What Was Your Favorite Film As a Kid?

Jumanji Starring Robin WilliamsGuest blogger Anna Työrinoja writes:

As some of you might now, I often hail the praises to the ’90s as the best time period of film (or at least its kicking of the ’70s, ’80s and ’00s’ behinds). But then you remember ridonculous stuff like this.

Jumanji was absolutely my favourite as a bright eyed six-year-old. It was one of those rare films that I had on VHS, and would watch time and time again until the actual tape broke. It’s interesting how as a kid you didn’t really mind how long you could watch your favorite film. Whether it was the first, the middle or the last 15 minutes, you’d be dead excited anyways. I’ve grown up to be one of those people that can’t watch a film on TV if it’s already started a minute ago, and even missing the trailers at the cinema makes me uncomfortable.

But I do believe that the films you see as a kid shape how you feel about certain types of movies growing older; it lays the basis of your enthusiasm and taste. I for one, blame my film-watching habits as a kid on my obsession on sci-fi and comic books. I was very young when I first watched the original Star Wars, Batman Returns and Batman Forever (I was also obsessed with the ’60s TV series Batman; if you haven’t seen it, you’re missing out). Jurassic Park was the first film that I sneakily watched at my grandma’s that I shouldn’t have seen as young as I was (it’s rated PG-13 for “intense science fiction terror”).

The’90s, however, was the newfound golden era of Disney. The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King are to many the best films Disney ever animated. But then Pixar changed the animation game forever. I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of Toy Story or its sequels. I thought 3 was heartfelt and appealing, but I never got the massive best film of the year buzz it got (no pun intended).

Some things that made me laugh back then, I’m afraid to watch now. I mean, I absolutely loved Dumb & Dumber (1994) as I tended to laugh at anything Jim Carrey did. (Not so much now. Did you see Yes Man? That recipe that rocked a kid’s comedy world in Liar Liar shouldn’t be touched after the age of 11.) I guess your sense of humorCable Guy changes the most through the years. I’ve ended up as someone who finds rarely anything funny (besides The Office, Conan and Judd Apatow’s films). Then again, it’s interesting to see that a lot of people have and hold their favorite comedies for years; Wayne’s World being a good example.

What were your favorites as a kid?

Aspiring criminologist and writer Anna Työrinoja has been dishing the dirt on the most hyped films for years but has only recently moved to the realms of internet blogging. Split Reel focuses on life-changing cinema, new and old. You can visit on her Twitter at https://twitter.com/5plitreel.