Unexpected Emotional Disney Movies That Break Hearts

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18-06-2025

Disney likes to play with our emotions. Who would have guessed animated films about talking animals and princesses could set the waterworks in motion? On the always honest r/AskReddit, Reddit user u/Traditional_Scar3701 asked: What Disney movie made you unexpectedly cry? The results will have you looking like Niagara Falls:
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
"The end of Onward...I wasn't expecting the waterworks there!"
"Luca! At the end, when his friend lets him get on the train to go to school!"
"Just finished Coco and I'm a wreck."
"Big Hero 6. I watched it a few months after my own brother was killed. It wrecked me."
"When I rewatched Lilo and Stitch for the first time as an adult, Nani facing the fact that Lilo was going to be taken by the social worker crushed me. Never fazed me as a kid."
"Didn't think I'd be crying just nine minutes into an animated kids' film. It was Up."
"Two parts of Moana: When the grandmother becomes a sting ray, and when she sings to Tafiti's molten lava version. 'They have stolen the heart from inside you. But this does not define you.' Lost it."
"The Lion King is very heavy."
"I recently watched Finding Nemo again, having become a parent, and the scene where they're reunited made me sob."
"The Fox and the Hound was the first movie that made me cry as a kid. 'Yeah, friends. Forever.'"
"The first Guardians of the Galaxy, when Quill's mom dies. I was not expecting that. A few years later, my mom would also die of cancer."
"Inside Out 2 with the panic attack scene causes anxiety."
"Encanto. Mirabelle's ending was well-earned and executed. The payoff made me ugly cry buckets."
"The scene in Encanto where Abuela witnesses her husband's murder and just screams silently gets me EVERY SINGLE TIME. It's so visceral and well-done. That whole sequence with 'Dos Origuitas' makes me sad because we see that Abuela was an earnest goofball just like Mirabel, even though she looks a lot like Isabela."
"Encanto. First time watching it, I figured it would have some emotion because it is Disney, but when the sister sang 'I'm pretty sure I'm worthless if I can't be of service,' it got me."
"The short Bao."
"'Do You Want to Build a Snowman?' from Frozen still breaks me"
"'Reflection' in Mulan."
"Finding Dory…the scene where they first show Dory's parents' house and all the seashell trails…I'm choking up just thinking about it."
"F*ckin' Bambi. I was a mere child when I saw it, and the last thing I expected was that they were going to kill off his mother!"
"The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The sincerity of a man who just wants to be accepted and have friends, meaningful relationships, and experiences. It's a struggle for him. Cried when Quasi was so excited about the Festival of Fools, and he gets laughed back to the Church. The song 'Heaven's Light' is so sweetly innocent. And at the end, when he is finally accepted. Tears. "
"'You'll be in my Heart' from Tarzan hits way different now that I have my own kid."
"Meet The Robinsons. It is such a great movie. I don't understand why it isn't more popular. I can't make it through without crying like a baby."
"Going back a ways: Old Yeller."
"Beauty and the Beast, bawled like a freaking baby."
"Finding Nemo, when Marlin flashes back to rolling Nemo's egg in his fin."
"The Good Dinosaur… that movie was sad."
"Soul made me ugly cry."
"Cars, despite watching dozens of times, whenever lightning pushes the king across the line, my sprinkler system malfunctions."
"Obviously, Deadpool & Wolverine."
"Wall-E."
"I couldn't finish Inside Out. Didn't even get to Bing Bong."
And finally, "Frozen II. I was coming out of a very, very bad situation and had taken my kid to see it. When 'Show Yourself' played, I openly wept. I still cry during that song. It helped me gain courage to be myself and grow into my power."
Which Disney film made you unexpectedly cry? Comment below and tell us why!
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