10 Movies We're Embarrassed To Admit Got Us All Choked Up

7. Air Bud

It's sort of unfair how emotionally manipulative this film is, from beginning to end. It starts by showing off clear animal abuse, and it then depresses us further by showing us how awkward and lonely our 12-year-old selves were. Air Bud is wickedly deceptive because the trailer, movie poster, and tagline all suggest a family fun movie about how much of a gas it would be if a dog could play basketball. Instead, my mother came into my room while I was watching this and gasped in horror as we both witnessed a frustrated basketball coach chucking full speed basketballs and a gangly 12-year-old. We have to also point out the infamous courtroom scene at the very end, when the alcoholic clown attempts to reclaim "Buddy" from his new basketball-exploiting family. Boring legal battles were traded for what a judge considers real justice: just let the dog decide who he loves more. So Buddy goes to the clown and breaks the hearts of every child with a VHS player, only to rip the newspaper that the clown had in his hand to shreds (he used the paper to beat the dog earlier in the movie, and the director didn't want us to forget so easily). Simply put, I can't imagine what a child who has been watching the Air Bud spinoff sequels (one involves puppies in space) would think if they actually fired this up on their iPad.