Top 10 Brutal Over the Top Deaths in Pixar Movies

“Cars 2” (2011)
Serving as a blue 2006 Deringer, Rod Redline is an American spy who uncovers a plot at the World Grand Prix. Unfortunately, his mission comes to an end when he is captured by Acer and Grem. The two lemon cars beat Rod and cause him extensive damage before taking him to Professor Z. There, he is horrifically mistreated with a combination of Allinol and electromagnetic pulses. After he inadvertently betrays Mater, Rod’s engine overheats and he blows up. It’s a highly disturbing sequence of events, from the brutal torment to the concussive explosion. It’s also sad to think that Rod died knowing he put Mater in incredible danger.

“The Good Dinosaur” (2015)
As his name suggests, Poppa Henry is the father of protagonist Arlo and his two siblings, Buck and Libby. In this case, Pixar took a page out of the Disney handbook and killed off the parental figure in a brutally sad manner. Henry takes Arlo out for a hunt, but the two get trapped in a vicious storm. A powerful surge of water spills down the river and catches Henry, who can only give his son one last look of love before he’s swept away to his death. A death that was likely very painful and prolonged. It’s not something that Arlo - or the viewer, for that matter - needed to see.

“Soul” (2020)
Poor Joe Gardner just wanted to play music for a living. And then tragedy struck. After scoring big at a jazz audition, Joe excitedly makes a phone call and becomes terribly distracted. He encounters various close calls, like walking through traffic and narrowly avoiding a falling stack of bricks. But Joe’s luck eventually runs out, and he falls down an open manhole. It’s not exactly a peaceful way to go, and we can only hope that it was painless. Now, this accident doesn’t kill him outright. However, it does send his physical body into a coma and his soul into a purgatory-type afterlife - well, technically the realm is a more “beforelife” one since it’s for those who’re yet to be born. Seeing as how his soul quite literally escaped from his body, we think this still fits the criteria!

“Ratatouille” (2007)
For the most part, “Ratatouille” is an adorable film about the art of food, the joys of childhood nostalgia, and our penchant for breaking social barriers. And then there’s this terrifying scene. Django doesn’t like that Remy is getting attached to humans (literally), so he takes him to a local Paris shop with dead rats in the windows. The rats hang limply from numerous traps, their necks having been snapped by the devices. This store is based on a real pest control shop in Paris called Aurouze, which actually displays dead rats in its windows. The store has been around since 1872, making it a bit of a Paris landmark and a macabre tourist attraction.

“Finding Nemo” (2003)
The fish world is a very dangerous place, as evident by the beginning of “Finding Nemo.” Marlin and Coral are a happy couple with numerous eggs. They are very excited to be parents, and it seems like their whole lives are ahead of them. Unfortunately, a barracuda happens to swim near their anemone, and Coral reflexively moves to protect her children. Unfortunately, this movement attracts the attention of the barracuda, and it proceeds to eat Coral and most of her eggs. Pixar is absolutely ruthless when it comes to presenting death, and even though we don’t see the attack itself, the aftermath is sufficiently heartbreaking.

“Up” (2009)
Pixar isn't afraid of killing off human characters, as evident by the surprisingly disturbing demise of Charles Muntz. Charles is a sociopathic explorer with an unhinged desire to find a giant tropical bird in Paradise Falls. He is so intent on finding a rare bird that he kills - and attempts to kill - numerous people. However, this desire would prove his undoing. While chasing Russell, Charles gets his foot tangled in some balloon strings, causing him to fall thousands of feet to his death. The terrified look that he gives shortly before falling is deeply unnerving, as is the idea that he probably stayed conscious through the entire fall. Even for someone like Charles, this is a bad way to go.

“Coco” (2017)
Young Miguel idolizes Ernesto de la Cruz, an old movie star and musician who was incredibly popular in Miguel’s native Mexico. But Ernesto died, and Miguel meets his skeleton when he travels to the Land of the Dead. While there, Miguel learns that Ernesto was once the musical partner of his great-great-grandfather, Héctor. Ernesto poisoned Héctor and plagiarized his songs, which earned him widespread popularity. But karma came for him in the form of a careless stagehand. The stagehand leaned against a lever during one of Ernesto’s performances, causing a massive bell to fall from the stage and crush the musician. His skeleton suffers the same indignity in the afterlife, proving that you never truly escape the wrath of karma.

“Brave” (2012)
Taking place in the Scottish Highlands, “Brave” is one of Pixar’s Disney-ist movies, taking its cues from old cultures and fairy tales. The main antagonist is a gigantic and vicious bear named Mor'du, who has a taste for human limbs. In the climax of the film, Mor’du does battle with Merida’s mother, Queen Elinor, who has also been turned into a bear. During a hard-fought battle, Mor'du throws Elinor into a standing stone, causing it to splinter. This standing stone then falls directly on top of Mor'du, causing all sorts of nasty internal injuries and effectively crushing it to death. At least something good comes of the brutal demise, as the bear’s death finally releases the trapped spirit of the prince.

“A Bug's Life” (1998)
Serving as Pixar’s second movie, “A Bug’s Life” chronicles a fierce battle between ants and grasshoppers. The head grasshopper is named, suitably, Hopper, and he is a real nasty piece of work. But he’s not as smart as Flik, who baits him into a bird’s nest. Believing that the bird is fake, Hopper torments the protective mamma, who proceeds to feed him alive to her chicks. We don’t see the outcome. Neither does Flik, who rightfully shields his eyes from the carnage. But we don’t need to. We know full well that Hopper’s death was painful, disgusting, and very, very crunchy.

“The Incredibles” (2004)
We can’t believe how violent “The Incredibles” actually is. In one of the movie’s more famous scenes, Edna Mode regals Mr. Incredible with tales of dead superheroes. One was launched into the sky on a missile, another was crushed by an elevator, and a third was strangled to death by his own cape. While this montage is played for laughs, the deaths themselves are horrifying to consider. But that’s nothing compared to Syndrome. The famous “no capes” montage served as a wonderful bit of foreshadowing, as Syndrome’s cape causes him to get sucked into an active plane engine. Messy, explosive, unbelievably violent - this has all the trappings of an iconic Pixar death!