Everyone has that type of film that they saw growing up, and everyone still talks about all the time. Then there are the random animated movies that nobody seems to talk about anymore. They were everywhere growing up, and yet nobody seems to bring them up anymore—even though I still randomly think of specific scenes from them for no reason.
I am not talking about any of the huge animated movies from Disney or Pixar that everyone remembers growing up. I am talking about the somewhat chaotic animated movies that everyone probably saw a hundred times growing up, but has not thought about in years… until someone brings them up and all of the memories flood back.
For some reason, some of these movies still live rent-free in my head. I will randomly think of a character, scene, or feeling of the film, and suddenly feel a flood of nostalgia. Here are some of those random animated movies from growing up that I still think about way too much.
Robots
The first time I saw Robots, I thought it was just great because it took place in this crazy robot city, and there were all different kinds of characters made out of random robot pieces. Watching clips from it again, I think it’s actually funnier than I thought it would be, considering I didn’t catch all the random jokes and stuff going on in the background when I first saw it. I also think the whole plot with robot upgrades and the bad guy wanting to make everyone “obsolete” is something that I guess only makes more sense when you’re a little older, but it’s still pretty funny and clever writing and all that.
Hoodwinked!
I have got to say, Hoodwinked! was one of the most chaotic animated movies I have ever watched as a kid. I thought it was just a crazy version of Little Red Riding Hood, but in a way, it is pretty smart. The way the story is narrated, with different characters telling their own side of the story, is quite creative. Watching it now, some of the jokes are pretty sarcastic and fast-paced, which is probably why I remember this movie so well. There are so many random jokes in this movie that I did not even understand when I was younger.
Open Season
As a kid, Open Season was a movie that mostly stood out to me based on how funny the dynamic between Boog and Elliot was. While the movie was really fun to watch, based on the crazy situations the two of them would get into, there’s a part of me that thinks the humor within the movie actually stems from the personality of the characters and the crazy situations they find themselves in, rather than just the slapstick humor. It’s a movie that’s a little smarter than I think I gave it credit for when I first watched it.
Over the Hedge
Out of all the movies on this list, Over the Hedge is probably the one that feels the most different when viewing it as an adult. As a kid, the funniest part was just seeing the animals explore human neighborhoods and all the junk food they could steal. However, now, some of the jokes about living in suburban America and consumer culture are pretty obvious. It’s still a very funny movie, but you can definitely tell jokes were written in to appeal to older viewers as well.
Epic
Epic was a bit of a different movie from the rest of this list, as it was a bit more geared towards adventure. While viewing this movie as a kid, I didn’t really pay attention to much of anything except for how cool this hidden forest world was. Viewing this movie again as an adult, I really appreciate it for what it is and how it looks. The idea of this small world living right around us and nobody ever noticing is still really cool, and the animation really isn’t bad at all.
There are just so many animated movies from my childhood that seem to have just disappeared over the years, yet somehow manage to pop into my head from time to time. Although it seems that they are not talked about as much anymore, it is still fun to think about the type of movies that made for such great nights in during my childhood. I mean, I am pretty sure everyone has at least one random movie from their childhood living rent-free in their head.