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?