Childhood Favorites

Recently I've been watching kids' films that I used to love but hadn't seen in a while.   I'd like to share my thoughts on them.   First up, The King and I.

This is one of those films that just about everyone watches at school, and then we all have to sing the songs from it.   I hadn't seen it since then.   It's the film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, which was based on the Margaret Landon novel, Anna and the King of Siam, which in turn was based on Anna Leonowens' memoirs.   The film stars Deborrah Kerr, as Anna Leonowens, the school teacher to the children of the King of Siam, and Yul Brynner as the King.   It's a good musical, the story is interesting and the portrait of the Siamese court is rich but what really made the film for me was Yul Brynner's performance.   His Oscar-winning portrayal of the King is so appealing.   I did find the ending a bit weak though.   Anna is mean to the King so he gets ill and dies, the end.   But a good film, all in all.

Next, Return to Oz.   Weird 80s kids' films are my favorites!   So I was always going to love this.   Rather than being a sequel to the 1939 film, it looks completely different.   It's based on an amalgamation of the later Oz books by L. Frank Baum, of which I was a fan when I was younger.  It sees Dorothy return to the land of Oz but everything has changed.   The Nome king has stolen the ruby slippers, taken over Oz and turned everyone to stone.   Dorothy has to defeat him and the evil witch Mombi and save the day, while making lots of new friends on the way.   It's a very imaginative and well-made film, with some genuinely scary characters and moments.   Love it!

And finally, Honey I Shrunk the Kids.    Is it just me, or were films far more imaginative back in the 80s?   It's about an eccentric inventor whose machine accidently shrinks his children to tiny sizes.   They get swept up and thrown away, and have to make their way back across the garden, dodging all sorts of obstacles that would have presented no problem at all if they were their normal size, such as ants, bees, the lawnmower and very small puddles or water.   The film is very well done and enjoyable and brings back fond memories of playing in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground at the MGM studios in Florida when I was little.