I’ve decided to rewatch The Biggest Little Ticket (1994). It was my favourite movie as a kid and I’m feeling nervous. It feels like reconnecting with a best friend I haven’t seen in 12 years.
I distinctly remember deciding this would be my favourite movie. I loved the feeling of adventure I felt when watching it. I loved that it wasn’t a popular movie that could be rented from your average Blockbuster. I loved the overwhelming sense of magic.
It’s a story about a young girl, Glenda, who’s feeling defeated when she doesn’t know how to ride the bike she got for her birthday. She’s sitting at the base of a tree upset when a troll appears and invites her to a dragon’s birthday party — it’s a big one, 900 years old.
They travel to a secret world through a door in a tree and arrive just in time for the performances before the dragon blows out his candles.
I’m sitting on my bed, it’s Saturday afternoon and I’m rewatching the movie. I’m nervous that I’m not going to like it as much as I did. I mean obviously I’m not going to like it as much, but I’m worried the feeling won’t be there.
I’m watching the movie on Youtube. The production company posted it in 2014. “Full production” the title boasts. I don’t have to wait patiently while the VCR rewinds the VHS tape. All I have to do is click play.
The movie starts and pans to trees; the music is light and airy. I feel a sense of wonder and sadness. A passage of time I wasn’t necessarily expecting to feel. A wave of familiarity — I’m surprised at just how familiar it feels.
The spell is broken a little when Glenda speaks. But I’m not here to judge child actors. The tree special effects are certainly not the same. But let’s not judge 1994.
Then “the finest show this side of forever” starts and I’m transported.
It opens with group Rockapella and pans to show an audience filled with trolls, fairies and humans alike. Robert Munsch reads a dramatic Mortimer, Iggy the Iguana gets over stage fright to sing and Fred Penner performs some hits as well.
All the while Glenda is tasked with finding the dragon who has gone missing.
The soundtrack is what makes my stomach twist with excitement. Music has that sort of power. To take you back to the moment you first heard it.
Sure this isn’t a good movie. And I’m sure even kids today wouldn’t appreciate it. But this movie still means a lot to me and I’m glad I got to experience it all over.
Even though it ends with a cliché, it’s something my 23-year-old self doesn’t mind hearing. I’m at a point of unknown. What do I want to do after my degree? What is most important to me? What do I want to accomplish?
So the lesson Glenda learned in the magical world bears repeating.
If you believe in yourself you can do anything.