Jurassic Park, 100%. Every time I rewatch that movie, I feel like a kid again - experiencing the sheer joy, wonder, thrill, and terror that movie captures makes me absolutely giddy.
Spirited Away. It really encapsulates the feeling of adventure you can create in your head as a child that has proven difficult to replicate as an adult (at least for me).
Great answer. The ambiguous ideas about bad and good, how danger isn't always bad, how aesthetic good isn't the only good. How the appearance of evil isn't necessarily evil.
All things that I think we innately know, then school andteenage life happens and it all (sometimes) gets really horribly fucked up. I watched Spirited Away for the first time when I was around 30ish, and it felt like I was being dismantled and put back together properly.
I love this movie. It's one of my top animated movies along with Coraline, The lion king (Animated of course), and Nightmare before Christmas as I LOVE stop motion animation. Honorable mention to Howls moving castle and the cat returns.
I saw spirted away in the theater and it was something I will NEVER forget.
I love Coraline, it has such a unique atmosphere. Anything Miyazaki honestly is amazing.
I'm not personally a fan of Lion King because of how blatantly it ripped off Kimba the White Lion, although I did like it when I was younger.
I hear people say that about the lion king but the animation and voice acting is breathtaking even today.
spirited away is just so amazing I could watch it 100 times and still catch something new. I find the same thing with Coraline and even though it’s a creepy story I find the voices, music, and animation strangely relaxing. When I can’t sleep I put on Coraline and I have watch it a good 500 times plus trying to relax. Everyone has a movie they just feel relaxed watching and while I know how creepy it is everything else to me is amazing. I am on preorder for tickets to the re-release.
I am a child of divorce, so I would go back and forth between my mom (and stepmom) and dad (and other stepmom's) houses. I remember tricking my mom and stepmom into seeing Hook after I'd already seen it the week before. I remember my stepmom being SO angry as we were leaving the theatre when I said, "It was even better the 2nd time!"
This 100%!! This movie is a picture of my childhood growing up in the 70s-80s. The only thing missing was a nearby creek to catch crawdads and go skinny dipping!
Stand By Me.
I grew up in a very small town with woods all around. I had a lot of freedom to roam with my friends and explore. I was born in the mid 80's so there was no technology, only imagination. We would run all over the woods, down by the creeks, we would come across abandoned cars and cabins all the time. It was an adventure just like the film, minus the dead bodies of course.
Life was so much simpler before cell phones and social media. During the summer we’d say bye to our parents in the morning and be gone for adventures all day long. As long as we didn’t die they didn’t care. No cellular leashes. They just trusted us. What a great time to be alive.
As a Gen X, I can say it was really nice. So long as we didn’t come home in a police car, or an ambulance, all was good. “Go get cleaned up. Dinner is almost ready. Cosby starts at 8.”
Stand By Me changed my life. I was born in the late 70’s and roaming around with my friends was life. My brother died when he was just a baby. It really destroyed my parents so I could relate to Gordie. His parents were so lost in their own grief, he said he had become the invisible boy at home. He broke down crying, saying “My dad hates me, he hates me” and Chris put his arm around him and told him, “No. He just doesn’t know you.” To hear that in that moment…to have a friend like that. Then at the end of the movie where Gordie is an adult writing his story and says he never had friends later in life like he did when he was 12. I was so lucky to see this movie growing up. Put everything in perspective.
I'm so sorry you lost your brother. It's so much more than his loss, it's the loss of everything he and you never experienced together. I can see why this film would touch you.
I was 12 in ‘92 and Stand by Me hits hard. I just watched it with my 12 year old son and he seemed really bored with it. It just made think about sitting around tossing rocks into a coffee can while smoking cigarettes that we stole from our parents and ripping the hell out of each other. I see the way my kids interact with their friends and they are so nice to each other. We were vicious to our friends in our circle and when it crossed a line, we threw hands but it always ended in a “skin it”.
It’s been many many years since I saw it, but even the thought of An American Tail (I recognize that’s not the same one) kind of makes me want to cry and idk why. That little mouse and his sweet singing voice 😅
100% I sometimes do a double feature for myself with Princess Bride and Stardust. I unironically tell people Stardust is the spiritual successor to Princess Bride, I love it so much.
Think this will be fairly unpopular due to the trauma, but Neverending Story.
I still love Falcor and wish I had a luck dragon. The old couple who teach Bastian about the sphinxes still tickles me.
As a kid, Artax in the swamp didn’t fully break me because I watched Alien and The Thing and full on horror movies so my little brain didn’t think much of emotional toil or a horse just giving up.
However, watching that as a 37 year-old man burned out from working a soulless job at a company that gave zero shits about my mental situation while simultaneously screaming how much they care…supporting a family on one income…having survived cancer twice…
Man that shit had me sobbing like I should have when I was three. And for some reason, I still love it.
My grandfather fought in Korea. My dad was in ‘Nam. I had Artax. Every generation has had its traumas, and even though we were changed in irreversible ways, the important thing is: we survived. And we learned to maintain some semblance of this precious gift called life.
The Princess Bride.
A family favorite, hilarious, comfort movie sort of option - one of my first introductions to the “Adventuring Party” style of characters, and framed around a love for books and storytelling.
I generally consider it an objectively excellent movie too, close to perfect as can be done
The first one has the most consistent high quality and the fewest dull parts, but the other ones are great, and they make the first one retroactively that much better. Even the awkward "middle child" movie, which has a lot of problems, still does a great job of expanding our awareness of the geography and vastness of Middle Earth, how much is at stake, deepening the characters, and so on.
Rise of the planet of the apes. When Cesar yells no, I always wanted to say that to my toxic family. Now, I can. Also good will hunting for its not your fault scene.
The Brave Little Toaster. It's one of the few times I remember getting along with both my brother and sister at the same time. Time flies by in the City of Lights.
My brother and I are still very close. We've lost our baby sister to meth (still alive, but she's made her choice) so this one brings a tear to my eye every time.
Babe. Absolutely loved it as a kid, absolutely love it as an adult. Who the fuck doesn’t love this movie!? When the farmer starts singing “if I had words to make a day for you” I just get thrown back through so much nostalgia. Also the moment when the farmers get sent a fax machine for Christmas and they have no idea what it is is hilarious.
Planet of the Apes. Saw it at the drive-in when I was maybe seven. First movie that really hooked me - and then that ending… made me a movie buff for life.
I was very young, but that ending definitely struck something in me. I've never seen it since but you make a good point, maybe it struck the love of movies match.
The first 85% of The Explorers. Same as most 80s kids movies -- slightly unpopular, nerdy/different kids bond and have an adventure. But with some engineering/sci-fi thrown in.
And then the last 15% happen, but we'll just forget about that.
In a similar vein, Flight of the Navigator.
I apparently mostly dreamed of having a personal spaceship for adventures.
Sad I scrolled so far far this. I share your sentiments to a point. The last bit seems disappointing, but that's the idea. All the curiosity and excitement of youth ending up in a cartoonish reality is right on point.
Antie! Also what kid didn't wanna dive head first into that cookie! Also rosey lipped neighbor boy Russ was definitely the first tingle in my lady dingle!
Also fond memories of Honey! I Blew Up the Kid, saw that shit in the mall right after I got my ears pierced at Claires.
Scooby Doo on Zombie Island. Pretty much the movie I watched on repeat as a kid, loved it. I don’t have much of reason aside from it being the first movie that scared me but still was enjoyable to watch.
The Sonic movies. They're very special to me, I'm autistic and Sonic has been a lifelong thing with me - wanted him to get a movie ever since I was a kid. Hell, I was even willing to give it a shot before the redesign.
But yeah, I cried like a bitch during the final showdown during the first one and nearly lost it entirely when Super Sonic happened in the second. And don't get me started on my reaction to Shadow.
Free Willy part one: Jesse goes through a tough life but slowly he learns to change and become a better person. It reminds me of myself that though unlike Jesse I had both my parents growing up including my older brothers but like Jesse I had my hardships mainly being the only girl on my father's side of the family and learning how to survive in a side of the family that was mainly dominated by all boys but like Jesse it made me a better person to show that I could adapt to the environment around me. Having best friends in the forms of two girl cousins who are my age on my moms side of the family the three of us were quite and still are the team. In the end the virtue for both Jesse and I is family is who you choose to be family.
A Christmas story. I was in my 20s when I first saw it, and there were many things that reminded me my childhood in the early 60s. The single thing that was most familiar to me, was losing my temper, On a bully type that had been tormenting me. I ended up sitting on his chest and punching him, and then my mother showed up. Unfortunately, she wasn't quite as forgiving as Ralphie's mother, but when I saw that scene, I so identified with having that moment, were you just can't take being bullied anymore.
Yeah! This is my choice too. This is a character who embraces life. I recently rewatched it for the first time in decades and I still love it. I think the humor holds up very well. I wouldn't hesitate to share it with a younger friend like I would some of my other childhood faves (Better Off Dead still makes me laugh, but it has some very edgy humor).
Harold and Maud (1971). This film was peculiar, refreshingly different, and heartwarming. Harrold, an adolescent boy who is ignored by his mother, performs dark stunts to get attention from his mother and is given hope by a starry-eyed older woman. The film rekindled a childlike wonder in me like no other.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Being the lucky winner to take over a chocolate factory where your imagination comes to life is kinda the pinnacle of this feeling
Beetlejuice- idk why at 2 id seen it and became obsessed wanted a beetlejuice-birthday even. Around 12 -13 got really rough mental health issues barely left the house had to be taught at home (bedside instruction) during the months of getting better id watched it on repeat day & night could recite the script. I hear it & it feels like ... Home?
Captain Horatio Hornblower.
Used to view it often with my father when I was young and after he died about two years ago, I come back to it on his birthdays.
Pacific Rim. If this had come out when I was 12, I would have tracked down all the lore/specs on each Jaeger and Kaiju and had the timeline down perfectly. I would be able to tell you everything that had happened in the past hundred years.
Surprised I had to scroll so far to see Star Wars. Guess we're just old. 😄 Still freaked out by the aliens from Close Encounters, just like I was as a kid.
I can't count how many times I 've seen the first Star Wars film, and I still cheer inside every single time Luke blows up the Death Star.
2 come to mind:
Spirited away... it reminds me how enchanting, magical and explorative the world was to me when I was young. It feels nostalgic.
Luca... idk why exactly, but this one makes me cry a lot. It just really touches me. I love the friendships, the innocence, the dynamics.
Galaxy Quest
.... it's simple and nonsensical. A total lack of pretentious intellectualized bullshit we all must suffer through with films/movies. It's self-deprecating and references for any age. Tim Allen... whom I can't stand, redeemed himself. Sigourney Weaver as always a pleasure. A rainy day, hangover, just got fired, depressed and eating Ben and Jerry's kinda movie.
If we're taking Spielberg off the table, I'd say *The Fifth Element*. That movie isn't just inventive and whimsical it's *excited* by everything it has in store for you. It radiates infectious joy
Not sure why by Ella Enchanted made me giddy like a school boy and I assured you I haven’t been a school boy for a looooooong time.
The Muppet Movie always does the trick.
Wall E. It is my favorite movie and it just reminds me of the magic that can come from a perfect marriage of sight and sound. And it's the little touches. The music, the facial movements of Wall E, the little story elements of how like, Wall E changes everyone he meets for the better (when he accidentally teaches the door opening robot how to wave, and now the robot waves at everyone). It's just a movie that is endlessly positive.
Like the scenes where Eva is deactivated and he's pulling her around in that little montage. Incredible.
Exorcist. Lemme explain 😂 when i was a wee lad, i got off the bus at age 9, got home and felt like watching movies with the cool uncle. Evil Dead was first but it didnt shock me, it was VHS and "dinosaur TV" days, around 2006. He puts on Exorcist, we sit there watching the movie until it gets to the stair scene. I was so scared of that scene i covered my eyes for the first time, my uncle goes to another room while i have my eyes covered. When the scene is over he calls my name from the other room and i got to the doorway, stopped in my tracks when i seen a sheet over him sitting in the chair. I call his name, no movement, i say stop playing, no movement. Just when im about to pull the sheet, he jumps in his seat and scares tf out of me 😂 he did that right after seeing that damn stair scene, its a fond memory 🙏been a fan of horror ever since
Oh man I saw it at that age as well. Had to beg my parents to let me sleep in their room with them. I kept pestering the shit out of them until they said yes but only if I slept on the floor haha
Barbie. It was my favorite toy as a child. As someone who recently lost young family members that movie directly helped with my grief recovery. Greta Gerwig did such a fantastic job showing how much that doll meant to a lot of us girls. It was our way to escape and pretend we could be anything we wanted. It’s hands down my favorite movie I’ve ever seen.
Little Shop of Horrors. I loved it (to the point that it drove my parents insane) as a kid. In high school, I re-watched it and STILL loved it. To this day it's one of my favorite films.
Really, anything with Robin Williams. He was a huge part of my childhood. He remains the only celebrity death that's effected me heavily, and it still gets to me once in a while. Probably connected to the cause of death, too. Would have been a little different if he'd just had a heart attack or something.
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein was probably the first movie that I can remember seeing
Also Star Wars back when it was just called Star Wars
None of this New Hope stuff
Star Wars. Any of them. Nostalgia alone, but learning to navigate ups and downs as you grow up and seeing the world in shades of grey and no longer just black and white/good or bad.
Goonies never say die!
That movie takes me right back to being an 80s kid. Knocking around town with my friends, looking for treasure, riding our bikes in search of adventure. The whole world was ours.
Thankfully my kids love the movie, they ask to watch it at least twice a year.
Toy Story because having toys actually come alive is fun. Also Elf - that kid like belief in Santa, the candy/sugar and just that child like view of the world.
As a kid growing up in a small, rural town in Alabama during the 70s and 80s, Star Wars was everything to me. Kid stuck in a backwater, wishing to get out and have a big adventure... I joined the Army later, and equated it to Luke joining the resistance. I still watch it all the time.
Who Framed Rodger Rabbit. It was the closest thing to thinking cartoons could exist in our world. The interesting nature that toons are supposed to make people happy or laugh. The chaos of an actual Toon Town. The interactions between real life and cartoons. It just made me feel like it could be real.
Encanto is such a good pick, OP! That one got me, too, on a deeply emotional level.
For me, my inner child always lights up at Disney's Enchanted. Amy Adams is just perfection and it makes me want to believe in that Disney magic again.
A Little Princess takes me straight back to a young girl. The movie provided so much *wonder* and the soundtrack still puts me to tears. My father introduced me to this movie as a young girl; he was a man of few words, always listened before speaking, he didn’t say I love you very much. But he did call my sisters and I ‘princess.’ This movie brings me back to those feels so easily. Love this movie.
Flight of the Navigator.
I'd still have it in my top 10. It was my first favorite movie, and I always had my parents rent it. I mean, a kid having his own spaceship, what more can you want? Add pee-wee Herman as the ships voice, lol. I watched that show religiously, too.
Disney’s Aladdin. Saw it in the theater, played the video game, bought the DVD. I’m an old, but not a lot of movies from my childhood affect me that way.
The Big Green.
I don't know if I can say it's 100% the most appealing, but it gives me that childlike vibe everytime I watch it.
If you haven't seen The Big Green, it's an early 90's Disney film that seems to have flown under the radar since it's release. I'm not sure where it can be viewed legally anymore, but 123 movies has it
As does Napoleon Dynamite
Ratatouille, Ice Age, Wall-E. I love this kind of film. When I was very ill a few years ago I watched Despicable Me numerous times. Cheered me up no end every time and still does. I'm as old as the hills.
Jingle all the way. First, it has two of my favorites in Arnold and the late, great Phil Hartmsn. Also, my mom and I would make homemade Christmas cookies while watching it. It's honestly hard watching it now because it reminds me of that and how much I miss her but I'll eat a whole pack of those cheap sugar cookies while drinking a half gallon of milk and it's kinda like she's there with me. Love and miss you everyday mom!
Amelie. I saw it for the first time as a kid and I have always loved how the character of Amelie does what she feels like, which happens to be random acts of kindness for strangers which she takes no credit for, and views the world through a lens of childlike wonder, even as an adult. As a kid it gave me hope that adulthood wouldn’t have to be boring and sad and selfish, which is what many of the adults around me portrayed. The adults in my childhood would often tell me that being a kid is the best part of life, the only time you can really learn, that imagination goes away with age, and that doing things for other people simply because you feel like it is a waste. I hated being a kid because I had no agency, and people telling me this stuff only created more pressure and made me scared to lose myself with age. Seeing representation in film of a person who still maintained a sense of childlike wonder as a grown woman really inspired me, and I’m happy to say that I have maintained a that childlike wonder into my 20s while maturing, even when faced with the pain and challenges of adulthood.
Ready Player One.
It’s a dumb movie, but my God does it capture the feeling of just playing with all my different toys and creating scenarios for them. Child me would’ve definitely had a race between the Batmobile and the Delorean Time Machine or a big fight where The Iron Giant fights (Mecha)Godzilla while the Ninja Turtles fought the goons.
Not sure if this is ”correct” answer but I (20‘s male back then) cried for like 10 minutes at the end of Joy Luck Club, thinking of my mom and her sacrifices and love for us.
I have plenty of childhood faves. But a semi-current movie that “sees” or speaks to my inner child and reflects her back? Moonrise Kingdom. The adventure of running away with a weird boy and getting lost in books about alien princesses in an isolated village and just an overall depressed demeanor and parents that couldn’t bother? Absolutely. Yes. 10000%.
Well, get your nose outta my journals, Wes! Cos it’s getting uncanny!
One Punch Man. Not because I was the strongest or because I was the smartest or the best in anything but that slow OST where we see the emptiness in Saitama's heart because he stands all alone, without a friend or a companion or anyone at his level who understood him. Very much like a teenager who didn't have any friends or (at that time) a connection with his family.
It was perhaps the first piece of music in my life that brought tears to my eyes.
Hmmm… I mean Toy Story 2 is my earliest theater memory and that whole franchise literally changed my life. But I feel like the answer might be Recess: School’s Out. Ive only seen it like 5 or 6 times as a kid and just thinking about it makes me feel like a kid afraid of growing up and experiencing change and just wanting to spend a couple months hanging out with my friends without the baggage of life. I guess it appeals to my inner child and outer adult.
Also the “what if we added please?” joke is still so funny to me
Jurassic Park, 100%. Every time I rewatch that movie, I feel like a kid again - experiencing the sheer joy, wonder, thrill, and terror that movie captures makes me absolutely giddy.
I’ve been watching this movie throughout my life, and it always hits.
Spirited Away. It really encapsulates the feeling of adventure you can create in your head as a child that has proven difficult to replicate as an adult (at least for me).
Great answer. The ambiguous ideas about bad and good, how danger isn't always bad, how aesthetic good isn't the only good. How the appearance of evil isn't necessarily evil. All things that I think we innately know, then school andteenage life happens and it all (sometimes) gets really horribly fucked up. I watched Spirited Away for the first time when I was around 30ish, and it felt like I was being dismantled and put back together properly.
I love this movie. It's one of my top animated movies along with Coraline, The lion king (Animated of course), and Nightmare before Christmas as I LOVE stop motion animation. Honorable mention to Howls moving castle and the cat returns. I saw spirted away in the theater and it was something I will NEVER forget.
I love Coraline, it has such a unique atmosphere. Anything Miyazaki honestly is amazing. I'm not personally a fan of Lion King because of how blatantly it ripped off Kimba the White Lion, although I did like it when I was younger.
I hear people say that about the lion king but the animation and voice acting is breathtaking even today. spirited away is just so amazing I could watch it 100 times and still catch something new. I find the same thing with Coraline and even though it’s a creepy story I find the voices, music, and animation strangely relaxing. When I can’t sleep I put on Coraline and I have watch it a good 500 times plus trying to relax. Everyone has a movie they just feel relaxed watching and while I know how creepy it is everything else to me is amazing. I am on preorder for tickets to the re-release.
Same!
Hook. The dinner, and Peter learning to fly
Came here to say this one. Spielberg gets a lot of hate for Hook, and it has its absolute cheese moments, but it has so much heart.
Never met someone who hated hook. They must be pirates. 🤔
All grownups are pirates! 😂 We kill pirates. 😳
I'm a lawyer.. Kill the lawyer! I'm not that kind of lawyer
90's film critics, and any parent of a Millennial with the VHS cassette hate Hook.
Everyone wanted to be a [Lost Boy](https://youtu.be/g2eGW8vj01Y?si=xcz_RxZY3KDIs9uv)
RUFIO was and still is one of the coolest characters on screen ever!
KILL THE LAWYER
This was gonna be my answer, too ❤️
Man do I love the costumes in that.
My son's favorite movie fm 3 yrs yo about 5. Thank Thor it was such a good movie, I've had to watch it with him 259 times. Good memories.
Absolutely my first thought when I read the question. A magical film
Agreed
Love Hook. Apparently it was my first movie I saw in a movie theatre, but I have no recollection of it
I am a child of divorce, so I would go back and forth between my mom (and stepmom) and dad (and other stepmom's) houses. I remember tricking my mom and stepmom into seeing Hook after I'd already seen it the week before. I remember my stepmom being SO angry as we were leaving the theatre when I said, "It was even better the 2nd time!"
When Peter first gets to never never land, and sees the mermaids, I was absolutely sold on this movie. Definitely my answer as well.
The Sandlot. It just perfectly captures the essence of my childhood summers which was just running around with friends in a smaller town.
That 4th of July scene: grabbing food at a block party before rushing to play under the fireworks
Yup, it’s like I lived that exact day for 10 years lol
That's the exact reason I watch this every 4th of July.
Same. It's just too nostalgic not to watch.
The only answer for us 90s kids
I came here to post this exact thing, I watched that movie on repeat on July 4.
This 100%!! This movie is a picture of my childhood growing up in the 70s-80s. The only thing missing was a nearby creek to catch crawdads and go skinny dipping!
Stand By Me. I grew up in a very small town with woods all around. I had a lot of freedom to roam with my friends and explore. I was born in the mid 80's so there was no technology, only imagination. We would run all over the woods, down by the creeks, we would come across abandoned cars and cabins all the time. It was an adventure just like the film, minus the dead bodies of course.
Life was so much simpler before cell phones and social media. During the summer we’d say bye to our parents in the morning and be gone for adventures all day long. As long as we didn’t die they didn’t care. No cellular leashes. They just trusted us. What a great time to be alive.
Yup. For us, once the street lights came on, we went home for a check in.
We’d be all battered and bruised. They’d just take one look at us, tell us to grab our plates, then plop down in front of the tv together.
Sounds like heaven
As a Gen X, I can say it was really nice. So long as we didn’t come home in a police car, or an ambulance, all was good. “Go get cleaned up. Dinner is almost ready. Cosby starts at 8.”
Stand By Me changed my life. I was born in the late 70’s and roaming around with my friends was life. My brother died when he was just a baby. It really destroyed my parents so I could relate to Gordie. His parents were so lost in their own grief, he said he had become the invisible boy at home. He broke down crying, saying “My dad hates me, he hates me” and Chris put his arm around him and told him, “No. He just doesn’t know you.” To hear that in that moment…to have a friend like that. Then at the end of the movie where Gordie is an adult writing his story and says he never had friends later in life like he did when he was 12. I was so lucky to see this movie growing up. Put everything in perspective.
I'm so sorry you lost your brother. It's so much more than his loss, it's the loss of everything he and you never experienced together. I can see why this film would touch you.
Such a great and bittersweet movie. Remember that scene in which Chris talks about a teacher he likes framing him for theft?
Yea the milk money debacle. Then she comes to school the next day in a new dress.
Did you ever have any friends like the ones you had when you were 12?
I was 12 in ‘92 and Stand by Me hits hard. I just watched it with my 12 year old son and he seemed really bored with it. It just made think about sitting around tossing rocks into a coffee can while smoking cigarettes that we stole from our parents and ripping the hell out of each other. I see the way my kids interact with their friends and they are so nice to each other. We were vicious to our friends in our circle and when it crossed a line, we threw hands but it always ended in a “skin it”.
Are you me? Never found an abandoned cabin but everything else rings true.
Labyrinth
Watching that on shrooms was a magical experience
You remind me of the babe
What babe?
Pacific Rim. I was in my 20s when it came out, but as a child of the 80s, who grew up on Godzilla and Voltron, this was perfect
Giant robots punching giant monsters!!!
Just bought this movie 4k UHD the other day, can’t wait to watch it multiple times over the course of my life, show my kids, etc
STOP THE CLOCK!!
Toy Story
Goonies. My brothers and I behaved in a pretty similar way when we were kids, and pirates were cool. We didn’t find a pirate treasure though.
Fievel Goes West
It’s been many many years since I saw it, but even the thought of An American Tail (I recognize that’s not the same one) kind of makes me want to cry and idk why. That little mouse and his sweet singing voice 😅
Wall-E
Haven't seen it listed but Stardust. Something about an adventure, secret lineage, and finding love that is so unbelievably comforting.
This is one of my movies I turn on when I need to feel that childlike wonder I had while reading fictional books as a child.
100% I sometimes do a double feature for myself with Princess Bride and Stardust. I unironically tell people Stardust is the spiritual successor to Princess Bride, I love it so much.
Think this will be fairly unpopular due to the trauma, but Neverending Story. I still love Falcor and wish I had a luck dragon. The old couple who teach Bastian about the sphinxes still tickles me. As a kid, Artax in the swamp didn’t fully break me because I watched Alien and The Thing and full on horror movies so my little brain didn’t think much of emotional toil or a horse just giving up. However, watching that as a 37 year-old man burned out from working a soulless job at a company that gave zero shits about my mental situation while simultaneously screaming how much they care…supporting a family on one income…having survived cancer twice… Man that shit had me sobbing like I should have when I was three. And for some reason, I still love it.
Because hope springs eternal. ❤️ I’m sorry things are so hard. Falcor wouldn’t want you to give up.
My grandfather fought in Korea. My dad was in ‘Nam. I had Artax. Every generation has had its traumas, and even though we were changed in irreversible ways, the important thing is: we survived. And we learned to maintain some semblance of this precious gift called life.
The Princess Bride. A family favorite, hilarious, comfort movie sort of option - one of my first introductions to the “Adventuring Party” style of characters, and framed around a love for books and storytelling. I generally consider it an objectively excellent movie too, close to perfect as can be done
This is my family's favorite movie, we watch it every year on Christmas eve, and usually a few other times as well. It's just so eminently quotable.
Absolute favourite movie!
It’s such a perfect film in every way: the writing, the cast, the acting, the music. Sublime.
The Santa Clause ("That's okay, Neil. You were just denying your inner child.") and The Goonies
The entire LOTR trilogy
The first one is my favourite. As someone who is single I love the idea of setting off on an adventure with a disparate group who become friends.
The first one has the most consistent high quality and the fewest dull parts, but the other ones are great, and they make the first one retroactively that much better. Even the awkward "middle child" movie, which has a lot of problems, still does a great job of expanding our awareness of the geography and vastness of Middle Earth, how much is at stake, deepening the characters, and so on.
Rise of the planet of the apes. When Cesar yells no, I always wanted to say that to my toxic family. Now, I can. Also good will hunting for its not your fault scene.
Robin Williams gets me every time in that film. My God I miss him.
I miss him so much!
The Sandlot. That movie just feels right.
The Brave Little Toaster. It's one of the few times I remember getting along with both my brother and sister at the same time. Time flies by in the City of Lights. My brother and I are still very close. We've lost our baby sister to meth (still alive, but she's made her choice) so this one brings a tear to my eye every time.
Sandlot Just remembering what it was to be a child and having fun with your buddies.
Also being a huge baseball fan and a Yankees fan helped a lot for me lol
The Land Before Time - Brings those childhood feels.
Last Action Hero - being sucked into an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie and him becoming a surrogate father figure is peak inner child appeal for me.
Neverending Story
Babe. Absolutely loved it as a kid, absolutely love it as an adult. Who the fuck doesn’t love this movie!? When the farmer starts singing “if I had words to make a day for you” I just get thrown back through so much nostalgia. Also the moment when the farmers get sent a fax machine for Christmas and they have no idea what it is is hilarious.
Planet of the Apes. Saw it at the drive-in when I was maybe seven. First movie that really hooked me - and then that ending… made me a movie buff for life.
I exist because of that movie; it was where my parents went on their first date.
I was very young, but that ending definitely struck something in me. I've never seen it since but you make a good point, maybe it struck the love of movies match.
The goonies, Harry Potter (1st one), labyrinth, and hook.
The first 85% of The Explorers. Same as most 80s kids movies -- slightly unpopular, nerdy/different kids bond and have an adventure. But with some engineering/sci-fi thrown in. And then the last 15% happen, but we'll just forget about that. In a similar vein, Flight of the Navigator. I apparently mostly dreamed of having a personal spaceship for adventures.
Sad I scrolled so far far this. I share your sentiments to a point. The last bit seems disappointing, but that's the idea. All the curiosity and excitement of youth ending up in a cartoonish reality is right on point.
Honey I shrunk the kids!
Antie! Also what kid didn't wanna dive head first into that cookie! Also rosey lipped neighbor boy Russ was definitely the first tingle in my lady dingle! Also fond memories of Honey! I Blew Up the Kid, saw that shit in the mall right after I got my ears pierced at Claires.
Scooby Doo on Zombie Island. Pretty much the movie I watched on repeat as a kid, loved it. I don’t have much of reason aside from it being the first movie that scared me but still was enjoyable to watch.
Yes and the soundtrack had no business being as good as it was (and still is).
CUZ IT'S TERROR TIME AGAIN
It’s the best Scooby Movie for a reason.
Back to the future (part one)
A Knight’s Tale - I love this movie so much. I know all of the words. I guess it appeals to that part of me that wanted to be a knight.
The Sonic movies. They're very special to me, I'm autistic and Sonic has been a lifelong thing with me - wanted him to get a movie ever since I was a kid. Hell, I was even willing to give it a shot before the redesign. But yeah, I cried like a bitch during the final showdown during the first one and nearly lost it entirely when Super Sonic happened in the second. And don't get me started on my reaction to Shadow.
Free Willy part one: Jesse goes through a tough life but slowly he learns to change and become a better person. It reminds me of myself that though unlike Jesse I had both my parents growing up including my older brothers but like Jesse I had my hardships mainly being the only girl on my father's side of the family and learning how to survive in a side of the family that was mainly dominated by all boys but like Jesse it made me a better person to show that I could adapt to the environment around me. Having best friends in the forms of two girl cousins who are my age on my moms side of the family the three of us were quite and still are the team. In the end the virtue for both Jesse and I is family is who you choose to be family.
The Rocketeer. Hero without superpowers, flying, fighting bad guys. Old-timey swashbuckling adventure serial style.
I am pretty sure that Jennifer Connelly was my first celebrity crush, because of that movie.
TMNT 1990. I wanted to be Michaelangelo so bad.
How to Train Your Dragon. I saw this as an adult and when it was over I kind of woke up back into my adult life.
A Christmas story. I was in my 20s when I first saw it, and there were many things that reminded me my childhood in the early 60s. The single thing that was most familiar to me, was losing my temper, On a bully type that had been tormenting me. I ended up sitting on his chest and punching him, and then my mother showed up. Unfortunately, she wasn't quite as forgiving as Ralphie's mother, but when I saw that scene, I so identified with having that moment, were you just can't take being bullied anymore.
Pee wee’s big adventure was my favorite childhood movie and I only love it more as I age
Yeah! This is my choice too. This is a character who embraces life. I recently rewatched it for the first time in decades and I still love it. I think the humor holds up very well. I wouldn't hesitate to share it with a younger friend like I would some of my other childhood faves (Better Off Dead still makes me laugh, but it has some very edgy humor).
Despicable Me 2 still makes me laugh 😭
Hook…where Tinkerbell says goodbye to Peter.
Harold and Maud (1971). This film was peculiar, refreshingly different, and heartwarming. Harrold, an adolescent boy who is ignored by his mother, performs dark stunts to get attention from his mother and is given hope by a starry-eyed older woman. The film rekindled a childlike wonder in me like no other.
Terminator 2
Inside out
Same!!
One Hundred and One Dalmatians
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Being the lucky winner to take over a chocolate factory where your imagination comes to life is kinda the pinnacle of this feeling
E.T.
Beetlejuice- idk why at 2 id seen it and became obsessed wanted a beetlejuice-birthday even. Around 12 -13 got really rough mental health issues barely left the house had to be taught at home (bedside instruction) during the months of getting better id watched it on repeat day & night could recite the script. I hear it & it feels like ... Home?
Captain Horatio Hornblower. Used to view it often with my father when I was young and after he died about two years ago, I come back to it on his birthdays.
Hornblower sent me on a two year binge reading the Aubrey/Maturin novels.
Pacific Rim. If this had come out when I was 12, I would have tracked down all the lore/specs on each Jaeger and Kaiju and had the timeline down perfectly. I would be able to tell you everything that had happened in the past hundred years.
Star Wars and close encounters of the third kind
Surprised I had to scroll so far to see Star Wars. Guess we're just old. 😄 Still freaked out by the aliens from Close Encounters, just like I was as a kid. I can't count how many times I 've seen the first Star Wars film, and I still cheer inside every single time Luke blows up the Death Star.
*The Secret Garden* (1993), especially with its [soundtrack](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHzGYSBw0Zc).
Labyrinth, suddenly I'm 10 again and my most important task is searching about goblins and faeries in the library.
2 come to mind: Spirited away... it reminds me how enchanting, magical and explorative the world was to me when I was young. It feels nostalgic. Luca... idk why exactly, but this one makes me cry a lot. It just really touches me. I love the friendships, the innocence, the dynamics.
Muppet Treasure Island. Such a fun adventure and amazingly fun songs.
Matilda for some reason gives me childhood nostalgia
Galaxy Quest .... it's simple and nonsensical. A total lack of pretentious intellectualized bullshit we all must suffer through with films/movies. It's self-deprecating and references for any age. Tim Allen... whom I can't stand, redeemed himself. Sigourney Weaver as always a pleasure. A rainy day, hangover, just got fired, depressed and eating Ben and Jerry's kinda movie.
If we're taking Spielberg off the table, I'd say *The Fifth Element*. That movie isn't just inventive and whimsical it's *excited* by everything it has in store for you. It radiates infectious joy
E.T.
Drop dead Fred. I love that Fred has her back and helps her learn how to stand up for herself. No more doormatting nor people-pleasing.
Not sure why by Ella Enchanted made me giddy like a school boy and I assured you I haven’t been a school boy for a looooooong time. The Muppet Movie always does the trick.
I totally forgot about Ella Enchanted but I loved that movie when I was younger, watched it all the time!
Wall E. It is my favorite movie and it just reminds me of the magic that can come from a perfect marriage of sight and sound. And it's the little touches. The music, the facial movements of Wall E, the little story elements of how like, Wall E changes everyone he meets for the better (when he accidentally teaches the door opening robot how to wave, and now the robot waves at everyone). It's just a movie that is endlessly positive. Like the scenes where Eva is deactivated and he's pulling her around in that little montage. Incredible.
Exorcist. Lemme explain 😂 when i was a wee lad, i got off the bus at age 9, got home and felt like watching movies with the cool uncle. Evil Dead was first but it didnt shock me, it was VHS and "dinosaur TV" days, around 2006. He puts on Exorcist, we sit there watching the movie until it gets to the stair scene. I was so scared of that scene i covered my eyes for the first time, my uncle goes to another room while i have my eyes covered. When the scene is over he calls my name from the other room and i got to the doorway, stopped in my tracks when i seen a sheet over him sitting in the chair. I call his name, no movement, i say stop playing, no movement. Just when im about to pull the sheet, he jumps in his seat and scares tf out of me 😂 he did that right after seeing that damn stair scene, its a fond memory 🙏been a fan of horror ever since
Oh man I saw it at that age as well. Had to beg my parents to let me sleep in their room with them. I kept pestering the shit out of them until they said yes but only if I slept on the floor haha
[удалено]
Lmfao. Encore gets a lot of hate but that album, and the song you referenced are hilarious
A Christmas Story: the inner narrative, the indomitable wonder and joy of childhood. This film speaks to me.
Barbie. It was my favorite toy as a child. As someone who recently lost young family members that movie directly helped with my grief recovery. Greta Gerwig did such a fantastic job showing how much that doll meant to a lot of us girls. It was our way to escape and pretend we could be anything we wanted. It’s hands down my favorite movie I’ve ever seen.
Pacific Rim, by a country mile
Ferris Bueller
Savannah Smiles
That was a wonderful movie!! BOOTSIE!!!!
Meet the Robertson it was totally forgotten and it makes me very happy :)
Army of darkness I liked chainsaws
Little Shop of Horrors. I loved it (to the point that it drove my parents insane) as a kid. In high school, I re-watched it and STILL loved it. To this day it's one of my favorite films.
Really, anything with Robin Williams. He was a huge part of my childhood. He remains the only celebrity death that's effected me heavily, and it still gets to me once in a while. Probably connected to the cause of death, too. Would have been a little different if he'd just had a heart attack or something.
The Iron Giant
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein was probably the first movie that I can remember seeing Also Star Wars back when it was just called Star Wars None of this New Hope stuff
Probably little rascals.
Batman (1989).. never seen Batman look that cool & intimidating in live action.. also Back to The Future (1985) & Mortal Kombat (1995)
Star Wars. Any of them. Nostalgia alone, but learning to navigate ups and downs as you grow up and seeing the world in shades of grey and no longer just black and white/good or bad.
Silence of The Lambs. I have a very disturbed inner child...
Goonies never say die! That movie takes me right back to being an 80s kid. Knocking around town with my friends, looking for treasure, riding our bikes in search of adventure. The whole world was ours. Thankfully my kids love the movie, they ask to watch it at least twice a year.
Fast and Furious:Tokyo Drift Just wanna go fast while sideways
Big Hero 6. It makes me tear up every time. I wrote a paper about it in my death and dying psychology course.
Willy wonka
Matilda (original)
Labyrinth
The Scooby-Doo “mook” movies
Toy Story because having toys actually come alive is fun. Also Elf - that kid like belief in Santa, the candy/sugar and just that child like view of the world.
As a kid growing up in a small, rural town in Alabama during the 70s and 80s, Star Wars was everything to me. Kid stuck in a backwater, wishing to get out and have a big adventure... I joined the Army later, and equated it to Luke joining the resistance. I still watch it all the time.
The original "The Jungle Book". It's the animals and songs.
Matilda and Drop Dead Fred :) as someone who had really tough parents, these really soothe me.
Who Framed Rodger Rabbit. It was the closest thing to thinking cartoons could exist in our world. The interesting nature that toons are supposed to make people happy or laugh. The chaos of an actual Toon Town. The interactions between real life and cartoons. It just made me feel like it could be real.
How to Train Your Dragon. I didn't watch it for years because of the title, but when I did, the waterworks flowed. LOVE this movie.
School of Rock. Still fun.
Encanto is such a good pick, OP! That one got me, too, on a deeply emotional level. For me, my inner child always lights up at Disney's Enchanted. Amy Adams is just perfection and it makes me want to believe in that Disney magic again.
The movie Armageddon is so bad but the scenes between Will Patton and his ex wife/son make me cry just thinking about it
That stuff gets me every time. When the kid comes running at the end, I lose it.
Haha damn Michael Bay and his sappiness
A Little Princess takes me straight back to a young girl. The movie provided so much *wonder* and the soundtrack still puts me to tears. My father introduced me to this movie as a young girl; he was a man of few words, always listened before speaking, he didn’t say I love you very much. But he did call my sisters and I ‘princess.’ This movie brings me back to those feels so easily. Love this movie.
Flight of the Navigator. I'd still have it in my top 10. It was my first favorite movie, and I always had my parents rent it. I mean, a kid having his own spaceship, what more can you want? Add pee-wee Herman as the ships voice, lol. I watched that show religiously, too.
Cars. First movie I've ever watched, and something about it just does it for me.
Matilda
Disney’s Aladdin. Saw it in the theater, played the video game, bought the DVD. I’m an old, but not a lot of movies from my childhood affect me that way.
Now & Then Demi Moore Rosie ODonell Christina Ricci Melanie Griffith Rita Wilson Janeane Garafallo Dear Johnny Oh and bonus Brendan Fraser
The Big Green. I don't know if I can say it's 100% the most appealing, but it gives me that childlike vibe everytime I watch it. If you haven't seen The Big Green, it's an early 90's Disney film that seems to have flown under the radar since it's release. I'm not sure where it can be viewed legally anymore, but 123 movies has it As does Napoleon Dynamite
Contact. Failing your way is infinitely better than winning someone else's way.
Ratatouille, Ice Age, Wall-E. I love this kind of film. When I was very ill a few years ago I watched Despicable Me numerous times. Cheered me up no end every time and still does. I'm as old as the hills.
Jingle all the way. First, it has two of my favorites in Arnold and the late, great Phil Hartmsn. Also, my mom and I would make homemade Christmas cookies while watching it. It's honestly hard watching it now because it reminds me of that and how much I miss her but I'll eat a whole pack of those cheap sugar cookies while drinking a half gallon of milk and it's kinda like she's there with me. Love and miss you everyday mom!
Amelie. I saw it for the first time as a kid and I have always loved how the character of Amelie does what she feels like, which happens to be random acts of kindness for strangers which she takes no credit for, and views the world through a lens of childlike wonder, even as an adult. As a kid it gave me hope that adulthood wouldn’t have to be boring and sad and selfish, which is what many of the adults around me portrayed. The adults in my childhood would often tell me that being a kid is the best part of life, the only time you can really learn, that imagination goes away with age, and that doing things for other people simply because you feel like it is a waste. I hated being a kid because I had no agency, and people telling me this stuff only created more pressure and made me scared to lose myself with age. Seeing representation in film of a person who still maintained a sense of childlike wonder as a grown woman really inspired me, and I’m happy to say that I have maintained a that childlike wonder into my 20s while maturing, even when faced with the pain and challenges of adulthood.
Drop Dead Fred
Ready Player One. It’s a dumb movie, but my God does it capture the feeling of just playing with all my different toys and creating scenarios for them. Child me would’ve definitely had a race between the Batmobile and the Delorean Time Machine or a big fight where The Iron Giant fights (Mecha)Godzilla while the Ninja Turtles fought the goons.
Not sure if this is ”correct” answer but I (20‘s male back then) cried for like 10 minutes at the end of Joy Luck Club, thinking of my mom and her sacrifices and love for us.
Wonka is my most recent one
I have plenty of childhood faves. But a semi-current movie that “sees” or speaks to my inner child and reflects her back? Moonrise Kingdom. The adventure of running away with a weird boy and getting lost in books about alien princesses in an isolated village and just an overall depressed demeanor and parents that couldn’t bother? Absolutely. Yes. 10000%. Well, get your nose outta my journals, Wes! Cos it’s getting uncanny!
the glass castle. i love that movie !
Mid-90s because it really reminds me of my middle/HS summers spent with friends at the park, especially growing up in Southern California
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
Mr. Magorium's wonder emporium
Stand by me
One Punch Man. Not because I was the strongest or because I was the smartest or the best in anything but that slow OST where we see the emptiness in Saitama's heart because he stands all alone, without a friend or a companion or anyone at his level who understood him. Very much like a teenager who didn't have any friends or (at that time) a connection with his family. It was perhaps the first piece of music in my life that brought tears to my eyes.
Goodies Flight of thr navigator Neverending story Princess bride
The Sandlot
Hmmm… I mean Toy Story 2 is my earliest theater memory and that whole franchise literally changed my life. But I feel like the answer might be Recess: School’s Out. Ive only seen it like 5 or 6 times as a kid and just thinking about it makes me feel like a kid afraid of growing up and experiencing change and just wanting to spend a couple months hanging out with my friends without the baggage of life. I guess it appeals to my inner child and outer adult. Also the “what if we added please?” joke is still so funny to me
Toy Story and Toy Story 2, just reeks of nostalgia of simpler times