Films that remind you of childhood

[johnnygobbs]

What films remind you of your childhood?  This will probably give away everyone's ages but it's also interesting to find out what films left a big impression on people when they were kids especially the lesser known films.

For me it's the following: Back to the Future, Big, *Batteries not Included, Explorers, The Flight of the Navigator, Labyrinth, Indiana Jones particularly TOD and TLC, Ghostbusters, Short Circuit, An American Tail, Return to Oz and The Neverending Story.

Not all of these films are classics and there are plenty of films from that period, including stuff aimed at kids, which are better than some of those aforementioned movies but for whatever reason these films are the ones that left some type of impression on me as a kid.

[Azrael]

The Last Crusade. Wasn't even born when Raiders was released, too little for Doom. One of my first soundtracks too, I love "Father and Son". Some of the first movies I saw as toddler were Disney's Mouse Detective, Asterix and the Surprise of Caesar, Masters of the Universe (with Dolph) but my favs are mostly from the late 80s/early 90s. Indy 3, Batman, Terminator 2, Robocop etc. Sadly I haven't seen Ghostbusters 2 in the theater (and I was too little for the original)

[Edd Grayson]

The original Star Wars trilogy... I guess it really it timeless since I am a 90's baby 

[JokerMeThis]

Here they are in no particular order. I'm only including movies I saw and enjoyed before I turned 18.

The three old Indiana Jones movies, the first six Star Trek movies, Labyrinth, The Wizard of Oz, Return to Oz, An American Tail, Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Batman '89, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Batman and Robin, Alladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, The Terminator, The Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Child's Play 1-3, Problem Child, Superman 1-4, The Land Before Time, Home Alone 1-2, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, Uncle Buck, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, The Time Machine, The Naked Gun 1-3, Airplane 1-2, Dumbo, Pinocchio, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial, Gremlins, Jurassic Park, Stephen King's It, Sister Act, Dracula: Dead and Loving It,  2001: A Space Odyssey, 2010.

[Edd Grayson]

So you like Willy Wonka and Edward Scissorhands, Joker? I can't say how much those films mean to me, they're both very special to my heart.

[JokerMeThis]

I like Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Edward Scissorhands very much.

Other movies I liked as a child are Twilight Zone: The Movie and The Rocketeer. I was and am a big fan of the Twilight Zone TV show too.

[Edd Grayson]

When Gene Wilder sings about pure imagination or when Winona Ryder's dancing in the snow I feel like a little kid again. Now I'm just a bigger kid. 

[johnnygobbs]

When Gene Wilder sings about pure imagination or when Winona Ryder's dancing in the snow I feel like a little kid again. Now I'm just a bigger kid. 

Speaking of Willy Wonka and Edward Scissorhands, did anyone here care for the Tim Burton 'reimagining' of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (probably my favourite book as a kid)?

I do agree that the best part of the 1970s Willy Wonka is the 'Pure Imagination' scene.  Such a great song and Gene Wilder is superb in the part.

[Edd Grayson]

Tim Burton tried, but failed in my eyes. He made it too much about Willy Wonka being a child trapped in a grown-up body. That's not what the 1971 film nor the novel were aiming at.

[johnnygobbs]

Tim Burton tried, but failed in my eyes. He made it too much about Willy Wonka being a child trapped in a grown-up body. That's not what the 1971 film nor the novel were aiming at.

Tim Burton 'failed'? 

I think if you combined the 1971 movie and the 2005 one you'd probably end up with the perfect adaptation of the book.  Tim Burton's version was in many ways closer to the book but like you state, it focused far too much on Willy Wonka who should remain a somewhat elusive character (although bear in mind these are the same arguments people make about his Batman films - that he focused too much on the villains' backgrounds).  Gene Wilder, although still not quite the definitive Willy Wonka, was far superior to Johnny Depp in the part, giving a simultaneously charming and creepy performance.  Depp by contrast often came across as a childish flake rather than an adult eccentric.

I do prefer the overall look of the 2005 version though and for the most part I think the newer version got the kids right, arguably more so that the 1971 one.  The effects were somewhat overdone towards the end however.