31 Days of Film - Day 19: First film you saw in theaters

It was a double feature, and I honestly don't remember which one is first, so I'll just do both. Which shouldn't be too hard as I adore both movies. The movies were Disney's Oliver and Company and Lucas/Spielberg's The Land Before Time, and I was in love with them. I was obsessed - especially with Land Before Time.  I loved dinosaurs (still do), I dressed up as a dinosaur for several years for Halloween. My aunt made the costume, it was epic!

I loved Little Foot, Cera, Duckie, Peetry and Spike. I loved being scared by SharpTooth, and I cried for Little Foot's mommy. I was 3 or 4 years old when it came out. I had all of the toys, clothes, books. It was a huge fan. I don't know if it was the story or the fact that I saw it larger than life on the big screen, but it impacted my childhood greatly.

I was destined to be a super nerdy kid, I know. I was also very much a tomboy, so while princesses were a big deal to a lot of my friends growing up, I was more into the dinosaur movies, or the princesses male counterparts and sidekicks. They were having more fun than the girls in the frilly dresses. I think I appreciate the princesses more now as an adult than I ever did as a kid (though I did love Belle and Jasmine as a kid).

Oliver and Company was every kid's dream in a way. It was about dogs and cats (getting along). It starred a super cute kitten who just wanted a home and found one with his girl Penny a lonely girl from a rich family. You had a merry band of misfit mutts who team up with the cat to save the girl. It's still adorable, though these days I can't watch it often without tearing up with how Oliver is abandoned as an unwanted kitten.

The music is timeless - I mean it's Billy-freaking-Joel! I don't like him as a person (I think he's smarmy) but I love his music and the songs in this movie don't disappoint (as I type this I'm listening to Why Should I Worry?). Dodger is one cool cat of a dog, and Georgette is the perfect poodle stereotype. Cheech Marin as Tito offers the perfect amount of comic relief...

I had a lot of Oliver & Company swag (including this super cool sweat shirt that had Oliver on it and his eyes where holographic so they moved!) and I was on a mission later that year when I went to Disneyland to find an Oliver doll (I didn't get one, settled for Lady from Lady and the Tramp, and an Eeyore -and a dinosaur!- instead).

There's a lot of humor I didn't get as a child ( isn't that how most Disney movies go? ) but now I can sit and laugh at parts that made no sense in my first viewing.