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But here's a couple someone missed (hey, that rhymes!):
1. The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T - Based upon the book by Dr. Seuss (who also wrote the screenplay!), this is a delightful movie for kids between roughly 7 and 11. Great old Technicolor, wonderful production design, and Hans Conreid as the villain.
2. Return to Oz - Directed by the editing legend Walter Murch, this film turned into a complete disaster for Walt Disney Productions because it was incompetently marketed. I should know, because I was working as an usher (remember those?) at a cineplex in my hometown when the film was released in the summer of '85. The first two days we had HUGE crowds of people, all with LOTS of little kids, because the marketing and advertising hype had proferred the film as a sequel to "The Wizard of Oz." Murch, using the second and third books as inspiration, never intended it that way. But that was only the beginning of the problems.
The movie begins with Dorothy (played by a very young Fairuza Balk) being taken for electro-shock therapy because of her incessant talking about the events that took place in "The Wizard of Oz." (!) Then there was the Gump, basically a moose-like head trophy that comes to life and starts to talk...yeah, no problems there. Last but not least were the evil princess who steals heads (all too realistically) and the Gnome King (voiced by Nicol Williamson). The cast is rounded out by Piper Laurie and Jean Marsh. And in fact it is VERY good. I recommend it for kids over the age of 10, but ONLY kids over the age of ten. Why? Let's go back to the that first day....
About 30 minutes into the movie, the doors to the auditoriums where it was being shown burst open and outraged parents - carrying screaming toddlers - poured into the lobby, demanding to see the manager. Our manager didn't want to come down from the projection mezzanine, because he had watched people's horrified reactions to the film. But come down he did, and defused the potentially riotous situation by offering refunds for anyone who wanted them. Only a handful rejected this offer.
The next day was exactly the same. Thankfully I had Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off the following week. By the time I got back to work on Thursday night, the auditoriums showing "Return to Oz" were deserted and the story of Disney's folly was all over the news because scenes like those I witnessed were replicated all over the San Francisco Bay Area and the nation.
But kids 10 and over will still love this movie!!
