Top 10 Emotional Scenes in Movies We Watch Over and Over

Pixar’s 2015 hit is an innovative take on growing up. “Inside Out” largely takes place within the mind of young Riley, where five emotions, personified, try to save her from becoming lost in her pain. In one of the movie’s many touching moments, Bing Bong, an old imaginary friend, literally sacrifices himself to save Riley’s memories and Joy. When they’re at the bottom of the dreaded Memory Dump, he realizes the wagon – their only hope of getting out – can’t support their total weight. So, he stays behind. It’s not a traditional death scene, but he is “forgotten,” permanently this time. Losing him becomes this touching metaphor for the things we have to leave behind when we grow up, and it wrecks us.

Rick Blaine and Ilsa Lund never thought they’d see each other again after their romance in Paris. When they have an unexpected run-in in Rick’s Casablanca cafe, we get more than just a standard love triangle. Rick is almost terminally neutral with regards to the war, and Ilsa’s husband is an influential freedom fighter wanted by the Germans. The two have a chance to be together, but it would mean turning their backs on the cause for liberation in the world over. Their last meeting may be inevitable, but that doesn’t make it any less heartbreaking when he convinces her to leave with poignant words. Rick and Ilsa represent what many had to go through during the war, sacrificing love to fight a common enemy.

Young Miguel is taken to the Land of the Dead via a dead musician’s guitar, and must fight his way back with the help of his deceased ancestors. Once returned to the land of the living, the boy tearfully sings the song his great-great-grandfather Héctor wrote for his great-grandmother Coco years prior to her. In a poignant moment, the elderly woman joins in, and recovers memories of her father. Watching the two sing the song, and in a sense bridge the gap between the generations of their family, is so profound and moving. Any composure we had left vanishes when Coco begins reminiscing. It’s a comfort for all of us who miss loved ones who have passed on.

There are no words to describe what it feels like to lose a pet. But the climactic scene in “Marley & Me” captures the magnitude of those feelings so perfectly. As John says goodbye to his beloved pup, Marley’s big eyes stare right at us. The sad music certainly doesn’t help us keep our cool, nor does John’s excellent speech. Let’s face it: when you watch a film that’s about how much our animals love us, you can pretty much guarantee you’re gonna be weeping like a baby by the end of it. But hey, it’s perfectly fine to just sit in that sadness.

Brace yourself, because it’s time for another story about what we lose as we grow older. At the beginning of “Up,” we meet two children named Carl and Ellie. We watch them fall in love, marry, and live out their years of joys, sorrows, and adventures until Ellie’s death in old age. Difficult circumstances are folded into this montage, but they never feel rushed. It’s efficient storytelling that tells us every single thing we need to know about how this couple lived together. Of course, that makes it sting a little extra when Ellie passes. Keep in mind this all happens within roughly the first ten minutes. It’s a beautiful, poignant journey made all the more so by Michael Giacchino’s Oscar-winning score.

The third “Toy Story” movie took big emotional swings. They even convinced us, maybe just for a second, that the toys were really going to be incinerated. It just goes to show how much they got the audience to care about these incredible toys. There was not a dry Millennial eye in the theater at the end. When Andy, the little boy from the first two movies who’s now all grown up, is getting set to leave for college, he gives his beloved toys to a new owner. He has one last playtime with them before leaving them, and his childhood, behind. Pixar really is obsessed with making us cry about growing up, but we’re not mad at it.

Vada spends most of “My Girl” fixated on death. It’s fitting, as her father’s an undertaker and her mother passed following childbirth. The movie’s most unfair left hook leaves her best friend, Thomas J., dead from a bee attack. At his funeral, she cries without irony that her friend can’t see without his glasses. Even with all her fascination about death, she’s in denial. Her breakdown is not just sad because someone has died, but because for a girl who seems so precocious about a lot of things, she’s still just a kid. Cue all the tears.

James Cameron’s disaster epic brought a new perspective and fresh, raw emotion to a legendary tragedy. Because we fell in love with Jack and Rose, the many real people who passed when the RMS Titanic sank in 1912 became even more real to us. After a long time of being stuck in the freezing water, Rose realizes Jack has died. She must let him go if she’ll have any chance of survival, but she promises she’ll never let go of her memory of him. The image of Jack’s body disappearing into the dark ocean abyss is devastating in ways we didn’t know were possible.

Elliott and his alien pal have become an iconic duo. Their daring trek across the night sky is one of those movie moments no child ever forgets. But all good things come to an end. For his own safety, E.T. can’t stay on Earth forever. Having rescued his otherworldly friend from government agents, Elliott must say goodbye as the extra-terrestrial gets ready to get on a spaceship back to his home planet. As his finger glows and John Williams’ score soars, E.T. reminds Elliott that they’ll always be together. If you need to have a good cry, playing this moment is sure to work every time.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

“Wilson!”, “Cast Away” (2000)
We’re Still Crying Over This

“Baby Mine,” “Dumbo” (1941)
Dumbo’s Captive Mother Comforting Him Tugs at Our Heartstrings

Train Station Reunion, “Slumdog Millionaire” (2008)
Seeing Jamal & Latika Reunite After Years of Missed Chances Is Extremely Moving

Nettie & Celie Together Again, “The Color Purple” (1985)
After Much Hardship, Celie Is Reunited with Her Sister & Children, Touching Us Deeply

M'Lynn Grieves Her Daughter Shelby, “Steel Magnolias” (1989)
M'Lynn Breaking Down Never Fails to Wreck Us

The powerful king, his envious brother, the exiled prince. “The Lion King” is a true tragedy, and this stampede scene is a masterful blend of drama and heartache. Whether or not you know the pain of losing a parent, Simba’s realization that his father has passed and the grief after hurts badly. His hopelessly calling out for someone – anyone – to help is just the twisting of the knife. The kids' movies that stand the test of time are the ones that take real, complicated things and make them palatable and understandable for young minds. The saddest moments usually give us something to go back to when they happen to us in our real lives. They remind us we’re not alone. This is no exception.