeting birth rates could ill afford to deport fertile women based on racial grounds.

* In ''Film/LordOfWar'' the in-character reason that Yuri never supplied Al Qaeda is that Osama was bouncing cheques, but the scriptwriters' reason was almost certainly to allow him to be amoral, but not too amoral for the audience.

* ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''. Disney was forced to cut several minutes of footage (including most of the [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome awesome]] VillainSong) in order to secure a General Release rating in Australia.

* ''Series/TheHandmaidsTale'': In the original book, Gilead was racist, sexist, militarist, anti-science and generally fulfilled every possible negative stereotype of the RightWingMilitiaFanatic to the maximum extent. This adaptation actually ''amplifies'' the regime's misogyny, or at least the attention it receives, but seemingly omits the racism, even showing the system actively promoting higher black birthrates.

Despite the snarky tone we're taking here, this trope is not necessarily a bad thing. No matter how clear a series makes it that the villain is not to be admired, [[FamilyUnfriendlyViolence some evil acts genuinely aren't appropriate for all audiences.]] This is why fairly light kids' shows like ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' have their villains committing the more mundane crimes (theft, fraud, etc.) rather than the more disturbing ones (rape, graphic torture, etc.)