Western Animation / Heartwarming

"Well, a lot of times, a family is just a bunch of people who are forced to be together just because they came out of each other. But, every so often... a miracle happens."
— Rev. Putty, Moral Orel

Ink on cels with a prerecorded voice track, or characters generated on a computer... who knew they could be so moving?

Western Animation works with their own Heartwarming Moments pages:

open/close all folders

How the Grinch Stole Christmas!:
- His heart grew three sizes that day!
- Every last Who down in Whoville, the tall and the small, were singing without any presents at all! The Grinch didn't stop Christmas from coming, it came! Somehow rather... it came just the same.
- Not to mention that, for as nasty as The Grinch is supposed to be, he just can't bring himself to tell an innocent child about his true intentions of what he's doing.
Avenger Penguins - the Xmas Special has Doom about to demolish the diner that is the meeting-place of many of the show's good guys. As the Penguins watch, the Evil Rival Bikers that they've battled so often roar up. Marlon is furious, believing them to be working as hired muscle for Doom. But then the leader quietly says that they're there to SUPPORT the Penguins and their friends. "We holy fools..." Excuse me, I have something in my eye...
Oddly enough, Camp Lazlo had one. On 'Wedding Bell Blues', when Lumpus was actually going to marry Jane, but was so humiliated when she got stuck in Raj's nose that he called it off and stormed out.
Raj: You know, this day isn't about six-figure price tags and fiancees stuck in noses.
Lumpus: It's not?
Raj: No. It's about two crazy kids stuck in a crazy world, who are crazy about each other!
- Aw. The real moment, though, was when Lumpus realized Raj is right, and proposed to Jane all over again.
Littlefoot's hatching from The Land Before Time. Cute, newly hatched dinosaur bonding with his mommy. Awwwwwww. The music doesn't hurt either.
- The bit where Cera cuddles up with the others is also pretty cute.
- The reunion scene at the finale and the flashbacks... man, the original LBT is amazing.
Corpse Bride: The dead have risen to walk the earth (well, actually, attend a wedding). The living are scared witless as the shambling corpses close in. A family is horrified as their small child approaches one of them. The dead, skeletal man picks the boy up. In a sweet, innocent voice, the little boy says... "Grandpa?" D'aaaaw!
- Not to mention the elderly woman reuniting with her long dead lover, in a not-so-subtle shout out to Gone with the Wind.
- One for Victor and Victoria: "Perhaps, under the circumstances — you c-could call me — Victoria." Their first meeting is so sweet.
- And one for Victor and Emily: "Pardon my enthusiasm." "I like your enthusiasm." They're adorable too. This movie is the reason I love OT3.
The beginning of the Exodus in The Prince of Egypt, when — as part of the song "When You Believe" — the departing Hebrew slaves burst into joyous song in their native tongue. Hm. Come to think of it, the whole of "When You Believe". One particularly powerful moment is when the Hebrews pass a couple of Egyptian guards, and the two men drop their spears and begin to walk along with the Hebrews.
At the end of an episode of Home Movies when they let McGuirk join their pizza club. (After all, he just wants a family...)
An American Tail is chock full of them.
- Fievel finally finding his family. Even if you knew it was going to happen all along, there was not a dry eye in the theaters when it finally did.
  Fievel: Papa...? Papa! I'm coming papa!
Jim Davis has said that he created Garfield solely to make money, but A Garfield Christmas prove he isn't a complete hack. First, they present the standard "true meaning of Christmas" Aesop in a more subtle, down-to-Earth way, instead of the cold, sterile Stock Phrase-laden Anviliciousness of most Christmas specials. Garfield doesn't need to "learn the true meaning of Christmas" or "awaken some long-forgotten corner of his heart" or any of that, it's made plain that he knows it and agrees with it right from the start and he's just too sarcastic to say it out loud. But that's just a little thing; it's the final twist, where Garfield's present to Grandma is her 50-year-old collection of her now-dead husband's love letters from when they were first courting, that Garfield found in a box in the barn while trying to figure out what Odie was making, that makes it brilliant.
The Christmas Special The Town Santa Forgot tells the story of a greedy boy named Jeremy Creek who writes a really long letter to Santa, requesting every single toy he can think of. When Santa passes him by on Christmas Eve, he is greatly upset at first. The next morning, he finds out from a TV report that the toys he wanted were delivered to a poor swamp town that happens to have the same name as him (which Santa had forgotten to visit previously). When the kids in the swamp town say they want to say thanks to whoever wrote to Santa about them, it makes him feel better than any toy could and teaches him the joy of giving. And that is why The Town Santa Forgot is the best half-hour show to ever come from Hanna-Barbera.
This moment in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. "You're my mom, you're my dad, and you're my picket fence!"
- Also, see the beginning of Super Robotnik when Coconuts complains about Robotnik always giving him the shaft. Remember, Coconuts is the smartest badnik of the team, and he REALLY doesn't do anything to hinder the process of Robotnik's plans, yet he keeps getting demoted. Now look at his face when he gets promoted. PURE. HAPPINESS. Coconuts only wanted that promotion.
A musical episode of the Canadian cartoon Kevin Spencer featured Kevin and his fat mother Anastasia leaving their father/husband Percy after they become sick of their crappy home lives. It doesn't go well, with Kevin ending up in an orphanage, Anastasia ending up on the streets after a rich man's attempt to reform her fail miserably, and Percy ends up in jail on drunk and disorderly charges. The Spencers all realize that they're even worse off separate, and so they reunite at the Camel Toe Inn in a rousing song-and-dance finale, knowing that if they're going to be miserable, they might as well be miserable together.
In The Film of the Book of Coraline when the Other Wybie helps Coraline back into her world, even though she ends up going back later to retrieve her parents. Though you might say it was ruined by the fact that the Other Mother turns him into dust as punishment for helping her.
- Or you might say it was strengthened by the fact that the Other Wybie knew what the Other Mother would do to him and helped Coraline anyway.
The end of the Road Rovers episode "Gold and Retrievers" where Oso, a guide dog makes a wish that his blind boy can see again and it comes true. Cue Manly Tears. Also, when Hunter gets reunited with his mom in the last episode.
This Popeye cartoon.
Mission Hill had several in it's all too brief run. One that really stands out is "Plan 9 From Mission Hill" when Wally sees the joy his cheesy Ed Wood-esque movie was bringing to audiences, after spending the episode deeply embarrassed about it's very existence. The episode is just a wonderful love letter to cinema that is heartwarming in and of itself.
- All wrapped up in the last minute: Wally comes home to find Gus sound asleep in his old costume. Removing the helmet, Wally kisses Gus on the head, and then drifts peacefully off to sleep.
Stōked has one of these in its second episode, "Another Grom Bites The Dust". When Emma, a girl obsessed with surfing despite having never done it before, realizes that spending the summer working at a surf resort isn't all it's cracked up to be, she gets terribly homesick and consequently has a tearful breakdown in the laundry room. Enter Broseph, who offers to give Emma a surf lesson out on the beach, resulting in this montage set to Novillero's "The Hypothesist". Her fellow employee Johnny, seeing how nice Emma is compared to one of the other new employees, Martha, decides to switch Emma's bad aptitude test results with Martha's to keep Emma from getting fired.
Although it might be treading on Glurge territory, there's the cartoon The Enchanted Square where Raggedy Ann befriends a little blind girl.
Not a story per se, but the opening of the French educational series Il était une fois... la Vie starts and ends with possibly one of the sweetest representations of a child's conception. But the second instance is even sweeter considering the context: the two characters involved were already appearing in a previous series (''Il était une fois... l'Espace"), and although it was pretty obvious there was some romantic tension between them, it never got fully resolved. So seeing them loving each other and conceiving a child RIGHT IN THE OPENING OF THE FOLLOWING SHOW is an awwwwww-worthy moment.
The scene near the end of the CatDog Made-for-TV Movie "The Great Parent Mystery" definitly qualifies. After hitting another dead-end in their search, the ever cynical Cat shouts they are going home...only to be horrified when Dog agrees with him. The broken Dog gives up, ripping up his book of theories and admitting he wishes he gave up easier like his brother. Cat angrily tells him not to say that, admitting he wishes he were more like Dog, with boundless determination. They then make a vow to find their parents no matter what. Giving that Cat and Dog are usually Polar Opposite Twins, the scene of brotherly love is very powerful.
Sonic Sat AM: Whenever Tails calls Sally "Aunt Sally," I can't decide whether to smile at the sweetness of it or cry for these kids who have lost their parents and become a ragtag family who look out for each other and love each other so much.
- There's a quite poignant moment in one episode wherein Tails, clearly painted as the only "real" kid among the Freedom Fighters, befriends an animal, only to be told that it is supposed to be migrating and they have to take it back to its mother. Sonic, in his usual big brotherly fashion tries to break it to him by saying "he would miss his mommy." Tails' response? "I miss my mommy too." No flashbacks. No elaboration. No remark from Sonic. Just that small, somber line that reminds you of the evil dictator out there destroying everything he touches. It's heartbreaking, but it does make it so much sweeter when he refers to Bunnie and Sally as "aunt". As far as the Freedom Fighters are concerned, they ARE all family.
From the Five-Episode Pilot of Gargoyles, Goliath realizes that Elisa has been protecting him all day. No one says anything about it, but it's clear that he's now starting to become open to the idea of trusting humans again.
- In "Mark of the Panther", when Goliath finally starts treating Angela as his daughter.
- At the end of the "Hunter's Moon" arc, when Goliath and Elisa share their first kiss
THE IRON GIANT. Really people, how has this not been on this list yet! Not only do we have a great idea on What Measure Is a Non-Human?, but we also get the ultimate Heartwarming Moments, the Giant sacrificing himself not only for his friends, but also the many people who hated him. I am not ashamed to admit that Manly Tears were shed.
- Superman...!
- "I am not a gun."
- The ending where we see the Giant rebuilding himself in the Artic counts as well.
"For it is plain as anyone can see, we're simply meant to be."
Even Johnny Test has one of these. In the episode Bath Time For Johnny, Dukey is crying because Johnny forgot his birthday so a squirrel gives him a nut with a candle in it.
- Not to mention how Johnny manages to get an indoor water park for his best friend as a birthday gift.
In the end of The Critic episode "Lady Hawke," Jay Sherman confesses to his personal assistant Alice Tompkins that he loves her. He gives her a white rose and reads her a poem ("The woman I love will be my best friend. We'll make each other laugh, and I'll never be lonely again. Her name will be Alice, and she'll have a sweet Southern accent, and I hope she'll love me too.") Alice becomes completely touched, and she and Jay share a kiss.
- "She's a super freak! Super freak! She's super freaky! Oh sorry..."
  - "Oh Jay, you're the sweetest man who ever called me a super freak."
The end of the Aaahh!!! Real Monsters episode "Blind Love, Monster Love"
Ickis: Nobody's perfect. . .but you were pretty close.
- Doubles as a Tear Jerker.
In the El Tigre Halloween Episode the Grave Escape, Manny and Frida have just left the land of the dead with the Rivera's ancestors. While the reunion between Rondolfo, Manny, and the other heros and villains, there's obviously some tension between Manny's evil grandpapi, Puma Loco, and Justice Jaguar, his heroic father...
(Both are glaring at each other)
Jaguar:....(Spitefully) Son.
Puma:....(Bitterly) Father.
Jaguar: (Tearfully) Son!
Puma: (Crying) Father!
(They both embrace and cry)
Just know that fishing metaphor means "I love my son."
Rocko's Modern Life gets a lot during the Christmas special. Especially Mr. Bighead's reaction to finally getting the invitation.
An old MGM cartoon, "Li'l 'Tinker", about a lovesick skunk, has a sweet ending when he finally gets a girl...made very effective coming on the heels of a Tex Avery barrage of horrified reaction gags, insane lust gags, and increasingly morbid "Frank Sinatra is skinny" gags.
Even Pepé Le Pew had one - in a story set in New Orleans, a girl cat is born with a white stripe down her back, which repels any potential suitor. Dejected and miserable, she sees Pepe from a distance, squeals like a schoolgirl, and goes running for him. He naturally runs for her and Wham! they're in each others' arms, spinning to a stop. This bliss lasts maybe five seconds before she gets wind of the situation...but she's determined to make a go of it.
- The result was that Pepe got his scent removed by locking himself at a deodorizer plant, while the cat (named Fabrette) locks herself in a Limburger factory, coming out with a really bad smell. The irony of it is when they reunite, he takes a whiff of her and runs away, while Fabrette is the one chasing him in the end.
The first chronological appearance of Splinter in the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in "Tale of Master Yoshi." Awww ...
One Jackie Chan Adventures episode has Jackie poisoned with a toxin that's going to slowly petrify him, unless he offers to exchange the Talismans for the antidote -he's refusing to even consider making the deal. Jade is not so accepting of this, and they end up sitting in a park after dark with her almost begging him to make the deal. The phrase "I don't want a boulder for an uncle!" was a lot more heartwarming than it honestly has any right to be.
- When they're not driving each other to distraction (which is most of the time), the Chan family in general tend to pull out a good few CMOH.
An animated short that hasn't shown up on the internet at all called something along the lines of "Seven Wishes" is about a girl named Jenny who is given a magical flower with seven petals and she gets seven wishes. There's a series of adventures in it, and throughout the short she teases a kid named Victor who is sitting on a bench in the park reading, which Jenny finds weird because it's a perfectly good day outside. Series of adventures, she has just one wish left and comes back one last time to tease him. Victor has enough and decides to go home, so he closes his book...then pulls out a pair of crutches from underneath the bench and begins to walk home on those. Jenny then uses her last wish.
Jenny: I wish...for Victor to be healthy again.
- This is a Russian cartoon called "Цветик-Семицветик", or "The Seven Coloured Flower." It can be seen here.
  - Alternatively, here, the 1977 remake.
One episode of Lloyd in Space shows a flashback to when Lloyd was a kid and had a crush on Alpha Bitch Brittany. In the flashback Brittany catches him carving "Lloyd loves Brittany" into a tree and he runs off crying. In the episode Brittany gets hit with a love beam that causes her to fall desperately in love with Lloyd but near the end of the episode she takes him to the tree with the initials and pulls the branches back to reveal she's written Brittany loves Lloyd too.
Batman holding the baby he had just rescued in the animated adaptation of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. In fact, Batman holding babies is just plain adorable.
Any time it's made apparent just how much Maurice means to King Julien in All Hail King Julien. When Julien thinks he's dying and sets out to make amends with everyone he's wronged, all of his apologies are half-hearted or just plain bad, but then he gets to Maurice and delivers a completely sincere apology for being himself that causes Maurice to start crying.