Top 10 Saddest Moments in Disney and Pixar Films
In this blog I will be counting down my opinion of the 10 saddest Disney and Pixar moments.
No. 10 Toy Story 2
Jessie being rejected by Emily: The number 10 saddest moment for me goes to Jessie being forgotten by Emily, her owner, in Toy Story 2, and then being abandoned in a box. This moment in the film is stunning with the beautifully song “When Somebody Loved Me” and montage of time passing. It’s just heartbreaking to watch a toy, an innocent cowgirl become unloved after she had been through so much with Emily.
I think the reason why this moment resonates with me is because it reminds me of all my teddies, dollies and beanie babies that have been shoved into boxes and it makes me feel so bad for them. Excuse me while I go and give them all a cuddle.
No. 9 The Lion King
Mufasa dying: Spoiler! Sorry! I know that this moment would normally be people’s number 1 but by the time I had seen The Lion King, age 17, I know, I was a sheltered child, the fact that Mufasa dies, that Simba blames himself and Scar is actually to blame was spoiled for me back when I was 6. So when it came to watching the moment for the first time, I wasn’t that saddened. I mean don’t get me wrong, it’s an emotional scene, when poor Simba pushes his way under Mufasa’s paw for a cuddle, it’s sad, but there have been more emotional scenes than that.
No. 8 Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast, live action, turning into inanimate objects: I’m not 100% sure this should be on the list because it’s not animated, but I’m in charge so I guess I’m adding it.
When I went to see this film at the cinema, I was heartbroken, on the edge of my seat, ready to storm out at the prospect that they may not become human again. The whole scene from the beast getting injured to Lumière, being all on his own and having to transform makes my choked up inside and my heart ache. It’s the “Amore, no, don’t leave me” and Mrs. Potts frantically trying to find her son before she transforms and Chip nearly smashing to pieces that gets me. For what felt like a thousand years (yes I’m being dramatic) I was waiting, no, hoping that the curse would reverse itself and I am so thankful that it did.
No.7 Finding Nemo
Barracuda attack: So 9 year old Siobhan (that’s me) gets invited to a cinema party, the film was Finding Nemo, the new Pixar film, I was expecting great things, especially after Toy Story and A Bugs Life. Little did I know that within the first 10 minutes of the film I would be silently sobbing my eyes out. The cause? The film that started out with so much hope, love and family values, crushes my hopes when Marlin loses his entire family, except from one small clown fish, because of a Barracuda attack. The whole scene makes your heart sink, get it, sink, water?
No. 6 Wall-E
Wall-E: I have watched Wall-E several times now, and each time it’s a painful process, not because it’s a bad film, but because I love Wall-E so much and it always breaks my heart to see how much he goes through. I’m sure there are some of you out there who are saying that he’s just a robot, but he has feelings. He’s the last working robot and his only friend is a cockroach. You can see he craves human contact and then the first and only robot that comes to earth after who knows how long he has been alone, rejects him. He then spends the entire movie trying to do the right thing in his own little quirky way and then risks his own life to save her. Then right at the end of the film Wall-E forgets Eve and I honestly thought he would never remember her, so I was so glad when I saw that little spark of light, it’s like letting out a breath I’ve been holding since pressing play on the DVD menu.
No.5 Princess and the Frog
Ray: Princess and the Frog the film is a little gem, there is nothing I don’t like about this film, except that Ray died, and by the hand of Dr. Facilier. If it had been an accident I wouldn’t be so sad, but no, he got hit and stepped on, and he didn’t deserve it. Killing him was unnecessary. You want to know the sad thing, for the rest of the movie, until it was 100% confirmed that he had passed on, I hoped that maybe some Disney magic had happened and he would just have a poorly wing, but no, he was dead. I get that he got to be with his dear Evangeline, but no, it wasn’t his time yet. He had so much more to give.
No. 4 Up
Up time lapse: You head into the cinema, you sit down into cinema with your giant bowl of popcorn and your over priced drink, you’ve finally gotten over the trauma of Finding Nemo and you think your about the watch a fun film about a man who floats his house away on adventure, instead, within 10 minutes into the film you’re rocking yourself backwards and forwards, and your using the hem of your dress as a tissue because you’ve just watched Carl loose the love of his life and never get to fulfil his dream of going to South America. It’s just so sad and it doesn’t matter how many times you watch the scene, it gets you every time.
No. 3 Inside Out
Bing Bong sacrifices himself: “Take her to the moon for me” such a great line, but also the line that leaves me bawling my eyes out, and with tears, not candy. Bing Bong loves Riley so much and he knows he can’t go on much longer so he lets Joy go alone. I think it gets to me so much because I know that there were all those imaginary friends out there that like Bing Bong have been forgotten and although they’re not real, they helped shaped those people…and I’m gonna stop myself before I get too mushy.
No.2 Dumbo
Baby mine: Just thinking about this scene from Dumbo makes my eyes prickle. The moment in the film is sad for so many reasons, it shows just how badly humans can treat animals, I mean separating mothers from their babies, who thought that was a good idea… no one in their right mind, that’s who.
The song doesn’t help either, the lyrics “You are so precious to me”, “Dry your eyes” and “Don’t you cry”, it’s like the song is taking to me. That and the visual of having the two of them cuddling with their trunks, I mean come on, it’s just so beautifully sad.
Before we get to No. 1 here are some honourable mentions:
11) The opening of Tarzan. Disney really loves death, it’s true, why oh why did that poor innocent baby have to lose both of his parents, and by being eaten by Sabor, a tiger, who also kills Kala’s child. They only reason this didn’t make the top 10 is because it’s equally shocking as it is sad.
12) Loosing Tadashi, and Baymax and then Tadashi again. Hiro’s already lost his parents, then he loses his brother, he gets him back in the form of Baymax and then he loses Baymax. It’s like you have to mourn Tadashi twice.
13) Bambi’s mum dying. It’s just not fair, Bambi did not deserve that, I, the viewer did not deserve to go through that. He was innocent and young and now he has to grow up without his mum. Excuses me while I grab my box of tissues.
No.1 Toy Story 3
The toys nearly getting burnt alive: Toy Story 1 and Toy Story 2 are practically perfect films, I’ve watched them countless times and love the characters, I’ve grown up with them and every year at Christmas they’ve wound up on the big screen. When it was announced that a third film was being released, I knew that it either had to be big or it had to go home. So there I was, at the cinema ready to watch the film and it was going well until the toys meet the big fiery pit of death and they hold hands and it looks like there’s no escape and I am a nervous wreck. I actually thought they were going to kill off the toys and that would be the end of the film, thankfully I was wrong, but I have to admit, it was a tense few minutes.
So there we have it, my top 10, plus a few extra, of the saddest Disney and Pixar moments. Was your saddest moment included? Did you agree with my list? Let me know in the comments bellow.
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