posted
Whatever happened to fantasy, adventure movies in the vein of Labrynth, Willow, The Dark Crystle, The Neverending Story and even The Goonies to some extent.
Sure, we have LOTR but don't tell me that a great deal of 10 year olds would happily sit through a 3 1/2 hour epic time and again. An epic which, in my humble opinion, could have been merely TWO hours long if it were not for directorial arrogance and self-importance - that ought to spark some controversy .
Maybe I'm wrong but it seems that these type of 'made-for-kids', adventure movies have fallen by the wayside. However, since I'm not part of the target demographic for such films, perhaps I'm simply not aware of their creation and release.
I'd be interested to know some other people's thoughts on this...
Anna
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posted
Well, there's always Ralph Bakshi's animated version of LOTR, from 1978. But that one put me to sleep!
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posted
I have to say that I have never gotten into films like that. I could barely watch Legend. I don't know if it because of their names or what. Too much stuff going on maybe that makes it hard for me to want to follow them.
posted
I really like fantasy movies. I'm hoping that the success of LOTR will inspire directors to make some good fantasy movies now. With today's technology, they could make some awesome fantasy flicks.
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posted
It might get a jumpstart this Christmas when Disney rolls out their adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Others may claim it's already gotten a start of sorts with the success of the Harry Potter films. Either way, I think we might be on the verge of a comeback.
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True. I totally forgot about Harry Potter!
Posts: 232 | From: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Mar 2005 | Site Updates: 0
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I have never gotten in to fantasy type movies either.
The Princess Pride is one of those that so many people love it, but I never "got it".
It is hard for me to get in to a movie where the characters are all made up and it takes place in a different world/different universe it is too much to decifer. I think that is why out of all of the Disney Movies...Alice in Wonderland is one of my least favorite movies-it just has a different feel to it- even though all the Disney cartoon movies all kind of "fantasy" type movies..Alice just is too "heavy" for me.
I think Anna, that it goes along the lines as everything else, they quit making just about everything.
I just listed about 50+ shows that were on tv in the mornings in 1978 on another thread, and there is absolutely nothing anymore for kids. My computer is in my son's room, and he'll be in here on his bed watching tv while I am on the computer, and I'll look over at some of the cartoons, and think what is that....and sometimes he has just stopped for a second-flipping through, and I'll say "what are you watching?" and he'll say I don't know, and then we both look at each other and can't believe that anybody will watch some of that stuff, cause it isn't even funny, it is just stupid.
I have never understood how come they could come up with movie after movie in the 80's-(kid watchable)...Gremlins, The Goonies, E.T., Raiders of the Lost Arc, Ghostbusters, Star Wars, there were so many...and I find 80's kids movies all the time...like Russkies, The Dirt Bike Kid, Benji, The Watcher in the Woods, and there were so many great ideas, and different and unique ideas, and now nobody can come up with anything that isn't violent, or the kids are so horribly rotten, and they are portrayed as little brats-and run their mouth at the parents and talk to them like they are dirt, I just get sick of seeing that type of "family" image displayed on TV.
Then you turn on reality tv....and what do you see that has children in it??? That kids should and could be watching?? None of the reality shows are family friendly-that's for sure..what The Barkers?? The Osbournes? The Gastineau Girls?
That's the thing, none of the reality shows are any shows that you should be sitting down to watch as a family together.....what...Fear Factor..not.
So, they have replaced Family Shows...like Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley and The Waltons, and The Muppet Show, and Wild Kingdom...I mean even Hee Haw was family oriented...
so now families have kids that have never seen how other families should behave..because kids are so isolated from interacting with other families any more, so you got Nanny 911 happening all over the world with families that on the surface look perfect. That show shocks me to no end....because every house I have seen the Nanny in, looks like it came off the pages of Better Homes and Gardens, and the parents are obviously well off, and can hold a job, and must have had a brain to be able to earn a decent living, and yet things that "should" be so easy...like putting your child to bed every night...are kaotic and insane.
I honestly believe that not having quality entertainment is a huge difference in what is missing from kids lives. I can tell it with my own child, because he watches all my old stuff and he loves it because that's what he knows, and I know if I loved it as a kid, then it worked then it should work now, because I was living in the 1970's,not the 1870's when I watched Little House on the Prairie- and if it worked for me then, it still would work now.
When people say the shows I watched as a kid "don't work" any more, that's messed up, because the basic rules in life apply to everyone no matter what year it is, and anything that shows people being caring, and kind, and having manners and being a good person, those are timeless traits that always should "work".
So....I wish even though I never was in to fantasy movies...that they existed still, because alot of kids loved them, and if they could still make a good one of those movies, there is hope for the rest of the movies and tv.
My son loved the Harry Potter books and the movies.
[ 03. May 2005, 17:01: Message edited by: ISIS ]
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posted
Harry Potter is the greatest literary triumph for children in modern times. I defy anyone who disagrees. However, there is not a great deal else. Isis, I agree with nearly all of what you are saying. Let's just hope that history does repeat itself...and soon!
Posts: 232 | From: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Mar 2005 | Site Updates: 0
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posted
I hope too. My son read all the Lemony Smicket books- The Series of Unfortunate Events, and he loved them. I thought maybe the movie would be ok, but we saw it at the theater, and even though they tell you it is dark and depressing, it was overly dark and depressing, infact there wasn't 1 uplifting moment in the whole movie, and I didn't like anything about it, I could hardly wait until it was over. My son said it was OK, but he wasn't jumping up and down saying let's see that again.
Not like how I was when I saw E.T., I bawled, and was just blown away when I saw E.T. I was the same age my son is now when I saw it, and I just wanted to go see that movie over and over again, and I did get to see it twice at the movies, which was so cool for me, cause my closest movie theater back then was 25 minutes away. I went and saw the rerelease a few years ago, and we took a friend of my son's with us, he had never even seen E.T. even on video, and I was hoping that he would have been just as blown away, because my son has seen it so many times, but to see it for the first time on the big screen I thought this should be fun, and his friend was like...whatever. That kid had been desensitized to stuff, he is my son's age, but even a few years ago that kid had seen Saving Private Ryan and a bunch of unedited horror movies- so right there ya go...how can E.T. hold a candle to a bullet to the head?
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posted
I know what you mean. Perhaps I'm just older and less susceptible to the hollywood hype but some movies just seem to have lost their magic. Every movie seems to be touched with the cool, hard baton of reality...for better or worse. The softness, predictability and dare I say, innocence, seems to have gone.
Posts: 232 | From: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Mar 2005 | Site Updates: 0
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posted
Saving Private Ryan is not horror, and is a molten epic. When they could handle it, I would want my children to witness the carnage of World War II in order to appreciate it. And don't blame violent movies for people not liking non-violent movies. A violent movie desensitizes you to violence, it doesn't desensitize you to a story. Maybe E.T. isn't his taste.
You want to know why there was teen movies and kids movies in the 80s, and now there are more adult movies? Because the 80s kids and 80s teens have grown up, and are still the greatest target for movies. Does it not seem strange that the highest rated shows on TV during the 90s were about people in their late twenties and early thirties?
I'm sorry, but I find the idea of innocence long gone to be hokey and wrong. You want to know what people were saying about the Animal Houses, Ferris Buellers, the movies of the 80s? They were saying that they lacked the innocence of prior movies. In 20 years, we'll say that The Interpreter was a run-of-the-mill 00s political thriller. We already know that we're going to look back in 20 years and wonder what was with all the reality shows, just like we look back and wonder about the thin-blooded family shows, the game shows. I'm not going to pine for an age that never was.
Furthermore, until someone takes some screenwriting courses, please try not to make blanket statements about "no one can come up with anything" or etc.
The times are faster than they were, it's nothing new. In the 60s, there were people who said that everything had lost the magic. They couldn't keep with the times. In the 80s, there were people who said everything has lost its magic. Same deal. It's 2005 now.
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I guess I am weird...I grew up watching old war & crime movies with my dad..amazing that I didn't become a serial killer.
I think it's important to LEARN from film, books, tv and such...yes, I like to be entertained too, but I have sat in the dark in many a theater as the ending credits rolled and felt changed/inspired/devastated by what just transpired.
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quote:Originally posted by Brode: You want to know what people were saying about the Animal Houses, Ferris Buellers, the movies of the 80s?
Not to get any further on your bad side, Brode (I already made it there with my commentary vis a vis your mention of Denis Leary's "Traditional Irish Drinking Song" in the "comedy songs" thread), but you are aware that "Animal House" came out in 1978, right? (I'm only joking, ha ha, hee hee, please believe me).
Anyway, I do have to agree with you on the point you made, though. I know of people who are already saying that the movies of the 90s were better than the ones today.
Also, I'm working on my own screenplay and I do think there's original stuff out there on-screen, not just on the independent circuit but in the mainstream cinema as well. The thing is, nobody seems to get into the original stuff (probably because it isn't marketed well enough).
Just one more thing, Brode...You have to lighten up, dude, you really do.
Sincerely,
John Kilduff
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posted
The original ones usually are able to shine in due time. There wasn't much publicity for The Shawshank Redemption when it was released, and now it's widely considered one of the best films of the 90s. All we need to do is look hard enough, and we'll find a classic or two where we least expect it.
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posted
I'm not saying that modern cinema is unoriginal. However, it seems to be that the un-original, ultra-predectable, formulaic 80's movie is what I'm really missing. Don't get me wrong, I love a lot of modern movies and gain so much from some of them. I did want to keep this discussion within the vein of the child fantasy/adventure film, but I understand how it branches out to this.
I also agree with many of you that what I suspected may have happened at the very beginning, is obviously true. Since I am not a child, I have lost the magic myself. I no longer see as much joy and possability in what is being brought out now. As a kid, it just seemed that there were a great deal more of them than there are now. I am literally challenging someone to prove me wrong on this. I KNOW I'm not very up on kids movies.
I know I'm looking at the 80's through rose-coloured glasses, because the 80's also surrounded me in an age where life was uncomplicated and beautiful. Maybe I just need to find that again. Maybe that's what I'm searching for in all this nostalgia.
Anyway, I've read all your posts and you've all made good points. I'll steer clear of generalisations and keep those fantasy films coming.
Wow, this post felt nearly as long as one Isis might do....
Posts: 232 | From: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Mar 2005 | Site Updates: 0
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I completely understand what your saying Anna.
And I have been wondering the same thing now for years. My son was born in 1993, and when he was born I didn't have a computer, so I thought my past was my past and whatever was available to me now was what I had to work with for my son. And in the beginning when he was real little it didn't become such an issue. The Lion King, Pocohontas, The Emperor's New Groove, Space Jam, and Toy Story were all out, and we liked those, plus we watched all the old Disney Classics too..like Peter Pan and Dumbo.
We actually use to go to the Drive-In every weekend, and usually there was a kid's movie first and then he'd fall asleep and we'd stay and watch the 2nd movie.
So, it wasn't until he was a little older that it starting hitting me....what cartoons are there?? Cow and Chicken, Ed, Ed, and Eddy, I.R. Babboon- I was looking at the choices he had, and thought, what is this...this is suppose to be for kids?
He got in to the whole Pokemon thing and Yugioh-which I hated, and I don't think it is because I lost my ability to relate to children's things-because the characters in Pokemon reminded me of Speed Racer, but when I tried to watch a show it was nothing but fighting/ battling/ dueling...there was nothing really positive about any of it.
So, then I get a computer, and I find that I can get all these movies and tv shows that I had as a kid and I got them, and my son started really loving that stuff, and for awhile I didn't think he would ever like music- he seemed to have no interest in it. I thought how is it possible when I love music. I think gradually he started paying attention to it more, and really liked it to the point he would say play that song again. Now, he knows more 80's music than any kid his age, and if I am flipping through the radio stations, and land on anything new, he'll say turn it.
Now, my kid is almost 12, and like I said...there is nothing out at the movies. We use to go every weekend to the movies.
He is dying to see the new Star Wars-Revenge of the Sith- cause he is a Star Wars extreme fan. And now I am looking forward to it too. But, that is sad to me that there is only 1 movie that I have seen or heard talk of for the summer that I'll probably go see. If it takes all that to come up with a huge blockbuster, when they were churning out 80's movies like Can't Buy Me Love, Lucas, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, The Goonies, and those are main stream ones everyone knows...but there were tons of ones that were small films that were loveable- but not as well known.
My son loves Smokey and the Bandit, and he thought Any Which Way You Can was funny, and those are the exact movies I watched at his age. I watched The Incredible Shrinking Woman, The Night the Lights went out in Georgia, Poltergeist, On Golden Pond, The Electric Horseman, those were movies playing during the day, and all summer long we'd come in from playing and there was always a movie on HBO.
I wouldn't want HBO now for any reason. There is nothing but garbage on it anymore either.
To me the cool thing is ...is that there are so many movies still out there I haven't seen that my son can actually see.
He just saw Eddie and the Cruisers and Streets of Fire- and liked them both, they are perfect because it doesn't matter what year you watch them in, cause they are set in different time periods.
We watch either an episode of Little House on the Prairie or The Hardy Boys at night if we are bored. Right now I have lots of stuff to watch and no time to do it.
But, the movies I listed on the other thread that played in the middle of the day and night back in the 1970's and 80's, those are ALL great movies that kids could see, and they were timeless. I was a kid watching them with my Grandma so I know those appeal to all ages of people. Movies today do not do that. I have no clue what people ages 50 and up watch anymore.
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