12 films to remind you of your childhood on Netflix
12 films to remind you of your childhood on Netflix
Around 50% of online content would be rendered utterly useless without our shared obsession with looking back to our youth with misty eyes. And if your childhood was anything like ours then you probably spent around 34% of it endlessly rewatching films.
We've trawled through the titles currently available to stream on Netflix UK and found the 12 films that are bound to remind you of cracking open a packet of Vice Versas, sipping on an Um Bongo and gaping at your small TV.
See or list of Best 90s Films-to watch today
(Images: All Star)
Turner & Hooch
Unarguably the best "cop teams up with dog comedy" of the 80s (silver medal goes to K-9), Turner & Hooch was a perfect showcase of why Tom Hanks was such a box office draw during the decade. It also made us want a large dog even more, even if it would tear up our house and slobber all over shit. If you haven't seen it for a while then remember to blame a sudden influx of dust near your eyes near the ending...
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Cool Runnings
For one, it has John Candy in it, one of the greatest comedic actors in history and a man wedged into the heart of anyone who grew up in the 1980s. For two, the story of a group of Jamaicans who decide they're going to compete in the Winter Olympics remains perhaps the ultimate overcoming-the-odds sports movie.
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Toys
Definitely one of the late, great Robin Williams' odder films. He plays Leslie, a man-child whose toy-maker father dies, leaving his huge company to him. Leslie is a brilliant inventor who just wants to create wonderful playthings for children, but his uncle wants to take over the company so he can build weapons of war. It's super-weird.
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My Girl 2
After the original put us off going outside for a whole year in case we encountered a bee, we were concerned about what other horrors might crop up in the sequel. Luckily no small children were killed by bees that we can remember. But it has been a while so we can't promise anything.
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Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit
Whoopi Goldberg masquerading as a nun was far more enjoyable than it sounded on paper in the first Sister Act (also available to stream) and, in the sequel, this simplistic yet successful concept was improved with a classroom setting so, you know, we could relate. An early appearance from Lauryn Hill also helped to make it a childhood favourite worth revisiting.
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FernGully: The Last Rainforest
Arriving in the middle of the slightly heavy-handed rash of eco-friendly films and TV shows for kids (see also: Captain Planet and The Animals of Farthing Wood), this animated fantasy was very clear on what we should take from it. Namely that humans are just the worst and trees are ace. The film was unofficially remade years later yet called Avatar.
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Wayne's World
While the SNL characters of Wayne and Garth weren't really known outside the US, it didn't affect the worldwide success of this iconic 90s comedy. Back before Mike Myers had outstayed his welcome, this tale of two slackers thrust into the spotlight was likeable, funny and contained the best lip-syncing scene ever made.
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Drop Dead Fred
An attempt to turn Rik Mayall into a Hollywood star, this crashed and burned with audiences staying away and critics lambasting it but try telling that to anyone who grew up in the 90s. An instant favourite among kids who were probably too young to be watching it, Drop Dead Fred became a cult hit over time. Looking back, a comedy about a woman with severe emotional issues was never going to please everyone...
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Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead
It's the sort of film that nobody seemed to make beyond the very early nineties. Or perhaps it's just that we'd all grown up a bit by then and stopped paying attention. A sort of junior Weekend At Bernie's, it's a comedy about a group of siblings left at home with a babysitter while their mum goes on holiday. The babysitter promptly kicks the bucket, leading to, of course, ensuing hi-jinks.
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Problem Child 2
There was an element of wish fulfillment to the Problem Child series. They were about Junior, a little boy who was completely horrible and destructive but got away with everything because he was a kid and his dad was kind of a fool. In the sequel he's trying to ruin his father's chances of romance so that he can have him all to himself. We enjoyed it as kids because Junior's as vile as we all wanted to be.
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Harry And The Hendersons
If you didn't want a robot in the house then chances are you probably wanted a Sasquatch. In this comedy, John Lithgow's family stumbles across a real life Bigfoot and rather than being the flesh-eating monster we'd all feared, he was actually a totally chill guy. Oh and watching the film on a loop for a summer totally paid off after watching the 30 Rock episode entirely devoted to it.
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Child's Play
Not a film we remember particularly fondly but an integral film to our childhood nonetheless. Okay so kids these days probably wouldn't find a talking doll quite so scary but at the time, Chucky became an instant nightmare mainstay. To get the full nostalgic experience, it's best watched behind a pillow and then followed by a sleepless night. Oh and some tears.
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