Examples of Due to the Dead in Animated Films
Good
- In 9, before the remaining Stitchpunks go after The Seamstress, to get 7 and 8, they give 2 a water burial, sending him off on a raft. Then, at the end of the film the survivors, 9, 7, and 3 + 4 build and light a funeral pyre for the deceased Stitchpunks.
- In the original, uncut version of Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, this trope is discussed only by Commissioner Barbara Gordon at the end of the flashback where Robin (Tim Drake) shoots The Joker dead with a BANG Flag Spear Gun:Commissioner Barbara Gordon: We buried the Joker deep beneath Arkham. The only other person who knew what happened that night was my father, the first Commissioner Gordon. He promised to keep that night a secret.
- Justice League Dark: The movie’s ending sees Jason Blood successfully separated from the demon Etrigan. Unfortunately, this kills him. After he dies, Etrigan, Constantine, and Zatanna bury him near the village where he was born, and Zatanna lays flowers at his grave. Before returning to Hell, Etrigan admits that though he was forced to be bound to Blood, he came to see the ancient knight as a brother, and bids him farewell.
- The story-within-the-story in The Book of Life opens with the three main characters celebrating Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, by leaving flowers and bread at the graves of their deceased relatives. The trope also becomes more important thematically, where recognizing the pain his bullfighter ancestors caused the bulls they killed and paying them respect helps put the animals' souls to rest, winning Manolo the chance to come back to life.
- The Mexican tradition of Dia de los Muertos is the primary driving force behind the plot of Coco. When Miguel takes a guitar from a memorial, he is cursed because he "stole from the dead" and trapped in the Land of the Dead trying to find a way to undo the curse by sunrise before he becomes one of them.
- The Princess and the Frog: Tiana wants to honor her father's memory by opening a restaurant—her father dreamed of having his own restaurant. At the end, Tiana and Naveen attend Ray's funeral.
Evil
- In A Christmas Carol (2009), we start off with Jacob Marley's death and his corpse being prepared for burial with two pennies covering his eyes to pay Charon. Scrooge pockets them for his own.
