4 Reasons Classic Family Movies Are Better Than Movies Today
Given the choice between a classic family film from Hollywood’s golden age and the latest noisy blockbuster for kids, what would you choose? While movies aimed at kids can often feel like loud, overlong toy commercials, classic family movies are classics for a reason: they have characters, stories and values that withstand the test of time. Here are 4 reasons classic family movies are better than movies today.
True Family Films
There was a time when family movies were genuinely made with the intention that both young and old could sit together and watch them without any awkward moments. Think of Little Women, which shows its young ladies and their mother persevere and hold down the fort while their father serves with Union troops. It’s a warm, gripping story without one moment that couldn’t be watched with your granddaughter. which often isn’t the case with entertainment today.
C’mon Get Happy
Classic family movies were conducive to a healthier outlook in life. Think of Andy Hardy’s escapades that frequently emphasize the tolerance and overall good nature of the people of his family and hometown, and is warmly entertaining from start to finish. Today, films involving navel gazing atop graveyards of murdered civilians while comedies frequently involve violent or negative acts to draw laughter. Classics tend to make one believe a little more in humanity.
Thrills Without the Computer Special Effects
Some feel that special effects were actually far more difficult back in the day than they are now. That, in spite of SFX now requiring machinery that costs millions of dollars, the olden days required genuine creativity because of technical limitations. Think of The Incredible Mr. Limpet, the Don Knotts classic that seamlessly merged live-action with animation, something the unreleased remake made almost 30 years later still couldn’t achieve. Or, consider The Sea Hawk (1940), which took a scene as grandiose as the naval warfare in the Spanish Armada and achieved it using clever lighting, set design and conjunction with shots of the sea and studio productions. Cameras being operated by multimillion dollar drones may capture more detail, but they don’t bring about that same sense of wonder that comes when you really have to ask yourself, “how did they do this?”
You Actually Learned Something
Classic movies often allowed people to actually walk away with knowledge about real events. Take The Spirit of St. Louis, based on the Pulitzer-winning account of Charles Lindbergh’s autobiographical account of his own life. The film was released in a time when Lindbergh’s flight had seen so much admiration and coverage that fans absolutely demanded a faithful rendition; anything else would have failed. Similarly, The Last Days of Pompeii, while not bearing much resemblance to the novel it was inspired by, is still a meticulously detailed look into the ancient crime of slave-trading and the gladiator era. If you remember your teachers regularly showing oldies in history class rather than the modern renditions, that’s because the oldies were actually the goodies when it comes to historical accuracy.
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