Prompt 3: Top 3 Favorite Movies Growing Up

Prompt 3: What were your top 3 favorite movies growing up?

I've been having trouble with this post and have put it off a few days. Honestly, I can't think of three movies that were my favorites. I can mostly think of the movies that remind me most of my childhood. I'll just rattle some off.

Earliest childhood: I remember watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (live action movie, 1990) while eating pizza as a little kid in our house in Rickmansworth, England. I loved Ninja Turtles so much. I had the action figures. I even remember going to this toy store in London that was just about the coolest toy store ever. I must have been three years old. I walked down the steps and there were dudes dressed up as Foot Soldiers acting all Ninja-like. And the room downstairs was filled with row upon row of ninja turtles action figures. I probably got my lifelong love of pizza from Ninja Turtles. True fact: still a fan of the movie, it has a few laughs for grown-ups. Besides, it's like a time capsule from the late 80's/early 90's.

Another movie that just makes me think of growing up in the Northwest is The Goonies. I loved it so much. It captures this sort of audacity and ridiculousness of youth. The landscapes are Oregon coast and awesome, which made it seem close and real to me. And plus it's just awesome. Pirates. Treasure. Booby traps. Adventure. Exploration. Lighthouses. The Ocean. Funny kids. All great stuff, I was a total sucker for it.

I'm just gonna throw this one out there to get it over with, Anastasia. Yes, pretty much a chick flick in animation form but I had a crush on Anastasia, thought Dmitri was a pretty cool relatable guy, and thought that it would be soooo sooo cool to learn Russian one day. Be careful what you wish for. Plus the bat. Who doesn't love Bartok??

Labyrinth. Great songs-- GREAT songs, the soundtrack is so good. Well, some songs are worse than others ("Chilly Down", I'm looking at you) but songs like these were just too awesome for little old me:

As the World Falls Down. Ballroom crazy dream masquerade party sequence.

Anyway, I also had a crush on Jennifer Connelly, and otherwise the movie is funny and ridiculous, so I couldn't pass it up.

All Disney ever.

Braveheart, especially when I was in middle school. I promptly became obsessed with Scotland, claymores, and medieval stuff. I made My mom and I made* a Braveheart costume for Halloween in the 9th grade and won Skyview Junior High's costume contest. One brief shining moment. And I loved Braveheart for the soundtrack. My brother and I would listen to it at night as we went to sleep. That, and the Last of the Mohicans soundtrack, another movie that I saw maybe once as a kid but was obsessed with. The soundtrack was just so epic, and I was such a sucker for that sort of thing. Still kinda am.

Another later addition (must have been a junior high kid) was The Mummy. I got so obsessed with Egypt and the Middle East for awhile.

Don't forget (the original) Star Wars!! So good. Good exposure to the Hero's Journey and archetypes.

Willow! You idiot!!

I think I'll wrap this up, but I don't think I can leave out a couple of important ones. The 1970's cartoon versions of The Hobbit and The Return of the King, and the (admittedly bad) Ralph Bakshi version of Lord of the Rings. This was my introduction to LotR. Important stuff.

I've left out cartoons like Duck Tails and X-Men because they're technically not movies. But I was obsessed with those too.

I probably should've just have asked my siblings and my parents: which movies did I watch over and over and over again?

*After reading this, my mom reminded that she helped me quite a bit with making the costume. She is of course absolutely right and did most of the work.