Brutal Disney Endings

[Admiral Shran]

^ In the book, Quasimodo pushes Frollo over the edge of the bell tower. He ends up clinging to a gargoyle until he can't hold himself up any longer and falls to his death.

In the 1939 movie, Quasimodo literally picks Frollo up over his head and hurls him off the bell tower.

In the Disney movie, Frollo is standing on a gargoyle, about to chop Esmeralda's head off, when the gargoyle cracks, causing him to lose his balance. The statue then turns into a demon which falls with (carries?) Frollo into the molten residue of the bells below (which clearly symobolize Hell).

 

[paudemge]

That's what made the ending of The Dark Knight so great - the Joker falls, and it looks like it will be the same ending, until Batman, with deep reservations, grapples him to safety.

It was out of character though, because he didn't have to save him, he let ra's al ghul die, he should have let joker fall.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

^ Different writers do different things I guess.

At the end of The Killing Joke, in which the Joker shot & paralyzed Barbara, Batman ends up laughing along with the Joker at one of his jokes.

Go figure.

 

[Corran Horn]

Clayton was rough...and the only one of these posted where I actually had to explain to my 3-year-old what happened to him.

(she either didn't see or didn't 'get' the shadow)

 

[Kira's Mom]

I was thinking about Old Yeller. It's sad that the dog got shot, but was that so brutal? I think being ripped apart alive by hyenas would have been a lot more brutal. I'm just saying.

Well, it was brutal to the audience. Poor old dog.

Not a death, but Dumbo's mom being put in the cage with a "Danger- mad elephant" sign was pretty brutal, too! At least she gets out in the end.

Snow White scared the crap out of me when I was a kid, too.

 

[sbk1234]

^^^I wasn't actually scared of the movie, but for years, I wouldn't go on the ride at Disneyland, because it was called "Snow White's Scary Adventures.
I guess I was easy to scare.

 

[Argus Skyhawk]

It wasn't a death scene but the butler's fate at the end of The Aristocats disturbed me as a kid; he wound up trapped in a tiny box and mailed to Timbuktu if I remember correctly.

The villain's death in Oliver and Company probably shocked me the most. It wasn't necessarily the most brutal death scene in a Disney animated film, but killing the guy in a fiery car-wreck sure seemed the most un-Disney way to do away with him.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

...right before a cheetah eats it.

Leopard. Note the spots arranged in rosettes along the shoulder and back, and the absence of the distinctive cheetah "tear tracks" on the face, along with a longer muzzle and jaw atypical of genus Acinonyx. I'll ask you kindly not to sully my species again, thank you. *raises hat*

</nerd>

My apologies. I admit I was profiling because of that Chester Cheetah dude. Not all cheetahs are bad guys just because he's got a raging addiction to Cheetos that he feeds by leading a life of crime.

 

[Gepard]

Well at least we got that cleared up. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go knock over a Frito-Lay's distribution center.

 

[JarodRussell]

Plus, the death isn't a murder. The Joker needs to die at the end of Batman '89, but the audience can't watch Batman kill him... so he falls to his death. It's gravity.

It's a way to visit punishment on your villains without turning your heroes into killers.

Which is funny because Batman had already killed dozens of his henchmen before in that movie.


I don't think they use "falling to death" as a thing to not turn heroes into killer. What about Die Hard? McClane killed so many, and Gruber fell to his death. Or The Search for Spock. It's simply just more dramatic.

 

[FormerLurker]

Well, McClane did undo the Rolex so Gruber would fall.

And Kirk kicked Kruge in the face, which is indignity enough. Let him die by falling. Into lava.