Who thought this was not for little kids and shocked that this is G

I SO agree! And, on top of all that, Fidget scared me to tears! Still does!

According to MPAA.org:

G — General Audiences. All Ages Admitted. A G-rated motion picture contains nothing in theme, language, nudity, sex, violence or other matters that, in the view of the Rating Board, would offend parents whose younger children view the motion picture. The G rating is not a "certificate of approval," nor does it signify a "children’s" motion picture. Some snippets of language may go beyond polite conversation but they are common everyday expressions. No stronger words are present in G-rated motion pictures. Depictions of violence are minimal. No nudity, sex scenes or drug use are present in the motion picture.

PG — Parental Guidance Suggested. Some Material May Not Be Suitable For Children. A PG-rated motion picture should be investigated by parents before they let their younger children attend. The PG rating indicates, in the view of the Rating Board, that parents may consider some material unsuitable for their children, and parents should make that decision. The more mature themes in some PG-rated motion pictures may call for parental guidance. There may be some profanity and some depictions of violence or brief nudity. But these elements are not deemed so intense as to require that parents be strongly cautioned beyond the suggestion of parental guidance. There is no drug use content in a PG-rated motion picture.

The Great Mouse Detective had no language, nudity, sex, and the violence was pretty mild (there was no bloodshed, not even when Basil and Ratigan had their final showdown at the end). There were some scenes that seemed intense for young viewers, but that usually depends on the child. I watched it at seven years old, got slightly spooked by Fidget, but I was fine to watch the rest.

Also, TGMD came out in 1986 and The Muppets came out in 2011. The eighties was during a time when movies (including animated ones) were considered harmless and basically meant for entertainment purposes, not to be taken seriously or fearing it will scar poor innocent children. Everyone is so paranoid these days; they'll immediately slap warnings all over the films for the slightest use of the word 'heck.' One woman practically had a coronary with Shrek II because Puss in Boots told Donkey, "You still look like an ass to me" after his transformation to a stallion. Oh, no! He said, "ass!" Someone go and shoot the writers for being so offensive!

In all honesty, I'm glad Disney didn't sugarcoat their movie by shielding the true horrors of 19th century London. It was dirty, crime-filled, poverty-filled, full of ruffians in seedy pubs, nude strippers dancing on stage, lots of drinking, smoking and drugs. If you think about it, the movie was pretty damn mild compared to how things were in those days. Disney didn't show the pub stripper naked, didn't show any women getting raped or they didn't show any of the patrons being held at gun point. They stuck to the plot while at the same time briefly showed the audience what life was like back then.

This movie is NOT strictly for children. Their target was making a FAMILY movie which means ALL ages could enjoy it. I am so sick of hearing it's too violent, too suggestive, too scary for young children, blah blah blah. If anyone wants to know what kind of movie is like that, they should go rent Heavy Metal and stop treating this one like it's the horror of all horrors.

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The times changed my friend, times changed. I used to watch this all the time when I was little and then I had forgotten all about it. I just watched it recently, probably over 17 years later and I lost count as to many times my eyes widened because I was so shocked at what I was seeing. You would never see the things featured in this film in any kids or Disney film today.

It has the same rating as Pinocchio which is 100x more disturbing! Everything in that film could be in a horror film! Also the same rating as Dumbo which had him getting drunk and then followed a scene of very disturbing hallucinations! And how about Alice in Wonderland, the entire film is about drugs!
Most Disney films have darker themes to them or parts that will go over the heads of kids and only the adults will fully understand so that's why they're such good family films! Something for everyone! You just have to not get too tied up over the little things!

Don't know if you know this or not since you've obviously got perspective out the yingyang and all, but sending your kids to school is a little bit more likely to cause psychological trauma than a fairly good Disney film.

The only trigger warning on Disney+ is "Contains tobacco depictions." The good guy, the bad guy, and a whole lot of others smoke. Apparently they found nothing else objectionable!