The Watch List

I was looking at the weather forecast (rain again) and popping online to go buy tickets to the Penis Movie (PEANUTS) when it occurred to me that we haven’t even gotten a chance to go see Hotel Transylvania 2 or Goosebumps  or Pan or Monkey Kingdom and somehow we missed Tomorrowland entirely, though I thought that it looked not terrible?  And I realized that pretty much unless we go to see a movie every single weekend, there’s no way we are ever going to catch up with the neverending stream of kids movies the studios are churning out these days. 

When did this happen?  I mean, when I was a kid, it seems like there was maybe a kid movie like two or three a year. Am I imagining this?  Hello, old friend Wikipedia. So, I looked up how many movies marketed to children that were released the year I was Rowans age: THREE:  The Apple Dumpling Gang, Escape to Witch Mountain and a movie I have never ever heard of (The Strongest Man in the World).  And the year I was Hopper’s age there were actually 11, but only because they are including Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (WUT) and Star Wars Episode IV. 

Do you know how many kid movies were released last year alone? 34. And something like 29 already this year and it’s not even holiday season. I’m sure one can make an argument of quality over quantity, but no.  Upon a repeat viewing, I can tell you that I still have no f*#&ing clue what Bedknobs and Broomsticks is even about. Like, I know Angela Lansbury is involved and I think there are Nazis? But yeah, I got nuthin’ else.   But looking at the list, there are some really, really awesome kid movies over the years that I love and would watch over and over. Maybe not as many times as I’ve seen Iron Giant, but definitely more than once.  I’m compiling a list of my faves to share with the boys, and if El Nino is coming like they say its coming and it rains every weekend from  now until May, we might just catch up.   Feel free to add yours

The Watch List (in no particular order)

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the original, not the Johnny Depp. Sorry, Johnny, you were creepy)

Charlottes Web (if my heart can take it)

Benji

The Hobbit (original, because though I love the Peter Jackson trilogy: 12 hours is more than my children will submit to)

Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (my 6 year old self dug it)

Clash of the Titans

Fox and the Hound (maybe a triple feature with Charlotte’s Web and Dumbo where we just remove my heart entirely and set it on the coffee table)

The Dark Crystal
ET

The Last Unicorn

Secret of NIMH

Neverending Story

Goonies

Labyrinth

Princess Bride

My Neighbor Totoro

Willow

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Spirited Away

James and the Giant Peach

Lady and the Tramp (I KNOW, I’m not sure how we’ve not seen this one together yet considering it's MY LIFE)

Howl’s Moving Castle

Nacho Libre

Fantastic Mr. Fox (funny story: we actually own this movie due to having “Lost it” from Netflix like 5 years ago—found it when we got a new couch. But haven’t watched it yet—all you need to remember about this story is that if you want to hide something for several years, under our couch is a pretty safe bet)

Hotel for Dogs

Hop (weird we haven’t seen this one either, I know)

Epic

Book of Life

*I’m only including those the boys HAVEN’T seen, so of course there are some good ones not listed here! But if you have any warnings… I’ll take those too.