By: Rory Zeman and Megan Hastings

Culture and Center Editors

Everyone in Gen-Z grew up with numerous timeless children’s movies. However, each and every one of these movies has a different effect its viewers, whether they are adults or kids. Here are just a few of said movies and their ageless impacts on their viewers.

The Lion King: This is the undisputed King (fittingly enough) of childhood movies. Through the vices of Scar, the humor of Timon and Pumbaa, and the beautiful coming-of-age tale of Simba, The Lion King never fails to revolutionize the developing minds of the youth. Furthermore, its iconic soundtrack that includes hits like “Circle of Life”, “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King”, and best of all, “Hakuna Matata,” makes people question their regular music taste. However, the movie is likely to be unpopular among parents because of the various scenes with Simba witnessing and trying to get over Muphasa’s death, which will have adults holding in their tears in front of their kids to maintain their parental authority and tough persona.

The Nightmare Before Christmas: Although many acclaim this childhood classic as a unique spin on animation, Henry Slick and Tim Burton’s stop-motion style creates a truly ghastly image of the Halloween world. This movie has done an impeccable job of helping children fill their diapers out of sheer fear. Specifically, the scenes of certain characters removing parts of their limbs and brains are the sole reason that the night light industry is still in business. It is more appalling to the kids whose parents believe the film is a Christmas movie (it’s not) and allow them to witness the beautifully horrific animations on Christmas Eve. The day that you can finally view this film without a severe degree of fear is the day that you know that you have reached adulthood. Although the film is nothing short of a masterpiece for grown viewers, whoever decided that this movie should be labeled as a kids’ movie deserves prison time. 

Monsters, Inc: Monsters, Inc would be an iconic, family-friendly movie if it didn’t instill the fear of a slimy purple lizard in audiences within the first ten minutes. If the whole idea behind the film is that the monsters aren’t actually terrifying, then why would they animate Randall Boggs like that? It’s not Randall’s mischievous personality that scares children, it’s the fact that his eyes bulge out of his head and his scaly purple skin terrifies me. Another honorable mention is the secretary, Roz, a big slimy slug with lipstick on. Not only does Roz look unsettling, she’s also a scary authoritative figure–every child’s worst nightmare. She slams Mike Wazowski’s finger under a shutter door at one point, which is a sensation that anyone would flinch at.