Four '80s Movies Kids Today Totally Need to See

Having little kids is great for so many reasons. One of the best: You get to relive your own childhood and watch movies from that childhood. My kids are 6 and a half, 4, and 4 months old, so they’re not quite ready for "Police Academy" or "Weird Science" or "Summer Rental" (my all-time fave) but there are some more age-appropriate flicks in my mental queue that my older one would definitely appreciate soon. And my husband and I would, too. We don’t watch a ton of TV, but every once in a while a family movie night is just what the doctor ordered. And there’s only so much Pixar animation an adult can handle, right?

Over Christmas we watched "A Christmas Story" and "Home Alone" with the kids for the first time. It was one of the highlights of the holiday season, though it did backfire a little when my 4-year-old daughter started saying “I’m gonna give you till the count of 10 to get your ugly, yella, no good keister off my property before I pump your guts full of lead. 1, 2, 10….” (whoops!). Inappropriate quotes aside, it was awesome to see those movies again through the eyes of our little ones. And I can’t wait to do that with this list of films that helped shape my own childhood:


"The Goonies" (1985)
The Fratelli brothers are a tad unsavory (and perhaps inappropriate) but the story of an adventurous, motley crew of kids in search of pirate treasure to save their homes from foreclosure is irresistible. I probably watched this movie 50 times as a kid. One-eyed Willy, Sloth, Baby Ruth, the Oregon coastline, the organ made of skeleton bones, 50-dollar bill. Plus Sean Astin’s asthma reminds me of my son’s peanut allergy.
Favorite quote: “Andy!!!!! You Goonie!!!!”


"The Karate Kid" (1984)
Mr. Miyagi teaches Daniel-san martial arts (and how to wax a car) so he can stand up to his bullies, but, in the process, he learns so much more. Love! Johnny’s bullying is probably more intense than I care to remember but there’s so much good stuff in here. The waxing on and waxing off, Elisabeth Shue, catching flies with chopsticks, Ralph Macchio, and what kid didn’t try to balance on one leg and do that karate kick thing Daniel-san does on the beach?
Favorite quote: “Pain does not exist in the dojo, does it? No sensei!”


"E.T." (1982)
Not sure this one needs any explanation at all. I recall it being quite sad, though. It was also the first movie I ever saw as a kid … and I saw it at a drive-in! It doesn’t get much cuter than Drew Barrymore as Gertie (though in retrospect she was probably drunk while filming … not so cute).
Favorite quote: “E.T. phone home” Obviously.


"The Princess Bride" (1987)
A classic fairytale with giants, sword fights, an evil prince, and Mandy freaking Patinkin (AKA Sal from Homeland). And for some reason I have always, always loved Cary Elwes.
Favorite quote: “I am Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

OK, I haven’t seen any of these movies in at least 15 years, so I could be remembering them wrong and I could regret showing them to my first-grader. But it’s not like I have "Jaws" or "Poltergeist" or Irreconcilable Differences on the list right now (I was obsessed with all of those, too … and am still haunted by that damn clown under the bed in "Poltergeist"). Shoot, I don’t even have "Big" or "Adventures in Babysitting" on the list! If I were responsible, I’d probably pre-watch the movies to vet them, but I think we’ll just pop some popcorn and wing it. Hopefully soon. Ish. Stay tuned ...