The kids were clamouring for a film last night, so I had a think and rather than put on one of the million CGI/cartoon films they have, put on The Princess Bride. They were enthralled, silent for 2 hours and one of them even woke me up at 5:15 this morning with a whole heap of questions about it (btw Harrison, I hope you're an early riser ).

The film was a lot better that the current-day films they watch, and it also had some much darker tones (at least 2 people are killed in it...and one was "only mostly dead"...), and I realised the 80's kids films were often a lot darker - remember the scene in the Despair Swamp in Neverending Story? The kid has been given a magical amulet so that the feelings he gets in the Despair Swamp don't overwhelm him...and when he goes through, after a while his horse just stops in the middle of the swamp and starts to sink because it's become overwhelmed by despair, and he stands there trying to pull it out, and in the end it just gently sinks beneath the surface? Disturbing. Even The Black Cauldron which was a Disney one - the main evil person was an undead overlord, raising an army by re-animating corpses!

Anyway, you just don't get that sort of thing nowadays, so I was wondering what other great 80's children's films they should be watching? Neverending Story obviously, probably The Goonies (I was never really a fan of that one) - what else?
[Reply]

You can't go wrong with Labyrinth or Dark Crystal but The Goonies is an absolute must. Kids films nowadays are either too sickly sweet or too violent and formulaic (using The Goonies as the template).
[Reply]

Or with modern "family" films that are overly American and too religious, which I hate.

Dark Crystal and Labyrinth were definitely 2 great films, and both are quite dark.

And Goonies was great. How can you not love that?

What about Gremlins and Ghostbusters?

And why not try to introduce them to some Sci-Fi at an early age? The original Superman is still a brilliant film enjoyed by all ages. I remember seeing it at the cinema in 1978, so must have only been 4-5 years old. Same with Star Wars of the same year.
[Reply]

Labyrinth and Neverending Story will always be in my mind for ever, i loved them. I must saw them again.
I never saw Dark Crystal, i must check that one. Is that a nice movie?
[Reply]

Dark Crystal is an amazing film. It used a lot of puppetry by Jim Henson, including some of the main characters and it works really well. Great story too. you will like it.
[Reply]

Back to the Future? Depends how old the kids are, there can be many, as Harrison mentioned, I saw Star Wars in 1977 (probably in 1978 here in Luxembourg) in the cinema when I was 7 years old, and I was so thrilled and amazed that it straight away became my number one movie.

Don't watch E.T., I was really disappointed when I saw it as a kid, perhaps it's good for girls.
[Reply]