This morning, I watched Toy Story 2 for the first time in my life. And doing so, there were a couple of things I realized.
The first one is: Toy Story is the most awesome animated film (series) I have ever seen - chances are it's the most awesome one ever made, in case there's no totally underrated and unknown independent animated film from some country most people don't even know exists. Which I think is unlikely.
The next thing I realized was that little kids are really stupid, and sometimes their parents should force them to watch certain movies. When I was a child, we often borrowed videos from the library (remember the times before DVD? so annoying...), and yes, I did walk past the Toy Story tape a couple of times. But I didn't watch it. Why? Well, it can't be there wasn't enough pink or enough girls, because I did watch both Tarzan and The Jungle Book and The Lion King back in the days.
Maybe the reason was the animation? I think I didn't watch animated films until Finding Nemo in 2003... oh, except you can count Dinosaurs, I think that one was animated too...?
Well, let's just conclude that there was absolutely no good reason for me to not watch Toy Story... and nevertheless, I didn't watch it until a few weeks ago (the first part, I mean). Sadly, no heavenly coincidence made me watch it back in the days and let it become part of my childhood, as was the case with Harry Potter.
But is this necessarily a bad thing? I'm not sure. Maybe the fact that I've seen Toy Story as an almost (officially) grown-up teenager will make me appreciate this movie even more. Because it reminds me of what it was like to be a child, how important toys were to you, how mystical and wonderful they were, while those times still don't feel very long ago. Maybe it will make me see the world through the eyes of a child more often?
Certainly, the film gnaws at my conscience for having sold so many of my old toys... though maybe it's better that way. Most of them were bought by little children or their parents, and I think my Barbies would rather be played with than rot in an old case, won't they? I hope so... I'm sorry, Barbies. And dolls, and horses. If I will ever have the chance to say I'm sorry, I hope it's now.
I think seeing Toy Story now is better than never. It is a fantastic, excellent movie that will forever be dear to me from now on. But thinking about all of this, I guess it will never be as magical and mystical to me as the films I did see when I was a child - Harry Potter, The Little Mermaid, Finding Nemo and all the others... It just won't ever be the same, because I won't remember the enchantment of watching the film(s) as a child.
But remembering the enchantment of watching them as a teenager might be very close to just as good.
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It probably depends on what style of animation one prefers, but for me the most stunning animated film is 5 Centimeters Per Second.
ReplyDeleteThat's an anime film, right? It sounds very interesting.
DeleteBut what I meant was computer animated films - otherwise my favourite is The Little Mermaid.
I'd love to know how I would have felt watching Lord of the Rings or the Harry Potter films back when I was a kid.
ReplyDeleteTo me these two series, but mostly Harry Potter, made my childhood even more magical than it would've been otherwise. It's like, they become part of you. I actually believed I'd receive an invitation letter to Hogwarts at age 11.
DeleteI'm the same with the films of Ghibli, like Totoro. I only saw that for the first time a little while ago, and keep thinking how amazing it would have been to see it when I was growing up. My parents aren't exactly huge cinema geeks, even though I did watch a range of films (Star Wars, Brave Little Toaster, Dot and the Kangaroo, and Peter Pan were films that define my childhood watching). Still, I see heaps of amazing films from around that time and think I missed out on something.
ReplyDeleteAh well, I guess there's an element to the really good films that make them timeless, and for all ages :)
I saw a few Ghibli films when I was younger, but they're not films that really remember me of my childhood. Then again, the Sailor Moon series do ;).
DeleteIf I ever have kids, I'm going to show them lots of great movies!
I just remembered: I haven't seen Star Wars properly yet... just a few scenes, and parts of the films on TV.
I meant remind, not remember ;).
DeleteI never watched Sailor Moon when I was little :( I actually watched the first series only recently, and quite liked it, surprisingly! I was a bit of a tomboy, I was all about DBZ and Pokemon, hahaha
Deletetoy story was one of my all time favourites as a child, but i get that you can appriciate it so much more when your older! :)
ReplyDeletelove your blog!
musicfilmsect.blogspot.com/
Cool - I just sometimes wish I had seen it as a child.
DeleteThanks for reading and commenting, Louisa.