Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)
The Movie Death: Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, the loving adoptive parents of a young, restless Luke Skywalker, succumb to a stormtrooper attack and their bodies are burned to a cinder.
How It Broke Us: That split second shot of their mangled, ashen corpses lent an immediate edge to this otherwise family-friendly space adventure. It helped to pave the way for the considerably darker Empire Strikes Back and even allowed for some foreshadowing - or should that be post-shadowing - of Anakin's eventual fate in the prequels.
Oliver! (1968)
The Movie Death: After attempting to save Oliver from Sikes, Nancy is taken behind a railing at London Bridge and brutally beaten to death.
How It Broke Us: It might not be graphically shown, but repeatedly seeing a raised club alongside Nancy’s agonising screams is enough to leave an indelible mark on us.
Babe (1995)
The Movie Death: In the very first scene, anonymous men use cattle prods to tear Babe’s mother away from him and lead her onto a slaughterhouse truck. Talk about setting the tone.
How It Broke Us: It left us distraught at the thought of a young orphaned pig trying to make his way in the world by himself. Not enough to get us to stop enjoying bacon sandwiches though.
Mulan (1998)
The Movie Death: Mulan leads villain Shan Yu to a palace rooftop where her faithful dragon shoots a firecracker at him, causing him to crash into a tower of fireworks and die in a huge explosion.
How It Broke Us: We get shudder-inducing flashbacks every Bonfire Night.
Hook (1991)
The Movie Death: Lost Boy successor Rufio fights side by side with Peter, but is stabbed by Hook. He then dies in Peter’s arms while making amends for their earlier rivalry and saying that he wishes he had a father like Peter.
How It Broke Us: A deathbed truce is enough to melt even our stone-cold withered hearts. It might even be enough to never argue with anyone ever again just in case something happens before we can make up.
The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1996)
The Movie Death: The villainous Judge Claude Frollo pursues Quasimodo and Esmeralda to the cathedral balcony but, while standing on a gargoyle, it breaks off, plunging him into the recently released molten copper below.
How It Broke Us: Nevermind that he shared a similar gruesome fate as Anakin Skywalker and the Terminator in more adult fare, there is a hint that the gargoyle breaking was actually some kind of divine intervention. So the lesson to be learned here is that we are all just playthings at the mercy of an unknown omnipotent deity.
Fantasia (1940)
The Movie Death: During The Rites Of Spring, we see a stegosaurus face off against a T-Rex, only to get chomped on and have all life strangled from him.
How It Broke Us: It made us realise that all our lovable dinosaur characters and toys were really vicious killers.
The Snowman (1982)
The Movie Death: Having been on a wonderful adventure with his new frosty friend, a young boy awakens the next morning to discover that all of the Snowman’s magic won’t save him against a few rays of sunshine.
How It Broke Us: We could no longer build a snowman without eventually going through some kind of grieving process. We knew we shouldn’t have given them names...
All Dogs Go To Heaven (1989)
The Movie Death: Ok, so it’s not a real death, but this extended dream sequence sees Charlie prove the film’s title wrong by dying all over again and getting sucked into Hell, where he gets tormented by rat demons, sinks towards a pit of lava and meets a terrifying Lucifer.
How It Broke Us: “Wait, THIS is what happened to Tiddles? Mum? MUM?”
Where The Red Fern Grows (1974)
The Movie Death: Young Billy adopts two lovable dogs, Old Dan and Little Ann who unfortunately get into a fight one day with a mountain lion. Old Dan remarkably sees off the lion but succumbs to his wounds and dies. After Billy buries him, an injured Little Ann runs away and is found dead of a broken heart on top of Old Dan’s grave.
How It Broke Us: Two pet deaths, one having lost the will to live? Damn you animals everywhere for being so uselessly fragile and vulnerable.
