Childhood. Sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday that I was watching VHS movies on a rainy afternoon in my pillow fort. Some were better than others, but the true question is how did we forget these building blocks of our lives? Here are just a few of those movies that taught us so many things. So, if you are searching for a movie to watch while you should be studying this week (we've all done it) check these out.

• "Quest for Camelot" (1998): An animated movie with King Arthur, a gruesome villain, conjoined dragons, a handsome blind man, and the beautiful heroine - this movie was (and is) perfect. With catchy songs such as "If I Didn't Have You" (a fabulous dragon duet) and "The Prayer" (still a song at high school graduations across the globe) this movie had it all. You cheered whole-heartedly when Kayley, Garrett, and King Arthur overpowered Ruber to save Camelot and the dream of the Round Table. As a girl you jumped up and down when Kayley was knighted by King Arthur and then you spend the next week attempting to navigate the world with your eyes closed like Garrett.

• "The Iron Giant" (1999): Paranoid government wants to destroy innocent giant from outer space, boy named Hogarth meets the giant and they become friends. Sure there are tons of stories along the same line as this, but this one is ours. When Hogarth and the Iron Giant succeeded in convincing the people of Maine that he was indeed friendly we all cheered and once again love triumphed over prejudice and un-due judgement.

• "The Rescuers" (1977): Bernard and Miss Bianca (two mice) receive word that a little orphan named Penny has been abducted and rush to her aid. They help to rescue her from Madame Medusa and her crocodiles making it through the terrifying tide changes of the swamps. Pass the popcorn.

• "Thumbelina" (1994): The beloved fairy tale of how an old woman raises a child born of a flower the size of her thumb (ergo Thumbelina). The movie follows Thumbelina as she is swept away on a journey between possible match and possible match, to find love with someone her own size. (Spoiler alert: She finds love with the King of Faries and they live happily ever after.)

• "Balto" (1995): Balto - the hero of Nome, Alaska. The dog who just couldn't be stopped. The dog who led the sled team that saved the children of Nome during an outbreak of diptheria. Though only loosely based on the true story of 1925 this movie has it all: hilarious sidekicks, intense adventure, and a happy ending.

• "The Hobbit" - TV Movie (1977): Before a time of Peter Jackson and Martin Freeman, before a time of CGI and handsome dwarves that make the ladies swoon there was an animated hobbit who first introduced us to the world of J.R. Tolkien, paving the path for Tolkien Super Nerds to appear. The movie does have some major flaws such as the omission of the all-important Arkenstone and the elves being rendered quite...interestingly...
  

• "Treasure Planet" (2002): Our generation's version of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Planet" set in - what else but Outer Space? With the b-e-a-utifully animated Jim Hawkins (voiced by the equally attractive Joseph Gordon-Levitt) as the dashing daredevil who travels off into the great unknown to seek his fortune after come into the map that leads to the "treasure of a thousand worlds." Space adventures with gorgeous scenery, the development of the relationship between Silver and Jim, and the never-stopping adventure what else do you need in a movie?

• "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" (2001): What isn't there to love about this quirky movie that takes us on a journey to Atlantis with Milo and his crew? Milo helps Kida save Atlantis and along the way they fall in love. With interesting characters (who could forget Mole?) and the intense saving of the city this movie is a keeper for sure.