Childhood Films Blogathon

Me and my dog, Hunter.

Let’s Go to the Movies has a great blogathon celebrating the films we loved when we were kids. I’m a 90’s kid, so my list is heavily influenced by that time and the Disney renaissance. Films were very important to me when I was a kid. I am an only child, so when I was very young I spent A LOT of time alone. Movies, and the characters within them, were essential to my childhood. When I think back on that time, I realize that movies were integral to developing my imagination and instilling in me resilience. The three films that influenced me the most are:

Don’t ask me why, but for some reason Sarabi was my favorite character (do you even know which character that is?!).

1) The Lion King

This was, and still is, my favorite Disney film. I grew up surrounded by animals, particularly cats, so of course the movie with lions would be my favorite. The sequel, Simba’s Pride, is also surprisingly good and I loved it as well. I remember running around pretending to be a lion. The animation of The Lion King is brilliant, it still looks great to this day (yes, I saw it in 3D a few years ago). I’ve always loved music and the soundtrack to this film is also amazing. I still listen to the music on my iPod. And yes, I cry every time Mufasa dies. I remember the day in high school English when my teacher dropped the bomb that The Lion King is basically Hamlet. It was earth shattering news for a class of 90’s kids.

2) Aladdin

I grew up in the 90’s, a great time for Disney studios, so it isn’t surprising that two of their films are on my list. As a little girl, I had a lot of Barbie dolls and Sailor Moon dolls. I also had a Jasmine doll that came with a great Rajah stuffy (cats again). So I had all these girl dolls and the only male one I had was Aladdin. So he was a huge part of the soap opera-esque stories I would invent as a kid. He was frustrating though because his head would always fall off. Pop, and it would come off. He was a strangely jointed doll. The story of Aladdin appealed to me because I found the locale of India to be beautiful and very different from anything I knew. Again, the music in this Disney film is great. And Jafar has always been my favorite Disney villain, he is so delightfully evil.

3) The Land Before Time

My last influential film is surprisingly not from Disney. I don’t actual know what studio it’s from. But anyways this movie, and its sequels, was HUGE for me.
One of my earliest memories is sitting on our old fold-out couch when I was sick one night and watching it with my parents. My parents broke up when I was four so it’s pretty much the only memory I have of all of us together. I loved dinosaurs so much as a kid and The Land Before Time is why. It had a huge influence on my imagination. I had a huge amount of dinosaur toys that I used to parade around in a herd. Every toy had a name and a distinct personality. I remember even using an old dinosaur slipper as a toy (I only ever had one slipper for some reason).

When I look back it’s amazing for me to see the impact movies have had on me from very early on in my life. They fed my imagination when I had no other stimulation. I guess it isn’t so surprising that I’m a movie blogger now. What are your favorite childhood movies?