I am a full Gen Z. I have a short attention span for movies, but I can sit down for 10 episodes of something. I’m a big kid at heart, so kids movies that pull on my heartstrings are my favorite. I do know that life isn’t all unicorns and rainbows, so I also watch films with heavy topics.

Inside Out (1 & 2) directed by Pete Docter

“Do you ever look at someone and wonder, what is going on inside their head,”- Joy

After seeing this movie as a kid, I truly thought that little emotional people were controlling my body. I still do till this day.

Inside Out 1 & 2 take you through the thoughts and emotions of getting older. Inside Out 1 follows Riley, an 11-year-old girl who has just moved to a new town. In her brain, there’s a headquarters with five emotions controlling her: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust. Things take a turn when Joy and Sadness get diverted from headquarters, leaving the other 3 emotions to take over until they find their way back.

Inside Out 2 follows Riley when she is 13 years old and everything in her life is changing. Physically, she starts to get body odor, acne, and has acquired braces. Mentally, four new emotions forced their way into Riley’s headquarters and mess up everything.

Both of these movies made me cry. Changing and growing up is really hard, it’s a sensitive topic for me, so Inside Out is really relatable.

Zootopia, directed by Rich Moore and Byron Howard

“No one tells me what I can and can’t be,”- Judy Hopps

Little me always had dreams of being in uniform, serving people. Police Officer, Firefighter, or even the military. In High School, I set my heart fully on the Army. I studied, and I trained, but that didn’t matter. My medical history was not looked at because of the projected number of waivers I needed. Not being able to join sucks, but being able to believe, just the hope of still being in a uniform, keeps me going.

Standing at a nice tall 5’3, I can relate to Judy Hopps on a personal level. Judy is a bunny from the small town of Bunnyburrow. From a young age, she knew she wanted to be a police officer. Judy didn’t have any other Bunny officers to look up to. She worked really hard and graduated at the top of her class at the police academy and got hired at the Police Department in Zootopia. Judy’s small size made everyone doubt her, so she had to prove she was right where she was meant to be. They sent Judy on what seemed like an impossible task. Judy didn’t back down, and the movie follows her journey. Judy met her new partner, Nick Wilde, and together they tackled the task the best way they could.

This movie will forever be a comfort movie of mine. It’s a nice reminder that I can actually be something.

Clouds directed by Justin Baldoni

“And we’ll go up, up, up, but I’ll fly a little higher,”- Zack Sobiech

I bawled my eyes out through this whole movie. Growing up, my mom and my grandma had breast cancer. Cancer sucks, and losing my grandma to it makes it a very hard subject for me, but this movie is based on a true story, and they could not have made it more beautiful.

Zack Sobiech was an outgoing, compassionate High School Senior. His life took a drastic turn when he found out that his Osteosarcoma (a type of bone cancer) had spread, leaving him only months to live. The movie replicates his last year of life. Zack also deals with friends and family, along with the stress of knowing that he is dying soon. Music is his best coping outlet. He fully embraces his love for music along with his lifelong best friend, Sammy Brown, and they make a hit song, Clouds. The song got global recognition before Zack’s major decline to his death.

This movie came out in 2020, when quarantine was going on. I didn’t watch any trailers or read anything about the movie; I just watched out of pure boredom, and boy, was it a surprise. Knowing that it was based on a real story really makes me grateful and makes me want to live life to the fullest.

My movie taste is just like my playlist. One minute it can be joyful, the next it makes you want to curl up in a ball and cry. I’m not sure why I’m like that, and I know I can’t be the only one. Although my attention span is not the best, these movies have spoken to me at different times in my life that I will forever be grateful for.