The wonderful Caz over at Let’s Go to the Movies is putting on a great blogathon this weekend: the Childhood Films Blogathon. I’ve talked many many times about the films I enjoyed and watched over and over in a time referred to as “my childhood.” So far, I’ve already reviewed Aladdin and Jurassic Park and before the end of the month, I will have posted reviews for Toy Story and Ocean’s Eleven. So instead of reviewing another childhood favorite, for his blogathon I’ve compiled a list: a list of the films I regularly popped into my VCR (DVD player in the case of Ocean’s Eleven) when I was growing up. Here are my fave five(-ish) films from my childhood.
5) The Mummy
I remember the birthday I received The Mummy and The Mummy Returns. I didn’t ask for them but one of my relatives got them for me anyway. I’m sure glad they did. I watched them so many times. Going on an adventure with Rick O’Connell and Evey into the desert to find the treasure and end up awakening the cursed Egyptian priest Imhotep, eventually needing to defeat him is simply a fun and wild ride. The Mummy Returns was great, too. I especially liked the pygmys in the oasis but The Mummy takes the cake in my book. This and its sequel are also the only two films I have on VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray (for now).
4) Ocean’s Eleven / Wild Wild West
I’ve paired Ocean’s Eleven and Wild Wild West together because these are the two movies that my best friend and I would watch all. The. Time. Seriously, between the two of us, we could quote both of these movies in their entirety. Ocean’s Eleven is my favorite heist movie (spoiler alert for my heist fave five list whenever that happens). George Clooney and Brad Pitt are perfect together and the entire team, the rest of the eleven if you will, are just a blast. Wild Wild West tends to not be favorable with most viewers but I find it hilarious. Will Smith and Kevin Kline make a great comedy pair and I laugh every time I watch it.
3) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
Don’t laugh, hear me out. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, in its nature, is a farce. It’s meant to be ridiculous and not to be taken seriously. For the longest time, I hadn’t seen any of the other two TMNT movies, only The Secret of the Ooze. But you know what, that’s all I needed. I can guarantee that any dude who grew up in the late 80s to early 90s watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and had at least a few of the action figures. The Secret of the Ooze had humor, action, and Vanilla Ice’s Ninja Rap. Seriously, how can you not enjoy that?
2) Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park has a well deserved place on IMDB’s Top 250 movie list. Not only does it have a great story, developed characters, a moving score (thank you John Williams), and dinosaurs, but it was a huge milestone in visual effects. But let’s be honest, the dinosaurs were enough to draw in my attention. The special effects looked so real that sometimes it is hard to believe that this is a film and not some documentary. Steven Spielberg knew how to make things suspenseful while still being light. Although this has a PG-13 rating, I’d say it’s a mild PG-13, which was one of the reasons my parents let me watch it when I was much younger than that.
1) Aladdin / Toy Story
“Another twofer? Drew, you are cheating” I can hear you say. But you know what? I don’t care. I could probably trace my love of movies back to these two great classics. I am honestly surprised I didn’t wear out the VHS tape on either of these from watching them repeatedly. Aladdin‘s message about being yourself and Toy Story’s about friendship are just as powerful today as they were over 20 years ago. My cousin and I enjoyed Aladdin so much that we dressed as Aladdin and Jasmine for one Halloween (she was Jasmine, of course). I can’t say enough positive things about these two films. They will always be a part of me at my core and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Check out the rest of the entries in the Childhood Films Blogathon here.
Fantastic post and choices for the films! Thanks for taking part 🙂
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Thanks, Caz! It was my pleasure. 🙂 I’m always up for some nostalgia.
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Great choices Drew. I share your enthusiasm over Wild Wild West, pairing Will Smith and Kevin Kline together was really a good idea. It’s an unfairly maligned movie I think.
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Thanks, Tom. I’m glad to hear there are more out there who think so. It doesn’t get the credit it deserves.
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Secret of the Ooze is terrible, but that’s why I love it so much! It’s probably my favorite TMNT movie. Where else can you see Vanilla Ice burst into a rap about ninja turtles? “Go ninja, go ninja, go!” 🙂
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See, I wouldn’t say it’s terrible but that’s my nostalgia speaking. It’s fun and campy which is exactly what a movie about mutated turtles who trained in ninjitsu for fifteens years from a rat is supposed be. It is definitely my favorite of the four (2007’s TMNT is technically a part of the series). Tell me about it! Leave it to Vanilla Ice not to be phased by human-sized turtles bursting into his underground concert. 😛
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Ooze is definitely the TMNT film that I’ll watch 9 times out of 10 if I want to watch a TMNT film. (The option for the 10th is the first film.)
The only thing I don’t like about Ooze is the anti-climactic ending, but the first movie suffers from that problem too.
I haven’t watched TMNT 2007 in a while and remember very little, just Fishburne’s narration and the actually quite-well-animated fighting.
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I’d probably share the same sentiment. I don’t like the 3 at all and TMNT is ok. Aren’t the endings pretty much identical, except 1 is in a garbage truck and 2 is under a collapsed dock? TMNT was definitely better than 3 but not better than the first two.
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I tried to watch 3 once. I didn’t make it past 15 minutes. *shudder*
You’re right, the endings are almost completely identical.
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Nice picks! I love Toy Story. Even though it’s not from my childhood. 😉
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Thanks, Mutant!
HA! You’re old! Just kidding…. maybe… I don’t know. I’m sorry. 😦
Toy Story is one of those films that appeals to any age group. I can’t wait to write my review for it! It is easy to see why it’s in the top 250.
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Lol. I AM old. Dammit. 😉
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Step one is admitting it. 😛
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Well now you’re just pissing me off! 😉 lol
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😀
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The Mummy was very nearly on my list too – but I fell in love with it via showings on TV so I wasn’t quite a child anymore.
My list for the ChildhoodFilmsBlogathon
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Ah, that’s too bad. Well at least it was *almost* on your list. 😛 That’s a good list you have, too! Although the only one I’ve seen is RoboCop, and I definitely didn’t watch that as a kid. I’ve seen parts of Sister act but never the whole thing. I did play Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves for the NES, though, so that’s kind of like the same thing…
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Great choices. It’s funny to look back at what we thought was super great at the time. Sometimes our choices were pretty random. Some hold up well and some become what were we thinking, but they’re always hard to shake.
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Thanks, Jay. That’s right on the money. I like to think that most of the films I enjoyed as a kid are still enjoyable today. Although I tend to be a nostalgic person, which may cloud my judgement. Space Jam would have been number six on my list (or honorable mention as I’ve done before) and watching that a few years ago, I realized that Michael Jordan is a TERRIBLE actor. But as a kid, the loony toons and basketball combination just hit home with the kids. I can bet there isn’t one person who grew up with that movie that won’t start rocking out if they hear the Space Jam theme!
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Great post! I still love Aladdin and Toy Story now, films like that just stay with you for life I think!
– Allie
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Thanks! You’re totally right, Allie. Classics like those stick with you forever.
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Great movies, many of them are my favorites too. “Aladdin” was actually the very first movie I saw in theaters, and it’s still one of my favorite Disney movies today.
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Sweet, I’m glad we have similar tastes. 🙂 Aladdin is an awesome movie for your first theater experience. It’s one of my favorites, too! And not just from my childhood, either, but overall.
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I’ve seen them all a lot as a kid. Except for Ocean’s Eleven. I still haven’t seen that.
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What?! You NEED to watch Ocean’s Eleven. It’s so good.
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I probably will see it soon. In preparation for Ocean’s Eight.
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Then I’ll be expecting a review soon. 😉
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Big agree with Aladdin being first. Knocked me out as a middle schooler! And I have no interest in seeing the live action Will Smith version!
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Yay! Glad we are on the same page. 😀 The new live-action isn’t too bad. I enjoyed it but it followed the animated version too closely so it never answered the question of “why remake it?” for me, other than to print money.
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Yup. That is pretty much Disney’s M.O. these days.
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