Faint memory of a kid's movie driving me crazy!

May 30, 2011 9:37 AM

Kid's movie/T.V. show? Trying to rediscover some sort of kid's show or movie, possibly misremembered.

This has been driving me crazy for years. Pretty sure it was a live action movie with some sort of old CGI type special effects.

1. Some sort of wizard, I think, takes this boy (or a boy and a girl) up into a tower or attic of a library/old stone school/church.

2. There, they find some sort of apparatus, I'm pretty sure it was a harp, which, when played, causes a ribbon of color/light to flow up....

3. And allows the children/young teens to change into animals. I remember a dog, and maybe an owl but I'm less sure about that.

4. I'm fairly sure this is NOT the Animorphs series. I swear I saw this before the Animorphs. I just especially remember music as being the gateway for these kids to change their form.

If this is a flight of childish fancy or a dream I had, I apologize, but I just....-swear- I watched this on T.V. at some point when younger.

posted by DisreputableDog to media & arts (8 answers total)

What was the time and place you saw this movie? That could help :)
posted by Calzephyr at 12:00 PM on May 30, 2011

United States (Ohio), sometime between 1991 (I was born '88 but I'll be safe and guesstimate too early) and 1995, I think (aka, sometime between when I was 3 and 7 years old).

I know that the Animorphs (books) came out in 1996, and the show in 1998. I'll admit the books made a rather big impression on me (I still wish I had this as a superpower), and I -do- dream very vivid dreams, but I really think I remember this show/movie. I also saw the movie Labyrinth in the age/time-frame, and clearly remember the impression it made on me, so I'm hoping this memory is just a little more faded but just as real.
posted by DisreputableDog at 1:20 PM on May 30, 2011

The Shaggy Dog? It's a 1994 remake, not the new one. A boy turns into a dog because of a ring he got from a museum. No harps, though. :(
posted by tatma at 2:59 PM on May 30, 2011

Perhaps an episode of Eureeka's Castle?
posted by coolsara at 3:24 PM on May 30, 2011

I know it's not The Shaggy Dog.

And no, there weren't any muppets that I know of.
posted by DisreputableDog at 8:40 AM on May 31, 2011

Ah, I didn't figure. I'm not well-versed in movies. I really want to know this too, now.

This probably isn't it either, but Ladyhawke? A man becomes a wolf and a woman becomes a, well, hawk, because of a curse.
Or The Water Babies?

Do you remember what happened after they were turned into animals?
posted by tatma at 11:21 AM on May 31, 2011

I've seen Ladyhawke (no) and it wasn't The Water Babies (o.O I've never ever heard of that, but it doesn't fit because it seems to be mostly cartoonish).

I just remember a scene of the boy/girl running down the street (behind a hedge?) and turning into the dog to keep running. Something about being pressed for time, for some reason.

Other than that, no, I can't really remember much else. I just swear it was mostly live action with some sort of CGI / special effects.
posted by DisreputableDog at 3:19 PM on May 31, 2011

I know you said it wasn't animated, but:
Rockadoodle? - Owl + cat + dog + music. No harp, tower, or wizard. Has some live-action.

One of the old Sinbad movies?
Woof?
Are You Afraid of the Dark's "Tale of the Mystical Mirror"? Mirror turns girl into dog by a female witchy woman.

Hope you get an answer! I'm really curious.
posted by tatma at 8:17 PM on May 31, 2011