Childhood movies

In My Humble Opinion
1

What movies that are meant for children still hit you at a visceral level?

Lots of these movies are trying to follow the Disney formula, or are just inoffensive crap they try to sell to children. But some of these movies just reach down into you, like Grimm fairy tales, and hit you.

For me, one of these movies is the Neverending Story. This movie came out when I was a kid, and was one of my favorites. Now I watch it, and the same themes still get to me. I watch it now and it still presses the same emotional buttons, although now I’m old enough to know it. Still, the movie reaches in and gets me. It’s the entire theme of the movie. Especially some of the last scenes. “He was with you when you braved the swamps. He was with you when he fought the nothing. And just as he is there, reading your story; there are people watching him, right now at this very moment.” It still gets me.

And of recent times, I highly enjoy the “Iron Giant”. I think it’s one of the finest films to come out in recent years, not to mention one of the finest pieces of animation I’ve seen in recent times.

So what film meant for children really gets you? It’s like the early Disney films. I don’t know if you’ve watched Pinnochio in recent years, but it doesn’t pull any punches psychogically. Disney films nowadays are minless pablum, nonoffending. Pinocchio is a nightmare compared to, say, the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Sorry, to get off point. What childhood films still speak to you?

2

I don’t know about the still part, but ‘Toy Story’ and ‘Babe’ were really good. (‘Babe: Pig in the city’ while an excellent film, was marketed as a children’s film, but clearly wasn’t)

And ‘The Grinch that stole Christmas’ still gets to me.

3

I loved Toy Story also, but don’t get me going on Babe. I hate that film with a passion.

I agree with the OP in that The Iron Giant is one of the best cartoons to come along in years. I loved that.
"Suuupermaannn . . . "

And yes, I still tear up a little at ET.

As a kid I loved watching the old adventure films, not kids’ movies. I still love The Adventures of Robin Hood and Captain Blood with Errol Flynn. And I used to never miss a chance to see The Inspector General or The Court Jester with Danny Kaye.

But at 6 years old, I thought the greatest film of all time was Jason and the Argonauts. I recently spotted it at Blockbuster and snatched it up. Then I bought some Starburst and Sunkist Orange soda (my favorite childhood junk food and soda) and stepped back in time about 21 years while watching the film at home. If it had been Saturday morning with the smell of blueberry muffins baking in the oven, the illusion would have been complete.

4

The Red Balloon - no-dialogue French movie about a balloon that follows a lonely little boy around and becomes his friend. Sounds hokey but it’s really sweet. I’ve seen it at least a couple dozen times.

I also still love The Neverending Story.

5

Dumbo - I cry every single time.

Labyrinth - I own that movie, it is so good

An American Tale - Again, turn on the waterworks

An American Tale Two: Fievel (sp?) Goes West - cracks me up

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - The Phantom Tollbooth -The Indian in The Cupboard - Puff the Magic Dragon - The Grinch - Sleepy Hollow - Old Yeller

6

Damn, Poysyn came up with a lot of films I completely forgot about!

In Dumbo - it always gets me when he goes to see his mother in the cage, but she can only reach him through the bars with her trunk.

Labrinth is another great one I totally forgot about, the visuals are great and Bowie is good as the Goblin King.

And does anyone else still like The Muppet Movie?

7

How can anyone NOT like the muppets?

We have a massive library of children’s videos, so much so that we don’t have room for all the porno tapes any more :slight_smile:

Whattya want to watch, I think we probably have it.

Tot Story 2 is our most recent addition, I have seen it ten times. Gonna be hating this one before long.

When I was a kid there was nothing better than the Saturday matinee, Tarzan ruled.

8

I hear you loud and clear my brother. I found this on DVD and am now introducing it to me 5 year old. He loves it just as I do. The only bummer is when when play Jason vs. the skeletons, I always have to be the skeletons.

Other movies for the OP are:
Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory.
Toy Story I & II

9

I guess no one around here’s seen My Dog Skip

10

Jason and the Argonauts is on DVD?!?!?!

[doing happy dance]

I’m gonna have to run out and buy a DVD player sooner than I had planned I guess.

11

I bow down to you, Mofo, and to missbunny. I’m so glad that I’m not the only one who has a fondness for The Neverending Story. I even own the video, and I’m getting impatient for the release of the movie in DVD form. Even though I thought the movie was good (sort of), the book is a million times better. Trust me. The book was written years before the movie, and I always thought that the movie was a so-so adaptation of the first half. It left soooo much out. The movie only covered the first half of the book, and it wasn’t even the best half. The second half, regrettably, has never been adapted to film, and probably never will because of its darker and more complex themes.

Read the book and you’ll thank me for it. You can still find it at some bookstores, and I know that it’s available at Amazon.com. (To the moderators: No, I’m not related to the author, and I have no direct connection with Amazon.com other than the fact that I’ve bought stuff through them a few times in the past.)

As for the other movies that answer the OP, I would have to say E.T., Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Labyrinth, Babe, and (God help me) Time Bandits. I’ve seen Time Bandits a number of times recently, since I now own the Criterion Collection version of it on DVD, and I love that movie to death, but am a bit puzzled on the ending. Anybody have a guess? (apologies in advance for the mild hijack)

12

I liked The Neverending Story also. As a matter of fact, it was on TV last night on Starz I think. I watched it. :smiley: I couldn’t resist.

How come nobody has mentioned “Bambi” yet? Labyrinth and E.T. were also good. I shed a tear during E.T. (and I’m 50 years old) Also Pinnochio. (sp?)

13

Muppets! Woo-hoo!

Am now playing my “Movin’ Right Along” MP3.

14

Oh, I remember quite a few:

The Neverending Story

ET

Short Circuit (man, at the end when he gets gold-plated…that’s fucking brilliant, touching stuff!)

Howard the Duck - gets me every time. I still remember when I cried because of the duck with boobies in the bathtub)

Sixteen Candles

Pretty Woman

All Dogs Go To Heaven

The Little Mermaid

…and the three best:

The Goonies! I love this crazy movie. Goonies never say die! Baaaaaaby Ruuuuuuuth!

Dirty Dancing! All those themes about the class struggle, a girl becoming a woman, social issues of the 1960’s…and the BEST love scene of all time! “Most of all I’m scared of walking out of this room and never feeling again in my whole life like I feel when I’m with you!” YumMAY!

and…

Lean on Me! Morgan Freeman in his best work. The part at the end where the fat black guy graduates and throws his cap in the air…I cry just thinking about it!

All these movies still touch me. I just watched Dirty Dancing last weekend. :slight_smile:

15

Actually, the second half of the book was made into The Neverending Story II. I almost didn’t want to tell you this, as you may go out and actually watch it, something I wouldn’t want to be party to. I hear they’ve made a third movie, but I have yet to see it anywhere.

I read the book when I was a kid, too. The “nothing” is actually much more terrifying in the book. It’s not the storm from the movie, it’s just nothing. Where there used to be something, now there is nothing. “It hurts your eyes to look at it.”

16

The Last Unicorn - it has it all. great soundtrack, scary flaming bull, a magician, a tower, a drunken skull…i watched it a couple years ago, and i cannot believe how…adult, i guess, some of the scenes are. like there is the one when this purple tree comes to life and starts hugging a guy to her chest - a la acid trip, thinks i. of course, when i was six, i didnt notice.

The Hobbit and The Return of the King - i still like these movies too. again, great, great soundtracks. i watched ‘return’ again after i had read the ring trilogy, and i cant believe i managed to understand it when i was little.

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH - i used to have this THING for this movie. wonderful stuff.

The Neverending Story, like people have said

GHOSTBUSTERS!!!

and there was this one movie - a cartoon - that i forget the name, and most of the plot. all i remember was it was about people living in the sea, not mermaids like in ‘the little mermaid,’ but regular sea people, and there was a boy and a very smaller sea person, named bubbles, who really liked the boy and was always tagging along with him, and then one day she gets killed under a pile of falling rocks (underwater still). i forget what its called, though…

Robin Hood, the disney version with the foxes

oh, oh! The Fox and the Hound

17

Actually, the second half of the book was made into The Neverending Story II. I almost didn’t want to tell you this, as you may go out and actually watch it, something I wouldn’t want to be party to. I hear they’ve made a third movie, but I have yet to see it anywhere.

I read the book when I was a kid, too. The “nothing” is actually much more terrifying in the book. It’s not the storm from the movie, it’s just nothing. Where there used to be something, now there is nothing. “It hurts your eyes to look at it.” **
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I did see The Neverending Story II, but only years after its theatrical release. My brother saw it on a date when it was out in theaters, and warned me to avoid that movie at all costs. One weekend about three years ago it aired on a local station. I watched it. It was torture. Easily one of the worst movies I’ve seen. It bears about as much resemblance to the second half of the book as does a circle with lines sticking out of it does to the sun. An utter disgrace. I don’t even consider it a real adaptation. As for the third movie, I heard that it was beneath contempt, and wouldn’t even watch it if it was aired on local TV. Life is too short.

Sounds like it’s been years since you’ve read the book. Now that you’re older, you may want to give it another try. I still re-read the book every once in a while, and catch stuff in there that I don’t think any kid would have noticed.

18

Legend - the only Tom Cruise movie I like. Faeries, unicorns, trolls and the like for the kids, and…

…for the grown-ups…Mia Sara in THAT dress (drool…) and Tim Curry as Darkness - Flame red skin, cloven hooves, massive ram’s horns, and the voice that only Tim Curry can do…The scene where he steps out of the mirror is hokey, but impressive nonetheless…

19

Missbunny–I liked The Red Balloon.

The first dozen times I saw it.

The last fifty, though, were overkill. I swear we saw that room in elementary school every time it rained and we had “assembly”

Does Anastasia count? (I was over 30 when I first saw it, though)

How about Mr. Smith Goes to Washington? I saw that in 8th grade.

Re Toy Story: I never saw it, but I had a friend whose boyfriend pressured her into smoking pot. She did, and watched the movie under it’s influence. Says it scared the shit out of her and that she was convinced the “Toy Story Monsters” were coming after her! :eek:

20

When I was 11, I stumbled upon a movie that I was sure was the best I’d ever seen. I’ve seen it a couple of time afterwards and it still seems as great as ever, and I recommend it to everyone.

Dr. Strangelove

I’m not kidding. I loved that film when I first saw it. I didn’t understand it all, but I thought it was great.

Which is one reason why I don’t believe in “children’s films.” If they’re any good, then adults will enjoy them too, and be unashamed to go even if they don’t have kids. I have no compunction about going to see a good animated or “children’s” film, and don’t need to bring a child with me as an excuse.