The Essentials

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my mini existential crisis from not owning one of my favorite movies and therefore not being able to share that with my soon-ish to be born child. This got me thinking about some of the other things that I grew up with that I want to share with my kids.

So, without any further ado, here are (in no particular order) the top ten movies I will make sure my children grow up with.

One more note: before I get a bunch of emails complaining about some of these movies, I do understand the concept of “age-appropriate.” It’s not like we’d stick them in a proverbial blender and turn them into some sort of cinematic baby food.

That distinction belongs to different movies, well at least the part about wanting to stick them in a blender.

Star Wars

I’ve already talked about this one. So not much to add here. I will say this, however: My children will grow up on the original trilogy. If they want to discover that these things called the prequels exist, it’ll be on their own after they’ve turned 18 and have moved out of the house.

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Continuing with the Harrison Ford love, we have the first entry into the world of Indiana Jones. My mom claims that this was one of the first movies she ever took me to (though I don’t remember it at all, and since it came out several years before I was born I’m not totally sure how that worked…unless it was a special screening, I guess?) Yes, it’s got the face melting, but it also has one of the most recognized opening sequences in all of moviedom. Who hasn’t pretended to run away from a giant boulder? Heck, it got me to want to actually go do stuff outside. And considering I will be my children’s father (deep, I know) they’ll probably need all the help they can get with that.

Fantasia

I’ll start this one off by saying that Disney is an obvious given (except Bambi, no kid needs that kind of trauma in their life). But here I wanted to single out Fantasia in particular. It’s an incredibly unique movie and was certainly ahead of its time. It gave me my love of classical music and dancing mushrooms and broomsticks. The Night on Bald Mountain Sequence was equal parts terrifying and mesmerizing to me as a child.

Side story (because it’s awesome): My best friend has an almost 4 year old son. One time when we were over he said he wanted to listen to “the monster song.” The wife and I assumed that this was something from the likes of Muppets or Monster’s Inc. But no, his dad turned in on and it was Night on Bald Mountain. The child then proceeded to do all the actions, which I’m sure had we had the video playing would’ve been perfectly in sync with what was on the screen. Considering he can also do the best one man Pirates of Penzance I’ve ever seen, the bar has been set pretty high for our children.

The Wizard of Oz

Speaking of movies that scared and fascinated me as a child. No, it wasn’t the wicked witch or the flying monkeys, it was those creepy trees that threw apples at Dorothy and the Scarecrow. Those gave me nightmares (except often they had been turned into talking evil bookcases, but now’s not the time to get into the Freudian interpretation of what that could possibly mean).

This used to be an event movie. It was on TV once a year and you made a big deal out of it: you’d cook popcorn, unplug the phone (yes, back in those days your phone was actually connected to the wall, kids), and watch as a family. I think I’ll recreate this by only letting my kids watch it once a year and stopping it every fifteen minutes to remind them about the benefits of getting enough fiber in their diet, who to call to get the best settlement for auto accidents or medical malpractice, and that beef is what’s for dinner.

Batman

I have loved superheroes from an early age. Back before it was cool to like them (thanks, Marvel…but seriously, thank you). Batman was always my favorite. I grew up with the strange mix of Michael Keaton and Adam West. But you know what? To me there wasn’t a difference. It was all Batman. It didn’t register that in one the Joker was involved in biological warfare on the citizens of Gotham and in the other he was trying to rearrange all the street signs in Gotham (or something that silly).

And certainly, the much more recent Chris Nolan films are bastions of filmmaking and will be mainstays in our household. But there’s just something nostalgic about these old ones that I grew up with that I want to continue into the next generation.

Doctor Who

I know. It’s not a movie. But you know what? It’s my blog, my list, so my rules, so just deal with it.

While Doctor Who has been around for just over 50 years now, its huge popularity in America has only come in the last decade thanks to the revival of the show that started in 2005. Based on that, it would seem like the target audience is high school and college aged nerdy types. But you know what? Back across the pond in the UK, it’s a kid’s show.

Now I’m not going to say it doesn’t have universal appeal since I first started watching it as a college aged nerdy type. And all of those people who watched it back in the 60s and 70s are certainly adults now who continue to enjoy watching (and it the rare case getting to actually become the title character).

In all honesty, this still feels like a foreign concept to me. I had heard them talk about it being a kid’s show but that never really rang true to me. Until one day I was watching some bonus features for series 5. They were doing a tour around the UK to introduce the then new Doctor, Matt Smith. And you know where they went? Schools! I watch as these school children complete with their very British uniforms filed into auditoriums to watch an episode of Doctor Who. It was almost night and day to later when they went to New York and were mobbed by the nerdy types mentioned above, but that’s a discussion for a different day.

Princess Bride

OK, I have to confess. I never saw this movie as a kid. It wasn’t until I was in junior high, or maybe even high school that I finally watched it.

It’s a classic. When I finally saw it I loved it and wish I had seen it earlier. This is one of those cases of trying to give my kids a better childhood than I had.

Speaking of, does anyone know where I can find one of these?

Ghostbusters

It’s Ghostbusters! It’s a movie about guys that shoot ghosts with lasers! And at the end they fight a giant marshmallow creature!

It even spawned a cartoon series where Bill Murray’s character was voiced by the same actor who voiced Garfield. Bill Murray himself went on to voice Garfield in the live action/CGI movie. Let your brain chew on that piece of meta gristle for a while.

Bedknobs and Broomsticks

This was another one of those Grandma-recorded-off-of-PBS classics. As a kid I loved knights and castles and all that. So obviously my favorite part was the climactic show down between enchanted suits of armor and the Nazis (Seriously they don’t make kids movies like this anymore). Often I would skip past Portabello Road, not care one bit about bobbing along under the beautiful briny sea, or watch the dad from Mary Poppins become a good father yet again. I wanted to see haunted knights throw down like its 1066.

The Pagemaster

Odds are you don’t remember this flick from ’94 starring the kid from Home Alone, Commander Kruge from Star Trek III, and the Alpaca guy from Arrested Development. Macaulay Culkin stars as a kid who is afraid of everything who gets sucked into the magical animated world of books.

True story: this movie came out when I was about seven and I wanted to go see it. The reviews hadn’t been very great and my parents were rather reluctant to take me. I made up a picket sign that read something like “don’t trust critics! See a movie for yourself to know if you like it!” (brevity was not a strong point at that age) and marched around the house in protest until my parents broke down and took me (even they admitted they had enjoyed it). But worry not, future children! There will be no need for civil disobedience in our household! You can watch Patrick Stewart voice a swashbuckling hardcover whenever you wish!

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So here’s the deal: sound off in the comments and let me know what’s your number one essential movie for raising your kids right. I’ll pick the best one and you’ll win a prize (prize to be determined, but don’t get your hopes up for an iPad or anything…). Good luck and good commenting!