Is the Iron Giant the saddest kids cartoon ever?

[TheMojoPin]

The AV Club just had a feature on it in their Cult Cannon column (http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-iron-giant,26074/) and I was struck by how may of the reader comments were about people who got choked up or starting tearing up or were out and out bawling by the end of it. I think I've mentioned it in threads that talk about movies that make you cry because it definitely gives ye olde lump in the throat by the time the "Superman" line roles around.

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I know plenty of other kids films are packed with "sad" moments, but this is one of the very few that I can think of that still makes me sad. The only other one I can think of that still generates a real emotional response is the scene in Pinocchio when the kids are all turning into donkeys. Holy shit, is that creepy and depressing.

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Hell, that whole movie is depressing. It's not like any of the horrible things he encounters are fixed or stopped. All the villainous characters he comes across remain free to keep kidnapping kids and turning them into donkeys for slave labor. Basically the whole movie's message is that you can't fix the world's problems; you can only run from them. At least TIG has a relatively happy ending and an optimistic outlook for the future. Pinocchio leaves me wondering how he and Gepetto are going to last in a world that horrible.

Depressing.

I'm sure there are similar threads to this one out there that sailor will find, but fuck it. What kids movies or scenes from kids movies really creep you out?

[KatPw]

Love Iron Giant. But I think Charlotte's Web and Old Yeller top it in terms of sadness.

[grlNIN]

I have seen Pinocchio because it always looked horribly depressing. That movie and Dumbo, for some reason there doesn't seem anything joyous about them, they just seem like they would be upsetting to watch. Now that i thought about it might be because they revolve around circus' or vaudeville type stuff which is really unsettling for me.

I love the Iron Giant, it came out when i was a teen and my brother was on his way into his twenties and we still both watched it together and enjoyed it, however sad it may have been.

[Foster]

I always thought the cruelest kids movie was "the parent trap"

the parents divorce, each take a twin and never tell them the other exists,
thats f'ed up

[HBox]

For a second I forgot the thread title and thought this was saddest animated movie and was gonna mention Grave of the Fireflies. That certainly isn't a kids movie but I'm not sure there is a sadder movie period.

[Freitag]

I refuse to see Wall-E because I know he gets messed up in the end and I'll freak out.

[TheMojoPin]

Love Iron Giant. But I think Charlotte's Web and Old Yeller top it in terms of sadness.

Love Iron Giant. But I think Charlotte's Web and Old Yeller top it in terms of sadness.

CW was sad, but I think it was offset by the creepiness of spiders and that Wilbur was such an annoying wuss of a character and that Charlotte's death must have been sweet release from his bitching and moaning.

Plus it was offset by the greatest song of all time AKA "Hippo's Theme Song:"

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Old Yeller I personally don't count because even as a kid I knew that "live" movies aways had to potential to be really sad or scary even if they were for kids. Cartoons were supposed to be "safe."

[TheMojoPin]

For a second I forgot the thread title and thought this was saddest animated movie and was gonna mention Grave of the Fireflies. That certainly isn't a kids movie but I'm not sure there is a sadder movie period.

Oh, fuck. GotF is on that short list of amazing movies that I simply cannot watch again. It destroyed me the wo times I've seen it and I know it'll do it again. Like you said, however, I don't consider it a "kids movie" so I didn't menion it.

[grlNIN]

I refuse to see Wall-E because I know he gets messed up in the end and I'll freak out.

Same here.

There are things that Tim refuses to let me watch because he'll have to sit through me crying at them.

[HBox]

An American Tail has some fucked up shit in it.

[Freitag]

I always thought the cruelest kids movie was "the parent trap"

the parents divorce, each take a twin and never tell them the other exists,
thats f'ed up

no kidding, look what it did to Lindsay Lohan




















not to mention Natasha Richardson

[Furtherman]

Yea, the Superman scene is a bit of a teary moment.

But then you realize he survived!

I wouldn't say it's the saddest, although I can't recall one right now that could be considered.

The Neverending Story was pretty sad towards the end too. Artex dying, Rock Monster not able to save his friends... and that nothing scene gave me the creeps.

But then he's on Falcor and chases the bullies into the dumpster and I laugh.

[TheMojoPin]

Same here.

There are things that Tim refuses to let me watch because he'll have to sit through me crying at them.

Did IG make you bawl? I choked up like a giant baby just finding the YouTube clip of the ending.

[TheMojoPin]

An American Tail has some fucked up shit in it.

The really weird scene of the fish gorging on all the bugs that had been chasing Fivel has never failed to creep me out.

[TheMojoPin]

I was 9 when I saw this and it freaked me the fuck out:

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[HBox]

This was probably the scene the freaked me out the most as kid:

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[grlNIN]

Did IG make you bawl? I choked up like a giant baby just finding the YouTube clip of the ending.

It makes me cry a little yeah, mainly because Giant is just smiling all the time like a big innocent 'tard.

[TheMojoPin]

It makes me cry a little yeah, mainly because Giant is just smiling all the time like a big innocent 'tard.

The role Vin Diesel was born to play.

Poor dumb robot:

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[Misteriosa]

never saw IG. CW did get me a little teary as a child tho..

edit: so did Land before time...

[grlNIN]

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The dancing woman always scared me. On a whole this movie is pretty fucked up.

[TheMojoPin]

Does Who Framed Roger Rabbit count?

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[mikeyboy]

This one made me cry a lot when I was 4.

http://content8.flixster.com/movie/50/75/22/5075226_det.jpg

[WampusCrandle]

I refuse to see Wall-E because I know he gets messed up in the end and I'll freak out.

i cried near the end. its damn sad. :glurps:

[grlNIN]

Won't embed, it's at 1:11.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9syXmIl2ks

Blue Big Bird sings sadly.

[A.J.]

This one made me cry a lot when I was 4.

http://content8.flixster.com/movie/50/75/22/5075226_det.jpg

Oh yeah.

[hammersavage]

I was 9 when I saw this and it freaked me the fuck out:

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This would have been my answer. Starts off so happy with the Pizza Hut commercial then BAM! mother's dead.


And Dumbo is some depressing, sad shit. I love it.

[TheMojoPin]

Won't embed, it's at 1:11.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9syXmIl2ks

Blue Big Bird sings sadly.

Oh man, I forgot about that. I saw that in theaters when I was wee and it was so sad.

[badorties]

the end of 'my dog skip' is just unwatchable

love the movie, but 'iron giant' is the saddest movie given the real life context: ted hughes writes a book to comfort his kids about the suicide of their mother, sylvia plath, and their son, nicholas, hangs himself decades later

Hogarth Hughes: I know you feel bad about the deer, but it's not your fault. Things die. That's part of life. It's bad to kill, but it's not bad to die.

The Iron Giant: You die?

Hogarth Hughes: Well, yes, someday.

The Iron Giant: I die?

Hogarth Hughes: I don't know. You're made of metal, but you have feelings, and you think about things, and that means you have a soul. And souls don't die.

The Iron Giant: Soul?

Hogarth Hughes: Mom says it's something inside of all good things, and that it goes on forever and ever.

[Hogarth leaves. The Iron Giant lays back to look at the stars]

The Iron Giant: Souls don't die.

[AKA]

I know plenty of other kids films are packed with "sad" moments, but this is one of the very few that I can think of that still makes me sad. The only other one I can think of that still generates a real emotional response is the scene in Pinocchio when the kids are all turning into donkeys. Holy shit, is that creepy and depressing.

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Hell, that whole movie is depressing. It's not like any of the horrible things he encounters are fixed or stopped. All the villainous characters he comes across remain free to keep kidnapping kids and turning them into donkeys for slave labor. Basically the whole movie's message is that you can't fix the world's problems; you can only run from them. At least TIG has a relatively happy ending and an optimistic outlook for the future. Pinocchio leaves me wondering how he and Gepetto are going to last in a world that horrible.

I actually mentioned this scene earlier in the week, in the parentless Disney thread, having re-watched it. This scene is pure, nasty Hitchcock and very heartbreaking, and (yeah) at the end the happiness there is for Pinocchio surviving the world is tempered by the fact that those kids are still donkeys, and the bad guys never got punished.

The point of the movie, however, is much simpler than "the world sucks/get over it" - the message is "do the right things, and the world doesn't have to suck."

[Furtherman]

I refuse to see Wall-E because I know he gets messed up in the end and I'll freak out.

Wall-E is such a great, great movie. But yea, there were a few moments I felt my chest tighten.

[hammersavage]

Wall-E is such a great, great movie. But yea, there were a few moments I felt my chest tighten.

Your stents?

[TheMojoPin]

Your stents?

Probably after that 5th box of Junior Mints.

[Freitag]

the end of 'my dog skip' is just unwatchable

love the movie, but 'iron giant' is the saddest movie given the real life context: ted hughes writes a book to comfort his kids about the suicide of their mother, sylvia plath, and their son, nicholas, hangs himself decades later

Iron Giant dialogue about souls here




Damnit, I'm having an allergy attack at work.

[Freitag]

The thing about Wall-E which really gets me is...

Not the fact that he gets messed up, the fact that Eve repairs him, and then he powers up and is just a mindless robot and Eve is crushed. That's AWFUL.

[kdubya]

As a parent An American Tale gets me the most. The scene towards the end when Fivel meets the group of orphans and he has that little lip quiver and the sad eyes when he thinks maybe his parents don’t care about him any more. That gets me every time.

[Furtherman]

Your stents?

Probably after that 5th box of Junior Mints.

No, it was just the barrel of cheese balls I had on my chest.

[boobieman]

Iron Giant is great. Has anyone picked up the newer DVD with added scenes. I cried from the movie...then again I got teared up from Fly the Way Home...Yes the geese movie..I know...I'm a FEz...I mean Fag...SORRRY

SEEYEYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYA

[Alice S. Fuzzybutt]

I cried the first time I saw The Iron Giant, but then I realized that the ending isn't really so sad the second time I saw it.


**SPOILER ALERT**


Granted, he was blown up in the end but people finally realized he was good. PLUS, he wasn't really destroyed since his parts were coming back together.

I cry whenever I see the scene in Dumbo when his mother cuddles him with her trunk.

And Nestor the Christmas Donkey was another tear jerker.

[HBox]

The thing about Wall-E which really gets me is...

Not the fact that he gets messed up, the fact that Eve repairs him, and then he powers up and is just a mindless robot and Eve is crushed. That's AWFUL.

That only lasts like 90 seconds. 90 heart-breaking, soul-crushing, cry like a little girl seconds.

[HBox]

Does Who Framed Roger Rabbit count?

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I'm not sure what's worse: when he gets up and walks while flat or when he starts screaming and his eyes bulge out.

[HBox]

http://www.impawards.com/1980/posters/bon_voyage_charlie_brown.jpg

This movie was all sorts of wrong, morally and otherwise. A bunch of children taking a road trip through Europe and vague hints at child abuse.

[grlNIN]

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Haha. :[

[Slumbag]

I always got bummed out watching The Lorax
(not particularly this clip)

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[Coach]

Watership Down and The Last Unicorn
Watership is just suicidal feeling from the beginning..freaking depressing.
Last Unicorn..poor guy is in love with the unicorn and has to settle for the hag...

[Drunky McBetidont]

Iron Giant is great. Has anyone picked up the newer DVD with added scenes. I cried from the movie...then again I got teared up from Fly the Way Home...Yes the geese movie..I know...I'm a FEz...I mean Fag...SORRRY

SEEYEYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYA

i still cry during fly away home. that movie is superb.

[Drunky McBetidont]

Watership Down and The Last Unicorn
Watership is just suicidal feeling from the beginning..freaking depressing.
Last Unicorn..poor guy is in love with the unicorn and has to settle for the hag...

the last unicorn is one of those movies you realize after dropping acid that it was not necessarily made for kids.

[Furtherman]

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/underwire/2009/08/ig-08.gif

A Decade Later, The Iron Giant’s Weaponized Soul Still Stirs (http://www.wired.com/underwire/2009/08/a-decade-later-the-iron-giants-weaponized-soul-still-stirs/)

“Can a gun have a soul?” That’s the question asked by criminally underrated animated film The Iron Giant, which opened 10 years ago to mostly empty theaters and sporadic press coverage.

Combining a relatively infant CGI style with traditional hand-drawn animation, director Brad Bird’s award-winning but critically ignored feature animation debut pondered how a paranoid, post-war America might react to an overwhelmingly powerful interstellar invader. A decade on, the cult classic stands as arguably the most intellectually and emotionally moving science-fiction tale in recent history.

[JustJon]

I took my niece and nephew to see Up a couple months ago, and it had been out a week or two, so I'd heard work about the depressing parts, but the movie just destroyed me right near the beginning (silent montage for those who have seen it) and then again towards the end when he's reading the scrap book.

[EliSnow]

If you are in LA on October 23rd and looking for something to doy, this (http://www.aintitcool.com/node/42633) sounds interesting:

http://origin.aintitcool.com/images2009/irongianttenthanniversary.jpg

[biggestmexi]

The AV Club just had a feature on it in their Cult Cannon column (http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-iron-giant,26074/) and I was struck by how may of the reader comments were about people who got choked up or starting tearing up or were out and out bawling by the end of it. I think I've mentioned it in threads that talk about movies that make you cry because it definitely gives ye olde lump in the throat by the time the "Superman" line roles around.


I know plenty of other kids films are packed with "sad" moments, but this is one of the very few that I can think of that still makes me sad. The only other one I can think of that still generates a real emotional response is the scene in Pinocchio when the kids are all turning into donkeys. Holy shit, is that creepy and depressing.



Hell, that whole movie is depressing. It's not like any of the horrible things he encounters are fixed or stopped. All the villainous characters he comes across remain free to keep kidnapping kids and turning them into donkeys for slave labor. Basically the whole movie's message is that you can't fix the world's problems; you can only run from them. At least TIG has a relatively happy ending and an optimistic outlook for the future. Pinocchio leaves me wondering how he and Gepetto are going to last in a world that horrible.

Depressing.

I'm sure there are similar threads to this one out there that sailor will find, but fuck it. What kids movies or scenes from kids movies really creep you out?

so mojo DID have feeling at one point?

[FrogSlayer]

I love the Iron Giant

[furie]

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Niagara Falls Frankie

[razorboy]

The Secret of NIMH.

[furie]

The Secret of NIMH.

what was sad about that one?

[razorboy]

what was sad about that one?

I've been an Aldo Ray fan as long as I can remember, so when Sullivan died it crushed me.

Bear in mind I was fivish when I first saw it.

[fezident]

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Niagara Falls Frankie


I truly love this movie. I think of it often.
I wish this clip had the actual sound & score.