# You see a movie that you haven't seen since you were a kid... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 16, 2003, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-see-a-movie-that-you-havent-seen-since-you-were-a-kid/201886 "2003-09-16T03:31:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Atreyu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-see-a-movie-that-you-havent-seen-since-you-were-a-kid/201886/1 "2003-09-16T03:31:04Z")
Ever have the experience of seeing a movie for the first time in years that you haven’t seen as a kid, and it turns out to be actually _better_ than you remembered it? Most movies in this category don’t hold up for me. I find all kinds of problems, flaws, mistakes, cheesy acting, and bad writing. But earlier tonight I watched “The Black Stallion” on DVD for the first time in nearly twenty years. I took a gamble on buying the DVD at Wal-Mart, especially during the course of researching a post [for this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=131556), I re-discovered that Francis Ford Coppola was the executive producer for this movie, which was released in 1979. So tonight I saw this movie for the first time in perhaps twenty years, and _damn_, I thought it was actually better than I remembered. As an adult, I was able to better appreciate the pacing of the story, the stunning photograhy of the island sequence, and I kept getting the sense that a movie like this simply wouldn’t be done this way today. Oh, and that island sequence. Nearly forty minutes of no dialogue. Half the time I kept wondering, “How in the hell did they film that scene?” Incredible. I’m wondering if any other Dopers out there have had a similar experience where you see a movie as an adult for the first time since seeing it as a kid, and liking the movie better as an adult. [sub]The DVD came as a two-pack with “The Black Stallion Returns”, which I’ve never seen before, and since I suspect it follows the standard Hollywood rule that the sequel is never as good as the original, I’m not sure I _want_ to watch it.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Atreyu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-see-a-movie-that-you-havent-seen-since-you-were-a-kid/201886/2 "2003-09-16T03:32:17Z")
Of course, now that I’ve posted it, I can see various grammatical errors in the OP, but I think you can probably get the gist of it. Sorry about that. ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-see-a-movie-that-you-havent-seen-since-you-were-a-kid/201886/3 "2003-09-16T04:17:31Z")
I have the oppisite experience, actually. I apperantly loved E.T. when I was a kid. I can remember watching it over and over and over. Man, what a piece of garbage movie. You couldn’t pay me to watch that thing again. Yeesh. ---
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-see-a-movie-that-you-havent-seen-since-you-were-a-kid/201886/4 "2003-09-16T05:17:11Z")
I hear that Shy Guy, only I’ve always hated it 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-see-a-movie-that-you-havent-seen-since-you-were-a-kid/201886/5 "2003-09-16T05:45:14Z")
I enjoy _Watership Down_ more now than I did as a kid. _Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory_ and _Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang_ are still as great as I remember them from years past. ---
**Author:** ![SlickRoenick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SlickRoenick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlickRoenick)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-see-a-movie-that-you-havent-seen-since-you-were-a-kid/201886/6 "2003-09-16T05:50:49Z")
Ewoks Battle for Endor has been reduced to a cute and cuddly movie. Baron Munchausen is easier to understand now that i know what drugs are. ThunderCats\* was awesome when i was little. It’s so nonviolent to me that it makes me sick. \*not a movie, but could have been ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-see-a-movie-that-you-havent-seen-since-you-were-a-kid/201886/7 "2003-09-16T05:51:49Z")
I liked the various _Pink Panther_ movies as a kid. Now they look soooo stupid, along with all of Blake Edwards’ movies. ---
**Author:** ![dead0man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@dead0man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dead0man)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-see-a-movie-that-you-havent-seen-since-you-were-a-kid/201886/8 "2003-09-16T07:16:09Z")
I’m with **shy guy** on E.T. I vaguelly remember crying in the theatre when I was 7ish when ET was all white laying in the river. I tried watching it a few years ago and grew bored fairly quickly. Also the Atari game sucks as well, yet I spent days playing that game when I was a kid. **Spaceballs** isn’t as funny to me as it was when I was a dorky 15 year old. For some reason **Carrie** stills scares the crap out of me, even though its not that scary. In fact all the movies that scared me as a kid, still freak me out today. Yet movies that kids today find scary don’t scare me, but they aren’t scared by the old movies. Is there a reason for this? ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-see-a-movie-that-you-havent-seen-since-you-were-a-kid/201886/9 "2003-09-16T08:18:15Z")
I still love _Naked Gun, Airplane, Spaceballs and Smorgasboard_. _Three Stooges_ is still good, the _Laurel and Hardy_ series is fun, but I don’t enjoy it as much as I did. Actually, come to think of it, I don’t think I watched anything other than comedies as a child. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-see-a-movie-that-you-havent-seen-since-you-were-a-kid/201886/10 "2003-09-16T09:38:00Z")
I second the sentiments on _Watership Down_ and _Airplane!_ (better now than when I saw them as a kid), as well as _E.T._ (man, that thing aged badly, and it had nothing to do with Spielberg editing out the guns). A lot of the old Bugs Bunny cartoons are funnier now (or at least are funny in a different way) now that I know a lot of the old movies and events they refer to. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-see-a-movie-that-you-havent-seen-since-you-were-a-kid/201886/11 "2003-09-16T12:07:01Z")
_Mary Poppins_ still holds up for me. Same goes for _Fantasia_ and _Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs._ I think I am far more able to appreciate the incredible artwork in the two animated films more now than when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-see-a-movie-that-you-havent-seen-since-you-were-a-kid/201886/12 "2003-09-16T12:09:07Z")
_Dwarves_. It’s supposed to be _dwarves_, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![fizzygoodmakefeelnice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@fizzygoodmakefeelnice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fizzygoodmakefeelnice)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-see-a-movie-that-you-havent-seen-since-you-were-a-kid/201886/13 "2003-09-16T12:48:01Z")
When I was a kid a watched _Labyrinth_ again and again and again. Then the video got recorded over. It was about 14 years before I saw it again. It’s brilliant! I love it! ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-see-a-movie-that-you-havent-seen-since-you-were-a-kid/201886/14 "2003-09-16T12:56:48Z")
> [@](#): > > **Bryan Ekers** -I liked the various Pink Panther movies as a kid. Now they look soooo stupid, along with all of Blake Edwards’ movies. AGGHHH, GOD CHOKING SPITTING CAN’T BREETHE RIP TEAR KILLLLL… AVENGE HONOR OF AUDREY AND PETER DIEDIEDIEDIEDIE!!! I really still like Homeward Bound (New) after ten years. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-see-a-movie-that-you-havent-seen-since-you-were-a-kid/201886/15 "2003-09-16T15:46:46Z")
I saw **Krakatoa,East of Java** in the movies as a kid in 1969. I had a memory of all the special effects being really cool. Forward to 2003, and I see a tape of this trainwreck! Those effects sucked even for their time. A childhood memory destroyed! ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-see-a-movie-that-you-havent-seen-since-you-were-a-kid/201886/16 "2003-09-16T16:19:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Horseflesh \* > \*\* _Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang_ are still as great as I remember them from years past. \*\* This reminded me of something. I grew up in the country and had 4 broadcast tv channels so all the movies I ever saw were the VHS tapes we rented. My very religeous parents were very strict on which tapes we could bring home, and CCBB made the cut. Anyway, the scene where they fool the king by putting up the woman\* on a box like a giant music box was burned into my 10 yr old mind, thinking that woman was the hottest thing on earth with her silky green tight top. I noticed CCBB on tv the other day and hung with it just to see if 18 years later I still thought she was hot. :rolleyes: \*I’m too lazy for IMDB today. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-see-a-movie-that-you-havent-seen-since-you-were-a-kid/201886/17 "2003-09-16T16:23:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by shy guy \* > \*\*I have the oppisite experience, actually. > > I apperantly loved E.T. when I was a kid. I can remember watching it over and over and over. > > Man, what a piece of garbage movie. You couldn’t pay me to watch that thing again. Yeesh. \*\* I don’t think it’s necessarily garbage, but I now find it very disturbing. I can’t quite figure out why, though. I just can’t watch it anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-see-a-movie-that-you-havent-seen-since-you-were-a-kid/201886/18 "2003-09-16T16:45:06Z")
A few years ago I watched _The Thing_ (Carpenter’s version, not Hawks’) for the first time in many years and I was blown away. When I saw it as a kid it just scared the shit out of me along with countless other creepy/slasher/horror flicks. Now I think it is a brilliant movie, one of my favorites. As far as the opposite effect, I would have to nominate _Return of the Jedi_ in which the origins of the Downfall were laid. ---
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-see-a-movie-that-you-havent-seen-since-you-were-a-kid/201886/19 "2003-09-16T16:59:50Z")
I agree about The Thing, however, I’ve always found the part with the computer calculating the odds of infection to be ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-see-a-movie-that-you-havent-seen-since-you-were-a-kid/201886/20 "2003-09-16T17:07:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yosemitebabe \* > \*\*_Dwarves_. It’s supposed to be _dwarves_, isn’t it? \*\* If you’re Tolkien, it’s _dwarves_, and he was adamant about it. If you’re Disney, it’s _dwarfs_. Pretty much a tomato tomahto thing, but I’m going with The Professor. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-see-a-movie-that-you-havent-seen-since-you-were-a-kid/201886.md?page=2)