Everyone's version of a sad movie is different. I've seen people cry over romance movies and I've stayed dry, but I legitimately cried watching Toy Story 3 while my family laughed at me.
But this list is made of those movies. The ones that everyone will cry over. Even the hardest of hearts will shed a little tear. Your mom will clutch the family dog and sob while your dad will wipe away a manly tear he'll try to pretend doesn't exist.
(This list contains spoilers)
1) Lilo and Stitch 2
My generation grew up with Lilo and her little blue alien/dog Stitch. We watched Stitch adapt to life on Earth, get up to all sorts of shenanigans with Lilo, save the world, and find his family along the way. We felt all the feels, which is why this movie destroyed us all a little bit.
We're led to believe Stitch is dead, and just the thought of my favourite blue alien suddenly gone was enough to make me teary eyed. Now, when Lilo hugs him and tells him her's her Ohana (Family) and she'll always love him, now that was enough to make me and everyone who grew up with these characters break down.
Of course, he was okay, and I sat there blubbering with happy tears for a while. But to this day, I cannot get through that part of the movie dry eyed. I know he's going to be okay, and he's not really dead, but just watching Lilo devastated at her beloved Stitch's death always has me blinking back tears.
2) Marley and Me
Don't go into this movie thinking it will be a feel-good movie to pass time. I know it looks cute, and you want to spend an afternoon watching a movie about the life of a cute dog with his family, but it's not.
Hollywood needs to ban all movies where anything bad happens to dogs, especially Marley and Me, because guess what:
Marley dies.
Marley gets ill due to his old age, and when it's clear he won't survive, his family has him put to sleep. It's okay when they put him to sleep, but the funeral will make you want to die. Marley is buried in the backyard, and the kids make cards and tell him they love him. This is where it hits you that they've known Marley their whole life, and he suddenly won't be around anymore, and the waterworks start.
(This is where my mom walked in on me ugly crying into a bowl of cheetos.)
3) The Boy In The Striped Pajamas
Do you see a pattern here? Kids and Animals make everyone cry.
The Boy in The Striped Pajamas follows two young boys during the Holocaust: Bruno, who is the son of a Nazi commander who moves his family near a camp, and Shmuel, a Jewish boy who is imprisoned in said camp. The two quickly become friends, despite being separated by the camp fence.
In a bid to help his friend find his father within the camp, Bruno sneaks in under the fence. While searching, they both accidentally get taken into a gas chamber.
This movie will wreck you. The whole thing is made to be painful to watch, and it really is. You ache with the unfairness of the whole situation, and then two kids, friends despite everything going on around them, meet an awful end you know millions historically did. I guarantee you won't be able to stop bawling, especially when they get scared after figuring out what's going to happen to them and hold hands.
4) 12 Years A Slave
Again, this entire movie is painful. The story follows Solomon Northup, a free African American man in 1841, who is abducted and sold as a slave. He spends 12 years as a slave, witnessing and experiencing the cruelty and dehumanization his people are put through.
Finally, he is rescued, and reunited with his family. You'll be there, teary eyed at the cruelty but so happy that he gets to go back to his family, but his kids are all grown up. 12 years of his life have gone by, and his family has been living without him. His kids grew up without him, and his daughter now has a son of her own who's named after him.
It's a happy reunion but it's also so sad. It's a mess: Solomon is crying, his family is crying, the baby is cute, you're crying.
Just embrace the fact that you will absolutely cry and make sure to watch this one, because it is a very important movie. You'll be disgusted and angry and you'll cry at least twice, but don't skip over this one.
These are the movies I’ve seen that have made me bawl my eyes out, and I don’t cry easily. If you haven’t seen any of them, honestly proceed at your own risk. Get a blanket, grab your pet, fetch that box of tissues and get ready for the tears (also, take off your makeup. Trust me.)
Author's note: I know someone will ask me why "Hachi" isn't on this list, and the reason is I haven't seen it. I know it will end me so I refuse to watch it and live my life pretending it doesn't exist.
