10 Cult Favorite (or Should-Be Cult Favorite) Movies Lurking on Disney+
I don't have a Disney+ subscription, but I did grow up on the Disney Channel in the 1980s. (Back in the 1980s, the Disney Channel had a different format. It was largely just a place to re-run old Disney content.) And I have TONS of nostalgia for these old Disney movies.
So, here are my thoughts on io9.gizmodo's list:
1. The Black Hole (1979)
Oh, man! I love The Black Hole! I remember this got played on the Disney channel when I was in second grade, and I was so obsessed with it!
2. Darby O’Gill and the Little People (1959)
I totally remember watching this off the Disney channel when I was young. I love Darby O'Gill and the Little People
3. Escape to Witch Mountain (1975)
Loved this movie when I was a kid. This one and the sequel as well!
4. The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969)
Absolutely loved this movie when I was a kid. Still love it. I love the whole Dexter Riley trilogy.
5. Return to Oz (1985)
This is a bit of strange one, but I do remember seeing it as a kid on the Disney channel and have fond memories of it.
6. Mr. Boogedy (1986)
I was just talking about this movie in a recent post.
7. The Black Cauldron (1985)
I've got tons of nostalgia for this movie. As I mentioned here.
8. Flight of the Navigator (1986)
Oh man! I remember my grandma taking me to see this in the theatres back in 1986. I absolutely loved this movie!
9. Fuzzbucket (1986)
Hmmm.... I don't think I remember this one actually...
10. The Cat From Outer Space (1978)
I've got vague memories of seeing this on the Disney channel when I was younger, but I don't remember anything about it. It must not have made much of an impression on me.
2. Darby O’Gill and the Little People (1959)
I totally remember watching this off the Disney channel when I was young. I love Darby O'Gill and the Little People
3. Escape to Witch Mountain (1975)
Loved this movie when I was a kid. This one and the sequel as well!
4. The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969)
Absolutely loved this movie when I was a kid. Still love it. I love the whole Dexter Riley trilogy.
5. Return to Oz (1985)
This is a bit of strange one, but I do remember seeing it as a kid on the Disney channel and have fond memories of it.
6. Mr. Boogedy (1986)
I was just talking about this movie in a recent post.
7. The Black Cauldron (1985)
I've got tons of nostalgia for this movie. As I mentioned here.
8. Flight of the Navigator (1986)
Oh man! I remember my grandma taking me to see this in the theatres back in 1986. I absolutely loved this movie!
9. Fuzzbucket (1986)
Hmmm.... I don't think I remember this one actually...
10. The Cat From Outer Space (1978)
I've got vague memories of seeing this on the Disney channel when I was younger, but I don't remember anything about it. It must not have made much of an impression on me.
I saw Black Hole back in the day. I would have been 14. With all the marketing buzz there was an expectation that Disney was going to out-Star Wars Star Wars. They had the resources, but boy oh boy, that was not at all how it worked out.
ReplyDeleteBut the night I went to see it is one of those HUGE adolescent memories for me. It was December, the snow was falling down in clots. My buddy got his sister's boyfriend to drive us to the theatre and back. Just before getting into the car I'd been listening to Led Zeppelin on FM radio.
Watching it, I wanted so badly to like this movie, but at the end of it all it felt like a bunch of high profile actors had spent two hours wondering what they were doing on these amazing sets. I saw it again in my 20s, on VHS, and thought it was a sloppy retelling of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.
Have you given it a recent re-watching Joel? Does it still warm the heart, the way a bad Star Trek TOS episode might?
>>>With all the marketing buzz there was an expectation that Disney was going to out-Star Wars Star Wars. They had the resources, but boy oh boy, that was not at all how it worked out.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's interesting, isn't it? So many movies tried to re-capture that Star Wars magic in the late 70s early 80s. But none of them could do it. Whatever it was that was magic about Star Wars, it just couldn't be recreated. It just goes to show how hard it is to re-create that lightning in a bottle.
But then, when I was 7, I was a huge fan.
I haven't re-watched it for over 30 years now (at least as far as I remember). At least not in its entire. I've seen clips of it on Youtube.
I've tried to track it down occasionally without success. (I haven't tried too hard, but I used to occasionally check for it at my local rental store, or tried to find it on Youtube.)
But I suspect it would probably still warm my heart. I have too much childhood nostalgia wrapped up in it to view it objectively. Whenever I watch something from my childhood, I spend the whole time just remembering how it made me feel at one time, not how the movie actually plays.
I enjoyed this -- it sounds like this guy is in your camp.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link. I think I had actually read that article once before. (Maybe back in 2014 when it originally was posted). But I didn't remember it well, and I re-read it now.
ReplyDeleteIt reminded me of a lot of things about that movie I had forgotten.
...interesting to read the comments as well. All the comments at the top are talking about the read-and-listen picture book tie-in, which I also had as a kid, and which was actually my first exposure to this movie.
Part of the reason I was so hyped to see this movie was because I had been listening to that picture book cassette over and over again. Which in some ways made the actual viewing of the movie almost irrelevant. I had already decided I really loved it long before I actually saw it. Which is yet another reason I can't view this movie with any sort of adult objectivity.