Top 10 Saddest Moments in Animation

I've decided that people aren't nearly sad enough, so I created this list! Hooray! Selections from this list are from varying animation companies, though mostly from Disney. Disney apparently knows how to pull on people's heartstrings. The only rule I made for this list was that there could only be one selection from one franchise. I have a ton of honorable mentions, but this list has all the scenes that have always affected me. If you haven't seen any of these movies, then you may not want to read the entry. Also, make sure you click the links in each of the titles!

10. "Mother Earth and Father Time" (Charlotte's Web)

This movie was a mainstay of my childhood, but I haven't had the pleasure of watching it since. That being said, it doesn't mean that I have forgotten about Charlotte's death at the end of Charlotte's Web. Charlotte has saved Wilbur from certain destruction by spinning messages of Wilbur's worth into her web for the world to see. He pays her back by protecting her egg sac which contains her unborn children. She tells a crestfallen Wilbur that she will pass away soon, and indeed she does, leaving behind her eggs. Adding insult to injury, after all the spiders hatch, they all fly away in the wind, much to Wilbur's dismay. Luckily for him, three stay behind to keep him company. The whole scene is sad of course, but it's Wilbur's reaction at the end that always gets me.

9. "Baby Mine" (Dumbo)

This movie moment is notorious in my house because my wife is literally unable to watch it. She has a good point, as this is a terribly sad moment. It's not higher on the list because everything get's better. Mrs. Jumbo has been locked up because she is believed to be a "mad elephant." Dumbo comes to see his mother and she rocks him back and forth with her trunk while the song "Baby Mine" plays. The song makes the whole scene worse. It was bad enough seeing the two elephants hesitant to leave each other, but the song just hits you. Like I said though, everything turns out alright in the end with the two being reunited.

8. "Kitty!" (Monster's, Inc.)

This scene takes place at the end of the movie when Sulley and Mike finally take Boo back to her room. There is a true friendship between Boo and Sulley, so the goodbye between them is a hard one to bear. The worst part is after Sulley leaves, Boo attempts to see him again by opening up her closet,  only to find clothes and toys. Boo's door is destroyed and it's assured that Sulley will never see Boo again. Luckily, Mike gets all the pieces of the door back and put them together for Sulley. The closing moment of the movie is Sulley stepping back into Boo's bedroom and hearing a familiar name. Happy tears.

7. "An Empty Chair" (Mickey's Christmas Carol)

This is another favorite animated feature from my childhood, and it has one of the rare moments that made me sad a child. For whatever reason, I didn't get sad during traumatic scenes when I was a child. Now that I'm older, these moments hit me harder than I could ever imagine. This scene has always made me sad. Scrooge meets the third spirit and learns that Tiny Tim has in fact passed away. You see Bob Cratchit walking up to Tim's grave with a crutch, tears flowing and everything. He sets the crutch onto the grave and slowly walks away with his family. Seeing Mickey Mouse cry is not cool. It's not something that I had ever experienced as a child so it was a complete shock. This scene still gets me today. I could only find this video on dailymotion so you will have to skip to the twenty minute mark to see the scene in question.

6. "Goodbye May Seem Like Forever" (The Fox and the Hound)

The Fox and the Hound is not a bright and happy story. In fact, it's pretty depressing. There's one moment in particular that breaks your heart, though. Widow Tweed adopts the orphaned fox, Tod, and cares for it until he reaches adulthood. Tensions mount between Tweed and her hunter neighbor, so she sees no other recourse than to take Tod to a game preserve, where she feels Tod with be safe. The movie may be about Tod and Copper's friendship, but the relationship between Tweed and Tod is a strong one, so it hurts to see her leave Tod behind. She loves Tod more than anything, and tries to put him out of harm's way, even if it means that she doesn't have his company anymore. People saying goodbye to pets in movies is hard as it is, but seeing an old woman force an animal that loves her from following her back home is heartbreaking.

5. "When She Loved Me" (Toy Story 2)

Seeing that I can't put moments from the same group of movies, I chose this one over any other Toy Story moment. A close second was Andy giving his toys away at the end of Toy Story 3. That moment stung (I felt like I got punched in the gut when Andy pulled Woody back toward him), but Jessie's song about her owner that eventually left her gets me every time. The whole thing is sad enough, but the beautiful song just makes it a million times harder. It's a song that speaks to anyone who has felt abandoned in life or in love. It's tragic and by far the saddest moment in the Toy Story trilogy. A fan theory that is making the rounds believes that Jessie's owner, Emily, is in fact Andy's mom. The evidence is the hat Emily wears is the same as Andy's. I don't know about you, but that just makes this whole thing far more tragic.

4. "The Hunter" (Bambi)

It's a given that this infamous death makes people's saddest moments list. It truly deserves to be there, though. This moment has made anti-hunting advocates and even vegetarians because it's so startling. What's so powerful about the whole scene is that you neither see the hunter, nor Bambi's mother getting shot. In fact, you never see the Hunter throughout the whole film, yet he completely drives the plot. He shoots Bambi's mother, so Bambi is instead raised by his father. The Hunter leaves his fire unattended and basically burns the whole forest down, leading to a climactic battle and the rescue of Faline. Anyway, the death of Bambi's mother isn't the really sad part about the whole scene, but what happens afterward. Bambi steps out of their home, calling for his mother. While Bambi blindly searches the forest, it begins to snow. The whole scene makes you believe that Bambi is now completely on his own, but then out of nowhere the Great Prince appears and coldly tells Bambi that his mother can't be with him anymore. Bambi slowly follows the Great Prince into the cold winter. It's a masterful scene and one that has resonated in people's minds for generations.

3. "A Mother's Sacrifice" (The Land Before Time)

Littlefoot and Cera are playing together when out of nowhere, Sharptooth (or as I called him as a child, Sharktooth) attacks. Luckily for them, Littlefoot's mother protects them. An earthquake causes Sharptooth to fall into a ravine, but not before he mortally wounds Littlefoot's mother. Littlefoot and Cera are now seperated from their herds and much journey to the "Great Valley" by themselves. Littlefoot's mother tells him that she will always be with him, and that she knows that he'll find a way to the "Great Valley" if he follows his heart. It's sad enough watching this and knowing that she's dying, but the fact that Littlefoot is completely oblivious to this fact is heart-wrenching. It's basically the same reaction that any child would have if their parent were dying. That is what makes this scene so hard to watch. Also the end with her cloud showing the way the "Great Valley."

2. "Carl and Ellie" (Up)

This is by far the saddest opening to any movie that has ever been made. Pixar movies can be pretty sad at times, but Up takes the cake and throws it out the window on your birthday. Carl and Ellie meet as children and both have an affinity for adventure. They vow that they will someday travel to Paradise Falls in Venezuela, but life keeps getting in the way. We watch as the couple gets married, prepares for children, and then finds out that they are unable to. That scene is sad enough, but it keeps going. Years pass and they are now old, and Carl decides it is finally time to go to Paradise Falls. Before he can surprise her with the airline tickets, Ellie gets sick and soon passes away. The scene of Carl sitting by himself after the funeral is by far the worst part. The whole scene is beautiful, extremely sad, and unforgettable. I don't think anyone expected this when going to see a Pixar movie about an old man. Oh, and being married has made this whole scene way harder to watch.

1. "Long Live the King" (The Lion King)

This scene has affected me more and more as the years go by. I don't know if it's because my father is getting older and I'm becoming more afraid that someday I'll lose him. It's harder to think about that when you're younger because you think you're parents are invincible. Now that I'm older, all these movies and shows about parents passing away is hitting me harder and harder. Growing up stinks sometimes. Anyway, this scene is about as infamous as Bambi's, if only for my own generation. Scar plans for Mufasa and Simba to get trampled by wildebeest, but Mufasa manages to save Simba. Mufasa attempts to get himself out of the gorge, but his lousy brother throws him back down to his death. Simba watches his father fall, but does not see how it happened. Simba tries to wake his father up, but to no avail. He cries out for help, and getting none, goes back to his father and puts himself underneath the fallen king's paw. That part kills me. Guh. What makes the whole thing worse is that Simba is made to believe that he is the reason his father is dead, so he carries that around with him for years to come. The relationship between Mufasa and Simba is just too relatable, and that's what makes this movie so great, and also very tragic.

Underrated Disney Songs: Part I

There are many Disney songs that everybody knows, like "When You Wish Upon a Star," "Bare Necessities," and "A Friend Like Me." Then there are other songs that you probably forgot even existed. What I compiled here could be one or the other for you, but I feel like they are more often forgotten by the general public. There are many other forgotten songs, I'm sure, but these are some of my favorite Disney songs, but they'll never make it on someone's top Disney songs list. The are in no particular order, so don't assume I like some of these more than others. I'm separating older Disney from newer, so it's not too much to read at once. All songs are from the Disney Canon. One last note is that I'm excluding all songs that were not exclusively written for the films, so no songs from Fantasia or any of the others like it will be present.

1. "The Three Caballeros" (The Three Caballeros)

Don't get me wrong, I love all the other songs in this movie, along with Saludos Amigos, but "The Three Caballeros" is a classic song. Honestly, I'd heard the song before I'd ever seen the movie, watching it on the "Heigh Ho" Disney Sing-Along VHS. This song is great fun, and best of all it has Donald Duck, who happens to be my favorite Disney character of all time. The song is great all by itself, but this one is best viewed through the movie where you can see all the sight gags. It's nice to every once in a while get a Disney song that doesn't sound like the rest, and this one is definitely unique. Also, you can learn some Spanish!

2. "Nowhere in Particular" (The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad)

This song stands as the only one in The Wind of the Willows segment of the package film The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. That, along with the fact that Ichabod and Mr. Toad are very rarely brought up account for this song's inclusion. The song and movie are referenced only at Disneyland, where you can go on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. The ride was also at Disneyworld, and I was fortunate enough to have been able to go on it when it was still open, but closed in 1998 and replaced with a Winnie the Pooh ride. Anyway, this is a great song, sung by Mr. Toad and Cyril, his accomplice in all things mania. The duet takes place while Toad is in the throes of his "horse and carriage" mania and the song illustrates very well Toad's character. He's careless and just wants to have fun. What could go wrong?

3. "Never Smile at a Crocodile" (Peter Pan)

OK, so this song just makes a brief appearance, but there is the real version with words and everything. So I'm counting this one and there's nothing you can do about it. This was another one I got from Disney Sing-Alongs, and now that I think of it, I'm pretty glad we had those as kids, because otherwise I would probably not know any of these. One of the best parts of Peter Pan is the relationship between the Crocodile and Captain Hook. The Crocodile taunts Hook incessantly and you can hear this song starting up when he comes around. The song is honestly pretty silly. It's all about forgetting your manners around a crocodile and not smiling at it, bowing, or any of that stuff. It's a simple song, but it's still pretty catchy and funny to boot.

4. "That's What Makes the World Go Round" (The Sword in the Stone)

This is one of those songs that gets forgotten mostly because people forget that The Sword in the Stone actually had some music in it. It actually had quite a few songs, but this is my favorite. It lays out very plainly what Merlyn wants Wart to learn from his tutelage. Don't be a mediocrity, always learn new things. It's a great song and it's hidden inside this Disney gem which people barely take notice of anymore. The song leads right into the pike attack (my wife and I always thought it was a barracuda), which is pretty terrifying, so that kind of puts a damper on the whole song.

5. "That's What Friends Are For" (The Jungle Book)

This song takes place at the tail end of the movie, so it's easy to see how it is usually overlooked. Plus, this movie boasts the likes of "Bare Necessities" and "I Wanna Be Like You," which are among the most popular Disney songs of all time. The song is sung in the style of a Barbershop Quartet, something that the filmmakers wanted so they could lighten up the dark mood. The four vultures who sing to Mowgli were originally intended to be none other than the Beatles, but the deal fell through. What remains is four mop-topped crooners with Liverpool accents, but not the iconic Beatles. That's alright, the Beatles probably would have stolen the focus away from the movie. The song works for me on a lot of different levels. The song is pretty upbeat, but its being sung in the middle of a barren wasteland of the jungle with a storm looming. There are also double entendres alluding to how vultures devour other animals, so that's always fun. I think I may just like Barbershop Quartets, so that may explain this choice.

6. "Oo-De-Lally"/"Whistle Stop" (Robin Hood)

I've decided to put these together since they take place right next to each other, and they're both awesome. I know, "Whistle Stop" isn't technically a lyrical song, but it's too good to leave off. "Oo-De-Lally" is basically a folksy intro to Robin Hood and Little John. There's nothing spectacular about the song, but its just very chill and a great intro to the story. Speaking of intros, "Whistle Stop" is what plays over the opening credits, and when I say credits, I mean it. For whatever reason, they decided to put most of the credits at the beginning of the movie along with the song and a parade of the characters. I guess they had to make it a little interesting. This is one of my favorite openings to a Disney movie, all because of this song. It's so catchy that it's annoying, but then it isn't again. If you think you've heard this song somewhere, it's because it's also "The Hamster Dance Song." I personally like this version better. Both songs were written and performed by Roger Miller.

7. "Little April Shower" (Bambi)

Bambi is one of those movies that I really didn't care for when I was a kid. I thought Bambi was a girl, and it wasn't cool to watch a movie about a girl deer apparently. Of course Bambi is a boy and I was an idiot. Upon viewing Bambi now, I see what a masterpiece the whole movie is. It has probably some of the best animation Disney has ever produced, plus it's a great coming of age story. The songs, though you miss them the first couple times around, are actually one of the highlights for me. "Love is a Song That Never Ends" is a beautiful opening, but for the best song in this movie that nobody knows, I'd have to go with "Little April Shower." The song takes place early in the movie when Bambi is still young and hasn't been crushed by the weight of the world. It's a simple song sung by a choir, but it fits the mood perfectly. What is especially good about the song is it goes in stages. It starts out nice and cheerful with a little bit of rain, then as the light rain turns into a legitimate storm, the music becomes chaotic, punctuated by cymbal crashes. Just when we think it'll never end, the storm breaks and all goes calm again. It mirrors the movie pretty well, foreshadowing the storms Bambi will face later in life. It also reminds me a lot of the Silly Symphony The Old Mill.

8. "Casey Junior" (Dumbo)

It's mostly an instrumental, but this song and sequence were my favorite part of Dumbo as a child, and I still like it a ton. It's a big song that sounds more like the opening of a Disney cartoon, but it works really well in Dumbo. I can't hear this song and not think of trains or the circus. It helps that the song is pretty catchy. I had actually completely forgotten about this song until I did research for this post. "Everybody knows Baby Mine" and "When I See An Elephant Fly," but this song is easily missed. It shouldn't be that way, since this song isn't depressing or filled with racist caricatures. While the song may be largely forgotten, the character is not. Casey Jr. operates as the children's train at Disneyland and Disneyland Paris.

9. "The Headless Horseman" (The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad)

This song is great for many reasons. First and foremost, because Bing Crosby provides the vocals. I mean, who can argue with Bing Crosby? Second, it's a Halloween song, and I love Halloween. Third, it's just a fun and spooky song. I know that this is more of a seasonal song, but to me, it can be listened to anytime. Same goes for the movie. You can't just watch The Legend of Sleepy Hollow during October! I think part of the reason it's overlooked is simply because this is seen as a Halloween only movie. The other songs in the movie, "Ichabod Crane,"and "Katrina" are also great tunes, if only because of Bing Crosby. The song serves as the way Ichabod learns of the Headless Horseman, with Brom Bones trying to scare him more and more. It's really where the movie takes off, because before this everything has been pretty light and quiet. This song marks when things get spooky.

10. "Scales and Arpeggios" (The Aristocats)

I'm honestly not a huge fan of The Aristocats, but I like this song. The song is actually much better in context, so I would definitely rather watch the scene than listen to it, but it's still a cute song. The image of a paint splattered cat playing piano never gets old. This song kind of molds into the rest of the movie and isn't as stand out as "Ev'rybody Wants To Be a Cat" or even "Thomas O'Malley Cat."It's just a simple little song that shows the lives of Duchess and her kittens. Disney doesn't have very many songs with just piano, so it's just kind of different.

Disney's Dumbo

As it turns out, Pinocchio and Fantasia had basically put Walt Disney into the hole. Pinocchio made little to nothing overseas, and Fantasia was expensive and only played in thirteen theaters. Disney needed money, badly. Meanwhile, a very short storybook was being made. It was a different sort of children's book called a Roll-A-Book, sort of like a panoramic book. The main character was named Dumbo, and the small book was only eight pages long. It didn't have a lot of detail. Disney's head of merchandising happened upon the prototype and showed it to Walt. Walt loved the character and decided this was the way that he would bring Disney back. What Disney sought to do was make a simple animated film that reach audiences. Disney basically made the movie on the cheap, having the character designs simple, less detailed backgrounds, and reused cells. Dumbo used water-color backgrounds like Snow White, the two classic animated films being the only ones that used that method. The movie was also one of Disney's shorter movies, clocking in at a total of sixty-four minutes. With all these cost-cutting techniques, Disney was able to make Dumbo for $813,000. That was nearly half of Snow White's cost and a third of Pinocchio's.

Dumbo is about a small elephant with huge ears. So big in fact, that he is constantly ridiculed for them. At the beginning of the film, we see Dumbo delivered to his mother by a stork to the circus where she lives. I blame this movie for my bad grades in biology class. How was I supposed to know we aren't delivered by storks? It seems plausible! Well, it better than being bought at a K-mart blue light special as I've also been told by my loving parents. All the other elephants see Dumbo for the first time and laugh it up. Dumbo's name is actually Jumbo Jr., but the mean elephants brand him with the name Dumbo because of his ears. Not literally. I doubt they happened to have that specific brand ready for when they found someone worthy of it. We then get a scene of everyone setting up the circus in a storm. When I say everybody, I mean it. They had the elephants putting up a tent! I can't even get my pet elephant to crush peanuts for me! Lazy elephant. Side note: Anyone know what elephants eat?

A group of boys start to make fun of Dumbo for his ears, which sets off Mrs. Jumbo. Unfortunately, she is subdued before she can crush anyone in her path and is locked away, deemed mad. Since Dumbo is so funny looking, he is shunned by the other elephants and is left to take care of himself. Circus elephants= Massive jerks. Timothy Q. Mouse comes and swears that he will stick by Dumbo's side. Disney seems to have a thing for putting small creatures as the conscience or best friend of the main character. Timothy is basically Dumbo's voice in the movie, as Disney decided to give him the "Dopey effect." Also, Jiminy and Timothy are very similar names and are just about the same character. So in all honesty, Timothy is not that creative of a character. It's Jiminy without the singing voice. Dumbo is made a part of the circus acts, first being the top of an elephant pyramid, then a clown when his ears cause him to fall off the pyramid and topple the other elephants. As a clown, Dumbo has to fall into a vat of pie filling. Though he is popular with the crowd, he's miserable. At this moment, just picture a circus actually trying to get a baby elephant, dressed as a clown, to fall into a vat of anything. I'm pretty sure PETA would be all over this circus if it was real.

To cheer Dumbo up, Timothy decides to take him to visit his mother. Mrs. Jumbo cradles Dumbo with her trunk from the cell window and sings "Baby, Mine." Cue the waterworks. Besides the death of Bambi's mother, this is one of the most emotional scenes in a Disney movie. On the way back from visiting his mother, Dumbo starts to hiccup. Timothy finds a bucket of water for Dumbo to drink, but alas, a bottle of champagne has spilled into it! Dumbo and Timothy drink up and get totally wasted. How wasted? Well, enough to start seeing this:











Holy crap. What kind of champagne were they drinking!?!? Like most people after a long night of drinking, they both wake up in place they didn't expect; in this case, a tree. Timothy cannot fathom how they got up the tree until he figures that Dumbo must of flown them up there by using his ears as wings. Timothy still must of been drunk. Enter the crows. This is one of those things that you don't notice until you are older. The scene with the crows has been labeled incredibly racist, perhaps just because of the main crow being named Jim Crow. If you know anything about our history, you know what that name means. Over the years, many have cried out over the racial content in the movie, but the movie has had it's defenders. Many point out that besides Jim Crow who was voiced by the same man who voiced Jiminy Cricket, all the other crows are voiced by African-Americans. The crows are sympathetic towards Dumbo, making them and Timothy the only characters in the story that are. Many argue that the crows do not exhibit the same stereotypes that were prevalent in movies at the time. You can make your own decision on whether its racist or not, but I still don't like that they named one Jim Crow.

Timothy is able to get Dumbo to fly again by telling him that by holding the magic feather that he just gave to him, he could fly. Back at the circus, Dumbo is made to jump off of a high building. As he does, he loses his feather and thinks that he can't fly anymore. Fortunately, Timothy tells him that he can fly without the feather, since it had no magic at all. Dumbo pulls up from the free-fall and flies around the circus to everyone's amazement/horror at seeing a flying elephant. While flying around the tent, Dumbo takes vengeance on his tormentors. Sweet, sweet vengeance. After this, Dumbo is now very famous and has a special train car for him and his mother. Timothy becomes his manager. Timothy becomes corrupt and shiftless.

RKO production studio wanted Disney to either make the movie longer or make it the length of a short subject. Disney wouldn't let them change the movie and forced them to release it in it's original format. Released in 1941, the movie ended up being a big success, mainly due to the low budget costs. It grossed $1.6 million on its first theatrical release and turned an actual profit like Snow White. Disney had his money-maker. Many were glad that Disney had reverted back to his old formula and were afraid that his movies were going to become too "arty" like Fantasia. The movie went on to win the Oscar for Best Original Music Score. The movie was such a hit that it was going to be featured on the cover of Time Magazine until the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. The entrance of America into WWII hurt Dumbo's box office earnings, but not enough. Luckily it had two months before we entered the war.

Not all good came from Dumbo though. Almost all of the Disney animators went on strike during production. They eventually came back to work, but the family atmosphere and camaraderie inside the Disney Animated Studio was now gone. Besides this little speed bump for Disney, the film was a huge hit for them. Dumbo is still considered a classic of animation and a favorite of many.