10 Movies It's OK For Men To Cry At

8. The Snowman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE78XSQKMxI Raymond Briggs' classic 1978 children's book is tough enough to handle, but the 1982 animated film captured the world's imagination so much that it ended up being nominated for the Best Animated Short Film Oscar. It's a fantastically animated, superbly scored work, perhaps most memorable for Aled Jones' beautiful singing in the timeless song "Walking in the Air". The film starts out whimsically enough, with a boy being surprised by a snowman who comes to life, and introducing him to various things that humans enjoy, with amusing results. They end up flying to the North Pole, where the snowman introduces the boy to Father Christmas, but of course, every journey *sob* has to come to an end. The boy wakes up the next day, and the snowman has been melted by the sun, which causes the boy to wonder if the whole thing was a dream, before he discovers a scarf that Father Christmas gave him, ensuring the spirit and power of Christmas is very much alive. Still, the boy, like us, then mourns the fact that an anthropomorphised pile of snow is sadly no more. It's amazing how these stories still manage to tap into our inner-child, isn't it?
 
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Frequently sleep-deprived film addict and video game obsessive who spends more time than is healthy in darkened London screening rooms. Follow his twitter on @ShaunMunroFilm or e-mail him at shaneo632 [at] gmail.com.