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Movies you saw as a kid and appreciate more/less as an adult

nkarafo

Member
For me:

More: Who Framed Roger Rabbit

While i loved this movie as a kid, i only did so for the silly cartoons and slapstick. But now as an adult, i appreciate a lot of things i couldn't see as a kid, such as the adult themes and comedy, the excellent acting and the amazing quality of the animation and special effects, especially considering how 2D hand animation never got as good again. It's now my favorite movie of all time.


Less: The MASK

I was obsessed with this movie as a kid/young teen. I had it on VHS and that tape must have melted. But i saw it recently after many years and it was... meh. The effects haven't aged well and while Jim Carrey is great as the MASK, he isn't as funny as in his later works. It's a much more kids friendly movie than i remember.


Post yours. But explain your choices with a few words if you please.
 

deafmedal

Member
More: Transformers: The Movie. Broke my 5/6 year old heart. Now? Love the music and animation.

Less: Batman. Not bad or anything, just doesn’t hold the same weight for me.
 

winjer

Gold Member
More: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. At the time it was just a fun martial arts movie with the Turtles. But as an adult, I began to appreciate it's cinematography, use of light and shadow, animatronics and acting.

Less: Batman. I saw it again this year, but it was just ok. I guess the Nolan trilogy set a much higher standard.
 
More: Die Hard with a Vengeance, at the time we were so spoiled with amazing action movies like T2 and The Rock so when it came out I brushed it off as an average action movie. Now I watch it and it’s pretty much flawless, I’ve never seen such perfect banter back and forth that feels so natural between two actors. It almost felt unscripted, like they were just going for it. And the action was sublime.

Less: Stargate, at the time it melted my face with how amazing it all was. But watching it again it’s a very slow movie with very little happening. Not a bad movie just not top tier.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Trading Places.

The whole stock market scene. I had a faint idea about stocks back then which was limited to buy low sell high, but that's it. I got this as my dad would sit there watching channel 60 or whatever which was a local stock market ticker channel. All it did 24/7 was show the days stock ticker action row by row. If his stocks went up he made money. If they went down, he was grumpy.

But in that scene, I never though of or understood the concept of short selling, margin calls, futures markets, etc.... At the time, theres no way I'd understand the whole crop report scam.

Obviously, you can understand drugs are bad as a kid, but no clue what Angel Dust/PCP was. Just looked like another white powder drug. At the time, everyone hears about Cocaine, but no idea what Angel Dust/PCP was.

Back then it was just a funny movie about guys being poor or rich. And obvious I watched it way too young.
 

D-ray

Member
More: Gran Torino

As a kid, I was kind of bored of this movie. Mainly because it was all serious and somewhat violent with no real meaning to me.
However, growing up, I found it incredibly interesting and meaningful. Most people love it because of the "anti-racial" moral, but to me was more
interesting the concept of "forgiveness" and "understanding."

Less: TMNT

As a kid (and as fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), I obviously loved it. However, growing up made me think it was kind of a mess. I mean, it's still a great movie (sad that the trilogy got cancelled) that I still enjoy, but it's very inconsistent with the references and storytelling in general.
 

Batiman

Banned
More: Die Hard with a Vengeance, at the time we were so spoiled with amazing action movies like T2 and The Rock so when it came out I brushed it off as an average action movie. Now I watch it and it’s pretty much flawless, I’ve never seen such perfect banter back and forth that feels so natural between two actors. It almost felt unscripted, like they were just going for it. And the action was sublime.

Less: Stargate, at the time it melted my face with how amazing it all was. But watching it again it’s a very slow movie with very little happening. Not a bad movie just not top tier.
Die hard with a vengeance has always been my favourite. Just non stop city action
 

bitbydeath

Member
Going to cheat but,

More: The entire adventure/fantasy genre, movies like Kings Solomon’s Mines/Lost City of Gold, Krull, even Labyrinth etc don’t really exist anymore. You could even include the OG Star Wars movies and see a direct comparison where the newer ones stick to known territories, like here’s another plain desert.
 

SpiceRacz

Member
More: Shawshank Redemption. To my younger self, it was just a depressing film that was always playing on TNT. Didn't really resonate with me at all. Watching it now, I can see it's a flawless film about the power of hope and the human spirit. One of the only films I rewatch regularly.

Less: TMNT 2 Secret of The Ooze & Boondocks Saints. Not much to say about either of these, watching them as an adult they're both really awful movies. Loved both when I was younger, but they're almost unwatchable.
 
More: (Rambo First Blood)
As a kid I viewed it as some action revenge flick with Rambo having enough of people hassling him.
As an adult, who has had family members serve and be combat deployed in almost every major conflict since WW2, it hits me a lot harder. Look at them in a completely different light, and how big of an impact this film had bringing these problems to the forefront.

Less : (Back to the Future 2)
Thought it was almost as good as the first one when I was younger but after rewatching the series more over the years I prefer BttF3 (which I didn’t really like as a kid) over it due to how it really cements Marty and Doc’s friendship and wasn’t just a retread of the first movie. BttF2 is still fun but not as awesome as I remember it being.

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DGrayson

Mod Team and Bat Team
Staff Member
More: (Rambo First Blood)
As a kid I viewed it as some action revenge flick with Rambo having enough of people hassling him.
As an adult, who has had family members serve and be combat deployed in almost every major conflict since WW2, it hits me a lot harder. Look at them in a completely different light, and how big of an impact this film had bringing these problems to the forefront.

Totally agree on this one. Stallone's acting was great. That last scene when he breaks down and delivers that monolog was super powerful and you realize how fucked up his situation was and tons of others.
 

pramod

Banned
More:

Jaws. The older I get the more I seem to find this movie watchable. It's getting to a point where I feel there is genius behind every frame of the movie. It's that good.

Less:

Terminator 2. This used to be one of my top 5 movies but as I got older I find myself going back to it less and less. Maybe I've just watched it too many times. But I also feel that overall it's just a really good, dumb, action movie and not much more. It's pretty bad in terms of everything else, it's cringy as fuck at times, and the plot is bare-bones. And I don't find Arnie to be all that interesting when he's just acting like a robot. I'd much rather watch Predator or Running Man for a great Arnie flick.
 
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gimmmick

Member
More: Mallrats

It was dubbed as Smith’s greatest failure, clerks in a mall.
I enjoy the movie more as I grew up and how it’s such a relatable film of working at a dead end job. This movie talked about marvel and had freaking Stan Lee before the MCU blew up.

Less: Home Alone

It’s a great Christmas movie but the slap stick humor gets old. Also living in this day and age, how can this movie ever been made with how much we have advanced in technology?
 
More: Starship Troopers. I liked it as a kid because it had action, violence, aliens, good CGI, and boobs. As an adult I like it because it has action, violence, aliens, good CGI, boobs, and a veil of satire that I'd missed. It works both as a fun war movie and a fun anti-war movie.

For example, I'm pretty sure that the bugs didn't actually send a meteor to blow up Buenos Aires (the instigating incident for the war in the movie), but that idea of a false flag isn't at all commented upon by any characters. Really interesting flick.

Less: Space Jam. It was made for kids. Not much to redeem it as an adult.
 
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Bragr

Banned
More:
- Amadeus. Yeah, Hulce's acting is a bit over the top, but the theme of jealousy is great and it still feels like a unique premise.
- The Big Lebowski. A bit cliche to say this as people always say this about Lebowski, but it's true, the theme of chilling the fuck out like a hippie, resonates as you age.
- La Dolce Vita. Didn't like it at first because of the dated weird scenes, but the narrative structure is fucking insane, it makes it interesting.

Less:
- Anything Tarantino. He wants to be an edgier more modern Scorcese. He's not.
- The Wolf of Wall Street. Too corny, a lot of overacting, trying to be cool with "shocking" drug scenes. Ugh.
 

Lady Jane

Banned
- The Wolf of Wall Street. Too corny, a lot of overacting, trying to be cool with "shocking" drug scenes. Ugh.

Never understood the praise for this movie for the same reasons you listed. The drug scenes weren't even that shocking. I've never seen media accurately depict hard drug culture.
 
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More: Mallrats

It was dubbed as Smith’s greatest failure, clerks in a mall.
I enjoy the movie more as I grew up and how it’s such a relatable film of working at a dead end job. This movie talked about marvel and had freaking Stan Lee before the MCU blew up.

Less: Home Alone

It’s a great Christmas movie but the slap stick humor gets old. Also living in this day and age, how can this movie ever been made with how much we have advanced in technology?
Watching Home Alone now I’m baffled that the cop sent to the house knocks a few times and says nobody answered so the parents must be wrong ?! 😵‍💫. Kevin’s mom and dad would sue the shot out of the local PD and get even more wealthy 💰😄
 

Durien

Member
More: Gene Wilder version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Why? The whole movie are like examples of what happens when you are a piss poor parent and let your kids get their way all the time. They should play this movie during parenting classes.

Less: Neverending Story.

Why? I know people are going to be butthurt over this but the movie is crap. Lol it is a great movie to watch as a kid as you don't see all the potholes. I need to look into it but I think the movie is based on a book which could also explain all the issues it has.
 
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