Is The Yearling a sad movie?

For reasons that are unimportant and amount to little more than following an internet rabbit hole. I found myself wondering:

Is The Yearling a sad movie?

I knew that the film was based upon a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, and I knew it had a reputation for being sad, but I’d never read the book or seen the film, so I was curious.

Was it really as sad as people say?

So I Google’d “Is The Yearling sad?”

When Google returned its results, an answer appeared in paragraph form on the top of the results page. It read:

“Parents need to know that this movie has a few tense and sad scenes that may upset younger or more sensitive kids, but overall it’s a fine family film. A young boy dies, and a mother shoots her son’s pet deer.”

A few tense and sad scenes?

“A young boy dies, and a mother shoots her son’s pet deer” is one of the saddest sentences I’ve read in a long time.

I’ve still never seen the movie, but I’m quite sure that the answer should’ve read:

“Yes, it’s sad! A little boy dies! Also, a mother murders her child’s beloved pet deer. How much sadder can a movie get?”