Dark Whimsy Favorites #31-35

Rick Retro’s Realm, Project #3: 40 Dark Whimsy Favorites in 80 Days, 1989-1995, Time troubles, tiny tots and toys, plus Jackie Chan.

The countdown to my next review project continues. I’m doing an overview of 40 of my Dark Whimsy favorites!

The first 30 are:
#1 (1944) Arsenic and Old Lace
#2 (1959) The Mouse That Roared
#3 (1963) The Pink Panther
#4 (1965) The Sound of Music
#5 (1965) The Great Race
#6 (1968) The Love Bug
#7 (1973) The Sting
#8 (1975) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
#9 (1979) The Muppet Movie
#10 (1979) Being There
#11 (1980) Airplane!
#12 (1980) Oh! Heavenly Dog
#13 (1980) The Gods Must Be Crazy
#14 (1981) Arthur
#15 (1982) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
#16 (1982) Tootsie
#17 (1983) The Man With Two Brains
#18 (1984) Romancing the Stone
#19 (1984) The Natural
#20 (1984) Electric Dreams
#21 (1985) Re-Animator
#22 (1986) Stand by Me
#23 (1986) Little Shop of Horrors
#24 (1987) Raising Arizona
#25 (1987) Roxanne
#26 (1987) The Princess Bride
#27 (1987) Planes, Trains & Automobiles
#28 (1988) Big
#29 (1988) Who Framed Roger Rabbit
#30 (1988) Moon Over Parador

We finish the 80s and enter the 90s, but we’re still talking movies that I’ve seen at least twice, which will probably be awarded A+ grades:

#31 (1989) Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.

#32 (1989) Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
Can’t recall if this quite deserves an A+, but as a kid I often imagined being shrunk out in the yard.

#33 (1991) Armour of God 2: Operation Condor
Jackie Chan brings the Whimsy in this fun Indiana Jones knock-off. The first movie in this film “series” is hard to find in the US. I haven’t seen it, and have heard it’s not as good and there’s no important continuity. So.

#34 (1993) Groundhog Day
I could watch this over and over.

#35 (1995) Toy Story
The first fully animated movie to make the list. No coincidence that it’s also our first Pixar film. And in my opinion there’s something wrong with any kid who doesn’t spend some time imagining that their toys are sentient. And with any kid who knows the word “sentient”.

#36-40 will be revealed tomorrow!

Originally posted to text group 2025-01-15
Last updated 2025-02-04

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