Four Movies You Were Obsessed With as a Kid (And Completely Forgot Existed)

Films have a power not only to make us laugh or cry, but to transport us through time. There are so many films that were once adored, but have seemingly faded out of the cultural zeitgeist and into obscurity. If you’re anything like me, these reminders will give you a pang of warm nostalgia:

Racing Stripes

2005, Director: Frederik Du Chau Featuring an all-star cast with Frankie Muniz in the title role, Racing Stripes follows Stripes, a circus zebra who is abandoned, rescued, and, after being raised amongst racehorses, follows his dream to challenge the thoroughbreds.

The film received mixed reviews, and was certainly no filmmaking masterpiece, and yet it holds a special place in the hearts of many young adults, and the parents who watched it with them.

Zathura

2005, Director: Jon Favreau Everyone remembers Jumanji, the classic with Robin Williams in the titular role – so iconic was this film that it got a 2017 remake with Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson. But there is another film, about a board game that comes to life, that many seem to have forgotten.

Based on a book by the author of Jumanji, Zathura is a spiritual successor to the 1995 film, but isn’t given nearly as many flowers.

Featuring dinosaur-like aliens, a house suspended in space, and a robot I’m never likely to forget, this one will always have a place in my memory, even if I needed reminding about its existence first.

The Magic Roundabout

2005, Director: Dave Borthwick Based on the 1965 television series, The Magic Roundabout is an animated family film about… well, I don’t really remember what it’s about. It features a cynical snail, an opera-singing cow, a hippie rabbit, a wizard and a dog, embarking on a quest to defeat the wizard’s evil, icy counterpart.

The film was slated by a few reviewers, with a BBC reviewer accusing it of “bypassing the cheeky 60s subtext of the original TV show and sapping its nostalgia value."

Even if I don’t remember it, I remember enjoying it.

Cats & Dogs

2001, Director: Lawrence Guterman Now I know what you might be thinking. How can this film have been forgotten about when it has two sequels? Well, I’d wager that the majority of you reading this didn’t even know it had a second sequel, because I didn’t until writing this article.

The 2001 Cats & Dogs was a classic good vs evil movie, with the dogs being our heroes, and the cats being conniving villains. It was a funny kid’s spin on the spy genre.

This film is different to the others, as it obviously didn’t immediately fade out of public memory with Cats & Dogs 2: Revenge of Kitty Galore hitting cinemas in 2010. However, the fact that a third film, Cats & Dogs 3: Paws Unite! flopped both financially and critically, with one reviewer calling it “a pavement foul of a trilogy closer” means the world seems to have truly moved on from this franchise.

Honorable mentions for this list include 2009’s Hotel for Dogs and Aliens in the Attic, as well as 2007’s Bridge to Terabithia, though I think this is rightfully more well-remembered than the rest.