I just realized another layer of why I like the 1982 movie more than Legacy.

The first movie was a movie concept by an independent writer who pitched it to Disney.

The second one was… a movie made by Disney.

You can see this distinction in a lot of the details. But I think what stands out the most to me– what cements the first movie as My Kind of Thing, and the second movie as Too Disney To Be My Favorite… is how it approaches the concept of family.

Original movie had basically NO mention of families at all. As far as I can recall, no one even once mentioned blood relationships except for Kevin Flynn playfully calling Yori “mommy” at one point. The emphasis was on friendships and work relationships… the connections that you ideally have some degree of choice in. The happy ending –which I found so beautifully relatable – wasn’t about connecting with a long-lost relative; wasn’t even about getting married with the goal of starting one’s own eventual blood family. It was about found-family and it was amazing.

The second movie… well, Disney always loves a simple, old-fashioned story formula about the importance of connecting with your relatives.

Weird, considering how much Disney also loves giving the protagonist a dead mom. They basically made Sam Flynn a Disney Princess.

And the central storyline is as simple as any of the simplest Disney storylines.

- Kid who grew up without Dad goes looking for him.

- Finds him.

- Conflict over how badly Dad handled the entire thing (so badly, every step of the way, I have trouble even conceptualizing how his thought process could’ve gone)

- ending shows the correct family-friendly outcome: Dad acknowledges how badly he screwed up; Son forgives dad; Dad atones for his sins with self-sacrifice; Son takes rightful place and lives on. (Not a bad formula in itself… just… a very very Disney sort of simplicity.)

Not saying it wasn’t a fun movie. Brilliant in many ways. Definitely loved quite a lot of parts of it. But my favorite parts don’t include the central storyline. The way the 82 movie messes around with turning relationship tropes on their head is MUCH more original and appealing to me.