Tear Jerker / Sleeping Beauty

The Disney film

16 years of constant vigilance, all sent down the drain by a moment's inattention.

• While Flora and Fauna are making the dress and cake, Merryweather starts crying because soon Aurora will be leaving them to become a princess. They all reminisce about the sixteen wonderful years they spent with her before continuing with their work.
  Flora: Why, Merryweather, what's the matter, dear?
  Merryweather: [sniffling] After today, she'll be a princess, and we won't have any Briar Rose!
  Fauna: Oh, Flora!
  Flora: [tearing up] Now, now, we all knew this day had to come...
  Fauna: But why did it have to come so soon?!
• The part where the fairies tells Aurora that she is betrothed and sadly explain that she can never see the young man she loves again, not knowing that he was actually her betrothed. This causes Aurora to heartbrokenly break into tears.
  Flora: I'm sorry, child. But you must never see that young man again.
  Aurora: Oh no! No! I can't believe it! No! No!
  [Aurora runs to her room crying]
  Merryweather: And we thought she'd be so happy.
  • Doubly sad when one realizes this is happening right after they threw their birthday surprise for Aurora, which they had spent the entire day preparing with much struggle. To see Aurora go from overjoyed to heartbroken in barely a minute's time after all of their hard work is absolutely gutwrenching.
  • As noted under Nightmare Fuel, Aurora doesn't speak after she and the fairies reach the castle. The last time the audience hears her voice, it's her sobbing.
    • Additionally, just to rub salt in the wound, part of her sobbing is re-used from Dopey's crying in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
• Flora, Merryweather, and Fauna discovered that Aurora was put to sleep by Maleficent. While the sequence preceding it may be Nightmare Fuel, this scene may induce tears considering that the three fairies spent "sixteen wonderful years" trying to protect her from the evil witch only to have their worst fears unravel before their eyes. It is made all the more sadder with this quote:
  Flora: Rose! Oh, I'll never forgive myself!
  Fauna: We're all to blame...
  • Not to mention that they left her alone to give her space. Which gives Maleficent the opportunity to get to her.
    Fauna: Why did we leave her alone?!
• There's something sad about when Lord Duke calls out to the crowd, "The sun has set! Make ready to welcome your princess!" and everyone cheers, not realizing it's already too late and that he did it by accident.
• The song "Poor Aurora/Sleeping Beauty". The instrumental "Poor Aurora" portion provides the page image, as the Good Fairies sadly tuck the unconscious princess into her bed, then step out onto the balcony to cry. Good luck trying to keep a dry eye.
  • The motherly way they gently touch the sleeping Aurora adds to the poignant effect. Flora stroking her blanket-covered leg, Fauna softly patting her chest... It's a reminder that Aurora is their baby, whom they raised. If they fail to find her true love to break the spell, and she sleeps forever, it will be as if they've lost their child.
  • The way they want so much to keep everyone in the kingdom from suffering that they put everyone else to sleep as well until Aurora awakens also counts. Even in their grieving, they still think about others' well-being.
• Queen Leah running over and cuddling the infant Aurora when Maleficent announces her "gift" to the princess, plus the way she and King Stefan stand by the cradle with their heads hanging down in pure sorrow.
• Fauna mentions in an aside that she doesn't think that Maleficent is happy. In a moment of reflection, a hero feels sorry for the villain.
• When Aurora steps foot into the castle for the first time since she was a few days old (at most), the fairies create a crown for her to wear as their gift to her. Upon seeing her reflection at the vanity mirror, everything sinks in and she breaks down in tears.
• There is something very sad about Hubert being told by his son that he won't marry Aurora and then just rushing off to the woods with no more words. As Hubert sits down wondering how he will tell that to Stefan, you can't help but to feel sorry for the man.
• Looking at the movie from Aurora's point of view. She has spent her short life living a simple but very happy existence with her three loving (if overprotective) aunts. Up until then, her biggest concern is helping take care of the house and her aging aunts, and she has lots and lots of friends who love her. She even meets a cute guy in the woods who seems to like her! Then, on her birthday, she goes home and finds out that her beloved aunts have been lying to her for her entire life. Aurora's aunts aren't really her aunts, and tonight, they're taking her back to her real parents. Not only that, she's royalty, meaning there's suddenly a kingdom she'll be in charge of one day (which she's completely unprepared for), and she's engaged to someone she doesn't even know. (Or so she thinks.) Tonight, Aurora will have to leave everything she has ever known behind — her First Love, her friends, the house she grew up in, everything. Is it any wonder she breaks down sobbing?
• Maleficent's shocked and horrified reaction when she realizes her pet Diablo has been turned to stone, courtesy of Merryweather. It's probably the only time during the movie that she shows she actually cared for someone other than herself.