[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/image_487.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[JerkassWoobie Somebody please give this poor kid a hug...]]]]
Hoo boy, where to begin? Considering that the protagonist is [[HeartwarmingOrphan an orphan]], the antagonist was once said protagonist's roommate and that this is a [[Tearjerker/{{Disney}} Disney film]], ''WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons'' has a reputation for breaking hearts-a-plenty.
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* That out-of-the-blue moment when Lewis, Wilbur and Carl are running away from Bowler Hat Guy and Doris, and the pair catch up.
--> '''Carl''': Haha! Look at that, boys! [[KilledMidSentence We're almost home fr—]] (''[[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath harpoon through the chest]]'')
* The scene near the end after Doris is defeated and Lewis asks Goob to join the Robinsons. The look on Goob's face as he walks away is so sad, along with how he glances around as though he knows he has to live with the guilt he very nearly ruined a perfect future for everybody. It's a small wonder he chose to walk away from potential adoption into the Robinson family; he likely feels he doesn't deserve a happy ending after all of it.
** Not to mention Goob's reaction when he learns that Doris was using him the whole time. "Doris! I thought she was [[IJustWantToHaveFriends my friend]]..." ''Awwww.''
** Goob being betrayed by Doris in the bad future. After all, he only wanted to mess with Lewis, not enslave all of humanity.
** One punctuation mark: "?" Goob has finally given up his schemes for revenge...and he doesn't know what else to do with his life.
** The way he walks off with his arms wrapped around himself just makes him seem so small.
*** Though goes into heartwarming, since Lewis's intervention in Goob's baseball game means the Bowler Hat Guy version will never exist.
* When Lewis finally gets to see his birth mother.
** Come to think of it, it's also the only time [[HarsherInHindsight Wilbur gets to see his biological grandmother]]. Likely after hearing stories from his father, it must've pained Wilbur to be able to see his real grandma abandon his own father as a baby. [[FridgeBrilliance It's no wonder Wilbur was reluctant to let Lewis see his mom]]. Aside from [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong fixing the timeline]], he spent his whole life with Lucile and Bud as his grandparents and seeing what great people they are; his ''biological'' grandmother is nothing but a stranger to him outside his father's stories.
* "Mr. Steak, you're my only friend."
* That moment when Lewis's hat comes off and the Robinsons realize that they can't keep him. They also can't tell him why. So Lewis gets rejected by the first people who have accepted him without question and he doesn't understand why. Wilbur has a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment there.
* Wilbur blurting out to his mother that he never planned to take Lewis back to find his mom, right in front of him no less. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PapAMEjtk9A The opening music during that part]] is so heartbreaking that it makes one want to give Lewis a hug when he hides behind a topiary and begins crying.
** Particularly poignant is the part where Lewis says "You lied to me?" It could be described as a hiss almost but instead of making him sound angry, he sounds legitimately and truly hurt at being ''used'' by someone he obviously had come to consider a friend and the fact that this comes after the "Guess we make a pretty good team."/"Yeah...guess we do..." exchange makes it hurt worse. Anyone who has ever felt used (legitimately or otherwise) by someone they considered a friend can totally relate.
-->'''Lewis:''' ''[to Wilbur]'' I can't believe I was dumb enough to actually believe you were my friend!\\
'''Wilbur:''' I am your friend!\\
'''Franny:''' ''[to Wilbur]'' Mister, you're grounded...[[GroundedForever 'till you die]].
* Wilbur fading from existence because of Doris tampering with the past. Since this is only mere moments after Lewis was revealed to be Wilbur's father...it must have been traumatising for Lewis to [[ForcedToWatch watch his]] '''own son be unborn'''.
* Also the scene early on when Lewis is angrily explaining to Mildred why he's a lost cause: he's already failed 124 adoption interviews (and was keeping track) due to prospective couples being put off by his zealous enthusiasm for science. To make matters worse, he's almost thirteen, [[TruthInTelevision and he knows it's near impossible for teenagers to get adopted]]. At this point, he's given up on finding a new family and has resigned to just aging out of the system alone.
** Mildred's reaction to finding out he's been keeping track. She goes from telling him that he's obviously exaggerating in a playfully affectionate tone to trailing off in a deeply sorrowful voice when he shows her his tally.
** Lewis' snarl of "No one wants me! My own mother didn't even want me." It really makes you want to hug the poor kid.
* The phrase "Keep Moving Forward" will bring tears to people's eyes, especially for those using the phrase as in the movie: To keep trudging on as the {{Determinator}} no matter what, and ''especially'' when the film's final slate reveals the ArcWords came from none other than '''''Creator/WaltDisney''''' himself.
* Bowler Hat Guy's backstory. In it, he was originally Goob, but during a big baseball game, he got severely beaten by his teammates because he missed the winning ball via sleep deprivation. Then, he dwells on this one childhood trauma for ''thirty years'', shutting out all his classmates even when they are being genuinely nice to him, and his explosive anger scared away everyone who wanted to adopt him. And what's worse: [[NeverMyFault he blames it all on Lewis]].
** Not helping is that when Bowler Hat Guy travels back in time to Lewis' orphanage and meets his past self in the orphanage, he proceeds to tell Goob to not let go of his trauma in order to ensure his existence.
** What's even worse, there's an understandable reason why Goob would want revenge on Lewis- it was ''him'' who kept Goob up for multiple nights straight trying to make his invention, which caused him to fall asleep in the middle of the game and lead to all of the events above. Lewis had unwittingly ruined Goob's future, [[EyeForAnEye so Goob is going to try to ruin his as revenge.]]
* [[FreezeFrameBonus It's brief and hard to miss on first watches of this movie,]] but re-watch the part where Lewis accidentally calls Franny "Mom". She has a look of confusion on her face at first.. but then, she softens almost immediately after. Just a few scenes earlier, Wilbur told the entire Robinson family that Lewis was an orphan. She probably realized that she was the closest thing Lewis had to a mother figure at the moment. [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments No wonder she decided to adopt him immediately after.]]
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