Top 12 Saddest Animated Moments

Hello, loyal readers and welcome again to another issue of Dustin's Dirty Dozen. This week, I am listing the saddest moments in animation. I have already done a list on death, so I tried to generalize a little more to include sad moments, so as to not be repetitive. It may be a little broad, but I love to talk about how much of a "hard on" Disney has for killing characters (almost as much as Joss Whedon), and I do enjoy depressing you all. Anyways, go ahead and grab the tissues I know you have sitting next to your computer, and let's get started.

12) Quasimodo's Rejection - "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"

Really, Disney? You make "Beauty and the Beast" to teach us about inner beauty then make "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" where ugliness is rejected. This movie may be about inner beauty still, but apparently this inner beauty isn't enough to win over a good looking stripper, I mean dancer. The basic premise is Quasimodo (the hunchback living in a bell tower) has spent all day and night worrying about this girl Esmeralda, whom he has a crush on. She finally shows back up to him, carrying another man in her arms, and he, of course (being the nice guy he is), let's the handsome bleeding stranger into his home. Quasi fears that they like each other, and then all of his fears about them getting together are sealed with a kiss. I am pretty sure that all men or women that were not born with natural good looks can relate to this, having more than likely been there before.  

11) Flynn Ryder's sacrifice - "Tangled"

We know that he dies from the opening line of the movie, saying "this is the story of how I die," but that doesn't make it any less traumatic when he does. It is a sacrifice for the girl he has fallen in love with, so she does not have to spend the rest of her life with her captor. The setup is Flynn goes gallivanting into the tower where Rapunzel has been held captive, and as he enters gets stabbed by the witch, keeping her there. Rapunzel has hair that contains magic healing properties (which is why the witch wants her, so she can keep her youth), so she makes a deal with the witch to save her love from death in exchange for her compliance to go with the witch willingly. She goes to heal him, and Flynn cuts off her hair before she can, destroying the witch in the process and sacrificing himself. It was very powerful and moving even though we later find out that Rapunzel's tears have the same healing property, and he comes back to life (it was still very sad).

10) Dot nails the death scene - "Wakko's Wish"

Yakko, Wakko and Dot are characters sealed in the animation canon; the show, "Animaniacs" giving us some great pop culture and adult references.  So, of course they came out with a television movie centered around the large cast of characters chasing after a fallen star. The setup for the scene in question goes as follows: the three are moments away from getting to the star having just escaped the clutches of King Salad Bar (Salazar), when all of a sudden they are hit with a cannon ball. Allegedly, Dot is injured in the attack and dies in her brother Yakko's arms, sending the camp into revolt for them having killed "the incredibly cute one, man." This gives Wakko the opportunity to get to the star unhindered, and when he reaches it, the death turns out to be an act and Dot is alive. I don't care what Yakko says; she definitely has a career in acting with a performance like this.

9) Dil-a-bye - "The Rugrats Movie" 

"The Rugrats Movie" actually has quite a few sad moments in it besides this one; like the scene with Tommy holding the jar of banana baby food over Dil's head, or Spike being thought dead. I think this scene just hit home a little more with the whole "neglected by parents" aspect. The setup is mother (Dee Dee) and father (Stu) are at the end of their wits with the new baby (Dil), who has been crying since they came home with him from the hospital. They try singing him to sleep, and it works; but as they are singing, Tommy is trying for their attention to read him a book. Not able to get their attention, Tommy goes in a nearby closet with his book and cries, singing alone as his parents now focus on Dil, neglecting him in the process. I feel that most parents or siblings can identify with this; I just identify with it for the neglected feelings Tommy is going through.

8) Boo going home - "Monster's Inc."

As stated before, Boo is quite possibly the cutest character in animation, and seeing her let down by something or crying is heartbreaking. Nothing exemplifies this point more than when Sully has to leave her home and go back to his world. The setup: Having just beaten the bad guys Sully is told to bring Boo back home and destroy the door leading to it. Mike says his goodbye, and Sully takes her through the door to go back. When they get there, Boo does what toddlers do, and shows off her room while Sully is trying to let her know that this is goodbye. Unable to reach Boo through the excitement, he gives in and starts to play with her, eventually getting her into bed. He says goodbye to the little girl, and gets a hug, then leaves never to come back. Not understanding the gravity of Sully leaving, Boo goes to the closet thinking that she will be led to the world again only for it to open to her actual closet. As stated before, she is very young, and I think this is what sells the scene the most, that she can't quite fully appreciate that he will never be coming back. At the end of the film, we see that Mike has been working on reconstruction of the door leading to her room, and Sully is again able to see his friend.

7) Hunter's kill Bambi's mom - "Bambi"

This is one of the most remembered deaths in animation (not to say it is the best), and it all happens within the first couple of minutes. So given that it happens before there is any story, there isn't much of a setup, but I think we all know what goes down. Bambi's mother runs through the forest trying to escape hunters and gets shot; done and done. Bambi curls up next to the corpse of his mother trying to accept the loss and some people watching this cry. Not me but some people, it was sad, though. 

6) Ellie - "Up"

Ellie's character is sad just in and of herself. Being sterile, not to mention dying before her husband, helps make this the most natural death Disney has given us. We grow to love her character all within a couple of minutes, from her meeting Carl to finally letting him get out the friend zone (which we all know he had to be in prior to them hooking up). Then we see her in the hospital crying from not being able to have children, and Carl (being the good guy he is) cheers her up by getting their old dream fund started back up. Then she dies from being old, having never gotten to use their funds to go to their fantasy land. This sets up the story for the entire movie and sets the audience up for depression from the get-go. 

5) Mufasa's death, a brother's betrayal  - "The Lion King"

This is Disney's top death by far, seeping into children's minds everywhere, and leaving them all crying into their parent's arms. The setup for the three people alive that haven't seen the movie is as follows: Simba is caught in a stampede of rampaging wildebeest after being led to a gorge by his uncle Scar. Simba's father, Mufasa, is alerted to his son's imminent death and races to save him (which he does but is ultimately carried away by the stampede). He valiantly escapes and starts to climb up the side of the gorge getting to the ledge where his brother is waiting for him. Mufasa calls for Scar's help, but is betrayed and falls to his death, leaving Simba heir to the kingdom. Simba finds his father's corpse and curls up next to him only to be interrupted by his uncle telling him how much trouble he is in. Simba runs away never to return, leaving his uncle in charge, as Simba is presumed dead. Amazing storytelling and absolutely depressing.

4) One of Vegeta's Deaths - "Dragon Ball Z"

Death surrounds this show as much as "Game of Thrones" or comic books, luckily the characters in it have magic balls that grant wishes, so no one stays dead for too long. Knowing that a lot of my readers are not familiar with Dragon Ball Z (or anime in general), I will go into a little more detail as to why this deserves to be up here, and fill in some of the the back-story. Vegeta is the prince of all Saiyans (an alien race of fighters), and has been told from birth he is the best because of the royal blood in his veins. This builds up a great deal of pride and showboating but also makes him ruthless and driven. The scene that I am talking about starts off with Vegeta fighting a monster (Majjin Buu). Unable to best him, he realizes he is no match so he plans to sacrifice himself, expelling all of his energy to topple Buu. He sends the monster flying off and buys enough time to start saying good bye to his son (Trunks), holding Trunks in his arms for the first time since the boy was a baby and telling him that he is proud of him. Trunks begs to help his father destroy Buu; and Vegeta, knowing that there is no way that his boy will leave willingly, knocks him unconscious. A friend (Piccolo) watching from the sidelines, grabs the unconscious Trunks so that they can leave from the imminent explosion that will come from all of this energy being expelled. Vegeta stops Piccolo and asks what will become of him in the afterlife (since Piccolo knows that sort of thing), and Piccolo says that even with this sacrifice he will still go to hell, then flies away. Vegeta still sacrifices himself knowing that he will go to hell, and the worst part is that even this is not enough to kill the monster.  

3) When She Loved Me - Toy Story 2

Jessie is a great character with a tragic back story explained in a montage accompanied by a song that makes for a truly sad moment. The setup is Jessie had a girl that used to play with her all of the time, but as the girl grows up, Jessie is cast aside. She sits under her owner's bed and collects dust until one day she is rediscovered after her owner drops a bag of make up. Hope returns to Jessie thinking that she will finally be played with only to find herself in a donation box abandoned and never to be played with by her girl again. The incident itself was sad, but when you throw in the song (sang by Sarah McLachlin) it will bring a tear to your eye. Not mine, but probably yours.

2) The Iron Giant gets blown up - The Iron Giant

This and my number one are the only animated sequences to make me cry thus far; so maybe that should let you know how great they are. The setup: a small town meets a giant robot and of course is afraid of it killing all of them; only to have their minds changed when the robot saves some kids. While fighting off the military a nuclear missile is sent in to destroy the robot and incidentally the town with it. The giant will not allow this to happen though and says goodbye to the boy he has grown to love (Hogarth) using his own words against him before he flies to stop the incoming missile. So he stops it, destroying himself in the process and the town is saved. Another thing that sells this as one of the saddest moments in animation is that the robot idolized Superman and just before he was destroyed says his name finally living up to the man of steel's legacy. Oh and it turns out that the robot was destroyed but didn't die since he can put himself back together; still makes me cry

1) Seymour Asses - Futurama

Futurama was a stroke of comedic genius for creator Matt Groening; however it also gave us the saddest and most depressing moment in animation. For those of you who have never seen "Futurama," the show follows a man who was trapped in cryogenic stasis during the year 2000 and is thawed out in the year 3000. The tear-soaked setup for this episode is that Fry has found his dog's fossil, and his nephew Farnsworth tells him that he can be cloned (complete with memories), bringing the dog back to life. Fry declines, seeing that Seymour had lived to the age of 15 (12 years after Fry was frozen) and must have formed new memories and forgotten all about Fry. To the contrary, Seymour had waited outside of Panucci's Pizza for his master's return every day since he was frozen, obeying his master's last command, never leaving the spot and never giving up hope. That was the ending we all got; it was later changed using a "Paradox-Free Time Travel Machine" to make it so Fry and the dog had spent the last 15 years together. When I saw the episode "Jurassic Bark," I was depressed for the rest of that day and actually did cry; all dog owners should get this.

Honorable Mention) Littlefoot's Mother's Death

"Bambi" but with dinosaurs. A "Long Neck" replacing a deer, and a "Sharp Tooth" replacing the hunter with a gun. Still sad even if these beasts are extinct.

Next time on Dustin's Dirty Dozen: The top 12 Dreamworks/Blue Sky animated movie. Let's put "Shrek" against "Ice Age!"

Top 12 Computer Animated Disney Movies

Hello loyal readers and welcome to another issue of Dustin's Dirty Dozen, I am Dustin showing you how many things I can list at once. This issue's list is Disney to follow the Disney list from last issue; however, this list is all about the computer animation. The reason this list isn't called Top 12 Pixar/Disney movies is because there are a couple movies on here that weren't produced with Pixar. So without further adieu let's go to infinity and beyond into the list of computer animated Disney movies.

12) Meet the Robinsons

"I have such a big head and little arms!" that was the line of the film all other incidents got overcast by. I didn't see too many ads for this movie when it first came out and went to the theater to see it because I had nothing better to do. When I saw it I wished that they had advertised it more because it actually wasn't to horrible, in fact it was good. The box office didn't break any records but didn't do to bad, I guess it is all that they could have asked for with how much it was advertised. The voice acting was brilliant as always with mainly famous voice actors over "seen" actors. The seen actors of note were: Angela Bassett, Tom Selleck, Harland Williams and Adam West. Yes, Adam West who is making more of a name for himself as a voice actor then he ever did as a seen actor adding this to shows like Family Guy and the Fairly Oddparents. The seen actors didn't have any major parts in the movie and when it came right down to it were overshadowed by the clearly superior talents of the voice actors. Aside from that this is an example of a Disney computer animated film without Pixar and seemed to me that they did just fine.

11) Dinosaur

Yet another example of Disney and Pixar not working together; even with that, at the time this movie was released it showed off the full potential of what the technology of it's day was capable of. It might have been one step below a "The Land Before Time" clone but no one can deny how utterly beautiful it was, and actually still is. I know with movies like "Epic" or "Pacific Rim" out this day and age this movie is a cartoon doodle on a napkin in comparison but it's still a pretty drawing on a napkin. It was a perfect example of not losing scale in a movie (meaning you never felt like the dinosaurs were any smaller than they were) which is something movies like "Transformers" should have learned from. The film was a box office success taking over $300 million home to Disney owners. Aside from a few classic actors like Joan Plowright making the voices this film had no really big names in it but was still done amazingly by its cast. Plus it introduced us to the voice of Hayden Panettiere way before she dawned the cheerleader costume for "Heroes" so I guess there is that too.

10) Cars

I don't know what made this movie such a big hit but it kind of spun out of control in the popularity scheme. They came out with a sequel called "Cars 2" and now a spin-off called "Planes." The movie brought home almost half-a-billion in box office sales I don't know how much the franchise as a whole has brought in. You see kids today with "Cars" bed-sheets, "Cars" gummies and "Cars" birthday cakes; so somehow I think this movie is Disney's new piggy bank which is annoying but doesn't really distract from the film being good. This film was good I would even go as far as to call it great. When you have the all star line up they do it is kind of hard to fail. Owen Wilson as the main character Lightning McQueen was an inspired choice, Cheech Marin as the low rider Ramone was hilarious as always and even Larry the Cable Guy (who I cannot stand) was great as the dumb tow truck Mater and somehow made the movie better. I don't think Disney or Pixar is going to be done with this series for a good, long time but at least we'll have easy access to watching the first. 

9) Wreck it Ralph

If you don't compare this movie to something like "Toy Story" (like Disney was trying to) it is actually pretty outstanding. In a way, it does seem like a "Toy Story" for today's generation but I wouldn't put it right next to something that big because "Toy Story" casts a monstrous shadow. I liked the concept of taking the viewer inside the life of a video game character and the bad guy just being a misunderstood giant with a heart of gold. The characters are three dimensional in the sense that said bad guy with a heart of gold has an anger issue, the annoying glitch is actually sweet and innocent at times and the tough space marine is so tough because of her husband-to-be having been eaten right in front of her. Of course Disney doesn't disappoint with the voice acting. Yet another comedian I cannot stand playing a role perfect for her when Sarah Silverman voices the glitch Vanelope. John C. Reilly and Jack McBrayer being able to step out of the "Will Ferrell scene" by voicing bad guy Ralph and good guy Felix. Jane Lynch being cast perfectly for the rough and tough space marine Calhoun and setting a new standard for kicking a role in the gonads. My biggest tip of the hat has to go Alan Tudyk though who is already an under-sung actor only playing supporting roles or minor roles but now being an under sung voice actor playing King Candy/Turbo. I never knew that the man had that much range in his speaking and I could only wish that he finds himself in more voice roles like this that allow him to play around and make masterpieces in the field.

8) A Bug's Life

Pixar and Disney really outdid themselves with this movie. The story line was as imaginative as ever and took us into the lives of bugs (hence the name). Coming out around the same time as Dreamworks "Antz" it completely stole any and all attention away from the inferior movie with a similar story line and came out with a box office of over $300 million to "Antz" having come home with over $170 million and losing Dreamworks more money than they put into it. I don't know if I can truly call a movie with: Woody Allen, Jennifer Lopez, Gene Hackman, Christopher Walken, Danny Glover and Sylevester Stallone inferior just because the box office was larger on "A Bug's Life." All in all "Antz" was an amazing movie and in some ways surpassed "A Bug's Life" by relying more on satire and adult references. Plus, it was the first time we got to see some actual competition between the two companies. Not to discredit this movie on the voice acting since we got to hear actors like David Hyde Pierce, Denis Leary (a comic I actually do like), Dave Foley, Phyllis Diller and oh look Hayden Panettiere again. However, the man that stole the show and made all of these other actors look like students was Kevin Spacey. Kevin Spacey is an amazing actor when he is not voicing over grasshoppers but this movie gave him more of a menacing feel than even the movie "Seven." If every actor put as much passion into their voice as Kevin Spacey did for this I would be hard pressed to find a job as a critic in the world of animation for the world would be perfect. 

7) Monster's Inc.

Another great imaginative work from Disney taking us into the lives of Monster's who hide under the bed and showing us why they are there in the first place. This movie spawned Pixar's one and only prequel "Monster's University" which was actually one of their few good second movies even if it didn't exactly make sense with the original. For those of you screaming at your screens about how perfect the prequel was let me just put this out there. In the original Mike refers to him and Sullivan knowing each other in the fourth grade in the prequel the first time they met was in college. Even with that grievous over sight the movie was still good. Now for the voices. John Goodman was perfect in the role of top scarer Sully putting another notch in his belt for iconic roles he has produced, even more so for Billy Crystal as Mike. Jennifer Tilly found another good home where her annoying voice actually was put to good use as the character Celia and Steve Buscemi as always being a creepy son-of-a-gun playing Randall. I don't think a character will surpass Boo in level of cuteness but I cannot wait to see Disney/Pixar attempt to.

6) Tangled

It was so hard for me not to put this movie higher up on the list but I feel that when you see the movies that beat it you will understand. I finally got to see this movie after it being out for three years and it completely surprised me by making a character like Rapunzel cool after it has been one of the classic fairy tales of old. It gave us more explanation as to why Rapunzel's hair was long, it finally asked the question of why are these crazy people around me singing and gave us even more animals with attitude. Mandy Moore made the songs all the more memorable plying Rapunzel, Zachary Levi was an amazing voice actor before this movie and this put him over the top and Ron Perlman was Ron Perlman I think enough is said with that. I wish every animated film that Disney comes out with in the future could make this movie a guideline to follow.

5) Wall-E

The first half of this movie seemed more like an homage to the silent film era where most movies were conveyed with scenes that didn't rely on dialogue and if something needed to be explained it was spelled. The second half of this film was pure Disney to the core, unforgettable characters and even a dark look into our earth's future. This message was an unexpected move for Disney telling us to stay green and exercise; which was aimed more towards American audiences I would assume. I don't really know what to say about the voice acting in this since most of them were put through a filter to convey robotics. I did love the choice for Sigourney Weaver as the ship's computer and them going all "2001: A Space Odyssey" on it. Jeff Garlin surprised no one by making a good fat captain and I think even without the voice filter Ben Burtt would have been awesome in his roles of Wall-E and Moe.

4) Finding Nemo

Australia was a setting no animated movies had chosen to take advantage of before this one but that was only a small dip in the ocean of ways this movie was original. You have the lives of fish being the centerpiece of this imaginative film (which I guess we can accredit a little bit to the show Spongebob Squarepants), a crippled boy overcoming his ailment by pushing through after being held back by his father for his entire life and a fish killer that gives Sid from "Toy Story" a run for his money replacing menace with hyper-activeness. Originality aside "Fish are friends not food" was a line repeated through out the halls of my high school over and over again. If Lilo and Stitch was the movie that defined my middle school this would be the movie of High School even though they were only a year apart. Everyone saw this movie which might explain why it held the 25th highest grossing film of all time for so long, until Disney topped it with "Toy Story 3." In every way this movie was a success but as always the most important part of animation to me are the voices. The most memorable being Ellen DeGeneres as the absent minded and hilarious Dory a blue tang who speaks whale and can't remember a thing. Albert Brooks plays a great voice as the over concerned father/clown fish Marlin a hypochondriac from losing his wife and most of his hundreds of children to a barracuda attack. A major round of applause, though, to both Barry Humphries for playing the vegetarian great white shark and Willem Dafoe for playing the war vet seeming Moorish idol.

3) Up

There are sometimes where Disney goes a little deeper with some of the messages in their films (like in the aforementioned "Wall-E") this message was a little more controversial by being about people who are sterile. I know there were more messages then that like the whole reasoning behind the grumpy old man on his front porch yelling at kids, the absent parents of the boy scout and getting old while being forgotten when you were once very famous. Something also has to be said about a movie being the second animated picture in history to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture following "Beauty and the Beast." Edward Asner gave an amazing portrayal of grumpy old man Carl Fredricksen only to be beaten by Christopher Plummer as the old man's idol Charles Muntz. Disney veteran Bob Peterson finally got a memorable role as Dug the dumb dog and Alpha the command dog.

2) The Incredibles

This was an extremely difficult choice for me not to put at my number one, it and my number one are not only my all time favorite animated pictures but my all time favorite movies period. I guess its not such a surprise since most of the animation team from my favorite animated movie, "The Iron Giant," worked on this. It didn't do to bad in the box office making over half a billion dollars and got an academy award for Best Animated Feature beating "Shrek 2" and "Shark's Tale." I can't really call the story-line original since I am sure that there are comics out there that have done something similar, like "Fantastic Four" or another around the same lines. I can't really recall a misunderstood fan boy turning villain, after trying to be a superhero then being scorned by his idol and planning to sell off his inventions when he's had his fun; but I am sure I am forgetting it somewhere in the comic book archives. The voice acting was amazing to say the least across the board. Craig T. Nelson played an even more memorable role in this as Mr. Incredible the father that doesn't like the direction of his life than he did as Coach. Samuel L. Jackson made his debut in animated movies by playing Frozone and played this role (like his countless others) perfectly. The best by far though has to be Jason Lee as the crazed fan Syndrome who gives fanboys the world over a shout out in his portrayal. I'm pretty sure all geeks would probably act the same way if they saw their favorite superheros standing right in front of them. 

1) Toy Story Series

O.k. So I coped out, sue me. It was too hard to choose between the three in this series because this is one of the few series out there that actually holds onto its roots from the first one and even improves upon them. The third movie has the amazing ending and new lovable or hated characters. The second one gave us a superior story line then the first and third all together and introduced us to Jessie the Yodeling Cowboy one of Disney's best characters to date (acted amazingly by Joan Cusack.) The first one just stands the test of time with the whole space overcoming the westerns of old being a great plot piece; to Sid being one of Disney's most memorable villains (since we all knew a kid bully like him.) The best part of this series was of course the voices since many could try but most fail at living up to Tom Hanks' legend when he plays any role including Woody. The best part about it though was that the incredible Tom Hanks didn't overshadow Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear, or even Don Rickles as Mr. Potatohead or John Razenberger as Hamm who were also important set pieces. Disney hasn't been able to repeat work like this for an entire series before or since. These are movies that comes to mind when I think of good sequels and will go down in history as the one time Disney jumped the hurdle of not living up to the original. 

Honorable Mention) Brave

I think we all wanted this movie to be a lot more than it turned out to be and I think that is what killed it for me in the end. It just didn't live up to the hype surrounding it from the excitement of a new Disney Princess. Not that she was a bad character to the contrary she was actually an amazing character she was just in an o.k. movie. As a character Merida is set up to dethrone Mulan as an inspiration to young women. Beating all the guys at the games, tough, rebellious, not a damsel in every way possible, it was just sad that the rest of the characters couldn't be as three dimensional or inspirational as her. The overbearing mother was old hat as were the trouble making brothers that might as well, have been called Huey, Dewey and Louie. I wanted so much from this film and it just fell short, a character like Merida and a location like Scotland deserved so much better.

Next week on Dustin's Dirty Dozen: break out the tissues for my top 12 saddest moments in animation.