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Rant
09-01-2008, 11:17 PM
Usually, I only really like writing and posting about Action and Sci-Fi flicks. This is the genre that is dear to me in my 20’s. In my teens I was all about the Comedies. Before that, as a Kid, it was the odd combination of Horror Movies and Kid‘s Animated Flicks. This list is a reminiscence of the latter.

Walt Disney’s Classics have had a long tradition of grabbing a hold of my heart strings and pulling on them to open the shades blocking my manly force field of apathy and machismo, submitting it to a tidal wave of feelings. And dammit, they are good at it. And while I’ve never cried at any of his films, I have felt like shit after certain parts and this here is my list of moments that worked so gosh golly hard at breaking my will, they succeeded where a thousand romantic comedies and heartfelt dramas have failed. So grab a box of tissues, curl under your favorite blanket and lock the gun away in the cabinet, it’s…

RANT’S TOP TEN TEAR-JERKINGLY TRAGIC DISNEY MOMENTS
*SPOILERS AND NAUGHTY LANGUAGE, YOU’VE JUST BEEN WARNED!*

NOTE: This List Sticks to The ANIMATED Classics. So Please, No Whining That ‘Old Yeller’ Should Have Been Included. Also, Please Feel Free To Post Your Own Lists and Sob Story’s, As I Think It Will Be Therapeutic To Stir The Emotional Pot As A Group. Thank You.

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10. Material Girls
- Cinderella (1950) - & - The Little Mermaid (1989) -

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First, lets cover Cindy. Her life is shit, OK. Shit. Her father marries a bitch named Lady Tremaine, who has two ugly daughters that are also bitches. Lame. Then her father up and dies. Double Lame. Tremaine and her daughters take over the estate and turn Cindy into the house slave and treat her as though her hair were red. Triple Lame. This abuse and servitude goes on for years. One day an invitation to a ball, thrown by a handsome Prince dude, shows up at the door and Cindy begs to go. Her bitchmother agrees, under the condition that she meets conditions that she can’t possibly meet. 1. Finish her mountain of chores and 2. find a dress. Lucky for Cindy she has a cavalcade of anthropomorphic friends that undertake the second task, as she is busy busting her gorgeous ass workin’ for the man. One problem, her animal buddies used material that belonged to the stepbitch-sisters and when wearing her gown for the first time, Cindy’s step monster lets loose the hounds (her daughters) unto the dress. They tear the thing to bloody pieces and leave Cindy at home to cry as they head to the ball. Sun-oVa-BiTch that’s some cold shit.

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Second, enter Ariel. A foxy mermaid gal that happens to be obsessed with life out-from-under the sea. Seems all fine and dandy, but this is a forbidden pleasure decreed by her father in an act of keeping her from ending up trapped in a tuna net. But, Ariel is young, dumb and fulla… caviar? I dunno, but she is a sweet kid and spends her time collecting objects from the forbidden realm that is the ‘Human’ world. She keeps these objects in a hidden cave with plenty of shelf space and great acoustics. We follow her one day as she is taken there for a surprise by her buddy Flounder (unfortunately, not the chubby dude from Animal House). He just happened to get his flippers on a replica statute of her human dreamboat, that fell off the back of a ship in a storm. Note: want to find out how and why she loves this man, watch the damn movie. Anyways, her royal watchdog, who is a crab, happens to follow her this day and scuttles off to tell daddy what his babay be doin’. This-a-iza-no-good. Daddy Triton shows up and in an act of tough love uses his magic pimp-stick to blow the shit outta her entire collection, including her just-acquired chiseled (literally) beefcake. Like Cindy, Ariel is left alone to cry and hate the world for being so damn cruel. And do you know how hard it is to cry underwater? Damn.

Now I know what you must be thinking, ‘But Rant, you are so manly, why would you care if a couple girls loose their possessions? You some kind of guy that thinks about chicks feelings or something?’ Well, you got me. I get a little gooey when I see a damsel in distress. What can I say? I’m a Ballsy Hero. That, and I can sympathize. I love my possessions as much as the next nerd. Shit, if someone came into my house and blew the shit outta my DVD collection, I would cry like Nancy Kerrigan… Then, of course, I would find the asshole that did it and gut the Mother Fucker. ’Cuz I’m a man. But these ladies are not men, they are Ladies. And I can’t help that I feel for them in their time of loss.

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09. Hoes Before Bros
- The Jungle Book (1967) -

The story goes like this, a baby human is found in a basket in the jungle by a panther named Bagheera. He proceeds to eat the little bastard and moves on with his day. NO! He rescues the man-cub and takes him to be raised by a mother wolf who just had a litter. Skip Ahead: Ten Years Later. The boy is named Mowgli, after some lawn appliances or something, and is living happily with his jungle buddies. Sadly, news hits that a racist tiger named Shere Khan has returned to the jungle and wants a piece of Mowgli’s ripe young ass. Problem: Imminent Death. Solution: Get da fuck out the jungle. So, against the little brat’s wishes, that’s just what Bagheera intends to do. Now the tragedy begins on the route to the nearest man-village when Mowgli and Bagheera meet a big dumb bear named Baloo. Baloo is a kick-ass, care-free and fun-lovin’ dude who gives Mowgli an alternative to leaving his beloved home. The alternative? Take the ‘Bobby McFerrin' approach, Don’t Worry, Be Happy. And that is just what Mowgli decides to do.

What could be more fun? A care-free life of hanging out with your best bud in your favorite place, wasting the days away and singing bitchin’ tunes for the rest of your life. Not much. Unfortunately, some shit happens to go down that involves a kidnapping , some near-death occurrences, and an attempted homicide. And ALL OF A SUDDEN staying in the jungle turns out to be too dangerous or some bullshit and Baloo decides that Baggy was right to want to bring Mowgli back to civilization.

Now you may be asking, ‘What’s so sad about that, Rant?’ I’ll tell you. When the trio make it to the man-camp, Mowgli, who was STILL resisting this decision, gets his first glimpse of the fairer sex and it is all she wrote. He ditches his convictions and drops his buddy Baloo like a bad-habit and bee-lines for the pussy. It’s a classic case of misguided hormones dividing up a great friendship. Mowgli just couldn’t stay strong when that succubus’s deep stare clouded his mind and started him walking down that long road of emotional and psychological torture called first love. I just want to scream at the movie, ‘ NO MOWGLI! Stay With Baloo, You Don’t Want To Know That Kind Of Pain! Sure, Shere Khan Might Come Back And Tear Your Ass To Shreds, But That Is Nothing Compared To The Damage That Bitch Will Inevitably Do To Your Heart!…. But his dick is already in the drivers seat and it ain‘t pulling over for rest stops. ~sigh~ It’s sad.

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08. Where My Dawgs At?
- One Hundred And One Dalmatians (1961) -

OK, so there is this dog named Pongo and he appoints himself the job of finding his master, Roger, some tang. He does in Anita, who happens to be the master of a hot little bitch named Perdy. It’s a match made in heaven and before long Pongo and Perdy do it like they do on the Discovery channel. The result, she shits out a litter of 15 puppies, and they are as adorable as can be. Enter Anita’s old friend (?) Cruella De Vil. One of the most terrifying and diabolical villains to ever grace the screen. This evil skank offers the couple a boatload of cash for the puppies, which (unknown to Roger and Anita) she intends to skin and make into a coat. Jesus Christ on Crutches. That’s some sick-ass shit. Now, Roger, being of sound mind and reason, outright refuses the sale of the puppies and tells Cruella to beat feet. The satanic bitch that she is, De Vil does not take this too well. A few weeks pass and the puppies mature and their spots begin to appear. Around this time, Cruella hires a couple of goons to kidnap the puppies. One rainy and spooky evening, when Roger, Anita, Pongo and Perdy are out for the night, they leave only the chubby maid to defend the household. Big Mistake. The bastards attack and succeed in snatching the whole litter after ruffin’ up the help. The quartet comes home to the maid screaming that ‘THEY TOOK THE PUPPIES!’ What follows is one of the saddest montages in film history. Shot after shot as the humans futiley try to locate the stolen pups while Pongo and Perdy lounge around helpless to the plight. It does such a great job in pumping your emotions up for the fight against the tyranny of Cruella that is to follow.

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07. What’s That Sharp Pain In My Back…
- The Fox And The Hound (1981) -

Like so many of Disney’s films, this one starts with an orphan. This time round it happens to be a young red fox (a literal fox, not a hot dame, bummer I know). A stereotype owl named Big Mama gets the fox adopted by a lady that owns a farm. The Hound from the title comes in when the farm lady’s neighbor (some redneck douche) brings home a new huntin’ dawg right ‘round the same time Tod (that’s the fox’s name) gets adopted. So, being around the same age, the Fox and the Hound (named Copper) become buddies and they vow to one another to be FRIENDS FOREVER. Got that, OK? Moving on.

Well, huntin’ season starts and like all rednecks, the hunter takes his dogs into the woods to go dominate lesser animals and pee on stuff, leaving Tod to twiddle his claws. Months pass, they both grow up and eventually Copper comes back home. So, like a good friend would do, Tod goes over to see his BFF and what does Copper say? Oh, guess what? “I’m a huntin’ dog now so you gotta fuck off!” To make matters worse, the other huntin’ dog wakes up and a chase ensues. Now, Copper does help Tod get away. Kind of, but the old dog is relentless and chases him onto a railroad track where his dumb ass gets hit. Now here is the real fucked up part, Copper and the Hunter BLAME Tod and swear vengeance. HUH?! What the fuck happened to FRIENDS FOREVER? The rest of the film is Copper and his douche-bag master, huntin’ down Tod to kill him. This makes my piss boil. I’d like to neuter Copper’s betraying, back stabbin’ ass. In the end, he realizes he was being a fuckass and stands up for Tod in front of the Hunter (after Tod saved them both from a bear attack) Oh, well. I guess if you save my life, I can forget about my ridiculous, not really your fault AT ALL, vendetta. What a Dick!

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06. The Kinslayer
- The Lion King (1994) -

The story begins with the anointment of baby Simba, (pronounced, SiM-BaaaaaH), heir to the throne of Pride Rock. Son of the mighty King Mufasa and Nephew to the king’s brother Scar. Now, Scar is having a bad day. Ya see, he was the heir before this little pussy showed up and he is none too happy about losing the right to succeed. So, while Simba is being taken on tours of his future kingdom, fucking around with his homosexual pigeon guardian and being taught the lessons of the Circle of Life, Scar is busy planning. “What‘s he planning?” you might ask (if you are one of the 3 people who have not seen this). I’ll tell you: The assassination of his brother the king and the king's son. Scar starts by filling Simba’s curious little mind with tales of the elephant graveyard, a forbidden zone filled with a legion of hyenas from the time of the Third Reich. Naturally, Simba goes there and curiosity nearly kills the cat, but he is saved at the last second by Mufasa. Scar plays it cool and starts to work out another way to trim that hard-to-reach heir.

A little time passes and Scar tries plan B. He lures Simba into a gorge, telling him his father has a surprise there waiting for him. Meanwhile his goose-stepping moron hyenas start a wildebeest stampede that funnels straight down the gorge at Simba’s naive ass. As the little cub tries to survive, Scar runs off to alert Mufasa and bring the lamb (or lion as it happens to be) to the slaughter. Mufasa races in and manages to save Simba just in time, but gets himself caught on the edge of a cliff above the rampaging deer-cow thingies. With his claws slipping, Mufasa begs for the help of his on-looking brother:

Mufasa: Scar! Brother, help me!
(Scar digs his claws into Mufasa's paws)
Scar: (Throwing him to his doom) Long live the King!
Simba: (Screaming) NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

We are left to watch Mufasa fall, in horrific slow-motion, to certain death through the eye’s of his only son. ~Chills~ But it gets worse. As the dust of the stampede clears, a searching Simba finds the body of his heroic father, broken and lifeless. Before he has a moment to think, Scar appears and convinces traumatized Simba, that not only is Mufasa’s death his fault, but that he will be forsaken when the other lions find out what he did. Terrified, Simba starts to run and doesn’t stop running for years to come.

Do I even need to point out how tragic this shit is? How many tears of small children, and adults alike did this scene spill? Enough to fill a savannah? I don’t know, a lot would be a good guess though. I am proud to say that at 9 years old, I held strong… barely. This shit was epic.

...to be continued

Rant
09-01-2008, 11:18 PM
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05. Love Is A Battlefield
- Beauty and the Beast (1991) -

This fairytale follows the story of a BEAUTYful young lady named Belle. Daughter of a crazy inventor and desired trophy wife of local meathead Gaston. Belle spends her days caring for her father, reading anything she can get her hands on, and dismissing Gaston’s advances and proposals.

A few miles from Belle’s village lives a brooding young man in a castle. As the back-story tells it, he was a royal little shit that happened to piss off the wrong magical fairy-in-a-crone-disguise… which is fucking BULLshit, because if we learned ANYTHING from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, it‘s that the evil-looking old crone is always fucking EVIL!. But I digress, as punishment for being inhospitable and not excepting a single rose as payment, the enchantress turns him into a BEAST, for which he will remain until the last petal of her rose falls, roughly around legal drinking age. Bummer. The curse can only be broken when he learns to love another person whom loves him back in turn.

The two title characters come together after Belle’s father stumbles into the castle after a wolf attack en route to an inventor’s fair or something, and the Beast, offish prick that he is, imprisons the old coot. Belle shows up looking for her father after his horse returns home like the cowardly shitty pet that it is. After finding out her father is imprisoned, Belle makes a deal to exchange her freedom for her father’s. Beast agrees. Long story short: Several months pass and after numerous musical numbers and montages, the couple begins to fall for one another. But, some crap happens with Belle’s dad and she requests to leave, having fallen in love with her, the Beast allows her to do so. Once back in town, Gaston finds out about the Beast, and in an act of psychotic jealous rage, locks Belle and her pop up and leads a mob of misguided villagers to “KILL THE BEAST!” Belle manages to escape her confinement and rushes to warn the Beast.

Skip to the End: The Villagers bust up Beast’s crib and Gaston finds Beast brooding and begins to kick the shit out of him. Heartbroken, Beast takes it all without fighting back. That is until he sees that Belle has rushed to his aid. Let the games begin. Beast and Gaston engage in an epic battle along the rooftops of his keep. During this, Gaston delivers a fatal wound by stabbing Beast in the back, just after the Beast showed him mercy. Dick Move! Of course, in doing so, Gaston loses his balance and falls from the roof to his doom. Beast lies dying in the rain, but could not care less, for his lady has returned to his side. Belle clings to his furry hide and whispers “I Love You”, a moment before the final petal falls from the rose.

It is a truly touching moment and taught 8yr old Rant that time is short, and if you care about someone, dammit, get off your ass and tell them. You just never know when a group of crazed villagers will turn up at their house and barbecue them in the night, leaving your love unknown forever.

I’m just kidding. I didn’t learn shit back then. It’s too bad too, ‘cuz I sure could have used that knowledge in High School. But back then I was too busy choking back my grief. That poor Beasty Bastard died before hearing the love of his life proclaim her feelings for him. It’s almost Shakespearian, only this story is entertaining and lets you leave with a smile on your face. Unlike Shakespeare’s boring, long-winded, depress-fests.

Of course, Beast’s life is spared at the last second as the curse is broken. Evil is punished, True Love Conquers All, and they live Happily Ever After. But in that moment when Belle confesses her Love, if you don’t get a little bit chocked up, you’re colder than Steven Seagal and Hitler combined. Burrrrr.

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04. 60 Minutes
- Dumbo (1941) -

The shortest of all the Disney Classics, Dumbo clocks in at 64 minutes. And for good reason, because 60 minutes is the threshold of the average person’s tolerance for non-stop, soul-crushing sadness. After that point, you have to throw the audience a lifeline to drag them back to some sense of emotional normalcy.

Dumbo is without a doubt the most consistent downer of Walt’s Classics. The film begins with Dumbo’s mother, Mrs. Jumbo, being left out of the Stork’s baby deliveries to the female circus animals. She has to sit and watch all the other elephants swoon over their new babies. Great. Luckily the Stork shows up the next day with a bundle for her. Enjoy this moment, ‘cuz it’s the last fuckin’ semi-happy moment till the end.

Turn’s out Mrs. Jumbo’s son has gigantic ears and all the other mother’s begin to relentlessly ridicule the kid, calling him names and giving him the name Dumbo. Which for some Fucked up reason, Mrs. Jumbo allows to stick. Thanks Ma! Eventually the train they are all on arrives at the next town and the festivities begin. First day, at the parade, Dumbo trips on his ears and lands in mud. Laughing and tormenting ensue. Later that night, some of the local boys also decide to ridicule and torment Dumbo by calling him names and messing with his ears. Just what I needed, Great. Thankfully, Mrs. Jumbo comes to the rescue and scares off the boys, giving one of the little shit’s a spanking. Too bad the Ringmaster sees this and thinks she has gone mad. So, Dumbo’s one and only gets locked up in a cage and chained to the ground. Good, Great, FanTasTic.

The story continues with Dumbo, who gets a mouse friend named Timothy that only manages to help set Dumbo up for more falls. He goes on to fuck up his only chance of being taken seriously by tripping again on his ears and starting a chain reaction that ends with the entire circus tent falling down and injuring all the animals that already hated him. ARE WE HAVING FUN YET? So, Dumbo gets made into a clown and only gets to see his Mother through a small hole in her cage just big enough for her trunk to fit through to comfort him. …. I … ~hmm~

You know what? I’m just gunna stop there. What the Fuck? Huh? What The Fuck, Walt? Are you TRYING to make the children in your audience suicidal? I can’t take it anymore. Even WRITING about this movie depresses the Hell outta me. The rest of the 60 minutes is filled with even More tragedy and despair with only meager attempts at comedic and optimistic relief. All leading up to a crazy-turn around, all-is-well, sorry-for-scarring-your-childhood, look-he-can-fly, everybody-loves-Dumbo, it-all-worked-out-in-the-end ending. Bullshit. Duck Fumbo.

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03. Look, I Like You, But I Think…
- The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1996) -

One of my favorites animated flicks. It just happens to leave a bad taste in my mouth. The Disney Company took the classic tale written by Victor Hugo and Disneyized that shit. Cool. It’s not like I would have read that 17th century French book anyways. Not that I have anything against reading, or French people. But I’m a realist, I know I would NEVER willingly pick this book up. It’s like Mark Twain said,

“A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.”
- The Disappearance of Literature speech, 1900

Luckily, Disney’s got my illiterate back. ~Fist Pounds Walt’s Ghost~ Word. Anyways, so the movie’s story goes like this: The setting is late 1400’s Paris, and the evangelical psycho’s are on the rise and hunting down care-free bands of hippies, known then as “Gypsies”. We meet the leader of the crazy culties as he is killing our future hero’s mother for carrying what he believes is stolen goods. Turns out it was a baby. WHOOPS! Frollo takes one look at the visage that is Quasimodo and decides to throw his ass in the river. Thankfully he is stopped by the Archdeacon that tells Frollo that he must care for the child, since… you know, he killed the baby’s mom and Jesus ain‘t down with that shit, homie. He agrees reluctantly, but decides to keep him hidden in the city cathedral. What a sweetheart!

Skip ahead 20 years: Quasimodo has become the bell ringer of Notre Dame. He spends his days caring for the bells and dreaming of leaving the cathedral to spend a day on the outside. This, of course, has been forbidden by Frollo. But! Quasi’s gargoyle buddies convince him to leave just this once, as it is the annual ‘Feast of Fools’. Everyone is in costumes, so who could notice? ~Deep Breath~ So, Quasi leaves the cathedral, gets caught by Frollo, who humiliates him. He is rescued by Esmeralda, who gets chased by Frollo’s guards, flees with Quasi to the Cathedral , where the captain of the guard (named Phoebus) saves her by saying she claimed Sanctuary (which is the religious equivilent of crying “BASE!”). Now, this love triangle is complete.

Quasi gives Esmeralda a tour of his bells and through her kindness (I bet her strikingly sexy looks help as well), falls in love with her and he helps her escape the guards posted around the exits. Turns out Frollo has some odd feelings deep within his baguettes as well, but he chooses to brood over his lust for her and decides the best way to deal with it is to hunt down all the gypsies and torch their homes. Sound, Rational Thinking.

Meanwhile, Quasi’s gargoyle buddies convince him that Esmeralda is head-over-heals for his weird eye lump and would totally stroke his back-hump. Now, Frollo and Phoebie are out on one of the hippy-stomping campaigns, when Phoebus refuses to participate any further. Frollo orders his minions to attack him and he ends up injured and tossed into a river where Esmeralda saves him and takes his pretty-boy ass to the bell tower. Here, she asks Quasimodo to look after him. He lovingly agrees and while they set Phoebie up with a cot, Quasi watches as Esmeralda plants one on him before leaving. Ain’t this a Bitch. Quasi does the girl favor after favor and meanwhile she’s got the hotz for the captain of guard who, up until an hour ago, was helping to terrorize her people. How you gunna play my boy like that, Esmer?

From what I understand, this is how it goes down in the book, but hey, Quasimodo dies at the end of that tragedy. In the movie, he gets to live, and become a hero of the people… Sooooo WHY NOT LET HIM TAP THAT ASS?! Nope. Not today, fugly. Nice guys finish last, even in Disneyland. So Quasi gets to take a seat in the Friend Zone and has to settle for getting Jennifer Love Hewitt in the sequel… Hey, come to think of it, that’s not too bad. In fact, that’s pretty damn awesome! I would totally take her over Demi Moore, it’s just too bad that the sequel’s story and animation sucked ass. Oh, well.

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02. Mother? FUCKER!
- Bambi (1942) -

The movie starts as a doe gives birth to, well, a baby deer. She names him Bambi. I figure she was a fan of Johnny Cash’s “A Boy Named Sue” and figured, ‘Shit, I can top that!’. So, Bambi learns to walk and does some other childish crap like making friends or whatever, until… One day his Mother takes him to a meadow and he meets his future fuck-buddy and his father. I guess the meadow was like the animal equivalent of a park or a McDonalds. You know, someplace non-threatening to allow the birth father his court mandated visit. ANYWAYS! Bambi also gets to meet the awesomeness that is “THE AMERICAN HUNTER” for the first time as the hunter causes all the animals to flee!

Skip Ahead: Bambi and his Ma are doing their scavenging-for-food-during-a-harsh-winter thing, when… ‘Shhh, do you hear that? RUN BAMBI RUN!’ BANG! BANG!

Back at his thicket, Bambi discovers his Mom is no longer by his side. He wanders around the forest calling out for her, but--nothing. Suddenly his father appears and tells Bambi, (your mother) “can’t be with you anymore”.

Tear My Heart Out With A Fucking Spoon. Look, I am a mommas-boy, through and through. Have been ever since I was a child. Once my Dad realized there was no chance of me becoming an athlete and lost interest in my chubby-ass, we grew even closer. And let me tell you… this movie just kills me. I wonder if the hunter that bagged Bambi’s mom was Copper’s redneck fuck of a master? You know something, in my mind, now it was. That Fucker.

What was with Disney back in those early days? How can the same man that made one of the funniest characters EVER (Donald Duck), turn around and make some of the saddest stories EVER? Talent and Vision, I guess. I don’t know. What I do know is, this is a flick I can only watch about once every decade. So, maybe in five years I can re-visit this tragedy for a 3rd time and feel like shit all over again. As for now, I’m not nearly masochistic enough to handle this soul-crushing bullshit.

I’d like to take a moment after this last one and call my Mom, and if you are lucky enough to be able to do so, I suggest the same. It‘s OK, #1 will wait here for you. Go ahead. See you in a couple.

01. Un-Break My Heart
Welcome back. Now, (in two-parts) here is my Number 1 Saddest / Tear-Jerking Disney Moment(s).

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#2: The Brave Little Toaster (1987). While not technically a ‘Disney Movie’, this film was released by Walt Disney Pictures and I first saw it on the Disney Channel, so IT COUNTS. This story follows a group of 5 anthropomorphic, abandoned household appliances as they try and find their way to their previous masters new home.

The Scene: After a long first day of travel it starts to get dark and the appliances decide to stop for the night and sleep. You know, like they do. In the morning they awake to find themselves in a beautiful meadow. Could it be this is the same one that Bambi’s mother was slaughtered in by the Hunter from ‘The Fox and the Hound’? I like to think so! This way I can take all my childhood movie drama, wrap it in a ball and keep it locked inside to unleash later in a mid-life crises breakdown.

Anyways, a bunch of curious animals surround the hardware and it eventually becomes too much attention for Toaster so she hides in the forest. Next to Toaster’s hideout, a lone flower grows in a beam of sunlight. The Flower ‘looks’ over to toaster and sees it’s reflection on Toaster’s shiny metal ass and believing that it has finally found another like itself, hugs Toaster lovingly with it’s leaves. Toaster becomes confused and denies the Flower’s embrace by running away. Toaster takes a glance back just as she leaves to see the flower slump forward, alone again and beginning to wilt. This is NOT played for laughs. This is just purely FUCKED UP!

“It’s OK, Breath… Just Breath…”

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#1: The Sword and the Stone (1963). Aside from the scene in question, this is a super-fun and lighthearted comedy that is, IMO, one of Disney’s Best and sadly his last. The story is a kid-friendly version of the first book of T.H. White’s ‘The Once and Future King’. It follows young Arthur Pendragon as he is being thought and prepared for his future role as King, by the zany wizard Merlin. He teaches Arthur various “life-lessons” by transforming himself and Arthur into different creatures and singing songs. What Fun!

The Scene: On one such lesson, Merlin transforms himself and Arthur into squirrels, with an intention to teaching him about Gravity. But, the experiment quickly turns into a lesson about relationships and how the birds have sex with the bees, when Squirrel-Arthur bumps into a female Squirrel. The Girl-Squirrel (as I call her, ‘cuz it is appropriate and rhymes, which is fun) falls for Squirrel-Arthur. Love-At-First-Sight, as it is often described. Merlin finds this hilarious, until another Girl-Squirrel shows up and takes a liking to him. Arthur, like Toaster, is confused by the attention and, along with Merlin, tries to escape her bombardment of hugs and kisses.

Unbeknownst to the lot, a wolf has shown up below the treetops and proceeds to try and eat Arthur. In an act of pure love and heroism, Girl-Squirrel fights off the mangy beast and saves Arthur from being torn to pieces. As celebration, she catches Arthur and showers him in little Girl-Squirrel kisses. Meanwhile, Merlin has had quite enough of his pursuer and transforms himself and the boy back into human form. Merlin’s squirrel is terrified and runs away, but Arthur’s doesn’t notice at fist, she still clings to him lovingly and he has to tap her to open her eyes. Rather than running in fear or anger, she jumps off him and stares confused as Arthur tries to explain that he is a HUMAN boy. She only seems to grasp that her love is gone and not coming back. Giving up trying to get her to understand, Merlin and the boy walk away leaving the Girl-Squirrel heartbroken and lamenting her lost love in a fit of sobs and tears.

The two scenes above absolutely DESTROYED my childhood innocence and ruined me from ever being able to get close to someone ever after. I have since built up a defense of sarcasm and aversion so strong that it has yet to be overtaken by any emotional siege. The Great Wall of China ain‘t got nuthin’ on me. OK, maybe I am exaggerating… a little. But, seriously, these two scenes grabbed hold of little Rant’s emotions and fucked the shit out of them in a dirty back alleyway. Well, there ya go, that’s my list. If you managed to read it all without eating a couple high-speed metal slugs, or airing out a couple veins, all the better. As always, thanks for reading and again, please feel free to discuss your own moments and stories. ~RANT

Natty
09-02-2008, 04:17 PM
Another good list, reminding me that I really need to re-watch alot of the old Disney Classics.

I haven't actually seen the Sword in the Stone though, so just glanced over that part, but I'm sorry it 'destroyed your childhood innocence':D

bigred760
09-02-2008, 05:56 PM
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d8/SwordintheStonePoster.JPG

#1: The Sword and the Stone (1963)

YESSSS!!!!

I 100% agree . . . that scene left me heartbroken, pissed off, feeling for the girl-squirrel and all that. It probably has messed me up to this day!! Great call!

I know I've seen The Brave Little Toaster, but don't remember much of it. It's been that long.

My #2 would probably have to be The Lion King scene you have. That's probably one of the saddest scenes I've ever sat through.

I know about Bambi, The Fox and the Hound, Beauty and the Beast and some of the others you mentioned, but it's been so long since I've seen them, can't comment on them. Nevertheless, I once again enjoyed reading your takes on the movies . . . laughing at your synopsises (?). Another great list.

Duke Nukem
09-02-2008, 06:13 PM
I was looking for "Dumbo" on your list. I'm glad you didn't miss it. That movie is an animated and loosely adapted version of for what happened to me from Kindergarten to the very last year of High school. I *was* Dumbo. I didn't have the floppy ears, but I was shy as shy can be and some the cruelist kids in the world made sure I stayed that way. Got progressively worse every passing grade. Barely graduated high school, because I had a hard enough time dealing with the a-hole kids.

I never saw "Dumbo" until 2006 and was not prepared for how depressing it would be. I hadn't cried like such a baby since I was one. Most especially when Dumbo's mother sings to it from the cage. Broke my heart. I don't know if I can call "Dumbo" a bad movie, because of how depressing it is. I look at it as the reminder I may need in the future if I ever need to be brought back down to reality from extreme vanity. Or intentionally want to dig back to the past for a specific reason. "Dumbo" is my kryptonite.

outsyder
09-03-2008, 07:35 AM
The Brave Little Toaster is one of those films that at first glance your parents buy because it looks like every other animated film for kids. This is a common misconception. As a kid, this was one of my favorite films because of just how fucked up it was.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS*************

From the air conditioner that goes insane with cabin fever, to the concept of abandonment, the macabre bodysnatching spare parts store owner, the vacuum cleaner falling into a comatose state of fear, the futuristic appliances which attempt to drive the protagonists to suicide by singing about how obsolete they are, the junkyard cars lamenting on days gone by before they are executed by the scrap smasher. All of which presenting with frightening imagery.

And of course, the addition of unessential scenes such as Toaster's encounter with the flower that nonetheless leave a lasting impact upon one, adult or child.

I'd like to think this was one of the films that later inspired me to take an interest in film.

Out and About
09-03-2008, 01:20 PM
Completely agree with Rant and outsyder about The Brave Little Toaster. I rewatched it fairly recently (for the first time in a LONG time), and the scene with the flower - even 10+ years on - still made me cry like a baby.

Another great thing about it is the songs. I remember being very impressed with the music - my favorite song being 'Like a B-Movie'.

The Sword in the Stone is a good choice for #1. I can't tell you how many years it's been since I saw it - probably at least 10+ like Toaster - but I'm sure when I do watch it again, I'll cry at that scene.

Powerslave
09-03-2008, 01:22 PM
1. I'm glad to see you included Hunchback in there. I was hoping it'd be there. What a vastly under-appreciated movie. I love the ending, one of the few times modern Disney actually had the balls to throw in a bit of pessimism and/or realism in a movie. Whole movie has that tone, really. Though I'm not sure I'd call the ending 'tragic', as much as it is compromised. Quasimodo saves the day and gains his much sought-after, much deserved acceptance, which is essentially the conflict of the story. Quasi getting the girl would've been a bad move, even if it is a downer.

2. Unfortunately it's been years since I've seen either the Brave Little Toaster or The Sword in the Stone, so I can't really comment on that. Though I think technically the last movie Walt worked on was the Jungle Book, which was in production when he died. But yeah, The Sword in the Stone was the last one released while he was alive, so whatever.

3. Dumbo is definitely crushingly sad, but despite all that, for me, the entire movie is overshadowed by the batshit-crazy Pink Elephants on Parade sequence. God, I love that shit.

4. This is a very impressive post. Well done.

Hannibal21
09-03-2008, 06:32 PM
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3d/BraveLittleToaster.jpg

#2: The Brave Little Toaster (1987). While not technically a ‘Disney Movie’, this film was released by Walt Disney Pictures and I first saw it on the Disney Channel, so IT COUNTS. This story follows a group of 5 anthropomorphic, abandoned household appliances as they try and find their way to their previous masters new home.

The Scene: After a long first day of travel it starts to get dark and the appliances decide to stop for the night and sleep. You know, like they do. In the morning they awake to find themselves in a beautiful meadow. Could it be this is the same one that Bambi’s mother was slaughtered in by the Hunter from ‘The Fox and the Hound’? I like to think so! This way I can take all my childhood movie drama, wrap it in a ball and keep it locked inside to unleash later in a mid-life crises breakdown.

Anyways, a bunch of curious animals surround the hardware and it eventually becomes too much attention for Toaster so she hides in the forest. Next to Toaster’s hideout, a lone flower grows in a beam of sunlight. The Flower ‘looks’ over to toaster and sees it’s reflection on Toaster’s shiny metal ass and believing that it has finally found another like itself, hugs Toaster lovingly with it’s leaves. Toaster becomes confused and denies the Flower’s embrace by running away. Toaster takes a glance back just as she leaves to see the flower slump forward, alone again and beginning to wilt. This is NOT played for laughs. This is just purely FUCKED UP!

“It’s OK, Breath… Just Breath…”

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d8/SwordintheStonePoster.JPG

#1: The Sword and the Stone (1963). Aside from the scene in question, this is a super-fun and lighthearted comedy that is, IMO, one of Disney’s Best and sadly his last. The story is a kid-friendly version of the first book of T.H. White’s ‘The Once and Future King’. It follows young Arthur Pendragon as he is being thought and prepared for his future role as King, by the zany wizard Merlin. He teaches Arthur various “life-lessons” by transforming himself and Arthur into different creatures and singing songs. What Fun!

The Scene: On one such lesson, Merlin transforms himself and Arthur into squirrels, with an intention to teaching him about Gravity. But, the experiment quickly turns into a lesson about relationships and how the birds have sex with the bees, when Squirrel-Arthur bumps into a female Squirrel. The Girl-Squirrel (as I call her, ‘cuz it is appropriate and rhymes, which is fun) falls for Squirrel-Arthur. Love-At-First-Sight, as it is often described. Merlin finds this hilarious, until another Girl-Squirrel shows up and takes a liking to him. Arthur, like Toaster, is confused by the attention and, along with Merlin, tries to escape her bombardment of hugs and kisses.

Unbeknownst to the lot, a wolf has shown up below the treetops and proceeds to try and eat Arthur. In an act of pure love and heroism, Girl-Squirrel fights off the mangy beast and saves Arthur from being torn to pieces. As celebration, she catches Arthur and showers him in little Girl-Squirrel kisses. Meanwhile, Merlin has had quite enough of his pursuer and transforms himself and the boy back into human form. Merlin’s squirrel is terrified and runs away, but Arthur’s doesn’t notice at fist, she still clings to him lovingly and he has to tap her to open her eyes. Rather than running in fear or anger, she jumps off him and stares confused as Arthur tries to explain that he is a HUMAN boy. She only seems to grasp that her love is gone and not coming back. Giving up trying to get her to understand, Merlin and the boy walk away leaving the Girl-Squirrel heartbroken and lamenting her lost love in a fit of sobs and tears.

The two scenes above absolutely DESTROYED my childhood innocence and ruined me from ever being able to get close to someone ever after. I have since built up a defense of sarcasm and aversion so strong that it has yet to be overtaken by any emotional siege. The Great Wall of China ain‘t got nuthin’ on me. OK, maybe I am exaggerating… a little. But, seriously, these two scenes grabbed hold of little Rant’s emotions and fucked the shit out of them in a dirty back alleyway. Well, there ya go, that’s my list. If you managed to read it all without eating a couple high-speed metal slugs, or airing out a couple veins, all the better. As always, thanks for reading and again, please feel free to discuss your own moments and stories. ~RANT

You know, it's been over 10 years since I saw these two underrated Disney gems. For a while I almost forgot they existed, and whenever tear jerking scenes that are talked about, they almost always completely slip my mind. Oh man why oh why did you have to remind me? :(

When I looked at the 2 respective posters above, I instantly KNEW exactly which scenes you meant without reading the descriptions, and instantaneously my mind reflected back to those moments when I first saw these scenes and remembered how badly they fucked me up. These are the sort of unbearably heartwrenching, sad scenes that really get imprinted in one's subconscious. Boy do I remember bawling my eyes out during them (ESPECIALLY The Sword in the Stone, the squirrel scene gave me the sensation like I was watching a totally different movie)! My views on Disney never quite felt the same afterwards. :(

FANTASTIC list, btw.

Rant
09-03-2008, 08:23 PM
Another good list, reminding me that I really need to re-watch alot of the old Disney Classics.

I haven't actually seen the Sword in the Stone though, so just glanced over that part, but I'm sorry it 'destroyed your childhood innocence':D

Thank you. I also really started to feel the urge to re-watch some while I was writing this out. Don't worry too about my childhood innocence, I could have lost it worst ways... Ass-Rape, comes to mind.

YESSSS!!!!

I 100% agree . . . that scene left me heartbroken, pissed off, feeling for the girl-squirrel and all that. It probably has messed me up to this day!! Great call!

My #2 would probably have to be The Lion King scene you have. That's probably one of the saddest scenes I've ever sat through.

...Nevertheless, I once again enjoyed reading your takes on the movies . . . laughing at your synopsises (?). Another great list.

I was wondering if anyone else felt my pain on this one. I had a conversation with a co-worker about it a few weeks ago, and it inspired this list.

Yeah, I figured a lot of people would place 'The Lion King' higher, but it happens so early in the film and is followed by some really fun times, good songs and a bitchin' showdown, so I left the theater not feeling as bad as a lot of people. Plus Mufasa shows back up (kinda) and they let us know that in the 'Lion King World' that you don't really die, you get to go hang out with your ancestors in the stars or something.

Thanks for reading, I'm glad that you enjoyed it, and calling them synopsizes would probably the best choice of word. In retrospect I should have spit the paragraphs up into 'Set-Up' and 'The Scene', but what you gonna do? Hindsight is 20/34 or whatever.

I was looking for "Dumbo" on your list. I'm glad you didn't miss it. That movie is an animated and loosely adapted version of for what happened to me from Kindergarten to the very last year of High school. I *was* Dumbo...

... I don't know if I can call "Dumbo" a bad movie, because of how depressing it is...

I would never leave this one out. The hard part was trying to pick the specific moment, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the whole fuckin' thing was a downer.

As for you 'BEING' Dumbo, you're not alone. I grew up chubby (still am) and I had curly hair (still do) and wore glasses (they have gotten thicker), so naturally kids could tear me apart. But, hey. On the bright side, I had to develop my brilliant wit and on-the-spot sense of humor that makes me the amazing catch I am today. I am single by the way, to the ladies that are probably not reading this. ;). Plus, all the really popular kids and most of the real attractive ones were, and are boring and never have anything interesting to say as they have never needed to adapt to be accepted.

Wow, my post is starting to sound like an advice column. Sorry 'bout that.

So, yeah. Dumbo is not a bad movie, the whole 'Duck Fumbo' ending was just a great way to end my synopsis. I still like the movie. And thanks for reading.

The Brave Little Toaster is one of those films that at first glance your parents buy because it looks like every other animated film for kids. This is a common misconception. As a kid, this was one of my favorite films because of just how fucked up it was...

I'd like to think this was one of the films that later inspired me to take an interest in film.

Jesus, when you put the rest of the film out like that, it brought back even more memories. That movie was FUCKED UP! It's a weird thing too, 'cuz like I said at the beginning of my main post, I was really into Horror flicks as a kid and I don't remember ANY of them fucking with me at all compared to this movie. Crazy.

Completely agree with Rant and outsyder about The Brave Little Toaster. I rewatched it fairly recently (for the first time in a LONG time), and the scene with the flower - even 10+ years on - still made me cry like a baby...


I'm glad that at least a few others know what the Hell I am talking about. Granted this is a pretty big movie fan site, but aside from 'The Goonies' and a sparse few others, I don't really hear too many people talking about kids films from the eighties any more. So thanks for making me fell young again guys. ~Tear~

1. I'm glad to see you included Hunchback in there. I was hoping it'd be there...Though I'm not sure I'd call the ending 'tragic', as much as it is compromised...Quasi getting the girl would've been a bad move, even if it is a downer.

2. The Sword in the Stone was the last one released while he was alive, so whatever.

3. Dumbo is definitely crushingly sad, but despite all that, for me, the entire movie is overshadowed by the batshit-crazy Pink Elephants on Parade sequence. God, I love that shit.

4. This is a very impressive post. Well done.

1. I'm glad that you are glad. :D I remember not a lot of other people liking it, and for a Disney film in the '90's it was pretty dark. I still can't believe it got a G rating what with songs about lust titled 'Hell Fire' and all. And I agree with the ending they chose, it wasn't really tragic, but as a nerd and outcast, I felt for the guy at the time and still do in retrospect.

2. Bingo. That's what I meant.

3. It is a good scene, but if I have to pick a psychedelic scene in a Disney flick to be my fav, I'll go with the 'Heffalumps and Woozels' (don't know HOW to spell them, don't care) scene in 'The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh', which happens to still be one of the funniest fuckin' movies out there. It doesn't get much better than Pooh's getting his ass stuck in Rabbit's hole. Too funny.

4. Thank you, very much.

... Oh man why oh why did you have to remind me? :(...

When I looked at the 2 respective posters above, I instantly KNEW exactly which scenes you meant without reading the descriptions, and instantaneously my mind reflected back to those moments when I first saw these scenes and remembered how badly they fucked me up...
FANTASTIC list, btw.

I'm sorry. :(.

I'm real happy with the responses that you guys are giving, especially with the #1. It's good to know that I am not the only one who was effected in such a way by something that I figured a lot of people would overlook. And thanks for the compliment, I'm glad you liked it.

Sonny488
09-04-2008, 11:49 AM
Yeesh, this part of Fox and the Hound never fails to get me bawlin like a little bitch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXxWUkEvK-8

zzz179
09-04-2008, 01:17 PM
Rant what a great list so true

Sad man
09-05-2008, 08:12 AM
I'm real happy with the responses that you guys are giving, especially with the #1. It's good to know that I am not the only one who was effected in such a way by something that I figured a lot of people would overlook. And thanks for the compliment, I'm glad you liked it.

I also couldn't agree more. That scene ALWAYS breaks my heart and I don't even like the movie that much. But that scene...Oh, there's something in my eye....*Runs away crying*

Rant
09-05-2008, 11:50 PM
Yeesh, this part of Fox and the Hound never fails to get me bawlin like a little bitch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXxWUkEvK-8

I can not agree. I just don't care enough about the old woman. ~Shrugs~

Rant what a great list so true

Thank You. :D

I also couldn't agree more. That scene ALWAYS breaks my heart and I don't even like the movie that much. But that scene...Oh, there's something in my eye....*Runs away crying*

Hey, COME BACK!. It's OK, don't be SAD MAN, AaaaaaHAHAHAHAH! Did you see what I did there?! THAT'S HIS NAME! Oh, my God! AM I FUNNY!