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Heartwarming / Honest Trailers

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  • Any trailer where at least one of the quotations read in the Every Episode Ending are of an actor or entertainer who recently passed away:
  • In the Honest Trailer for Ghostbusters (1984), Egon, played by Harold Ramis, who had died in February 2014, shortly before the trailer was made, is credited as "Egon, but not forgotten." In the Honest Trailer for Ghostbusters II, he is once again honored as "Harold Ra-missed."
  • In the Honest Trailer for The Last of Us, the narrator states that the game has the biggest challenge in videogame history: Keeping it together during the giraffe scene. Said clip from the game is played, with the narrator trying his best not to cry.
  • In the Honest Trailer for The Lion King (1994), there are comparisons drawn between that movie and Frozen. The punchline to this?
    Narrator: [about Frozen] I knew there was a reason I liked that movie!
  • Likewise, the narrator says that The LEGO Movie being Merchandise-Driven is just inevitable, not inherently negative or damaging to the film, and feels that he wants to buy some Legos after doing the trailer. The narrator even remembers it fondly in the Minions trailer as an example of how "even shameless marketing can be fun," whereas Minions for him is just a "cynical studio branding exercise."
  • This part in Terminator 2: Judgment Day:
    Narrator: Big movies these days have all become about special effects! When all we really want is a good story... about a hero [sniff] who gives his life [whimper] to save the world... [as John and the T-800 hug] ...even if it means leaving behind... sob... the only people who ever loved him... [breaks down crying as Sarah hugs John] What? I'm not crying! You're crying! It's just a big dumb action movie! Stop Looking At Me!
  • The Furious 7 trailer compliments the, surprisingly, very heartfelt and tasteful way the film handled the death of Paul Walker and said goodbye to his character.
    Narrator: Wow, I honestly never expected a Fast and Furious movie to make me cry. That was really well done. [referring to the transition to the "Starring" list] So... this is an awkward transition...
  • The Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer cites Joss Whedon's Creator Breakdown over the film, and sympathizes with him.
    Narrator: [Joss Whedon] does his best to meet unrealistic nerd expectations [...] and fit in Disney's corporate cross-promotion, in a juggling act so insanely difficult, he turned down the sequel, quit Twitter, and doesn't have any new films in development. Oh, um, guys? I think we just broke Joss Whedon. He needs a hug.
  • Epic Voice Guy crying as he describes Bing Bong in the Inside Out trailer.
  • In the Die Hard trailer:
    • The entire trailer is they just completely gushing about how great the movie is, with Epic Voice Guy even chiding those who thought they would rip on a movie this awesome.
    • Also the part with them praising Alan Rickman for hitting the ground running with Hans Gruber, a fantastic villain that was Rickman's first major film role. This became more notable in that the trailer was made shortly before Rickman died.
  • Putting together a trailer for Labyrinth in just a week after David Bowie's death. Epic Voice Guy even starts out by saying they never thought they'd do this one, but needed an excuse to talk about how awesome Bowie was.
  • After receiving several requests for it, the narrator says that the Honest Trailer for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World was made "only because it's Valentine's Day, and we love you, alright?"note 
  • The Insurgent trailer was the first after the 2016 Academy Awards ceremony. The last quote read at the end was "Yay! Leo won an Oscar!"
  • In the Batman (1989) trailer:
    • Michael Keaton's casting as Batman is called "one of the best superhero castings of all time".
    • There's even a compliment paid to Jared Leto's Joker.
    • Bob the Goon is listed as "Jack Nicholson's Buddy, who Nicholson insisted on being in the movie or he wouldn't do it".
  • While he finds many things to mock about The Revenant, when it comes to the "Starring" part, the narrator credits Leonardo DiCaprio as "Academy Award winner Leonardo DiCaprio," and then adds, "Oh, it feels so good to say that!"
  • The end of The Jungle Book (1967) trailer has it being compared to Talespin. Epic Voice Guy adds that while the former was ok, the latter was "freaking awesome!"
  • Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice:
    • Admitting that despite the outcry over Ben Affleck as Batman, he wound up being awesome, and probably the best part of the movie. They also praise Gal Gadot for her performance as Wonder Woman, noting that she was very underused in the movie.
    • Acknowledging that BvS had some cool moments that its harshest critics were too ashamed to admit were enjoyable and that its biggest flaw was putting too many good elements into a single film.
    • If you look at the footage closely enough, you'll see that they targeted the better-received Ultimate Edition instead of the critically-panned theatrical cut. Despite all the jabs at the film's expense (such as criticizing the "Martha" twist and using the meme it inspired three times), they at least made the effort to target the film when it was at its best.
  • For Watchmen, the narrator praises the cast for doing justice to their comic-book counterparts (except for Malin Åkerman) and gives special mention to Jackie Earle Haley for nailing Rorschach.
  • For The Jungle Book (2016), the narrator basically spends the rest of the video gushing about the film, with only a few, minor nitpicks that doesn't stop his praise.
  • For Ghostbusters (2016), the narrator admits that while the movie ended up not being good, it still wasn't as horrible as everyone who made up their minds months in advance said it was going to be. The Stinger also defends the movie on the grounds that if you didn't like it, don't watch it and keep on stepping, and that there is no excuse for going after the cast for being in a mediocre movie. This is no doubt at least partly referring to the racist, sexist Twitter troll attack on Leslie Jones following the movie's release. Like Batman v. Superman, this trailer also relied on the Extended Version, which attempted to address some of the theatrical cut's issues with continuity and characterization.
  • For Finding Dory, the narrator spends most of the trailer calling the movie an inferior cash-in of Finding Nemo. However, when Dory reunites with her parents, the announcer audibly starts sobbing.
    Narrator: Damn you, Pixar, Even your B-material makes me cry!
  • Despite generally hating Suicide Squad (2016), the Honest Trailer praises the performances of Will Smith, Margot Robbie and even Jai Courtney, the latter of which they've been quoted as saying "is never going to happen".
  • Likewise, despite clear disdain toward the Call of Duty franchise (made obvious when seeing the Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Black Ops trailers), the narrator actually praising Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare's campaign, calling it "a step in the right direction".
  • Offhandedly calling The Empire Strikes Back a "perfect movie".
  • In the Honest Trailer for Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, the narrator congratulating Keanu Reeves for managing to break out of his "surfer-dude" Typecasting with John Wick.
  • The entire starring section of the Space Jam Honest Trailer is devoted to pointing out how great the soundtrack of that film was.
  • John Wick gets a special mention for taking advantage of modern film production technology to create cool, exciting action scenes and not relying on overused camera tricks like Jitter Cam or quick cuts to create tension.
  • When the Honest Trailer for La La Land becomes one for Moonlight (2016), the "Starring..." section begins with, "Starring all these people who would have been thanked had that guy from Price Waterhouse Cooper not been too busy taking selfies to keep track of the envelope...", and proceeds to refer to all of the major cast members by their real names.
  • The narrator finds Logan to be so good that he's having trouble making fun of it, especially during very emotional scenes and realistic moments. Unable to bring himself to go on, he calls up Deadpool to help out with some of his trademark irreverence. Surprisingly, the Merc with a Mouth is equally in love with the movie and outright refuses to shit on Hugh Jackman's final hurrah as Wolverine.
  • When doing an honest trailer of Cars, the narrator quickly realizes that the movie isn't nearly as bad as some people claim it to be, and thus he has hardly anything negative to say about it. So, he decides to let this movie be and to do Cars 2 instead.
  • The narrator describing Wonder Woman as a 'flawed, but important movie', acknowledging that while the film itself has its own share of flaws (the villains' campiness, implying All Germans Are Nazis in WWI, etc.), it's still an inspirational, well-made film that finally gives a superheroine to be proud of, and Wonder Woman being a superheroine that DCEU desperately needed right now for her many positive yet realistic traits.
  • While it still lampoons the series for its '80s nostalgia (even pointing out that it makes references to '80s works that appeared after the specific date the series is supposed to take place), the Honest Trailer for Stranger Things points out that, contrary to what critics of the show claim, its acclaim does not come solely from that, but it actually has a good plot with a great young cast.
  • In the Honest Trailer for Batman Forever, while the narrator does point out that this movie marked the decline of the Burton/Schumacher Batman quadrilogy, it did have 3 redeeming qualities: the thumbs up gif, the epic Seal song, and that no matter what people say, it still wasn't as shitty as Batman & Robin.
  • While it is still in part to mock them for working on a film they found so terrible, the narrator gives his condolences to the people who spent years of their lives working on The Emoji Movie.
  • The narrator noting how Robin Williams' performance in Jumanji was one of the reasons it turned out so great:
    Narrator: Man, I miss that guy.
  • In Kong: Skull Island the director Jordan Vogt-Roberts actually guest starred in the trailer and gave his own criticisms for his film. This was before his Twitter rant towards CinemaSins and Vogt-Roberts has gone on record for saying that he prefers constructive and thoughtful criticism than thoughtless ones. Some directors can be self-absorbed about their films and it's nice to know that some directors know how to take a joke or respect the values of free speech.
  • In the Honest Trailers for The 2019 Oscars, the "Starring" bit featuring the awards snubs honors Fred Rogers, with Josh Robert Thompson channeling Mister Rogers' voice, tone, and kindness while the Narrator, as a neighbor engages in a conversation with "Mister Rogers" regarding the controversial choices for this year's broadcast, such as not broadcasting the technical award shows (which was thankfully reversed) while praising make-up artists, cinematographers, and production designers, not awarding Best Stunts while praising Tom Cruise's excellent stunt work, not nominating female directors while praising Leave No Trace and You Were Never Really Here, and Toni Collette's Best Actress nomination snub. It is as heartwarming as it sounds.
    Narrator: No problem, Mister Rogers. It's a beautiful day on the internet when you're around.
    • Extra poignant that the movies mentioned in the "Female Directors" part are movies about protecting children. "Mister Rogers" talks about how important these stories are.
  • Acknowledging that as overwhelming and bloated as Aquaman (2018) was, it did redeem the character and Jason Momoa was charismatic as hell in the role.
  • Despite poking fun at many elements of Glass and going with the usual view that it's So Okay, It's Average, the narrator still acknowledges that he's grateful the film exists since it's "an original, self-financed project from a true auteur that doesn't feel like anything else in an over-saturated market".
  • The Narrator starts crying immediately at the Stan Lee In Memoriam Logo Joke in Captain Marvel (2019).
  • Epic Voice Guy gushing over Detective Pikachu.
  • When they got to the "Starring..." section of Galaxy Quest (already a heartwarming trailer in itself as the team clearly love the film to the bone), they joke about Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver, before saying "No joke here, just a hardcore 'Thank you' to Alan Rickman." The comments were overwhelmed with appreciation.
  • In the Blade Runner 2049 trailer, the narrator calls out moviegoers who always complain about remakes and cookie-cutter blockbusters, but didn't turn out for one of the most evocative films of the decade.
  • The trailer for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial considers the film to be flawless, and the narrator is unable to nitpick about it. Therefor, he drags in the infamous rip-off Mac and Me and riffs on that movie instead.
  • The Honest Game Trailers voice guy, Brad Venable, passed away in early 2021. The HT for Cyberpunk 2077 released a few days later, with the comments section filled with people begging to give a proper send-off from whoever takes over. The Honest Trailers channel was also giving an In Memoriam in his honor.
  • In the trailer for What If…? (2021), it notes that this is the last performance of the late Chadwick Boseman. Tearjerking, yes, but the quote they use from T’Challa is “it doesn’t feel like it’s over”. It acknowledges that while Boseman’s time with us is over, he and T’Challa will live on forever.
  • At the end of the "Starring..." section for Ghostbusters: Afterlife, there is a dedication to Ivan Reitman who had died just days before, with a moment of silence before the narrator simply adds "rest in peace".
  • While it's partly said as a setup to Jordan Peele's Tom Hanks Syndrome, the Honest Trailer for Nope opens by naming him as one of the few big modern filmmakers trying to keep classic cinema alive along with Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan.

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