What animated/children's films depressed you?

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For me, it has to be Charlotte's Web. I saw this movie while I was in elementary school and I thought it was sad that Charlotte died. I also saw part of the remake that my niece was watching and it got me into tears.

I was also saddened when I saw Mufasa die in The Lion King.

So, how about you? What animated/children's films (or scenes from these movies) did you find depressing or even traumatizing?

I was never really depressed or traumatized by the sad stuff in animated movies, but I did weep when I watched Toy Story 2 at the part where it shows Jessie being played with by the little girl Emily but then she grows up and gives Jessie away. Of course that song "When She Loved Me" was really got to me. So sweet and sad...

The Ballad of Narayama, partly because the Grandmother was so resigned and partly because the general population was so cruel. Here is the link: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great ... ayama-1958

Last edited by PrncssAlay on 02 May 2013, 1:44 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Toy Story 2 killed me. When really little, I cried for days over Disney's Pete's Dragon. :^/

Grave of the Fireflies. I'd be willing to bet that it'll go down as the single most gutwrenching animated film ever.

I keep hearing about that one, but I can't bring myself to watch it. I even cried during Up's opening montage.

Monsters Inc - Whenever Sully returns Boo back to her room, this 28 year old hardman always gets misty-eyed.

I don't think any animated movies have made me feel depressed but I can sure think of some that have scenes that either made me cry or feel a little sad.

Warning Spoilers Ahead

Toy Story 3 - Andy gives his toys away to Bonnie.
Bolt - Bolt seeing Penny hugging the other dog and he sadly walks away.
The Iron Giant - Sacrificing himself to save the people.
Kung Fu Panda 2 - Po finding out about his past.
Monsters Inc - Sulley saying goodbye to Boo.

Watership Down.

The Transformers: The Movie (1986). Let's face it, the plot called for a ton of characters to be killed off, all in the name of making new toys.

Optimus Prime: Dead

Megatron: Reformatted into Galvatron

Ironhide: Dead

Starscream: Blown to bits by Galvatron

Plus lots of others I can't remember at the moment.

I personally love the scene where Starscream callously throws Megatron into space, as well as the ensuing battle between the 'Cons for leadership

I've seen some really good ones on here. As much as I feel like The Lion King is really overrated nowadays, Mufasa's death scene still gets to me even now. I can't even listen to the music leading up to and after Simba finds him dead without tearing up. Other scenes that I'd add were Snow White's wake (particularly when Grumpy, the tough guy of the group, breaks down in tears), the death of Littlefoot's mom from The Land Before Time, and the dog pound scene from Lady And The Tramp with all the dogs "sing howling" just to name a few. An Honorable Mention that I'd put in was Eugene's "kinda death" in Tangled. I only put this as an Honorable Mention because I came pretty close to crying before I predicted what was going to happen next. Just putting this out there, one of my most hated cliches in any movie is the "Disney Death" where it makes it seem like a character has died only for them to come to perfectly fine several seconds later. I hate it because I feel like it's become nothing more than a tool to try and force an emotion out of the audience for something that never really happened. Eugene's death in Tangled was almost like a Disney Death, but the way I saw it was that he'd actually died and was only revived by one of Rapunzel's tears which still had the healing power that everyone thought she'd lost when he cut her hair so she wouldn't have to be imprisoned by Mother Gothel anymore. Plus, he clearly stated in the beginning that he was going to die so that made it all the more believable to me when the time actually came. It was just when her tear landed on him that I connected the dots that he'd be resurrected. O.K. I'm done now.

Toy Story 3

Definitely no depression, but animated/ kids' movies I found sad:

the original Charlotte's Web

there was this animated movie about animals looking for water, I don't recall its title, but it had a very sad scene where an old female tortoise died, and her mate said: "Winnie? Oh Winnie..." and laid down his head and died too

Sammy's adventures a turtle's tale had several sad scenes despite ending well

Pokemon Heroes

Lucario and the mystery of Mew

When the wind blows

Yes, that was sad.


yes, they were sad. The pound scene took me completely by surprise, I don't think I've ever seen the entire movie until recently, just seen some clips and read the book version as a kid. It honestly upset me, not in the least since the dogs weren't rescued and we saw one hauled to the chamber


A movie many fond sad but that did nothing for me was Grave of the Fireflies.

The Last Unicorn.

Up , I found that movie really depressing.