Get Out The Tissues: People Break Down The All-Time Saddest Movie Scenes

Don't underestimate the power of animated films.

Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

"The Fox and the Hound when the old woman has to leave Todd in the game preserve to save him and her tears as she drives away without him."

– snortybeagle

"Also the scene where Todd gets out and she’s running through the woods with a lantern calling for him. Reminds me of losing my cat."

– aaron_hoff

Baby Mine, Don't You Cry

"When Dumbo's mom rocked him from behind her cage 😭"

– LimpCauliflower8579

"Baby mine, don't you cry Baby mine, dry your eyes Rest your head close to my heart Never to part, baby of mine."

"F'k. I had to take a little baby possum to get euthanized because its mama had been hit by a car and killed along with its siblings. It was awful - you could see some of the babies had survived the impact and tried to crawl off, only to be hit themselves. This little one was the only one left when I got there, but it was too injured to make it. It sounds so dumb but I sang a bit of this song to it while I held it on my lap on the way to the vet. I know it's anthropomorphizing them too much, but possums seem like such good mamas."

– lizardingloudly

Dinosaurs Grieve Too

"The first movie in the Land Before Time. Broke my heart. Still does."

– HeelerDot18

"Littlefoot mistaking his shadow for his mother."

“Mother? Mother!”

– justputonsomemusic

"That scene KILLS me because I know that exact feeling. My mother died when I was 12, and for a long time after she died, I would see someone who looked like her and have this cruel, crazy stab of hope that my mom wasn’t really gone."

– captcha_trampstamp

A Cub Grows Up

"Simba begging Mufasa to wake up. That tiny little 'help.'"

– mossadspydolphin

"get up....we gotta go home...."

– imthe1nonlyD

Remember The Dead

"The scene in Coco where Miguel is trying to get mama Coco to remember her father. My daughters and I all cried at the theater. Mama Coco reminded us so much of my grandmother. At that point we had lost 3 of my grandparents. 1 each year. My grandmother was all we had left. She died a few years after the movie came out. My daughter hasn't watched it since because she knows she will cry even harder."

– thiswilltakeamiracle

When a character has an epiphany, we're right there with them.

Unsatisfied Hero

"The 'I could have saved more' scene where Schindler has an emotional breakdown after the workers gave him a ring engraved with the quotation: 'Whoever saves one life saves the world entire' and was then comforted by the workers in the movie Schindler's List."

– SuvenPan

The Gift Meant For Someone Else

"Emma Thompson in her bedroom after she receives the Joni Mitchell CD for Christmas."

– khendron

"Just phenomenal acting. I can’t remember who said it, but there’s a quote that watching someone trying not to cry is somehow sadder than watching someone cry and it’s so true."

– prunellazzz

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

The Last Bedtime Story

"When the mom tucks her kids in and the old couple go to bed together in Titanic knowing they’re going to die."

– enlenar

"The mother and children are Irish, and in that scene she’s telling them an old Irish story about going to a land of eternal youth and beauty. The only way she could attempt to comfort them knowing what is to come."

"As a mother I couldn’t imagine making that decision. To spend our last moments in utter chaos fighting for our lives, or going back to the quiet of the cabin and dying as a family there. Gut wrenching."

– SylviaKasen

The Most Loyal Dog Ever

"Hachiko waiting for his friend to come back every day at the train station."

– 33-9

"Omg, I think that would be number 1 on my list, I don’t think I’ve ever cried harder than at the end of Hachi."

– OP

A Soldier Dies

"When Giovanni Ribisi’s character dies in Saving Private Ryan, after telling the story about pretending to be asleep when his mom checked in on him."

– howdysteve

"His whole story about his mom and his final line "...I don't know why I did that..." really hits me hard, and I always shoot my mom a sloppy, cheesy text immediately after the scene."

– duskywindows

Meeting His Maker

"In the Green Mile when John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) gets executed. "Don't put me in the dark." Gets me every time..."

– Vivid-Voyage

"That was the first movie to make me sob, not get teary eyed, but painful sobbing."

"Also RIP Michael Clarke Duncan."

– shewy92

While we go through tissues blowing our noses and wiping away our tears (hopefully not in that order), "somehow, heartbreak feels good in a place like this."

Yes, Nicole Kidman. We love to ugly cry in movie theaters.

But we'll never look as stunning as you while doing so. ​