20 childhood movies that hit completely different as an adult

When kids watch Home Alone, they’re initially thinking how cool it is to have the entire house to yourself. However, when adults watch Home Alone, they’re thinking how crazy it is that a family could fly all the way to Paris and realize they forgot a child back home. It shows a lot of irresponsibility and negligence on the family’s part. Thankfully, the child wasn’t harmed while he was alone, but he had to set up a lot of booby traps to try to capture the robbers who attempted to break into the family home. 

In 1999, the Disney Channel was way ahead of its time in warning people about the dangers of AI with its original TV movie Smart House. It’s centered around this family who win a contest to live in a smart house, which is ran by a virtual assistant named PAT. While PAT is initially seen as a house aid, she’s then reprogrammed to have more “motherly” qualities, and then turns on the family and holds them hostage. This movie could be a solid indicator of why some millennials today are not too keen on technologies like AI and robotics taking over the world. 

Although Disney has always made animated films geared towards child audiences, a lot of the movies’ themes had underlying meanings that kids can’t always fully understand. Kids may look at The Lion King and see how Simba loses his father Mufasa to a tragic death, but must also try to take over the reigns of the kingdom from his uncle Scar. However, there are themes such as jealousy, family feuds, betrayal, and tyranny that ring throughout the film. 

The Parent Trap has quite a crazy plot when one truly thinks about it. Twin girls are separated at birth and don’t know about each other. They end up randomly meeting each other at a summer camp and then switch places as a ploy to get their divorced parents back together. From an adult standpoint, each parent went on with their lives acting like they only had one child, when they had two, which seems like an evil thing to do to their children. 

In 2003, Jack Black starred as Dewey Finn in School of Rock, a guitarist who gets fired from his band, and then poses as a substitute teacher at a prep school to try to earn some money. As a teacher, he discovers that his students also take music classes, noticing their talent, he then turns them into a band and teaches them rock history before entering them into a Battle of the Bands music competition. Once the school finds out that Finn isn’t actually a teacher, he gets fired. But at the end of the movie, he opens an after-school program, the School of Rock, to continue coaching young musicians. This movie teaches viewers that sometimes delusion along with ambition can go a long way as people try to pivot in their careers. 

A Goofy Movie showcases how sometimes kids are embarrassed by their parents, whether it’s due to their personality or behavior. In the animated film, Max knows just how much of a clumsy screw-up his dad Goofy is, and their relationship is pushed to the brink when they embark on a father-son fishing trip. It truly showcases the dynamic between teenagers and their parents, and also how teenagers have to teach their parents things at times. 

The 1988 film Big highlights how, at times, kids often wish they could be older to do whatever they want to do. Tom Hanks starred as 13-year-old Josh, who made a wish at a fortune-teller machine with hopes to be tall. His wish comes true in a different sense, and he wakes up as an adult, although he still has his child-like tendencies. Once he enters the real world and takes on a job, he realizes he wishes to be a child again and be able to spend more time with his friends. When adults watch this film, it puts into perspective how much harder life gets as they age, and there are many times when they wish they could go back to simpler times as a young person. 

Bring It On starred Kirsten Dunst, Eliza Dushku, and Gabrielle Union, and focused on rival cheerleading squads preparing for a national competition. But the film was more than just a cheer movie, it also showcased how enemies will steal others' ideas in plain sight and pass them off as their own. Unfortunately, that’s something that still happens in everyday life. 

As kids grow up, sometimes they have to let go of childhood items, so other kids can experience their magic too. That’s the case at the end of Toy Story 3, when Andy donates his box of toys to a child. Since Andy is on his way to college, he realizes another child will get to make new memories with his old toys. It’s all part of growing up, and if anyone who’s watched the film franchise since the first Toy Story, this ending hit close to home because viewers grew up with Andy, too. 

When kids watched Mara Wilson star in the 1996 film Matilda, they were impressed with her psychokinetic powers, but realized she was severely mistreated by her family at home. As an adult, this movie puts it more into perspective that one may never know what children are dealing with at home, and sometimes they need someone like Matlida’s teacher Ms. Honey to step in as a caretaker and someone who truly loves children. 

Finding Nemo is more than just a funny and heartwarming animated film about sea creatures, it also showcases how parents can be overbearing and overprotective at times, but parents need to have faith that they’ve taught their children to fend for themselves. That’s what Marlin has to learn after he goes searching for his missing son Nemo, and ultimately learns that kids have to grow and make their own mistakes as well. 

In 1996, Robin Williams starred as Jack Powell in the coming-of-age film Jack, which tells the story of his character living with a rare medical condition in which he ages four times faster than a normal person. By the time he’s ten years old, he already has the body of a man aged 40. Although he was homeschooled up until that time, his parents finally gave in and enrolled him in a public school to give him a chance to interact with other kids, even though he looks like an adult. Not only does the movie teach viewers that people come from all walks of life, but it also teaches people that life is too short, so enjoy it while you can. 

If it’s one thing that viewers remember from Disney’s Lilo & Stitch, it’s the famous line, “Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.” The animated movie is centered around Nani who is taking care of her younger sister Lilo after their parents died in a car crash, they adopt Stitch (an extraterrestrial creature posing as a dog), who causes a lot of dysfunction and misfortune in their lives. The movie also highlights themes of family dynamics, friendship, and societal pressures.

Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts starred in the 1998 family drama film Stepmom. It centered around Jackie (Sarandon) who’s going through cancer treatments and doesn’t always see eye-to-eye with her ex-husband as they try to co-parent. Jackie is also dealing with the news of her ex-husband proposing to his younger girlfriend Isabel, played by Roberts. When people watch this movie as an adult, they realize the complexities of families dealing with health issues and the adjustments people make as blended families. 

Zootopia is an animated film centered around a rabbit Judy Hopps, a rookie cop, and a fox, Nick Wilde, a con artist, who team up to solve the mystery of disappearing predators. Although it’s a cartoon, there are many themes in the film that children won’t fully grasp until they get older. Zootopia highlights themes of stereotyping, discrimination, and systemic injustices, things that people face in the real world every day. 

Robin Williams and Sally Field star in the 1993 comedy-drama Mrs. Doubtfire. Williams plays Daniel Hillard, who gets a divorce from his wife, Miranda, played by Field. The divorce didn’t allow Daniel a lot of visitation with his three kids, so to spend more time with them, he disguises himself as Mrs. Doubtfire, a housekeeper that Miranda hires to help around the house. Daniel went through extreme lengths to pull it off, but viewers realized how far he was willing to go in order to be present with his kids. 

Although she had to impersonate herself as a man to enlist in the military, Mulan is the true definition of a warrior princess. Mulan showcased that women are ambitious, strong, resilient people who will work to protect their family and country. 

Liar Liar  is one of those classic comedy films of the ‘90s that people can’t get enough of, it was during a time when the star Jim Carrey was truly at his peak. In the film, Carrey plays Fletcher, a dad and a lawyer who’s also a pathological liar. Due to his constant lies, his behavior has caused a lot of pain to his ex-wife Audrey and their son Max. During Max’s birthday, he makes a wish for his father not to tell a lie for an entire day. The wish comes true and Fletcher ends up saying whatever is on his mind. In the midst of not being able to lie, he realizes how much his dishonesty hurt his marriage and the relationship with his son. The movie teaches viewers that sometimes a little white lie is okay at times, but constantly lying can hurt a lot of people. 

In 2015, Disney’s animated film Inside Out became one of the highest-grossing movies of the year. It focused on the lead character, Riley, who’s having a tough time adjusting to a new city after the family moved for her dad's new job. The movie highlighted how Riley’s emotions of joy, sadness, anger, disgust, and fear can have major impacts on her life. It thematically showcases the importance of expressing and embracing all of one's emotions, even if it’s sadness. 

Sometimes a person just needs a day to live young, wild, and free, that’s pretty much the premise behind the 1986 film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. It centers around high school senior Ferris Bueller who fakes an illness so he can play hooky from school. While he and his friends skip school for the day, they do everything from taking their parents’ car around the city, eating at restaurants, attending a baseball game, catching a parade, and so much more. And yes, they’re doing all of this before their parents get home for the day. The film showcases how teenagers sometimes have a rebellious stage of doing what they want.