Disney knows how to pull on the heart strings and make us cry. Since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney has had some sad moments in their films and it makes us either tear up or just straight up ugly cry. Now some sad moments also are happy as they can still make us cry even though it’s a joyful moment. This also includes Disney’s Pixar as they also have quite a lot of sad moments in their films. I already covered some of these scenes in my favorite animated scenes months ago but I wanted to cover 10 Disney moments that made us cry. As you can tell this is what this list is going to be about and there are a couple of ground rules. In some cases there are multiple sad moments in a film so I can only count 1 sad moment per film. Also I will only be counting films that were either under the Walt Disney Pictures Company or Pixar as straight to DVD/Video films and films under a second company brought in by Disney will not count. Comment below the Disney moment that made you cry and make sure to grab some tissues. This also will be mostly opinionated but don’t worry I will be pretty fair about it in this list. Anyway let’s go get some ice cream and a box of tissues, maybe even grab our dogs or cats and countdown the Top 10 Disney Moments That Make Us Cry
Top 10 Disney Moments That Make Us Cry
10. Aladdin Frees the Genie (Aladdin) – We’re going to start this list with a happy cry but sadly has turned into a sad crying moment. When Robin Williams died many fans went straight to watching his movies and comedy specials. Okay maybe that was just me but there are over 7 billion people in the world so I know there were some who did what I did. One movie in particular that was defiantly viewed was Aladdin and seeing the scene of Aladdin freeing the Genie and saying goodbye to Genie is one of the saddest and happiest moments in Disney history. In a way we can compare it to Robin being free but it is also sad because it was the scene where the two friends say goodbye and go their separate ways…until The Return of Jafar but nobody wants to talk about that including me so moving on. This scene kills me now leaving a tear in my eye each time I view the film and yes this one is more opinionated as I could of picked multiple other moments and scenes for number 10 but I needed to give this moment it’s spotlight because of the events that happened to Robin and how it has become a sad scene over the last few years. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUfP6IGQD00
9. The Barracuda Attack (Finding Nemo) – Welp time for some sad moments but we will take it easy with this entry. The movie Finding Nemo was a huge success critically and in the box office, so successful that it gained a sequel 13 years later and can be found in almost all the Disney Parks. However the film would be nothing without its opening scene where we meet Marlin and his wife Coral. The clownfish couple also have many eggs aka babies that could be found under their home so they are protected from danger. This is the type of scene that we see coming and once the moment hit’s we know it’s going to hit hard. Marlin’s wife sees the barracuda and her motherly instincts kick in and she runs…swims…you get the point, swims to her babies to protect them. The barracuda lunges at her but Marlin tries to stop the barracuda but he gets hit by the barracuda’s tail and is knocked unconscious. When he wakes up his wife and babies are all gone. All but one, one he decides to name Nemo for his wife. The scene is heart breaking as a father lost his future children to be but also a husband lost the love of his life, his wife. Now while Finding Nemo and Finding Dory have some pretty sad and tear jerking scenes, this scene in particular in my eyes is the saddest of them all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo3viAqCda0
8. Goodbye Boo (Monster’s Inc) – It’s always sad to say goodbye to someone you really care about, but in this case this goodbye had to happen because it’s the right thing to do. Monster’s Inc plays an important role in Pixar as it was the 4th film under the studio. The movie came out in a decade where Pixar brought out hit after hit and while I call it the Pixar renaissance, this movie had to be that film to continue what Toy Story 2 started by becoming a huge hit and it did that as it was a critical and box office success. However with that in mind just know that even though it is a monster comedy movie with laughs and heartwarming scenes, it also is a movie that can make you cry. Okay so it will take about 80 minutes into the film to cry but let’s just say it’s a sad movie for this list even though it’s a fun happy movie. Right around the end of the film Sully needs to say goodbye to Boo and bring her back home as humans can’t stay in the Monster world. While he is bringing her to her room Boo brings him all these toys to play and you can see it in Sully’s face that he is heartbroken. He is saying goodbye to someone that he cared about and wanted to protect Even when he is tucking her into bed and saying goodbye to her you can see the sadness in his face. You can also see it in Boo at that point as she knows that he has to go and when he leaves and she jumps out of bed and opens the door and he’s not there, you can feel the sadness in this little girl. Like I said it is hard to say goodbye to someone you care about and this scene is a perfect reason on why it is that case. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPaTaEN2wxY
7. Jessie is Abandoned (Toy Story 2) – One of the saddest things a person might have to deal with in life is abandonment and being forgotten. It’s heartbreaking and it can mess with a person’s head but in this case it messed with a toy’s head. Toy Story 2 is one of the many reasons why Pixar is one of the best animated studios ever and without a doubt Toy Story 2 was the beginning of the cries for the studio as it brought out one of the saddest moments in Disney history. In the scene Woody is getting ready to go back to Andy and that triggers something inside Jessie. We then learn that she was just like Woody once. She was someone’s toy and would go everywhere with the child. But unlike Woody she was forgotten about for many years until one day she was found under the bed. The child became a young woman and decided to leave the toy in a box and drive away. Now on paper a child abandoning a toy is sad but not the end of the world, but put in that Disney magic and Pixar storytelling and you have yourself a moment where a toy not only was abandoned in the middle of nowhere inside a box, but had her heart ripped out and left alone and scared. Imagine being that toy but it was with a parent or loved one and they abandoned you. This scene showed the heartbreak of abandonment but also it teaches the little ones how it can hurt someone really bad. Plus the song in the background with the very sad melody will find a way into your heart and make you cry buckets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElhbTsKsros
6. Fox is left in the Woods (The Fox and the Hound) – Since were in the talk about abandonment, what if it’s not with a person but with a pet. Now I think it’s the most horrible thing to do abandoning a pet as you can damage the pet emotionally plus the poor sweet innocent animal is left all alone now with no one to care for or love. Shit that one hit me writing it. I would never abandon my dog because I love her so much. But in this scene in the Fox and the Hound, she had no choice. After an accident happens with Tod and Cooper, Slade blames Tod and says he will have vengeance on him. In order to protect Tod, Tweed goes on a car ride with the fox and instead of coming home she decides to leave him in the woods where he will be safe. Tweed, the older lady in the film, knows that Tod is no longer safe with her so she makes a quick decision. Now I know I mentioned how abandoning a pet is heartbreaking but in this case it isn’t abandoning the pet but letting the animal go and be safe within his environment. I could never do something like that to any animal even if I was treating it like a pet because of this reason here. This scene is hard to watch if you are an owner of a pet so get the tissues ready. Just from the first few seconds of Tweed looking at a picture of Tod as a baby with the look of sadness is just heartbreaking and will drive to tears. I wish I can say this doesn’t get any more sad on this list but unfortunately it does. The monologue from Tweed’s inner thoughts and the sad background music and Tod knowing that something is wrong makes this sad scene just that reason alone why this list is about to get even sadder and bring you to tears. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3oZ0Il4QH4
5. Take her to the Moon for Me (Inside Out) – A movie about emotions is honestly the most perfect way to make an emotional scene and movie for that matter as Inside Out is one of Pixar’s most emotional films. The film is about the emotions that live in Riley as they’re job is to make sure Riley stays happy. In this scene Joy just learns that Riley needs sadness in order for her to once again feel happiness as sadness leads to moral support which will then lead to her being happy. Joy and Bing Bong though are stuck in the memory dump, a place where the forgotten memories go. In this scene they now need to find a way to get out of the memory dump, find Sadness and head back to headquarters to save Riley from running away. Now Bing Bong is a big reason why this scene in particular is sad because of the fact that he has become forgotten by Riley as he was her imaginary friend. So with him being in the dump he is actually disappearing and dying. So in order to stop that from happening Joy and Bing Bong try to use Bing Bong’s rocket wagon to escape the memory dump and make it back on top but they failed multiple times. Bing Bong then begins to disappear more so he tells Joy to try one more time and sacrifices himself so Joy can save Riley. However Joy doesn’t realize that until she makes it out of the dump. Bing Bong tells Joy to “Take her to the Moon for Me” and fades away. I remember first seeing this scene when the film came out and crying because I know what it’s like to be forgotten by someone you care about and then you fade away from their life. It’s a heart breaking thing to deal with and Bing Bong knows that Riley will be okay without him in his life. Can I get some more tissues please? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-a84x3TSlI
4. Remember Me (Coco) – No seriously I really need more tissues now because this scene and movie alone makes me cry every time I watch it. Back in 2017 my grandmother passed away and it was hard to cope with her passing. That was until I watched Coco. When I first saw the trailer for Coco I wasn’t interested and called it trash. I was wrong after that viewing of the film and I realized that there was a reason why I will always cherish the movie forever. The scene on this list, Remember Me, is an important scene to me as it helped me in a time where my life felt stuck and I couldn’t continue. This scene is about Miguel trying to save his great great grandfather from dying in the Land of the Dead. In the Land of the Dead, when everyone in your familia forgets about your existence you then begin to die and then fade away from existence. In this case Miguel’s family knows nothing about Hector, Miguel’s great great Grandfather. That is except for Mama Coco, Miguel’s great Grandmother. However she too is forgetting as in reality her memories are fading away and she is in her early stages of dying. Miguel decides to take De La Cruz’s guitar and sing Mama Coco the song that her father Hector would sing to her, Remember Me. The lyrics in the song and the emotions in the scene will make Niagara Falls happen on your face as all you can do is cry. This scene is the most perfect scene too as it made me cry, hard. After that moment I knew that this scene and the song would hold a special place in my heart. It always reminds me of my grandmother and I will never forget her and this scene. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgpBt5STusE
3. So Long, Partner (Toy Story 3) – If I were to see Toy Story 3 in theaters and this scene came on I probably would have cried. To think that happened but at home, for about 10 minutes. It’s hard to grow up and trust me I know I’m still trying hard to deal with the fact that I am no longer a kid anymore. But in 2010 I was a couple months away from turning 15 and this movie came out. Back in 2010 everyone thought that this was the finale to the Toy Story franchise and with this scene it really felt like this was the final film, until 2019 when another one came out and was truly the final film, hopefully. Toy Story 3 has multiple scenes I could have picked for this list but I went with the saddest one of them all when Andy says goodbye to his childhood toys. Now while growing up isn’t easy, saying goodbye to someone you care about is hard, we went over that earlier with Monster’s Inc but this one is a bit different. Now giving up your favorite toy is sad but what if they were always there for you when you needed them. Okay that sounds weird but for this it’s more of saying goodbye to your friend and moving on. It’s always hard to say goodbye to a friend and for Andy his friends were his toys as a kid and they always helped him smile and be happy as a kid but once you grow up you forget about those memories until your final goodbye. One by one Andy tells a story about the toy and gives them to Bonnie. From Jessie to Buzz he tells a story about who they are. Then Bonnie checks the box and says “My Cowboy”. The camera pans to the box and we see Woody. Andy is confused as he never put Woody in the box and when Bonnie reaches for Woody Andy pulls away as Woody is his favorite toy, the toy that helped him through tough times. Woody however knew that he and Andy weren’t going to be together forever when he goes away to college so he puts himself in the box off screen and seeing him in the box the viewer knows what’s going on and begins to become emotional because now we need to say goodbye to Woody and watch Andy say goodbye to something he cares so much about and where are those tissues the tears are back. The final part of the scene of Andy playing with his toys one last time and the So Long, Partner line from Woody to Andy as Andy drives off to college will break you into tears. Take it from me as it took me ten minutes in 2010 to stop crying as I was an emotional wreck as I was saying goodbye to Toy Story as I grew up with the films from when I was born. Then the 4th one came out and I watched both my friend and my sister cry and I never cried because I already had my goodbye moment to Woody and the gang. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwu385K3Oq0
2. Mufasa’s Death (The Lion King) – Well if you couldn’t tell from the spotlighted picture on the post then you should have known by now that this scene was going to be on this list. Oh I remember as a kid crying during this scene and once I grew older I didn’t really cry as much. That was until I saw the live action remake in theaters and they literally found a way for me to cry in a movie theater, even though it was the same scene but in CGI animation. So I don’t think I need to explain much from this scene since it is well known by now but in case let’s do it anyway but quickly. Simba is in a middle of a wildebeest stampede and Mufasa goes and tries to save him but gets caught in the stampede. He jumps out of the stampede and claws his way to top of the rocks where his brother Scar is on and he cries for help but instead Scar grabs Mufasa with his claws and whispers “Long Live The King”. He then throws him back down and both Mufasa and Simba scream. We then see a dead Mufasa and Simba not knowing that his uncle Scar killed him doesn’t know what to do as he cries for help as his dead father lies there. He cuddles up with his father one last time and….fuck I need tissues now. Fuck this scene still finds a way to sneak emotions into my heart. Losing a parent is a very heartbreaking thing and this scene shows how hard it can hit a young child. The music in the background and the amazing animation just shows how sad of a scene this scene is and how it continues to become sad when Scar blames Simba for the death of Mufasa. I mean we should all know by now that this scene was the saddest scene in Disney’s history. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBIDvdlpHlk&t=7s – part 1 of the scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84Irg8xn4bg&t=2s – part 2 of the scene.
1. Carl and Ellie (Up) – I said was for Mufasa’s death because Carl and Ellie has taken that mantle. Now it’s pretty aware by now that Pixar is known for its sad scenes as you can see from this list. But they are known for storytelling in their animation and this scene in Up has the most beautiful storytelling in all of animation history. The scene has no dialogue and all we hear is the beautiful musical score being played and all we see is Carl and Ellie’s married life being played out in front of our eyes. We see them build a house together, look at the skies together, dream about having a kid in the future together. But then they dealt with struggles together like Ellie not being able to get pregnant. Carl still loved Ellie even though she couldn’t have a baby and he wanted to have an adventure with her as he gave her the adventure book she created. So they’re new adventure in this married life is to go to Paradise Falls together, something they wanted to do since they were kids. But then more things got in the way and they kind of forgot about Paradise Falls until one day when cleaning the house Carl looked up at the painting Ellie painted of Paradise Falls and decided to buy two tickets to Paradise Falls and wanted to have a picnic with Ellie to show her the tickets. But then we notice something is wrong with Ellie as she is too weak to climb the hill where the picnic is being held and she falls down and we see her in a hospital bed. We learn from there that she is dying and won’t be able to go on that adventure and the musical score is more gloomy and depressing and then the scene cuts to Carl sitting alone in a church with balloons all around him as his Ellie passed away and we then watch him go up his stairs and into their home alone for the first time. This scene is very powerful and emotional for many people. It’s a scene and movie my sister can’t watch because it triggers my grandmother’s death. It’s a scene that will trigger something emotionally in our hearts and let’s also not forget that the film just started and we knew nothing about this married life of Carl and Ellie from the trailer, which makes this scene heartbreaking. It truly is a very hard scene to watch without crying and I mean ugly crying like I ugly cried for Toy Story 3 ending but this scene as a kid I didn’t cry but when I grew older I did, in a very ugly cry way too. Thank you Pixar for this beautiful scene but also this broken heart. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yjAFMNkCDo
Well I am all out of tissues and I literally still have the honorable mentions. This top 10 list was really hard to write because the scenes in this list were very heartbreaking and sad and even made me cry while watching them again and writing about them. I could use a hug right now to be honest and a nice bowl of Haagen-Dazs Vanilla ice cream. Well while I look for some tissues, a hug and ice cream here are some honorable mentions.
Honorable Mentions: Baby Mine (Dumbo) – This scene is sad because of the song being played and for the fact that Dumbo is saying goodbye to his mother. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-8MbgMS6jo
The Fallen Village (Mulan) – This scene shows the aftermath of a war that broke out in a village. All the death makes for a very powerful and emotional scene. P.S the live action Remake of Mulan literally ruined the legacy of this scene. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEQNUIBDcIA&t=2s
Moana’s Grandmother’s Death (Moana) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grNn8SK0oMc
Wall-E’s fixed (Wall-E) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTBg1h451T4
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