# Films you liked when you were a kid? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 29, 2004, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-you-liked-when-you-were-a-kid/226487 "2004-01-29T00:30:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-you-liked-when-you-were-a-kid/226487/1 "2004-01-29T00:30:34Z")
To me it seems like everything in life now is unoriginal and trivial. Even the three LotR films. Sure, I enjoyed them very much. But thet don’t leave a lasting impression. Lately I have been wondering if this is simply the way I am percieving things as an adult. The films I watched as a child might have had the same effect (or lack thereof) on me if I had watched them as an adult. And today’s films might have a profound effect on a child watching them for the first time. The films that I watched as a child that _seemed_ somehow better were films like Flight of the Navigator, Goonies, Back to the Future etc… Is it just a perception thing? Or are films (and other entertainment forms) really getting less creative and more bland and, cliched (is that the right word?) as time goes on? What films stuck with you? (that you watched as a child) ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-you-liked-when-you-were-a-kid/226487/2 "2004-01-29T02:11:23Z")
**Back to the Future** really is that good. It’s just about perfect, for its genre. ---
**Author:** ![SanguineSpider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SanguineSpider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanguineSpider)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-you-liked-when-you-were-a-kid/226487/3 "2004-01-29T04:48:51Z")
Don’t laugh but I loved _The Black Stallion_ and _Labyrinth_… still do, actually. ---
**Author:** ![raizok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4491bb/32.png) [@raizok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raizok)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-you-liked-when-you-were-a-kid/226487/4 "2004-01-29T06:45:26Z")
I’ve just recently watched the\*\* Goonies\*\* with my two little sisters (9&10) for the first time in over a decade and we all loved the hell out of it! I mean come on, hearing Chunk tell that story about the fake puke in his jacket or Chuck going “you’ve been BAAAAAA-AAAAA-AAADD!” still brings a smile to my face. I thought what was ironic is how its a kids movie, but clearly has PG-13 elements. The penis breaking off the statue, the swearing, the drug jokes (gotta love Corey Feldman as Mouth) and whatnot hasn’t corrupted my little sisters at all in light of the overly politically-correct climate of this decade. They’ll never make movies like that anymore, at least they didn’t replace guns with radios in the DVD re-release. God bless the studio for that at least. On topic, I’ve also watched Breakin’ recently, that one hasn’t aged too well. But I think it would be more appreciated as a stoner’s flick than anything 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-you-liked-when-you-were-a-kid/226487/5 "2004-01-29T07:35:23Z")
Basil Rathbone as **Sherlock Holmes**. Damn, I am old, and weird too. 🙂 [http://www.basilrathbone.net/gallery/sherlockholmes/](http://www.basilrathbone.net/gallery/sherlockholmes/) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-you-liked-when-you-were-a-kid/226487/6 "2004-01-29T09:21:27Z")
> [@SanguineSpider](#): > > Don’t laugh but I loved _The Black Stallion_ and _Labyrinth_… still do, actually. Why would we laugh? They’re both classics. When I was much younger, my favorite movie was _Unidentified Flying Oddball._ I also enjoyed _The Black Hole._ I saw part of the former a few years ago, and the latter in its entirety within the last six months. Clearly my sense of taste did not begin to develop until I was much older. When I was an early teen, my two favorite movies were _The Manhattan Project_ (the one with the kid building a nuke out of stuff stolen from John Lithgow’s lab) and _WarGames._ (Noticing a trend?) Again, I’ve re-watched both recently. The former hasn’t really held up, especially the first hour, but the big climax is still a killer suspense scene. The latter, on the other hand, is dated only in the specifics of its technology (cradle modems, voice synthesizers, monochrome monitors, the obvious VIC-20 screen on the WOPR). Other than that, it’s a winner all the way. I guess that’s where my taste began to wake up. ---
**Author:** ![Mazikeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9a28c/32.png) [@Mazikeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mazikeen)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-you-liked-when-you-were-a-kid/226487/7 "2004-01-29T15:46:27Z")
A lot of the films I loved as a kid are films I still love to this day: The Wizard of Oz Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (when I heard they were planning to do a remake of this wonderful classic, I was disappointed. To me, Gene Wilder will always be Willie Wonka) Sleeping Beauty Beauty and the Beast ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-you-liked-when-you-were-a-kid/226487/8 "2004-01-29T16:09:11Z")
The Flight of the Navigator The Never Ending Story Back to the Future and yes, Labyrinth. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-you-liked-when-you-were-a-kid/226487/9 "2004-01-29T16:56:55Z")
To Kill A Mockingbird The Miracle Worker The Blob All the old-time monster flicks, particularly Frankenstein All the Marx Brothers The Wizard of Oz Born Free (shut up…it was a real tear-jerker) Gulliver’s Travels Camelot There are lots more… ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-you-liked-when-you-were-a-kid/226487/10 "2004-01-29T17:45:28Z")
This weekend I saw a movie I loved as a kid: “Escape to Witch Mountain.” It, um, isn’t very good. Julie ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-you-liked-when-you-were-a-kid/226487/11 "2004-01-29T18:07:18Z")
It occurs to me that most of the movies I really loved as a kid became “enduring classics” not only because they were quite good… but because they were shown annually or so on TV when I was growing up, thus strengthening the association with my childhood. _The Wizard Of Oz_ _Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory_ _Miracle on 34th Street_ Nearly every Abbott and Costello movie ever made Nearly every Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan movie ever made It also occurs to me that some of these movies _weren’t_ very good, notably the later Tarzan films with Weissmuller… man, how many times DID he wrestle that same durned alligator? Nowadays, whether or not a movie is shown annually or regularly is irrelevant. If a kid really likes a given movie, in America, most parents will simply tape the thing or go buy it on VHS or DVD. Are today’s movies less creative, less “good?” I don’t think so. Sure, _Wizard Of Oz_ was pure magic, but I don’t think I could say less about any of the LOTR films, or the first couple Batman movies… and I noted that a fair number of my teen students about wet their pants over the first _Spider-Man_ movie… NOT the CGI battles, but the scene where puny Peter Parker, having gained his superpowers, finally stands up to the bully in the school corridor, dodges every punch, and then finally flattens the guy. Nearly everything Disney ever did when I was a child stank… its glory years behind it… and then, around the time I hit adulthood, all of a sudden, they got good again. Kids are kids, and movies are movies, regardless of what year it is. And magic is where you find it. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-you-liked-when-you-were-a-kid/226487/12 "2004-01-29T18:32:41Z")
Ooo! Ooo! I forgot to mention _The Dark Crystal._ That was an amazing experience for a wide-eyed kid. Why don’t we get anything like that today? Only Pixar’s work and the first couple of Spy Kids movies come close. ---
**Author:** ![Breezy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@Breezy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Breezy)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-you-liked-when-you-were-a-kid/226487/13 "2004-01-29T19:38:01Z")
I watched the movie **Heavenly Kid** about a thousand times as a kid. I was also very obsessed with **Eddie and the Cruisers**. WOW, I loved that movie. I also watched **The Never Ending Story** a lot when I was at my grandma’s house (she had a satelite!). I STILL watch **The Wizard of Oz** every once in a while. I bought it when I was in college. haha I loved watching **Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH** but to be honest, I don’t really remember much about it. I know I really liked it, though. ---
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-you-liked-when-you-were-a-kid/226487/14 "2004-01-29T19:43:12Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > When I was much younger, my favorite movie was _Unidentified Flying Oddball._ I _loved_ that movie. I was stunned to realize I was 9 years old when I saw it and loved it – somehow I assumed that I must have had some taste when I was 9. Turns out not to have been the case. But the movie I remember being an absolute favorite was, get this, _Oh, God! Book II_. I saw this again a few years ago, suspecting that it wouldn’t be good, and it was – what’s the word? – _wretched_. The contemporary adult me hates this movies on so many levels that it’s embarrassing to realize that I was a sophisticated 10-year-old when this came out. My tastes obviously matured between 10 and 13, because I managed to be blown away by the genius of _Rear Window_ in 1983, and that’s held up to a degree many earlier favorites just don’t. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-you-liked-when-you-were-a-kid/226487/15 "2004-01-29T19:48:40Z")
My favorite movies when I was a kid were pretty stupid, but as a kid, you really have a more limited perspective, so whatever… I loved _Evel Knievel_. My buddy and I were going to _be_ Evel Knievel when we grew up. We also wanted to be Bruce Lee when we grew up, too. ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-you-liked-when-you-were-a-kid/226487/16 "2004-01-29T20:43:03Z")
I can’t believe that I’m not the only one who liked _Unidentified Flying Oddball_!! And _Escape to Witch Mountain_! Ah, late 70s Disney movies… So good when you’re a kid, So embarrasing when you’re an adult. ---
**Author:** ![RitzyRae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aca169/32.png) [@RitzyRae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitzyRae)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-you-liked-when-you-were-a-kid/226487/17 "2004-01-29T22:02:27Z")
I used to weep, _weep_ as a child when Atreyu’s horse died! Oh, those were the days! ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-you-liked-when-you-were-a-kid/226487/18 "2004-01-29T22:15:33Z")
Animated movies I loved and still dearly love are _Gulliver’s Travels_ and _Hoppity Goes To Town_, both by the same artists, I believe. Now that I’m thinking of them, it occurs to me that I’ve seen neither for years, so I’m going to click up Video Library and see if I can rent them. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicBanana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@AtomicBanana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicBanana)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-you-liked-when-you-were-a-kid/226487/19 "2004-01-29T23:37:04Z")
**Stand by Me** - I think this one speaks for itself. **Neverending Story** - Dragons, scary monsters, cute monsters, pretty much everything a kid could want in a movie. This is probably where I first started to love fantasy stories. **Who Framed Roger Rabbit** - I’m sure my parents hated this movie. I got it for christmas on vhs, and watched it every single day for a couple months. Eventually I wore the tape out. For some reason I haven’t picked up the dvd yet, I may have to change that. ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-you-liked-when-you-were-a-kid/226487/20 "2004-01-29T23:51:32Z")
Between the ages of, say, 4 and 10 these are some of the films I remember liking… **The Bad News Bears** **Sinbad** (any of them… that Ray Harryhausen stuff rocked) **The Love Bug** **The Man Who Would Be King** **The Three Musketeers & The Four Musketeers** (70’s version) **Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory** **The Wizard of Oz** [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-you-liked-when-you-were-a-kid/226487.md?page=2)