Introduction
There are so many movies that I love and enjoy, but there is an elite list of movies that I believe made me who I am today. My interests, my personality, and so many things about me were shaped by these movies. I think it is only right to list some of these movies so that hopefully you can feel the same childlike wonder I felt when watching them for the first time.
World War Z
World War Z is exactly what you think it’s about: a zombie apocalypse. This movie is an adaptation of the original book World War Z in which zombies start to attack the population and the world is plunged into a zombie apocalypse where a considerable chunk of the population is wiped out. Gerry Lane, who used to be an investigator for the United Nations, returns to his position and travels the world to find a cure and to protect his family.
My dad showed me this movie when I was little and I was invested. It earns its spot in the list of movies that made me because it was one of my first introductions to the horror genre. Considering how much I love horror movies now, I’d say that this was a pretty impactful movie for my current interests. I have always loved apocalyptic and dystopia movies and it all stemmed from this movie. If you haven’t watched it yet, I highly recommended watching it!
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
The next movie that made me who I am is the movie I watched at least twice a day as a kid: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. This movie is about a poor inventor and his two kids who restore a scrapped racecar only to find out that it is sentient. When one of their family members is kidnapped by an evil king to make a replica of Chitty the car, it takes the whole family and Chitty to come to the rescue.
Like I previously said, I was obsessed with this movie and it was by far my favorite movie as a kid. Dick Van Dyke, the lead actor in the movie, was the love of my life as a child and was definitely my first crush. I won’t talk about that though since that would be embarrassing. . . right? Just look up a picture from when he was in the movie, and you’ll fall in love! I still remember all the words to all the songs and could give you a rundown of all the characters in the movie without looking it up. It was that much of an obsession when I was 7. This movie was a gateway for me to all the other children’s movies that came out during that time and while it may no longer be what I watch regularly, they shaped my entire film experience when I was young.
How to Train Your Dragon
How to Train Your Dragon is not only a childhood staple for me, it is now one of my favorite movies of all time. The story follows Hiccup, the son of the leader of a Viking village where dragons have been attacking them. Since Hiccup is weaker than the other Vikings his age, he has never killed a dragon which is a status symbol in the village. That is until he manages to injure an unknown dragon one night only to find that he had grounded the rarest and deadliest dragons of all.
This movie will forever be on the list of my favorite movies. This movie taught me about unbreakable friendships and that it is okay to be a little different because your personality and kindness are your strengths. This movie has some of the best music I have ever heard from a soundtrack and the music may or may not be my morning alarm to this day. Is that too much information? Anyway, How to Train Your Dragon lit that spark of adventure in me and I will never be able to recreate the joy I feel when watching this movie.
Conclusion
There is so much to love about all of these movies and I have them to thank for making me who I am today. I highly recommend watching these movies if you haven’t, and if you have, watch them again! Now I will tell you a line that is used in every great movie to ever exist: “Bye!”