Wacky Brain Twitching
You know those movies that you used to watch obsessively as a kid, and then for one reason or another haven't watched in forever? (grew out of it, became a teen and decided you had to grow out of it, simply became obsessed with something else and subsequently forgot it existed and probably have dismissed it as "aw I loved that movie as a kid", etc) And by forever, I'm talking like literally 10-15 years?
Some of them I probably will never bother to watch again because they're just too "childish", if that makes sense, but some of them are such classics and while they may be aimed at kids and families, I have no problem rewatching them and getting a lot of enjoyment out it. I'm probably one of the last people on Earth who not only still owns a functioning VCR but actually still actively uses it. I was at my parents' place a few weekends ago and they had all our old VHS's all packed away, and there was one I wanted to borrow that they don't have on DVD. So I was going through the boxes and ended up grabbing like 15 that I a) haven't see and have wanted to or b) were old childhood movies that I was curious about rewatching again. Plus a few that are newer that we just don't have on DVD that I want to see again (like Monsters Inc).
Of these childhood movies, I grabbed:
I watched Follow That Bird today, which for those of you who have never seen it, I'm sorry, because it's adorable and was such a staple for me as a kid. To preface, I was obsessed with stuff like Mr. Dressup, Seasme Street and The Muppets. Follow That Bird is about Big Bird (from Sesame Street - as if you didn't know) being told he needs friends and family "of his own kind", being sent to a family of birds where he doesn't belong, and then the wacky mishap-filled journey that follows as he tries to get back to Sesame Street, while all his friends from the Street pile into cars and start across the country to bring him back. The opening of the movie features Oscar The Grouch singing the Grouch Anthem. This is one of those things where as a young kid, I'm pretty certain I had no idea, really, what all the lyrics were but I loved it. There's nothing wrong with the lyrics to be clear, it's just extremely bizarre to be seeing this thing that has been burned concretely into the very back of my mind. It's like seeing something, and simultaneously feeling like you've never seen it before but still somehow be able to hum, and in some cases even sing along. In the end though, this one was heartwarming and adorable and expected, general Sesame Street goodness.
Land Before Time was a surprise, only because I found myself crying near steadily for a significant portion of the movie. Surely it wasn't this sad when I was kid? Or I didn't understand the depth of emotion? It went over my head? I just enjoyed watching the cute dinosaurs become friends? I don't know what it is. But this movie was so sweet and deeply heart-wrenching. I repeat, I was basically crying through the whole thing. I should clarify, I am that guy (girl) who cries easily at movies and TV though, so, you know.
Lastly, and I actually watched this several weeks ago now, but I'm adding it since it's a childhood movie I watched to death and then hadn't seen in years, I saw All Dogs Go To Heaven. I was actually shocked at how dark it really is! When I mentioned to my mom that I had rewatched it, she said, "Oh, you used to LOVE that movie!" And I said, "I'm not really sure why!" Clearly as a kid, it's just pure entertainment and fanciful, whatever. The dogs talk! They go to Heaven! And come back! They make friends with a cute little girl and save her life and get her adopted and stuff! There's singing and little puppies learning to share pizza! Yay!
Except it's actually SUPER dark, considering it's a kid's movie. The main dog, Charlie, and his buddy Itchy are running a gambling ring, and Charlie is MURDERED BY HIS OLD PARTNER Carface. They get him DRUNK, leave him on a dock blindfolded and push a car into him (him dying isn't exactly shown, but the car goes flying off the dock and then Charlie is being whisked through bright tunnels). After he tricks an Angel-dog into getting the "pocket watch of his life", he winds it to get sent back to Earth to get revenge on his former partner. Who, as he and Itchy find out, HAS KIDNAPPED A LITTLE ORPHAN GIRL, because she can talk to animals, and he uses her to find out how to bet to win on various races (rat, horse, etc). Oh ya, and he's keeping this little girl locked up, not allowed to go outside, and only getting like rations for food. And Charlie's plan? To rescue her! Oh ya, and also use her the same way Carface was, but make it seem like they're helping HER, and promise to find her a family. Those puppies that share the pizza? Orphan puppies. And though Charlie eventually comes around on caring for the girl and legitimately finding her a home, there's a bunch of stuff where he's mean to her and using her, some stuff where Itchy gets severely beat up by Carface's gang in order to give up where Charlie and the girl are, a whole FRICKIN SCARY dream sequence where Charlie goes to Hell, a section where he and the girl are captured by little weird things (it has a very cannibal/sacrifice feel to it) that subsequently try to feed to them some sort of gigantic alligator (which I'm fairly certain is a drag queen?). Then there's the whole part where Carface gets the girl, who's very ill, and has her as bait for Charlie to get her, and he dies saving her (the girl is saved, but Charlie's watch dies... which means he dies... which means, according to the Angel he stole the watch from the first place, his next stop is Hell because once you leave Heaven "you can never come back" - thankfully his sacrificing himself for the girl means he gets to go back into Heaven). The movie ends on the funny, but honestly not really cheerful note with Carface in Heaven, stealing his watch and being told he can never come back.
Does any of this sounds messed the heck or super scarring? Let me recap: murder, gambling, smoking, drinking, kidnapping, potential blackmail, stealing, cheating, using, demons, drag queen alligators, possible cannibalism (or at least animal sacrifice), gang beating, intimidation... And this is a kid's movie. That being said though, as messed up as I found it now, as an adult, I can tell you right now as a kid, the deep dark details were completely over my head. I remember loving that movie, loving the songs - that alligator was fantastic! The puppies and pizza! The girl getting clothes! And she gets adopted! And Charlie gets back into Heaven! Yay! It was all good. Some things were a bit scary (the Hell dream sequence) but it was just a dream. Again, as an adult, I found it sufficiently messed up and I was wondering how the heck I ever watched it, but I know I had no problem with it as a kid.
Anyways, this - as usual - became way more rambly than intended.
TL;DR: Watching a movie you haven't seen since you were small child is the weirdest form of brain twitch-ery. I recommend it. Plus you might (re)discover some old favs, or realize the ones you used to like are not that good, actually.
~Red
Some of them I probably will never bother to watch again because they're just too "childish", if that makes sense, but some of them are such classics and while they may be aimed at kids and families, I have no problem rewatching them and getting a lot of enjoyment out it. I'm probably one of the last people on Earth who not only still owns a functioning VCR but actually still actively uses it. I was at my parents' place a few weekends ago and they had all our old VHS's all packed away, and there was one I wanted to borrow that they don't have on DVD. So I was going through the boxes and ended up grabbing like 15 that I a) haven't see and have wanted to or b) were old childhood movies that I was curious about rewatching again. Plus a few that are newer that we just don't have on DVD that I want to see again (like Monsters Inc).
Of these childhood movies, I grabbed:
- An American Tale
- Fieval Goes West
- Land Before Time (the first one - the REAL one, the ONLY GOOD ONE)
- Follow That Bird
- All Dogs Go To Heaven (which I forgotten I had recently bargain-bin-bought on DVD)
I watched Follow That Bird today, which for those of you who have never seen it, I'm sorry, because it's adorable and was such a staple for me as a kid. To preface, I was obsessed with stuff like Mr. Dressup, Seasme Street and The Muppets. Follow That Bird is about Big Bird (from Sesame Street - as if you didn't know) being told he needs friends and family "of his own kind", being sent to a family of birds where he doesn't belong, and then the wacky mishap-filled journey that follows as he tries to get back to Sesame Street, while all his friends from the Street pile into cars and start across the country to bring him back. The opening of the movie features Oscar The Grouch singing the Grouch Anthem. This is one of those things where as a young kid, I'm pretty certain I had no idea, really, what all the lyrics were but I loved it. There's nothing wrong with the lyrics to be clear, it's just extremely bizarre to be seeing this thing that has been burned concretely into the very back of my mind. It's like seeing something, and simultaneously feeling like you've never seen it before but still somehow be able to hum, and in some cases even sing along. In the end though, this one was heartwarming and adorable and expected, general Sesame Street goodness.
Land Before Time was a surprise, only because I found myself crying near steadily for a significant portion of the movie. Surely it wasn't this sad when I was kid? Or I didn't understand the depth of emotion? It went over my head? I just enjoyed watching the cute dinosaurs become friends? I don't know what it is. But this movie was so sweet and deeply heart-wrenching. I repeat, I was basically crying through the whole thing. I should clarify, I am that guy (girl) who cries easily at movies and TV though, so, you know.
Lastly, and I actually watched this several weeks ago now, but I'm adding it since it's a childhood movie I watched to death and then hadn't seen in years, I saw All Dogs Go To Heaven. I was actually shocked at how dark it really is! When I mentioned to my mom that I had rewatched it, she said, "Oh, you used to LOVE that movie!" And I said, "I'm not really sure why!" Clearly as a kid, it's just pure entertainment and fanciful, whatever. The dogs talk! They go to Heaven! And come back! They make friends with a cute little girl and save her life and get her adopted and stuff! There's singing and little puppies learning to share pizza! Yay!
Except it's actually SUPER dark, considering it's a kid's movie. The main dog, Charlie, and his buddy Itchy are running a gambling ring, and Charlie is MURDERED BY HIS OLD PARTNER Carface. They get him DRUNK, leave him on a dock blindfolded and push a car into him (him dying isn't exactly shown, but the car goes flying off the dock and then Charlie is being whisked through bright tunnels). After he tricks an Angel-dog into getting the "pocket watch of his life", he winds it to get sent back to Earth to get revenge on his former partner. Who, as he and Itchy find out, HAS KIDNAPPED A LITTLE ORPHAN GIRL, because she can talk to animals, and he uses her to find out how to bet to win on various races (rat, horse, etc). Oh ya, and he's keeping this little girl locked up, not allowed to go outside, and only getting like rations for food. And Charlie's plan? To rescue her! Oh ya, and also use her the same way Carface was, but make it seem like they're helping HER, and promise to find her a family. Those puppies that share the pizza? Orphan puppies. And though Charlie eventually comes around on caring for the girl and legitimately finding her a home, there's a bunch of stuff where he's mean to her and using her, some stuff where Itchy gets severely beat up by Carface's gang in order to give up where Charlie and the girl are, a whole FRICKIN SCARY dream sequence where Charlie goes to Hell, a section where he and the girl are captured by little weird things (it has a very cannibal/sacrifice feel to it) that subsequently try to feed to them some sort of gigantic alligator (which I'm fairly certain is a drag queen?). Then there's the whole part where Carface gets the girl, who's very ill, and has her as bait for Charlie to get her, and he dies saving her (the girl is saved, but Charlie's watch dies... which means he dies... which means, according to the Angel he stole the watch from the first place, his next stop is Hell because once you leave Heaven "you can never come back" - thankfully his sacrificing himself for the girl means he gets to go back into Heaven). The movie ends on the funny, but honestly not really cheerful note with Carface in Heaven, stealing his watch and being told he can never come back.
Does any of this sounds messed the heck or super scarring? Let me recap: murder, gambling, smoking, drinking, kidnapping, potential blackmail, stealing, cheating, using, demons, drag queen alligators, possible cannibalism (or at least animal sacrifice), gang beating, intimidation... And this is a kid's movie. That being said though, as messed up as I found it now, as an adult, I can tell you right now as a kid, the deep dark details were completely over my head. I remember loving that movie, loving the songs - that alligator was fantastic! The puppies and pizza! The girl getting clothes! And she gets adopted! And Charlie gets back into Heaven! Yay! It was all good. Some things were a bit scary (the Hell dream sequence) but it was just a dream. Again, as an adult, I found it sufficiently messed up and I was wondering how the heck I ever watched it, but I know I had no problem with it as a kid.
Anyways, this - as usual - became way more rambly than intended.
TL;DR: Watching a movie you haven't seen since you were small child is the weirdest form of brain twitch-ery. I recommend it. Plus you might (re)discover some old favs, or realize the ones you used to like are not that good, actually.
~Red