To go back to the days of 101 Dalmatians on VCR: my beaten-up The Little Mermaid backpack happily sits on my back while I dance to the Beauty and the Beast Soundtrack and his light-up Lion King Sketchers glow as we play kickball during recess. I always catch my mind wandering back to those times, the times of seven dwarfs running around and Cinderella running back home when the clock strikes midnight. Disney never ceases to remind me of my childhood. The Walt Disney Company started in Los Angeles, California, on October 16th, 1923. Since that day, childhoods all over North America have been filled with Mickey’s heartfelt laugh and the image of Tinkerbell flying over Cinderella’s castle. We all understand the shared experience of Disney films being present in our youths. These films are reminders of the child we all have within.

Returning to the films we grew up with can be a painful reality check. Movies like Attack of the Clones, which once resonated with me as a thrilling sci-fi spectacle, now make for an awkward viewing experience due to the stilted acting and grating dialogue. The humor in the live action Alvin and the Chipmunks is far less charming to me today than it was when I was in elementary school. And as soul-crushing as it is to admit, Bionicle: The Mask of Light may not hold up as the fantasy masterpiece I thought it was when I was eight. Even if there’s still some enjoyment to be taken from the sea of bizarre movies that flooded my childhood, rarely does the experience of revisiting them hold a candle to what it was like watching them as a kid.