Big Damn Heroes / Animated Films

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• 101 Dalmatians: Jasper and Horace have gotten the puppies cornered and are about to kill them, when suddenly Pongo and Perdita crash into Hell Hall just in the nick of time — plenty pissed off at the would-be murders.
• Aladdin: The Return of Jafar has one, right after Jafar says that nobody is coming to save them this time. Cue:
  Iago: Hey, Jafar! SHUT UP!
  Jafar: TRAITOR!!!!
• Anastasia: When it seems that Anya is about to fall into the icy river (Rasputin even says "No one can save you!"), Dimitri swoops in to save the day by punching Rasputin in the face. He very quickly gets the living crap beaten out of him, though it does lead to Anya getting her revenge on Rasputin.
• Barbie films:
  • Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses: Lacey using the water she saved from the magical world to revive King Randolph just before he dies from Rowena's poison.
  • Barbie as the Island Princess: Sagi coming outside with Talulah, cured of the Sunset Herb thanks to Ro's healing tonic, to prove Ro is innocent and Queen Arianna is the true culprit.
  • Barbie: A Fairy Secret: Barbie and Raquelle stopping Ken and Graciella's wedding just in time to fight Graciella and break the love spell on her.
  • Barbie: Princess Charm School: Blair, Hadley and Isla disrupt Delancy's coronation just in time for Blair to announce that is her crown and she's Princess Sophia, the only survivor of the royal family and true heir to the throne.
• The Beast from Beauty and the Beast makes his presence known and saves Belle by grabbing the wolf that was attacking her, hoisting it into the air, and roaring in its face. Then he proceeds to beat up the rest of the pack all by himself.
  • Near the end of the movie, Belle arrives just when Gaston is about to smash Beast's head with a piece of statue. Her anguished scream makes the depressed Beast look up; when he realizes she came back for him, he gets up and grabs Gaston's weapon with determination in his eyes.
• Big Hero 6 features one of these when the heroes realize how effective they could be as superheroes.
• BIONICLE: Mask of Light: When Jaller is about to get swallowed by lava, Tahu appears out of nowhere and picks him up.
• The box-trolls save Eggs at the end of The Boxtrolls.
• Brave has Bear!Elinor trapped by her husband and his men (who don't know that the bear is actually their queen) until Merida comes to save her mother. Then Mor'du shows up and attacks Merida. Elinor (who had refrained from fighting to keep a hold of her bear side) bursts free from the ropes tying her down and tackles Mor'du away before fighting him head-on, eventually killing him with a falling pillar.
• Koda does one in Brother Bear, saving Kenai from getting stabbed by Denahi (who didn't know that the bear was Kenai).
• Brother Bear 2: Rutt and Tuke pull off a BDH moment near the end when they help Kenai and Nita stave Atka off.
• Cars has a minor one: During the final race at the Climax, it seems that Lightning McQueen won't be able to win, due to how out of focus he is; but suddenly, it's revealed that Doc Hudson, Mater and his friends from Radiator Springs are right there, at the pit stop to help him and cheer him up (Bonus points for the public recognizing Doc as the famous Hudson Hornet), so McQueen is now motivated and renewed to climb to the first place. Although he sacrificed victory to help "The King" Weathers, who suffered a painful accident, to finish his last race.
• Coco:
  • Héctor suddenly appears when he attempts to stop Ernesto from giving Miguel's blessing.
  • When all hope is lost, Pepita and Imelda show up to help Miguel and Héctor out of the cenote.
  • After Ernesto tosses Miguel off the tower, Pepita comes to rescue him.
• Voley in The First Snow of Winter when he swings in to knock the fox away from Sean and Puffy. Admittedly, he doesn't last long when the fox gets back up but it was a valiant effort.
• Near the end of The Fox and the Hound, Tod the fox manages to save his former friend Copper from a massive black bear, an animal capable of snapping his spine in half. And Tod won. Copper returns the favor when he steps between his master's gun and the weak exhausted fox, and Amos eventually lowers his gun.
• The Frozen franchise:
  • Frozen (2013): Anna abandons her chance to save her life and rushes in the nick of time to save Elsa from being slain by Hans, becoming frozen solid in the process.
  • Frozen II: Multiple:
    • Kristoff saves Anna from being stepped on/crushed by the earth giants.
    • Elsa stops the flood from destroying Arendelle after the dam is destroyed.
• Hercules (Pure Magic) has Hercules leaving on his quest to slay the Hydra on his own. He almost gets eaten by a crocodile immediately after, and is only saved by his sidekick Iolaus arriving at the last second to distract the crocodile.
• The How to Train Your Dragon franchise has a few:
  • In the first film, when Hiccup and the other Viking teens arrive on their newly trained dragons to save Stoick and the other adults from the Red Death.
  • The whole final act of the sequel is one for the Vikings to their Dragons.
• Incredibles 2:
  • Frozone arrives in the nick of time to prevent the monorail from crashing while Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl are busy with the Underminer's Drill Tank.
  • The Parr children sneak on board the Everjust to save their parents. Jack-Jack uses his telekinesis powers to remove the mind control goggles from his mother, freeing her from the Screenslaver's control and ultimately derailing their plan entirely. Violet and Dash come up with the plan to turn the boat from the outside, which ends up stopping the boat in time to save everyone.
• The Jungle Book 2: Ranjan saves Shanti just in time from becoming Kaa's snake snack, prior to beating the heck out of him.
• Koati: Calli is the one who drops the villain Zaina on the cactus at the end of the film.
• At the end of Kung Fu Panda 2, this happens multiple times in quick succession. First, Po arrives to save the Furious Five from Lord Shen and his army. Then, Masters Ox and Croc come in, followed by Master Shifu. Ultimately subverted however, when Shen blows away all the reinforcements with his cannon, leaving it all up to Po.
• Lady and the Tramp: Jim Dear and Darling coming home so they can call Aunt Sarah out for her mistreatment of Lady, who shows them the dead rat in the baby's room proving she and Tramp are innocent.
• The Lion King (1994):
  • Mufasa rescuing Simba and Nala from the hyenas.
  • Timon and Pumbaa rescuing Simba from buzzards. And this was before he even met them.
  • Simba rescuing Timon and Pumbaa from Nala when she tries to eat them. Though slightly downplayed since he lost the ensuing fight against her, it is still played straight since he still successfully saved them and got her to stop hunting them after they recognized each other.
  • Pumbaa later saves Timon and Zazu from the hyenas. It didn't help the hyenas that they called him a pig. This movie has a lot of BDH moments.
• Madagascar pulls this THREE TIMES IN A ROW to save Marty from the fossa.
  • First, Gloria and Melman swing in, complete with Tarzan yell:
  Melman: AAAAHHHHHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
  • Then, the penguins, aiming A FLARE GUN at the fossa:
  Skipper: Fossa Halt.
  • And finally, Alex himself, though it's subverted for a second:
  Alex: ROOOOOOOOOOOARRRRRRR! That's MY kill. MINE.
• Migration: Dax and Gwen fly in to save their parents from falling to their deaths while locked in a cage.
• Monsters, Inc.: When Randall and Waternoose are about to use the Scream Extractor on Boo, Sully bursts in with a roar, pulls the machine from its circuits and uses it to pin the two to the wall.
• My Little Pony: Equestria Girls:
  • My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: When Twilight is framed by Sunset for trashing the gym and Luna threatens to remove her from the ballot, Flash Sentry arrives just in time to clear her name.
  • My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks: Spike arriving with DJ Pon-3, who was unaffected by the Dazzlings' spell due to always wearing her headphones, to free the Rainbooms trapped under the stage.
• Oliver & Company: Fagin comes crashing through a window of Sykes' warehouse on his scooter, just as Sykes was about to sic his Dobermans on Fagin's dogs.
• Peter Pan: Peter comes flying in at just the right time to save Wendy after Hook forces her into Walking The Plank.
• Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe: Vanessa tames an alien dragon and uses it to rescue Doofenshmirtz and Perry from a fall, then again to save the others from Mama.
• In Ralph Breaks the Internet After Ralph defeats the Ralph virus, said virus vanishes and Ralph plummets. Spamley tries to save Ralph with his vehicle but Ralph, weighing a ton and falling fast, goes right through it. Just as Ralph looks like a goner, The Disney Princesses happen to show up in the nick of time and pool all their powers together to save Ralph from his demise.
• The Rugrats Movie: Two moments — the first had Phil, Lil and Chuckie race back on the Reptar Wagon to rescue Tommy and Dil from the monkeys after realizing they were wrong for leaving the two behind in their anger. The second is when Spike rushes in to save the babies from a very hungry wolf.
• In The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, Plankton/Plank-Ton comes in to save the other heroes, stops Burger-Beard by lifting his ship, and then powers up SpongeBob/Invicibubble's bubbles to create a bubble wave that defeats Burger-Beard.
• At the ending of Golden Films' Thumbelina, Thumbelina brings the soldiers and swallows to fix the dam.
• In Tom Sawyer, Mutt Potter is about to be wrongfully hanged for the murder of Deputy Bean. Just as the noose is being tightened around his neck, Tom and Huck shout that Injurin' Joe was the real killer.
• Toy Story:
  • Woody saves Buzz from the rocket launch by speaking through his voice box when Sid is about to light the fuse.
  • When it looks like Woody is about to be mauled by Scud, Buzz saves Woody by jumping onto Scud's head and snapping Scud's eyelids.
• Toy Story 2:
  • When Stinky Pete has Woody on the ground in the airport, threatening to dismember him, he's suddenly blinded by the flash as Andy's toys arrive with the camera equipment from the identical case.
  • A short while later, the shot of him losing his hat while dangling from the airplane ends with Buzz's hand reaching in from the edge of the frame to catch it.
  • Subverted when Andy's toys first arrive at Al's apartment, bursting in to rescue Woody from cruel, torturing toys—except they're just tickling him.
• The Pizza Planet squeeze aliens save all of Andy's toys from incineration at the end of Toy Story 3, by commandeering a claw machine of course. To say that Mr. Potato Head was eternally grateful is an understatement.
• Near the end of Trolls, Poppy saves Branch just in time from getting forcibly eaten by Gristle.
• In Turning Red, 4*Town's singing, interwoven with the Lees', helps complete the ritual to restore Ming to normal.
• In Wreck-It Ralph, Ralph tries to undo the damage he cause in the game Sugar Rush by creating a beacon to attract the swarm of Cy-Bugs which invaded from the game Hero's Duty. To do so, he punches the Mentos ceiling of Diet Cola Mountain. The King Candy/Turbo/Cy-Bug captures him but he breaks free to give the ceiling one last punch as a Heroic Sacrifice, but is saved at the last minute by his little friend Vanellope Von Schweetz.

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