Older movies from the twentieth century often have beloved features that just aren't found in more modern movies. These features, such as traditional animation and practical effects, made older movies feel that much more special, especially for those who grew up watching them.
On Reddit, avid movie fans discuss elements in older pre-2000 films that they miss and would like to bring back to today's cinema. One thing is clear, movie-goers are passionate about what makes a movie special, and are sometimes frustrated with movies of today.
Music Videos Featuring The Movie
When asked about elements from older films that they miss, Creeping_Death_89 states that they "used to love the music videos that would come out with the release where they would put clips from the movie in the video." One great example of this is the release of the fantasy movie Labyrinth in 1986.
David Bowie, who both played the villainous Jareth the Goblin King and recorded five songs for the film, even starring in a music video for the track "Underground." It was implied to be Jareth's origin story of how he was an ordinary man that wandered into the Underground (the world of Labyrinth), and became the Goblin King. This was a clever way to promote the movie as well as give background and lore to Bowie's character. The video is still very memorable and fans have adopted it into the canon of Labyrinth.
Great Opening Credits
Redditor theg721 misses the days when films had more interesting opening credits. They lament the lack of "long, intricate opening credits, like what Maurice Binder and Saul Bass used to produce." Older films often featured these very expressive opening credits to set the scene for a movie, usually with elaborate animation and music.
One particularly memorable example is the title sequence for the 1965 comedy film What's New Pussycat which featured Peter O'Toole, Peter Sellers, and Woody Allen. The title credits perfectly fit the tone of this over-the-top, irreverant screwball comedy, with its surreal and cartoonish animations of each character to go with their actors' names. It's also very well synced up to the title song "What's New Pussycat?" sung by Tom Jones. This kind of attention to detail in opening credits is lacking in modern films.
Hand-Drawn Animation
Tea_Reckz says they miss "2d or hand-drawn animation" in today's cinema landscape. Although CGI animation has its own appeal, there is nothing quite like the expressiveness of hand-drawn animation. There have been many memorable and often emotional hand-drawn animated films that have become classics.
Disney films from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Beauty and the Beast are hand-drawn classics. One contrast between an original animated film and its CGI-rendered "live action" remake is how much more expressive the Beast is in traditional animation than he is in CGI form The films of Don Bluth, family movies with darker themes such as the Secret of NIMH and The Land Before Time are also considered classics of hand-drawn animation.
Practical Effects
One Reddit user says they miss "Physical FX generally, robotics, animatronics, stop-motion, corn-syrup, squibs, latex" because "The eye knows when it's looking at something real."
Practical effects can feel much more physically present and real than the digital effects commonly used today. They can be used for whimsical fantasy and sci-fi movies, such as E.T. and Dark Crystal with their intricate puppetry, or they can be used to create terror, such as the Xenomorph in Alien or the Werewolf transformation in An American Werewolf in London. These practical techniques create a strong emotional response in the audience, whether it be enchantment over a fanciful creature or sheer terror at a realistically horrifying monster.
Intermission
Although perhaps not missed by many, Reddit user JohnStewartBestGL misses "Intermissions in long movies." Many lengthy older movies, usually an event of some kind - musicals like My Fair Lady, or historical epics such as Gone with the Wind and Ben-Hur, had intermissions.
During this time, audience members could walk, grab a snack, or use the facilities. This also created a breather moment - usually after some sort of tense, climactic scene - and made lengthy films easier to get through. This is a trend that would definitely be a good idea to bring back, as it would be perfect for Marvel films that tend to have length runtimes, for example. It could also help struggling movie theaters if audiences are motivated to make purchases at the snack bar during the intermission.
Creepy Kids' Movies
Redditor spinereader81 misses these "Kids movies that weren't afraid to get creepy." The user goes on to give some examples, "The Secret of Nimh, Labyrinth, Return to Oz, etc."
Kids' movies such as those from the '70s, '80s, and '90s often had very dark themes and imagery. These were very memorable to the now-adult audiences who watched them growing up, and the messages and themes have stuck in their brains. While there are occasional dark children's films such as the stop-motion films Coraline, Paranorman and the upcoming Wendell and Wild, entertainment with darker themes has moved more toward TV rather than movies in recent years. Some examples include Over the Garden Wall and Gravity Falls.
Romantic Comedies
JunebugIparis simply states that they miss "Romcoms." From It Happened One Night to When Harry Met Sally to Four Weddings and a Funeral, romantic comedies dominated the 20th century. Although not all, many of them were big-budgeted theatrically released fare that gave audiences something fun, romantic, and feel-good to watch.
While there are a few theatrically released romantic comedies such as the 2022 Billy Eichner LGBTQ rom-com Bros, the movie landscape has been dominated by superhero films in recent years. Romantic comedies are increasingly released on streaming services like Netflix (the recent Love & Gelato, for example) or Amazon Prime (e.g. Book of Love).
Black & White
Redditor Shiver-Show says they love and miss "the era of black & white cinematography," going on to say that there is "is something very beautiful about those films" that is lacking at today's box office.
Black and White cinematography can really enhance the storytelling of a movie. It could make a fairytale movie feel more romantic and dream-like as in the scene in La Belle et La Bête (1946) where the Beast carries Belle to her new bedchamber. Alternatively, it can elicit horror, such as the infamous shower scene in Psycho. While there have been a few modern examples of black and white films, such as 2019's The Lighthouse and 2021's Belfast, it's much rarer in modern cinema than it used to be. These infrequent black and white movies stand out with their style.
Matte Paintings
This Redditor says they miss the "Matte Paintings" used as scenery in older films. Matte paintings allowed films to be made in studio while still creating jaw-dropping imagery that left a lasting impression.
They can be used for all sorts of different effects: creating the fantastical shot of Mary Poppins flying over the London skyline with her umbrella, or the epic shot of the warehouse in Raiders of the Lost Ark. This technique helped make movies feel more magical. In more modern times, films have used digital matte painting rather than 2d painting in films such as The Lord of the Rings series. More frequently, movies use blue and green screens to create effects in studio.
Good Plots That Ignore Plot Holes
Typical_Humanoid makes the bold statement that "The internet destroyed mainstream cinema." This, in their opinion, is due to people "complaining in videos and comment sections alike how bad "plot holes" are just because a character dares to act like a character." In older films, characters would make decisions and act in ways that fit their character and the kind of story being told.
However, in recent years, the advent of YouTube channels such as CinemaSins, which pick apart all the supposed "flaws and plot holes," force films to prioritize plots that avoid internet comments and angry reviews rather than using plot and dialogue that would more suit the characters and story they are trying to tell. A big example of this is the way most Disney live-action remakes are made, in that they often spend too much time on forced logic and meta-commentary on criticisms from the original film. In the Beauty and the Beast live-action remake, the film went out of its way to address criticism of the original film such as spending excessive time explaining logistics of the curse.