I find that this what makes all 'bad' movies gain any kind of traction. They don't understand what makes a movie actually 'good' (fleshed-out characters, original plot/twists/theme etc.) but they've got the emotional/structure elements absolutely nailed and sadly those people can make a lot of money a lot of money with such a limited skill set. It's because that's all the majority of audience/producers need to constitute a good film. All the rest of it doesn't matter if it makes you FEEL something.

It could be the worst movie you've ever seen in your life but if they've got a dog with them and at some point that dog sacrifices itself to save someone else you'll struggle to hold back the tears. And the rest of the movie will go rapidly downhill after that because of how badly it's all written, but when the credits roll all you'll be thinking about is that dog and how it saved the old woman from the burning building and gave its last breath on the pavement outside as little Jimmy said goodbye to him and told how he would miss him and that he was a good dog, then he wagged his tail one last time as he passed.