History YMMV / SecondhandLions

** Fans of the SyFy Channel show ''Series/{{Haven}}'' will be pleasantly surprised to see [[Creator/EricBalfour Duke]] make an appearance at the end of the film as the Sheik's grandson.

* SugarWiki/DevelopmentHeaven: Creator/RobertDuvall and Creator/HaleyJoelOsment shot the scene where Hub gives Walter the "how to be a man" speech on a freezing night, with Duvall standing in a cold pond wearing just a nightshirt. Duvall insisted on staying where he was and giving a full performance for each take, even when shooting Osment's closeups and he wouldn't be on camera[[note]]even shooing away crew members who tried to give him warmer clothes and take him back to his trailer[[/note]]. Osment says that watching this taught him a lot about how to be a professional and shaped how he acted on set from then on.

** Viewers familiar with the world of voice acting may recognize one of the thugs in the bar fight scene as Creator/TravisWillingham, who would [[StarMakingRole shoot to fame]] as the voice of [[Anime/FullMetalAlchemist Roy Mustang]] a little over year later.

* MoralEventHorizon: Walter's mother crosses this when she decides to [[spoiler:have Stan stay with her, even though he almost killed her own son]]. She possibly crossed it even earlier, when she allowed Stan to take Walter out to the barn. She clearly knew what was going to happen, but let it happen anyway. Mitigated a ''little'' by the following scene where [[spoiler:she relents and allows Walter to stay with his great uncles. While it by no means redeems her, it at least shows that she is aware of how terrible a mother she is and that letting Walter go is best for everyone.]]

%%** The second half of the movie. They're [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming happy tears though]].

* TearJerker: Jasmine's (the lion) [[spoiler:death]] while trying to protect Walter.

* MoralEventHorizon: Walter's mother crosses this when she decides to [[spoiler:have Stan stay with her, even though he almost killed her own son]]. She possibly crossed it even earlier, when she allowed Stan to take Walter out to the barn. She clearly knew what was going to happen, but let it happen anyway.
** Mitigated a ''little'' by the following scene where [[spoiler: she relents and allows Walter to stay with his great uncles. While it by no means redeems her, it at least shows that she is aware of how terrible a mother she is and that letting Walter go is best for everyone.]]
* TearJerker: The second half of the movie. They're [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming happy tears though]].
** Jasmine's (the lion) [[spoiler:death]] while trying to protect Walter.

* MoralEventHorizon: Walter's mother crosses this when she decides to [[spoiler:have Stan stay with her, even though he almost killed her own son.]]
** She possibly crossed it even earlier, when she allowed Stan to take Walter out to the barn. She clearly knew what was going to happen, but let it happen anyway.
*** Although we later see her emerging from the house, along with Hub and Garth. This troper thinks she, lacking willpower to confront Stan by herself, went to get help and waked her uncles up.
*** For that matter, [[WouldHurtAChild Stan]].

* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:Stan.]]

* TearJerker: Pretty much the entire second half of the movie. They're [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming happy tears though]].

* TearJerker: Pretty much the entire second half of the movie. They're [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming happy tears though]].

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: ''"Defend yourself!"''
--> '''Hub:''' I'm Hub [=McCann=]. I've fought in two World Wars and countless smaller ones on three continents. I led thousands of men into battle with everything from horses and swords to artillery and tanks. I've seen the headwaters of the Nile, and tribes of natives no white man had ever seen before. I've won and lost a dozen fortunes, KILLED MANY MEN and loved only one woman with a passion a FLEA like you could never begin to understand. That's who I am. NOW, GO HOME, BOY!
** There's also
---> '''Hub''': "I have held your life in my hands twice, and twice I have given it back to you. The third time, ''your life is mine''."
* CrowningMomentOfFunny: The final extravagant purchase by Hub and Garth. [[spoiler: A yacht so big it barely fits in their fishpond.]]
** Also the discovery that every single plant in their garden is corn, courtesy of a dishonest salesman.
** For this troper, nothing beats the fight between Hub and the teenager with the knife. The teen comes in to stab Hub, who easily disarms him, telling him he's holding the knife wrong, correcting his form, then tossing the knife back to the teen, who then proceeds to attack again, using the ''exact motion Hub recommended to him''. Though it still doesn't work.
** During a farming montage, the uncles pass a tin of tobacco between the two of them. When Hub has dipped, he passes it to Walter. Cue Walter taking a dip and spitting it out on the ground, while Garth tells off Hub.
** Garth's telling of the part where he helped Hub escape his chains. In his version, we see him fight off several men all while carrying about 100 pounds of gold. Walter questions how he could possibly do this, and Garth admits that "Hub might have helped a little." Cue the ''real'' version, where Hub breaks out and fights on his own, while Garth spends the fight trying to draw his gun and only succeeding after all the guards were taken care of.
** Hub and Garth's will: [[spoiler:"The kid gets it all. Just plant us in the damn garden with the stupid lion."]]
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: Many, but especially this:
--> '''Hub:''' Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love... true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn't matter if it's true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in.
** The end, [[spoiler:after the uncles die. When the adult Walter arrives at the farm, a helicopter comes down and an obviously wealthy man steps out with his son. He introduces himself as the grandson of the Sheik from Hub's stories and says that he heard about the old men's death and had to come. He then tells Walter that all throughout his childhood, his grandfather told him stories about Hub and Garth and how amazing it was to find out that the stories were all true.]] The original ending takes it even further, and has [[spoiler:the thugs that Hub fought earlier showing up, now reformed and respectable people.]]
*** Further than that, [[spoiler: besides the thugs, there's an entire detachment of MOUNTED French Foreign Legionaries with riderless horses as an honor guard, and not the Sheik's son but ''the Sheik himself'', an elderly man with an eyepatch and an oxygen tank who arrives with his harem to pay respects to his old adversaries.]] The director apparently decided the whole thing, including introducing Adult Walter's wife and sons, was too much for the last five minutes. Thank goodness for DVD extras.
*** "Yeah, they really ''lived''."

* TearJerker: Pretty much the entire second half of the movie. They're [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming happy tears though]].
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The story of a pair of american brothers who were shanghaied into the French Foreign Legion in the first month of World War One and fought in wars across the old world for decades? Awesome! Sounds like {{Flashman}} mixed with ForrestGump in the first half of the 20th century! You could go from Lawrence of Arabia to WWII to Dien Bien Phu to Algeria... hell you could even get creative and throw in the Russian revolution or the Spanish Civil War! This sounds like an awesome movie I can't wait to... wait what's this ArabianNights Sinbad crap?

* TearJerker: Pretty much the entire second half of the movie. They're [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming happy tears though]].