Movies and films are so important to a young child. Watching movies with family, friends, and grandparents builds love for characters and forms early memories for a child. The Channels editors reminisce on their favorite childhood movies.

Yarrow Hogan, Editor-in-Chief

In what once was an attic in an old, run-down house, my childhood room was tucked away under an A-frame ceiling, where a small walkway with a tapestry as my door opened up to a little girl’s bedroom. I remember carrying my moms old white macbook in one hand and my stack of “Anne of Green Gables” DVDs in the other. As it was one of my mom’s favorite movies growing up, it was something we could share. I must have watched that movie a million times. I dreamily watched as Anne used her strong and stubborn personality to stand up for herself against bullies, and also her fearless ability to follow her dreams and her determination to prove herself smarter than her male classmates, behavior abhorred in the early 1900’s. I was always enthralled by the beauty of Avonlea in Prince Edward Island, Canada, where the book and movie are set. I adored Anne’s wistful behavior and moral conflicts. Not only was the movie something that I loved, but looking back now, it is a sweet similarity that my childhood self can share with my moms childhood self–a fond memory I can reach for in my mind when I think of that time in my life. I was young and impressionable, growing up facing the trials of youth, just as Anne Shirley did. Most of all, a decade later, Anne’s voice plays in my head when I spell chrysanthemum.

Bailey Schroerlucke, News Editor

In the playroom of one of my childhood homes, my siblings and I would unfold the red, pull-out couch surrounded by the mess of toys from our youth, and put a movie onto the small screen of our TV. A favorite pick of mine was “Labyrinth,” a 1986 film directed by Jim Henson. From a young age, I’ve always been drawn to films based in otherworldly lands, ones that are vibrant adaptations of characters who enter portals into realms separate from their regular lives. This film follows a young girl as she embarks on an independent journey into the bizarre. She must find her way through an impossible labyrinth full of paradoxes and goblins to rescue her baby brother. There’s a sense of eternal childhood captured in this film, where there’s never an expectation of growing up and time is frozen in youthful essence. The girl is full of curiosity and bewilderment, and as a child I found an attachment to her character. After recently rewatching Labyrinth, I was a bit surprised thinking back on how much I loved the film as a child because I forgot how strange it truly is, but it nonetheless brings me a sense of bittersweet nostalgia and still gives me an imaginative escape.

Emma Welch, Opinion Editor

From what I can remember of growing up and watching movies, the one movie I always recall watching is “Shrek.” Shrek ignited a magical spark in me, and for that reason I watched it almost everyday.

I remember watching the movie and whenever the character Lord Farquaad would come on the screen, I would yell at him as if I was there living vicariously through Shrek and Fiona’s lives.

The story of “Shrek” may come off as a silly and playful movie, but it has a much deeper meaning to me. Shrek and Fiona had a different kind of love story than other Disney princesses do. They are stereotyped as ugly because they are ogres; this drew me even further to the characters. Their love eventually blossomed and I always have loved an underdog story like theirs.

Reminiscing on the past, my dad always talks about how I was never able to turn off “Shrek” and that I had an addiction to watching it while in my adolescent years.

I love “Shrek.”

Sunny Silverstein, Engagement Editor

A humorous horse, a handsome thief, and a lost princess with lusciously long magical hair walk onto a set and create one of the best Disney movies of all time–at least in my opinion. The movie “Tangled” was released in 2010 when I was seven years old. I don’t know if it’s the comedic value of the film, the wonderful animation, or the dynamic characters and all their quirks that sparked such an interest in me, but since my first viewing of this film, it’s continued to be one of my favorite childhood movies. I grew up singing the songs and trying to perfect the iconic Flynn Ryder smirk, and I always envied Rapunzel and her supernatural hair. This movie has so many funny moments in it that have been replaying in my head since childhood. One of my favorite scenes is when the princess continuously bangs Flynn Ryder over the head with a frying pan until he passes out. She then struggles with stuffing his muscular body into a tiny closet to hide him from her witch of a mother, and the whole scene is hilarious. This movie touches all of the bases. It’s a love story, a comedy, and an action film all in one with lovable characters and an addicting soundtrack. Rapunzel and her little green gecko Pascal will always hold a special place in my heart and memories.

Allison Budde, Sports Editor

Although I have numerous favorite childhood movies and could never narrow it down to just one, there is one movie that brings a wave of emotions and nostalgia over me when I watch it today. That movie is “Coraline.”

This movie is truly special to me because it reminds me of my cousins, Macie and Baylee. Growing up with only a brother, my cousins quickly became my built-in sisters.

Whenever we would have sleepovers the three of us would pile into Macie’s king sized bed while my aunt would turn on my cousin’s pink TV and put in the “Coraline” DVD.

We would watch the first hour or so and then quickly doze off into a slumber. Then, I would wake up around 3 a.m., squished between Macie and Baylee, sweating, as the credits played on the screen, and that iconic eerie music became my comfort music.

Delaney Newhouse, Features Editor

Each of the movie nights of my childhood involved a lengthy ritual. Picking a film began with a full inventory of every single DVD and videotape in our house: we laid them out in rows, carefully browsing and debating before eventually settling on one that we had seen far too many times before.

When I was the eventual winner of these debates, we would deliver “The Secret Garden” to the basement television. My siblings and I would pop popcorn and mix together apple juice and seltzer water in precise proportions. Then, we’d build a pillow fort. We’d pull cushions off of couches, drape sheets above our heads, and huddle together in a mess of blankets and pillows, staring at the light from the television as the story came to life.

Maybe I couldn’t quite force my younger siblings to read about Sarah Crewe, but I was certainly bossy enough to make them watch the movie time after time. Despite that, though, the movie still remains one of my favorites today.

Claire Geriak, Arts and Entertainment Editor

I grew up watching the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series, especially whenever I would visit my Grandpa Bill in Northern California. I always thought of my grandpa as a pirate, because he would take me out on his small boat docked in Berkley, California and we would sail around the bay as he would tell me stories of everywhere he has sailed. We would also stop at a few different restaurants around the city where the waitresses had memorized our families’ orders and had seen us grow up. It is bittersweet now to look back on these times because we don’t go sailing anymore, but I always reminisce about sitting at the front of the boat and hanging my head over the side to watch the waves. The more I rewatch the movies I ask myself how well I understood the concepts at such a young age, but I think I just enjoyed imagining sailing on a pirate ship.