According to the Interent Movie Database, “The Lion King” is the first animated Disney movie to show the death of a good character on screen. I thought of “Bambi,” but his mom dies off-screen, if I recall correctly.
Can anyone think of a Disney movie in which someone good died before “Lion King”?
It looks like the IMD is right, but there were some close calls before The lion king:
I always thought Pinocchio did die as a wooden puppet and the blue fairy brought him back as a real boy! but I could be wrong there.
In a documentary about The lady and the tramp, Peggy lee said that, originally, Trusty the dog was supposed to die! But she convinced Walt not to do it!
A “bambi”, off camera, death of the fox mother occurred in The fox and the hound.
Does it count if the movie was really really poorly done?
Gurgi, in The Black Cauldron (1985), dies apparently onscreen, though you don’t see the body afterwards. Don’t know why this wouldn’t count.
Oh, and he comes back to life; maybe this is why he’s not listed? Not that keeping a spoiler tag on this information would make anyone’s first viewing of this waste of cels any more enjoyable.
AmbushBug
[sub]maybe you would’ve preferred to forget that movie. sorry about that[/sub]
Thanks for all the responses. AmbushBug, I’ve never even heard of that movie- maybe that’s a good thing, though! I suppose it should count.
I don’t know about Pinnochio. I guess it’s hard to make a judgement call with little wooden puppets. And Trusty was supposed to die?! That’s horrid! The only thing I could stand to see die in that movie would be the rat.
I remember Baloo in The Jungle Book nearly dies, but then he doesn’t. Same with Lucky in 101 Dalmatians. So prior to The Lion King, that’s all I can think of. Unless Beauty and the Beast counts, because Beast sort of gets reborn at the end.
Hmm. Disney does like to skimp on the death. They’re always cheating us out of a good murder, aren’t they?
I wanted to answer with The Secret of NIMH and the murder of Nicodemus, but a check at the IMDb leads me to believe that this was not a Disney movie. Shoot. I would have loved to correct the IMDb on something.
All the examples I thought of don’t hold up. I could have sworn that Uncle Remus died at the end of “Song of the South”, but a quick synopis check showed not. Plus I guess even if the movie counts as an animated film he wouldn’t count as an animated character. I’m pretty sure there’s bodies flying in the “Night on Bald Mountain” section of Fantasia, but I don’t think they count are good guys.
Hard to believe that policy came from the same people who tried to rip my heart out with “Old Yeller”.
Bambi’s mother doesn’t die on screen, but then, I would argue, neither does Mustafa. We see him clinging to the edge of the cliff, we see Scar clawing at him, we see him falling, but we don’t see him hit the bottom. I don’t see how that’s any more “on-screen” than hearing the rifle shot.