Great '80s kids movies

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 :p ).

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?

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).

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.

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?

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.

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.

How could we all have forgotten Back to the Future! Amazing classic films all kids should watch. And what about all the Ray Harryhausen films? The original Clash of the Titans was much better than the CGI rename, and the Sinbad films. Unlike the realism of recent films, films with epic storylines like these back at the time could she fight scenes and battles without excluding younger viewers.

I also never really understood quite why ET was so big at the time. I remember getting bored watching it at the cinema.

I do think that these days the studios try too hard to directly aim films at children, and it just makes most of them bad films. A great family film should be enjoyable by the whole family, no matter the age.

Amd here are a few more 80's films worth considering:

Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Stand By Me
Big
Coming to America
Beverly Hills Cop
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Clash of the Titans and some Sindbad movies were really great, I enjoyed them a lot as a kid, and not to forget Jason and the Argonauts, or some old Godzilla :)

I would also go with Stand by Me, because it's really a good one, and in a similar way is The Outsiders.

Like I already mentioned before, really depends on the age/gender of the kids.

I liked The Dukes, Rambo and Rocky series, Predator, and many movies with ninjas... :ninja:

When I was a kid, my favorite series were The Bad News Bears with Walter Matthau, it's about kids playing baseball, classic.

Another one I loved was about Tom Sawyer, and is a TV Series from 1979, and it's called Huckleberry Finn and His Friends.

Can't believe I forgot Labyrinth! I have The Dark Crystal, that's some amazing storytelling, I must get that one out of the loft.

Ghostbusters - my dad took me to see that when I was 6. Ghostbusters is NOT A GOOD FILM to take a 6 year old to see! I had nightmares for years about the Terror-Dogs. And I remember he took us to see another film but wouldn't tell us what - it was a surprise! - and the ad came on for Gremlins and I was freaking out because I hate scary stuff (probably because the last thing he took us to see was Ghostbusters). The surprise was actually Jungle Book, but still.

I am hoping to gear them up for The Storyteller, another Jim Henson show, one of my all-time favourites. I might try them on that next year, they should be ready for it by then.

I think they'd enjoy fantasy - I remember watching Superman at an early age too, and Star Wars, but to be honest I don't think they'd follow what was going on. So definitely Labyrinth, Dark Crystal & Neverending Story. I think they'd be freaked out by Who Framed Roger Rabbit? - watching Christopher Lloyd's face melt whilst giggling insanely is high octane nightmare fuel.

Back to the Future - in a couple of years. It's bad enough explaining ordinary films to them, let alone time travel!

A lot of good ones in here, but no Flight of the Navigator? For shame.

Also, depending how old the kids are (or more, how mature they are for their age), the Indy films are great fun.

Sorry but I don't like Flight of the Navigator. The voice of Pee Wee Herman and a very young Sarah Jessica Parker are just a no-no for me.

Ghostbusters, Gremlins and Indy films are definitely not for young kids in my opinion although Who Framed Roger Rabbit! is as Jessica Rabbit should be a fantasy for all young men.

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Originally Posted by J T

A lot of good ones in here, but no Flight of the Navigator? For shame.

Also, depending how old the kids are (or more, how mature they are for their age), the Indy films are great fun.

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I am constantly explaining to them that what they see isn't real, it's just special effects. In my day you could tell it wasn't real, now there's no difference between CGI and reality. There is actual blood in The Princess Bride, which they squealed at :blink: - people actually getting cut by swords!

We're watching The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe (the new one) at the weekend, and I'm going to have to sit down with them for half an hour beforehand explaining the Blitz and billeting and all that, just so they can understand what's going on in the first 3 minutes. Living a life with PS3's, DS's and cupboards full of delicious food on demand is a whole world away from being shipped off to a strangers house in the country for 3 years whilst your dad is away killing people.

Back to the Future - I saw this in the cinema on release, I was 7 and I remember having to explain it to my teacher because she kept saying it was a ridiculous title, you can only go Forward to the future, and I fully understood the film and the concepts without anyone explaining to me. Maybe I should just put it on for my boy and see what he makes of it. Probably not enough action in the first 30 seconds :rolleyes:

There were now already 2 people (JT and myself) asking you how old the kids were, and if it's boys/girls, but you still didn't reply ;)

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Originally Posted by Buleste

Sorry but I don't like Flight of the Navigator. The voice of Pee Wee Herman and a very young Sarah Jessica Parker are just a no-no for me.

Ghostbusters, Gremlins and Indy films are definitely not for young kids in my opinion although Who Framed Roger Rabbit! is as Jessica Rabbit should be a fantasy for all young men.

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Sorry, I forgot Child's Play, Hellraiser and Nightmare on Elm Street. My bad.

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Originally Posted by burns flipper

Back to the Future - I saw this in the cinema on release, I was 7 and I remember having to explain it to my teacher because she kept saying it was a ridiculous title, you can only go Forward to the future, and I fully understood the film and the concepts without anyone explaining to me.

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I dunno, I kinda see where she's coming from*, but that's only because she was stuck on one point of reference (a time point, i.e. 'now'; rather than Marty's perspective) and couldn't think outside of that. And that's why it was such a neat concept, and a great title, for an excellent little film.

*She was wrong, in the context of the film, I'm not arguing that.

Keep Nightmare on Elm Street for when they are 12. It's when I started watching 18 horror films. I had great parents. :lol:

Friends used to come over to watch them ad they were not allowed at home.

The original Alien is a different matter. I saw that the first time it was aired and thought it was brilliant. Not sure how old I was. what year was it released?

I was also still quite young when I started watching horror movies, but I kinda liked the 3 big ones, Friday the 13th, Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street.

We watched The Goonies on Saturday. I was mighty surprised - all 4 of the main characters, about 9-10 years old, all said the "S" word within the first 5 minutes - one of them to his mum! A Speilberg film, PG-rated, you'd never get that these days. My boy said "Omm! He said the 'S'-word!!" and my girl says "What's the 'S'-word?". Bless.