Don't get me wrong, nobody necessarily enjoys feeling sad and heartbroken, but sometimes those moments in a Disney film, where the characters are going through something really difficult can make us as fans feel a little bit better. This is because they remind us that everybody will go through some hard times, but as long as you're willing to push through them and say Hakuna Matata!, you can come out with your own happy ending.
So here's a list of my most Heartbreaking Disney moments, I know everyone has their own personal ones that get to them the most for different reasons, but these are just a couple of my own.
10. Perhaps it's since my nephew has been born that I've become so much more upset by things to do with children in peril, but the scene in Aladdin with the street children looking for food in dumpsters has become much more heartbreaking for me than ever before. The saving grace for this moment is of course that Aladdin gives them the loaf of bread he took from the marketplace. Also, when I thought about it, I thought because Aladdin married Jasmine and became part of the rulers of Agrabah, he more than likely made rulings and decisions that helped the poor people of the city, I find that quite a satisfying way to think about the end of the film.
9. As I've previously said, I really adore Dogs (or ruppies as I call them), in fact I think I prefer Dogs to most humans! This could be a large part of why the scene from Bolt where he thinks his owner Penny is calling for him and she is actually calling for his replacement on his show is so agonizing to see. I feel like the animators did an excellent job at showing in Bolt's face, the look a real life dog gives when he is confused and distressed about something which helped towards making this moment so effective.
8. I saw Tarzan in the cinema when I was 8 years old and right away I found the opening sequence in which his parents are killed and he is rescued by his gorilla mother Kala to be a really intense moment and extremely sad in parts. In particular when Kala and Kerchak's baby is killed by Sabor the leopard, the same one that murdered Tarzan's parents. All those elements mixed with the backing of Phil Collins epic soundtrack are really potent
7. One of the best Disney movies I have scene in the past few years is Moana. I previously posted a review about how fantastic I thought it was. There is a scene in the final sequence of the film that really caught me off gaurd with just how emotional it was. That is the "Know Who You Are" scene in which Moana tells the sea to part so that she can confront the Lava Witch who turns out to be Te Fiti who's heart she must restore. The song in this scene is absolutely mesmerizing and made me so teary eyed in the cinema. The lyrics are amazing and I feel could be applied to anybody's life when they are feeling like a bad person or that they are not good enough, because they know deep down that as the song goes "this does not define you, you know who you are".
6. An extremely underrated movie that I absolutely loved as a kid is Oliver and Company. The movie has really adorable characters and an exciting plot with fun jokes and catchy songs, in particular "Why Should I Worry" sung by Billy Joel. The opening of this movie always gets me, seeing a box of really cute kittens being adopted one by one by passersby until the final one (our protagonist Oliver) is left alone on a wet cold night in New York city. It always is difficult for me to watch and I think Huey Lewis' "Once Upon A Time in New York City" is a wonderful song and really suitable for the opening sequence and the theme of the movie.
5. When Toy Story 2 came out here in Ireland I was straight away begging my uncle to take me and my little cousin, and When Jessie and her side kick horse Bullseye appeared on the screen, I immediately fell in love with them. This is probably why the scene where Jessie recounts the story of how her former owner abandoned her, my heart actually sank. With an unforgettable song by Sarah McLachlan and the touching story telling that Pixar do so well through their imagination, this scene has continued to make me well up over the years to this very day.
4. Along with the amazing Moana, another brilliant Disney film that came out last year was of course the Oscar winning Zootopia (or Zootropolis depending where you're from). At the time of seeing the movie, my sister was pregnant with a little boy, so when the scene came on with Nick Wilde the fox as a little boy fox attending the scouts with his friends and he is ridiculed and tormented by his fellow scout members for being a "sly fox", that was it for me, holy moly I was gone. I have always, as many have, hated people being bullied and scenes that portray little kids being bullied whether animated or otherwise are always going to be difficult and really heartbreaking to watch. Thankfully, the rest of the movie is really fun and everything winds up ok for our boy Nick in the end.
3. One of the few Disney movies I don't actually enjoy watching much anymore is Dumbo. My reason for that is because I'm not a supporter of having animals in circuses and I do find it quite an upsetting movie to watch, although I did absolutely adore it as a child and I think it does teach a good lesson to kids of how badly animals are treated at circuses without scaring them too much. That being said, Dumbo happens to have one of the most heart warming yet sad scenes in all Disney history and that is the scene in which Dumbo's mother cradles her son in her trunk and the super sweet song "Baby Mine" plays, while we get to see the other animals with their little ones also. It brings me to tears every single time.
2. If you ask most people about what movie moment makes them cry the most, a good percentage would say when Mufasa dies in The Lion King. This is of course with good reason, because we as kids and adults also we truely loved the characters of Mufasa and Simba and their loving father son relationship. Also, many people may have lost parents at a young age so they can probably really relate to Simba's sadness and complete heartbreak on seeing his father die. The moment where he says "Somebody, Anybody? help" would put a lump in the toughest person's throat. Truely a sad moment.
1. When I was 15, my cat Mike ran away and we later found him dead in the lane behind our house. At the time that he went missing, I watched The Fox and the Hound for the first time in years and I was in floods of tears when the scene in which Tod the fox is taken by his owner to the woods to be set free because his life has been threatened by her hunter neighbour. The lyrics to the song featured in this scene are so unbelievably beautiful and easy to relate to for so many people that have had to let go of a pet that they love or perhaps even a person they love.
I went to see the film this past Friday (St. Patrick's Day) on it's release date at 10pm in my local cinema. It was the final screening of the day of the film so my boyfriend and I were the only two people in the screening room which coincidentally has only ever happened in another Disney movie which was Finding Dory. So, after settling in with our drinks and popcorn, we were treated to what I have to say was an enjoyable, if slightly bland at times experience.
The movie opens of course with the Prince being cursed by the enchantress and turned into the Beast, the opening title does bring a complete sense of nostalgia and excitement, as does many aspects of the movie, particularly some of the musical numbers from the original film. It then proceeds to tell the tale that is as old as time in a familiar way with some new and differently detailed aspects to it including new songs and scenes featuring Maurice, Gaston and Lefou. Some of these sequences, in particular the now infamous but extremely funny and tame ones with Gaston and Lefou are extremely enjoyable and give the film a touch of originality.
