My kids also disliked “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”! Recently watched the original “Jurassic Park” with my eleven year old and she loved it. We’ve tried “The Goonies”, but they weren’t into it. Hard to predict what still lands and what just seems silly in the 2020s.
We are obsessed with Kiki’s Delivery Service, which is really just fun and delightful for all ages. There is a small fatphobic bit but so far my kids think she’s saying “flat” and just find it confusing. When they figure out what’s actually going on, we’ll have a conversation!
My 10 and almost 8 year old loved Willow, the Princess Bride, Neverending Story, ET. Goonies was a flop for them too, though it could've also been the circumstances (we were watching outdoors at a neighbor's in the summer and the projector broke, then they weren't interested in finishing it).
My now 12 year old loved the Goonies when I showed it to him when he was around 7 or 8. Not sure if my 8 year old has seen it, but maybe we’ll try!
The Muppets Take Manhattan totally didn’t land with them. Not sure why. I looooved it as a kid, but they were bored.
My kids both adore the 1986 Little Shop of Horrors with Rick Moranis.
I’ve been thinking of showing Ferris Bueller’s Day Off to at least the older kid. But there’s one part in that that deeply confused me when I saw it as a kid and I’m not sure how to handle it with my kids so that they don’t have the same problem. I’m talking about the scene where Ferris poses as his girlfriend’s dad in order to get her out of school, shows up in disguise, and then right in front of the principal, greets her with a makeout kiss, and the principal says, “So THAT’s how it is in their family.” When I was 13 and saw this, in the context of Ferris and his girlfriend being popular and sexy, and the principal portrayed as a loser and the butt of jokes, I began to wonder if popular kids’ relationships with their parents typically were sexual! I was grossed out by this idea but it is what that scene seemed to imply! And I later came to realize that any family that’s like that is DEEPLY troubled and traumatizing and not at all normal, but I was unsure about this for far too long. How would you even broach this with kids? Is it enough to pause the movie and say, “By the way, families aren’t like that unless they are VERY MESSED UP”?
My oldest are only three and cry every time we try to put on an “old” movie like The Lion King or Beauty and the Beast. The oldest movie they’ll watch is Toy Story
My kiddos (8 and 5) have really enjoyed the Back to the Future movies, but we'd forgotten about all of the sexual assault behavior, so a heads up on that. We watched The Neverending Story last weekend - it was a favorite of mine as a kid, and they loved it. I'd forgotten about how verbally abusive the little scientist guy is to his wife. I also firmly believed as a little girl that Atreyu was a girl, and you could NOT convince me otherwise. She was so beautiful! Look at her hair! Her chest looked just like mine. We talked about that in the movie, they refer to Atreyu as a boy, but that it's also fun to imagine the character as a girl, and we used she/her pronouns for the rest of the movie, which otherwise has ZERO active female characters.
It's funny that you used the Back to the Future gif, because that's a family favorite! My dad worked on the Back to the Future ride at Universal Studios so I'm a fan girl and have a bunch of memorabilia. We also love Jurassic Park, but obviously there are some more mature scenes in there that may not go over well with younger kids/sensitive kiddos. They also like Top Gun. And, of course, Star Wars.
ET was a flop with my kids (HOW?!) and most of the older style animated Disney movies weren't a favorite for them, either. We haven't tried Princess Bride yet, but I'm so glad this thread is a reminder to do that and The NeverEnding Story!
We have been working our way through the Miyazaki catalog (ie Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Ponyo) and the kids love them. Jurassic Park was a bit too scary for my 8 yr old but the 6 yr old loved it. Also, all the Star Wars. We tried All Dogs Go to Heaven and An American Tale (both rated G in the 80s) but holy hell! This was a few years ago so maybe we’d try it again now. I was shocked that those were some of my favs as a small child.
The Land Before Time was a big hit with my 4 year old but my 6 year old found it slow and boring. I personally was shocked at how ANCIENT that movie looks/feels now.... are we really that old now that movies from our childhood look like historical relics?? 😱
I keep trying to get my kids interested in old musicals. So far the only ones that have landed and become favorites are The Wizard of Oz and The Sound of Music. My 4 year old also kind of grudgingly watched The Music Man and Annie with me, and she liked a couple parts but certainly didn’t ask for these movies again or anything. I’ll keep trying. I’ll never stop trying. My kids will be talking about their mother’s unhealthy obsession with these weird old movies in therapy one day, I’m sure.
Love=The Princess Bride. Was anyone else horrifically scarred by the Never Ending Story? We watched it in elementary school and everyone was so distraught when the horse died they turned it off and wheeled the a/c cart out and to this day I’ve never seen the ending.
Funny - we watched Honey I Shrunk the Kids last year, when my kids were 8 and 6 and they loved it (and so did I!). Lion King and Star Wars have also been hits as well. My husband thinks ET would be too scary? 🤷♀️
Oops! I forgot to update the header for paid subscribers. There's no parenting advice hot take in this post! But you can read it in Tuesday's post: https://melindawmoyer.substack.com/p/the-lessons-of-valentines-day
My kids also disliked “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”! Recently watched the original “Jurassic Park” with my eleven year old and she loved it. We’ve tried “The Goonies”, but they weren’t into it. Hard to predict what still lands and what just seems silly in the 2020s.
We are obsessed with Kiki’s Delivery Service, which is really just fun and delightful for all ages. There is a small fatphobic bit but so far my kids think she’s saying “flat” and just find it confusing. When they figure out what’s actually going on, we’ll have a conversation!
My 10 and almost 8 year old loved Willow, the Princess Bride, Neverending Story, ET. Goonies was a flop for them too, though it could've also been the circumstances (we were watching outdoors at a neighbor's in the summer and the projector broke, then they weren't interested in finishing it).
My now 12 year old loved the Goonies when I showed it to him when he was around 7 or 8. Not sure if my 8 year old has seen it, but maybe we’ll try!
The Muppets Take Manhattan totally didn’t land with them. Not sure why. I looooved it as a kid, but they were bored.
My kids both adore the 1986 Little Shop of Horrors with Rick Moranis.
I’ve been thinking of showing Ferris Bueller’s Day Off to at least the older kid. But there’s one part in that that deeply confused me when I saw it as a kid and I’m not sure how to handle it with my kids so that they don’t have the same problem. I’m talking about the scene where Ferris poses as his girlfriend’s dad in order to get her out of school, shows up in disguise, and then right in front of the principal, greets her with a makeout kiss, and the principal says, “So THAT’s how it is in their family.” When I was 13 and saw this, in the context of Ferris and his girlfriend being popular and sexy, and the principal portrayed as a loser and the butt of jokes, I began to wonder if popular kids’ relationships with their parents typically were sexual! I was grossed out by this idea but it is what that scene seemed to imply! And I later came to realize that any family that’s like that is DEEPLY troubled and traumatizing and not at all normal, but I was unsure about this for far too long. How would you even broach this with kids? Is it enough to pause the movie and say, “By the way, families aren’t like that unless they are VERY MESSED UP”?
My oldest are only three and cry every time we try to put on an “old” movie like The Lion King or Beauty and the Beast. The oldest movie they’ll watch is Toy Story
The theme song from Neverending Story lives in my head.
My kiddos (8 and 5) have really enjoyed the Back to the Future movies, but we'd forgotten about all of the sexual assault behavior, so a heads up on that. We watched The Neverending Story last weekend - it was a favorite of mine as a kid, and they loved it. I'd forgotten about how verbally abusive the little scientist guy is to his wife. I also firmly believed as a little girl that Atreyu was a girl, and you could NOT convince me otherwise. She was so beautiful! Look at her hair! Her chest looked just like mine. We talked about that in the movie, they refer to Atreyu as a boy, but that it's also fun to imagine the character as a girl, and we used she/her pronouns for the rest of the movie, which otherwise has ZERO active female characters.
It's funny that you used the Back to the Future gif, because that's a family favorite! My dad worked on the Back to the Future ride at Universal Studios so I'm a fan girl and have a bunch of memorabilia. We also love Jurassic Park, but obviously there are some more mature scenes in there that may not go over well with younger kids/sensitive kiddos. They also like Top Gun. And, of course, Star Wars.
ET was a flop with my kids (HOW?!) and most of the older style animated Disney movies weren't a favorite for them, either. We haven't tried Princess Bride yet, but I'm so glad this thread is a reminder to do that and The NeverEnding Story!
We have been working our way through the Miyazaki catalog (ie Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Ponyo) and the kids love them. Jurassic Park was a bit too scary for my 8 yr old but the 6 yr old loved it. Also, all the Star Wars. We tried All Dogs Go to Heaven and An American Tale (both rated G in the 80s) but holy hell! This was a few years ago so maybe we’d try it again now. I was shocked that those were some of my favs as a small child.
The Land Before Time was a big hit with my 4 year old but my 6 year old found it slow and boring. I personally was shocked at how ANCIENT that movie looks/feels now.... are we really that old now that movies from our childhood look like historical relics?? 😱
I keep trying to get my kids interested in old musicals. So far the only ones that have landed and become favorites are The Wizard of Oz and The Sound of Music. My 4 year old also kind of grudgingly watched The Music Man and Annie with me, and she liked a couple parts but certainly didn’t ask for these movies again or anything. I’ll keep trying. I’ll never stop trying. My kids will be talking about their mother’s unhealthy obsession with these weird old movies in therapy one day, I’m sure.
Love=The Princess Bride. Was anyone else horrifically scarred by the Never Ending Story? We watched it in elementary school and everyone was so distraught when the horse died they turned it off and wheeled the a/c cart out and to this day I’ve never seen the ending.
Funny - we watched Honey I Shrunk the Kids last year, when my kids were 8 and 6 and they loved it (and so did I!). Lion King and Star Wars have also been hits as well. My husband thinks ET would be too scary? 🤷♀️