No, those aren’t allergies – you’re just watching a movie about animals! Nothing gets the waterworks pumping quite like adorable critters, and everyone with a soul is going to shed a tear or two during Max. To prepare, why don’t you take a journey down memory lane and relive all those times movie animals that have made you cry? Bring tissues.
Bambi (1942)
When it comes to animal movies that transform you into a writhing pile and tears and sniffles, you don’t get more classic than Bambi. That truly adorable, sweet-natured first half is all misdirection, setting you up for the harrowing and heartbreaking death of Bambi’s mother at the hands of an unseen hunter. You’d think that her death would be enough of a cultural touchstone that it would have lost its impact by now. Nope. Steel yourself. That scene will activate your “allergies” like nothing else.
Old Yeller (1957)
Movies where a young boy learns to be a man with the help of his beloved canine companion are practically their own genre at this point... and in each and every one of them, the dog dies. The death of Old Yeller, who has to be shot by his young owner after he contracts rabies, is one of the most famous death scenes in film history. Show us a dozen movie humans die and he won’t blink. But show us that big, yellow dog’s final moments and we’ll be reaching for the tissues after about two seconds of resistance.
Born Free (1966)
Yes, there are such things as animal movies that make you cry from joy, not sadness. If you need a break from weeping over the tragic deaths of movie animals, look no further than Born Free. Even if you haven’t seen the movie, you’re surely familiar with its Oscar-winning theme song, which perfectly encapsulates this tale of a family raising a lion and releasing it into the wild. And yes, when they find her years later, she now has a family and remembers them. Aww. Sniffle. Awwwww.
Where the Red Fern Grows (1974)
The film version of Where the Red Fern Grows functions just like the book so many of us read in middle school. What begins as a triumphant and heartwarming tale of a boy and his hound dogs climaxes in tragedy, as one dog dies defending his master from a mountain lion and the other dies from a broken heart. Why do all of these movies about growing up make us cry? If being an adult means crying about animals all the time, then leave us out of it!
Babe (1995)
Much of Babe’s running time is spent hoping that the title pig doesn’t get turned into bacon, so it’s actually surprising when our tears at the end are happy tears. Not only does the adorable pig avoid getting served up for dinner, he wins the big sheep dog competition, earning the respect and admiration of James Cromwell’s soft-spoken farmer. “That’ll do, pig.” Only a soulless monster won’t shed a tear.
My Dog Skip (2000)
Yes, here’s another movie about how a boy’s journey into adulthood is aided by the dog in his life and yes, it’s another movie that will reduce you to a pitiful, blubbering mess. My Dog Skip has its fair share of tear-jerking moments as it recounts the many ways in which the dog of title changed a young man’s life, but it unleashes the real tears in the final moments, when an elderly Skip passes away and the narrator informs us that “He really laid buried... in my heart.” Sniff.
King Kong (2005)
One man’s fierce monster is another woman’s tragic protector. King Kong, the mighty ape of Skull Island, is really a big softie at heart. All he wants to do is hang out in the jungle, fight dinosaurs and protect beautiful blonde women from those dinosaurs. Did he ask to get dragged to civilization and put on display? Can you blame him for wanting to escape at all costs? And don’t worry, no one is going to make fun of you for shedding more than a few tears when he takes his final, fateful plunge off the Empire State Building.
Marley and Me (2008)
Anyone who has ever owned a dog could tell the ending of Marley and Me before they see it. And yet they’ll cry. A lot. Of course a movie that tells the entire life story of a dog as he (like all movie dogs) changes his owners forever is going to end with that dog dying. This movie compresses the entire world of pet ownership into two brief hours, so there is literally no way to prepare for those final scenes where Marley is put down after falling terminally ill. This is the ultimate movie for pet owners, but also a movie that pet owners shouldn’t watch lightly.
