Awesome to the
Max: My Top 25 Movies That Made Growing Up in the 1980s Exceptional
Looking back
on the decade of the 1980s, there was a lot more tragedies and terrors than the
day-glow memories would lead us to believe. I mean, the United States and
Soviet Russia were locked in a frightening nuclear stand-off, cocaine was
everywhere, AIDS was beginning to have a huge outbreak, this was not the 80s I
remembered as a child. Of course, we were kids and, for most of us, our parents
just wanted us to be happy, so we were allowed to play and live in our own
bubble world of sandboxes, metal slides, steel merry-go-rounds, monkey bars and
those awesome metal spheres that looked like the home version of Thunderdome.
Yeah, try finding those in your nearby park now. But for the most part, I look
back on the movies that made such big impressions on me as a kid and they never
failed to make me happy and always gave me something or someone to pretend to
be whenever our friends would come over and we would dress up in cardboard
boxes, pretending to be robots or swinging tree branches like they were lightsabers.
I started
with a top ten, but there were just too many, so it became a top fifteen, then
a top twenty. Finally, I came to the realization that there were at least 25
movies that had a tremendous impact on me growing up that I had to include on
my list. Now, there were movies that I missed out on but saw later on in my
life (the Star Trek movies, Tron), some that I saw but they didn’t leave too
big of an impact on me (Return to Oz, Top Gun, Batman and Edward Scissorhands)
and some that I just didn’t connect with (Labyrinth and Transformers). There
are also some that I’m not sure whether to consider them family films or films
I enjoyed that weren’t meant simply for families (The Princess Bride, Three
Amigos, The Karate Kid are all movies I love). But before you go grabbing your
pitchforks and declaring how I never lived as a child, let me just saw this:
this list is in no way meant to be an encapsulation of everyone’s childhood
movies, just my own. That is why I say this is MY list, not the list that everybody
should have. We all grew up differently and, hey, what appealed to some kids
may not have appealed to others. If anything, I’m looking back on these movies
to see just what a profound they were pretty big influences on the type of
movies I like as well as the movies that left the largest impact on me as a
child. In fact, a lot of them still have the same impact on me, if not a bigger
one.
Another
thing I found in looking back on these movies is that they elicited a common
ocular reaction: for most of these movies, I either hid my eyes or cried. Come
to think about it, those seem to be a common motif of the movies we saw when
growing up. I’ll be the first to admit the movies I cried at and the movies I
got scared at, so make fun of me if you want, but like I said, that was just my
reaction to these movies. So, get ready to relive some of my favorite childhood
movies and, hopefully, you’ll remember some of your own childhood gems that you
may have forgotten about.
Honorable
Mentions:
- All Dogs Go to Heaven
- Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
- Follow That Bird
- The Little Mermaid
- Innerspace (Man, that one was hard not to include on the list,
but let’s just say, it’s a strong #26.)
25. *batteries not included: This was one of those movies
that, while it never achieved a deep sense of profoundness, it was just a
well-meaning heartwarming family film. When you’re 7, those kinds of movies can
be all you need to cherish it. A couple of small sized sentient UFOs land in a
building scheduled for demolition to have their children (Robots procreating?
I’m not even gonna dwell into that philosophical topic right now) and fill in
the voids of the few tenants left in the building.
The effects
are actually pretty good for the 1980s and the movie does achieve a small sense
of wonder and some senses of connection to the robots on a cute level. The
movie also manages to achieve some really heavy emotional moments, including
one that I never realized how heavy it was until I got older. Just thinking
about it now gets me pretty choked up. If you’ve seen it, you probably know
what I’m talking about, if you haven’t, well, let’s just say one of the UFO’s
children doesn’t quite…get born. Yeah, in the middle of your family movie,
there’s a moment where one of the cute aliens goes through a stillborn
situation. It choked me up as a kid, but imagine being one of the parents
having to watch it with their children. I imagine that would be more
traumatizing for adults.
Still, the
movie manages to maintain its lighthearted family tone and ends on a
heartwarming note. While it’s not really remembered for being a classic, it’s
one that has a fantastic heart to it and has a special place in my childhood
heart.
24. An American Tale: Speaking of movies that leave
you a sobbing mess, may I remind everyone of this story of (break out your
Kleenexes) an immigrant mouse who gets separated from his family and tries to
find his way back to them in the new country of America.
While this
can be seen as a tale of Russian immigrants escaping persecution, when you’re a
kid, it didn’t matter what the subtext was. We simply identified with the young
kid separated from his parents and we’ve all had those moments where we thought
we lost them. Yeah, that feeling is pretty much this entire film. My memories
of this movie are primarily in front of the TV and crying on the couch with my
parents while I look up and see them fighting back emotions. And from everyone
I’ve talked to about this movie, that’s pretty much their experience, too. So
why do I so fondly remember this movie as such a nostalgic staple of my
childhood? Well, three words: “Somewhere…out…there…”
You’re
welcome for the lip quiver.
23. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: Long before Phineas and Ferb
embraced the joys of having adventures in your back yard, this movie did just
that by (how else) shrinking the kids of the house and the neighbor house. Ever
wonder what it would be like to be a quarter inch tale and have to make the
journey from one end of your back yard to another?
Yeah, that’s
a pretty long trip and that’s not even encountering the small obstacles like
sprinklers, insects and lawn mowers that become entire action sequences. This
movie created such an imaginative world that it was so easy to get lost in the
adventure. By the end, the movie shows itself as being a tale of putting aside
your differences and bonding together amidst a crisis. I loved this movie as a
kid, especially the Roger Rabbit short in front of it; it’s just an all-around
good, adventurous family film. Oh, and the baby ant is actually kind of
adorable, even if it is the size of an 18 wheeler.
Why do I
have such an attachment to the ant? Well, if you’ve seen the film, you know
what happens to the ant, but if you haven’t, it actually makes you think twice
before stepping on an ant.
22. Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: Okay, I don’t know if your
parents were like mine and they hated Pee Wee Herman so much, they wouldn’t let
you watch his Saturday morning show or this movie. Well, we all saw it any way,
right? And how hard was it not to get pulled into the story of this man-child
who has his bike taken from him and goes to such exuberant lengths to get it
back.
This is one
of those stories where the journey itself is probably more fun than the source
material. But let’s face it, as kids, that was the coolest bike ever, wasn’t
it? I don’t know about you, but I wanted a bike that had all that cool stuff.
It was the James Bond of cool bicycles. It had smoke screen, jet packs and
ejection seat. Yeah, that was the James Bond of bicycles. There are also some
moments that are pretty damn terrifying, too. Anyone remember the nightmare
about the clown surgeons or even just Large Marge.
Yeah, see
what memories that conjures up for you. It freaked me out at points, but it
also made me laugh, too. It was fun, bright and goofy that I fondly look back
on. And also when I would have no shame and not be afraid to do the Tequila
dance.
21. My Science Project: Okay, maybe it’s because I grew
up in the desert of Twentynine Palms, California, but the setting for this
movie (a small Californian town next to a military base) hit pretty damn close
to home for me. The movie centers around a student looking to pass his science
class by pulling out a gizmo from a military junkyard that turns out to be an
alien time/space warp drive.
Strange
things happen here and there as the gizmo tries to suck power out of the city
building up to what is probably one of the coolest endings I remember as a kid.
The main characters fight through their high school, which has become a gateway
of different eras like Ancient Greece, Vietnam and a Tyrannosaurus Rex in the
gym! Let me restate that so the coolness can fully sink in…a friggin’ T-Rex in
a high school gym!!
Until
Jurassic Park came out, that was the coolest looking dinosaur in a movie as far
as I’m concerned. There isn’t one moment of this movie that isn’t just fun as
hell and I fondly look back on this movie as one fun ride.
20. The Land Before Time: Hey, remember how much you
cried watching An American Tale? Well, the same filmmakers team up to
traumatize you again with The Land Before Time. A group of children dinosaurs
separated from their parents (seriously, again with the being separated from
their parents) cross a barren plane to find a land that has more plants for the
herbivores to thrive.
But there’s
one character named Littlefoot, who isn’t just separated from his family, his
mother was killed fighting off a T-Rex to save her son. Mufasa, my ass, you
want a sad childhood memory? Watch the scene that follows when Littlefoot has
a final conversation with his dying mother.
JEEZ! Where
are the tweeting birds dancing around in a meadow to bring us out of those
doldrums we were just violently thrust into? But, of course, the movie ends
happy, so it’s not entirely emotionally crippling, but it can be very
emotionally draining.
19. The Neverending Story: Holy hell, this movie was the
nostalgic shizznit of our childhoods! A boy who gets beat up a lot finds solace
in a book called (wait for it…) The Neverending Story. Inside, the world of
Fantasia is about to be swallowed up by The Nothing and the only person brave
enough to stand up to him is a young warrior named Atreyu.
Fun
adventures, flying dragons, deadly philosophical obstacles, this book has it
all, but is it really a book as the reader finds out that he’s becoming more
and more entwined into the story. Who didn’t have great memories of this movie
growing up? Exciting adventures, wonderful fantasy world to get lost in and a
great theme song, too! (Neverending Sto-ory! Oh-o-whoa, oh-o-whoa, oh-o-whoa!)
And there were some pretty intense moments, too, like the Southern Oracle scene
and the entire sequence with the wolf. Again, we’re thrust in some pretty
intense stuff, even a rather heartbreaking scene with Atreyu’s…
…nope, not
gonna think about it. Moving on, The Neverending Story was like our bedtime
stories came to life on the movie screen and it was just the perfect family
film. Just try not to think about Artex. DAMMIT!!
18. Short Circuit 1 & 2: While a lot of people fondly
remember the first one as that cute movie where the robot comes to life and
believes that he is a living being, I more fondly remember the second one, but
I’ll get to that in a minute. As mentioned, the first part is about a lightning
storm that shocks a robot, Number 5, into believing that he is alive. He
befriends a woman who helps him learn to appreciate the living things in the
world around him so much that he believes he is alive himself because he does
appreciate these things.
Of course,
the government wants him back to “disassemble him”, but Number 5 knows that
means he will die and he wants to live. While even his inventor, Steve
Guttenberg, does not believe that he is alive, he does try to help protect him
from the destruction cause by the NOVA army. (Apparently, PBS shows were real
renegades in the 80s.) It’s cute, it’s funny and, as you get a little older, a
little creepy at points, but it’s pretty much harmless fun. Also, when you look
back on it, doesn’t Number 5 looks a lot like Wall-E?
Then comes
the second one where we don’t follow the original two stars (hey, who wants to
follow Steve Guttenburg more than once), but instead follow the co-engineer
played by Fisher Stephens as he tries to get a toy making business started in
New York City.
There, the
robot, now going by Johnny 5 instead of Number 5, help Stevens build the
robots, but still can’t help but feel that he’s not fitting in with the humans
around him (pretty easy to feel in NYC). This one manages to be a lot more
touching and heartfelt while finding a new way to have a lot of fun, but why I
put the second one so much higher than the first in my childhood is how far
they take the final act. There’s a moment so brutal and traumatizing that it
was actually pretty difficult to watch as a young kid, still kind of is.
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In fact, the
rest of the third act fluctuates between funny adventure and pretty emotional
weight. It’s then that you truly begin to appreciate the character of Johnny 5
that this movie helped create and start to feel like he actually is alive. So,
kudos, Short Circuit 2, for being one of the rare ones that actually goes above
and beyond the first part.
Okay, I’m
only eight movies in and I’m already noticing a trend of these family movies.
They are freaking traumatizing! I mean, it was bad enough that a generation had
to grow up with Bambi, Baby Mine and Old Yeller, now we have the kids of the
1980s growing up with movies that are as emotionally wrenching as Sophie’s
Choice or In America. I think we had to deal with some pretty traumatic stuff
in our entertainment alone and that’s not even going into whatever tragedies
befell you individually growing up. A lot of people give Disney flack for
always killing off the mother characters, but if you look back on a lot of the
movies we grew up with, there is a lot of death, grief and mourning. So I’m
beginning to notice that while we look back fondly on our favorite movies
growing up, some of them we have a hard time watching because it’s about as
emotionally crippling as suggesting, “Hey, want to watch Terms of Endearment
again?” If our parents’ generation wants to know why we seem so desensitized as
a collective whole, it’s because the screenwriters of their generation put us
through the emotional wringers, and that’s not even getting into the movies I’m
about to cover later on in the other part of this list.
