Hotaru no haka.
I think English versions were released both as Grave of the fireflies and Tombstone for Fireflies. And you are absolutely right in your description. Incredibly powerful. Incredibly tragic. Brilliant film.
I also second Iron giant.
There’s an episode of CN’s “Courage the Cowardly Dog” that’s just gorgeous; it’s called “The Hunchback of Nowhere.” It’s almost a parable, really.
I can’t believe that no one has mentioned The Last Unicorn.
When Molly chastizes the unicorn, asking where she was when she was a young lass. I blubber like a bee-stung kid every time.
Hell, I got all misty just flipping through “The Velveteen Rabbit” in the bookstore the other day. Makes me think of all my toys that got thrown out.
As for Jerkules. The black women singing gospel refrains to the various Greek mythological passages in the movie is disjointed as a jellyfish. What were they thinking???
And then they %#$! it all up in the end. I felt cheated.
Marc
bouv wrote:
First, I think you meant “idol”, not “idle” – unless you were talking about the guy who performed Wreck-Gar’s voice. 
Second, to me the impact of Prime’s death was somewhat blunted, because (A) they plastered it all over the TV commercials for the movie, and (B) we got to see a shuttle full of other Autobots (including our beloved Ratchet!) die first. When Ratchet’s eyes turned black and smoke poured from his mouth and he collapsed and was dead, I was in shock. No Autobot or Decepticon had ever died in the TV series before. That very instant, I knew that in this movie, the kid gloves were gonna come off!
The Pinky and the Brain Christmas Special.
It doesn’t matter how many times I see it. Every time the Brain opens that stupid keychain, I lose it.
I’m tearing up now just thinking about it.
I gotta agree with Jet Black on the video game music. FF7, of course. Also, and perhaps sadder, is the excellent and lesser-known Xenogears, another PSX RPR from SquareSoft. The ending movie, the scenes showing what happened to Fei and Elly in their past lives…but easily the saddest is the scene near the start of Disc 2 where Lacan is painting the portrait of Mother Sophia. And Lacan talks about how much he cares about Sophia and how he just wants to keep painting forever. But he knows he can’t, but manages to stall for a couple days by claiming he is out of one of his paint colors and will need venture out to a mountain or something in order to mix a new batch. The painting never ends up finished, and Lacan and Sophia are forced apart by circumstances beyond their control.
I know I’ve seen a script of the dialogue of that scene somewhere on the net, but darned if I know where it is anymore. Darn. I’d like to read it again.
The Jungle Book, Bambi and Dumbo have all made me cry.
The Valse Triste segment from Bruno Bozzetto’s Allegro non Troppo, about a cat walking through a war-ravaged city and remembering the happy past, always makes me bawl like a baby.
[sub]God, I’m such a softie…[/sub]
I read that book!! Jeez … 14 years ago. Forget the plot though.
I agree that “What’s Opera, Doc?” is a really good one for this. It feels so much larger then the mere small screen that I have seen it on. It just feels epic. If it weren’t for Bugs’ quip it would be almost opressively depressing.
A couple of bits in the one of the “Fantasia” movies get to me. The ones where naive and pure things get put upon but evil. “Dumbo” is also quite powerful, I’ve been working on memorizing “Baby mine” since it is an awesome lullabye and I must know it.
The Simpsons. Or to be more specific, the episode where Homer is reunited with his mother after 27 years. I always lose it when I see the final scene and the credits.
When I showed my wife the underappreciated Will Vinton film The Adventures of Mark Twain she got very choked up at the end of the “Diary of Adam and Eve” sequence. If you haven’t seen this film, track it down and watch it. One of my all-time favorite animated flicks, but almost totally ignored by everyone. Great Will Vinton Claymation, combined with the stories of Mark Twain (also one of my faves). Vinton’s images and his vision are brighter and more optimistic than Aardman animation’s stuff. Watch TAOMT and Chicken Run and you’ll see what I mean.
Have to agree about The Iron Giant, another underappreciated and badly marketed film. But I choked up at the very end, as his parts are coming together.
Dumbo.
Charlotte’s Web
Bambi
Another vote for Dumbo.
Bambi.
Disney’s Tarzan
Oh, thank god, it wasn’t just me.
Nausicaa, when she’s trying to keep the baby gorgon from crawling into the acid sea…
Laputa, when the robot dies…
Watership Down, when Hazel dies…
When Jessie sings “When she loved me” I lose it. (almost to the point that if you said you didn’t I would tell you you have no soul)
By the way, I think Fantastic Planet is what J. Lo is seen watching in The Cell
Brian
I cried whenever I would see Snoopy Come Home. Snoopy leaves Charlie Brown to go back to his first owner, a little girl with some terminal disease.
Finally – someone nails it! Snoopy Come Home hit me hard when I was a kid. That movie definitely tugs at the heartstrings.