I thought it would be fun to read people’s accounts of having to watch children’s movies repeatedly because of a child’s interest AND of how much said movie was loathsome. I know my friends who are 'rents have moaned and groaned whenever I mentioned certain Disney movies* or Dora the Explorer or My Little Pony or Strawberry Shortcake or what have you.
So what movies have you been forced to watch by the tyrannical monomania of a megalomaniac infant, much to your displeasure? Share with us your tales of woe!
*If y’all didn’t know, the market for Disney VHS tapes is insane! If you have any, find them and startcheckingeBay!
My own kids haven’t really been into rewatching the same things over and over, but my nephew Jack used to come round and watch Disney Dinosaurs, on repeat, every saturday for about 4 years, so I know that movie pretty much off by heart.
Since my comment inspired this friend, I thought I’d respond.
Some other films my niece used to watch includeThe Land Before Time and * An American Tail*.
My niece now has a toddler of her own who likes to watch Trolls constantly.
My other niece used to watch The Mother Goose Treasury VHS tape over and over again. I’m not sure this counts as it’s not actually movie. It’s a collection of nursery rhymes performed by a woman dressed as Mother Goose and people in costumes as the characters.
Then there are the Barney The Dinosaur VHS tapes; but they’re not actually movies either.
I remember being at someone’s house and their kid was watching some movie about a dinosaur migration or something and in the end the dino kid’s mom died and all hope was lost. I was gobsmacked and asked “what the fuck are you letting your infant watch?”, completely puzzled about why anyone would let a young child watch this loathsomely depressing movie. I mean, why burden a toddler with existential angst?
Toy Story, over and over and over. From age 3. She could recite it as it played. I never hated anything so bad until Spongebob Squarepants came on the scene.
I think I’m too old to have been subjected to multi-watched kid tapes. Just not really available until they were old enough that we could get ones we all liked.
Although, if they had been listening to something I didn’t like, I’d have found it really easy to ignore. All I’d have had to do is pull out a book and I wouldn’t have heard a thing.
The (pregnant) duckling, with SIL and grandduck are currently living with us. It’s cool. It’s like a sitcom. I don’t sit through all the kid’s movies that are constantly on, but they’re still on through the day. Moana and Coco are currently streaming. Constantly. I have, however, see this silly little Sing musical almost 3 times all the way through.
For the most part we pretty much liked, or saw the value in, what Sophia liked. Dora was cute, Backyardigans was charming, we all LOVED Spongebob, Barney had some good lessons about manners, etc.
Really, it wasn’t until she developed her own taste in music did differences really creep up, but that’s more on me than her.
I have not unwillingly watched a movie with my children more than once. I am lucky because my kids had an uncle who wanted to watch what they did, and they probably ended up unwillingly watching movies again because their uncle wanted to see them.
One summer my son watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer non-stop. The other movies that were on a constant showing during his childhood were: Beastmaster, The Wizard of Oz, The Dirt Bike Kid, Rad and Laurel & Hardy. I have to say I loved watching Laurel & Hardy with him. That kick lasted into his adulthood.
Reminds me of one of my nieces and her love for Dumbo (this was back in the early era of VHS tapes). She was around three but she had watched that movie so many times she had it memorized and would recite the lines as it played.
My brother turned to me as it started and said “I used to like this movie.”
*NSFW punk rock song