I was starting to think I was crazy and made this whole movie up in my head. I have been looking for this movie forever and the only title i knew it by was "The quest" thank god it really exists, I havent seen it since i was 5 or 6.
Now that i found the info for it I will own it within a few weeks. YAY!
Jesus! Did I just say that? Or just think it? Was I talking? Did they hear me?
me too!
i saw it when i was about 4 with my mum and we have both been trying to find it ever since.... we thought it was called 'frog's dream' so we could never find it before.... i want to buy the video...any ideas where i can get it?
Man I feel like I have been searching for this forever! I also thought I was crazy when nobody remembered what movie I was talking about!
shareLooks like there was a few of u who thought that we were crazy. It was one of these movies that stuck with me ever since I watched it, but I didn't think it was real!
shareMan, this is weird. I didn't know there would be others that couldn't remember this movie either. I mean why this movie? There are tons of movies out there but why this? There must be something subliminal in the movie that wants us to rewatch the movie 20 years later. Aha...I deem this as psycho-historic marketing. The planning and forethought of unavoidable future marketing strategies...
I've been meaning to track this movie down forever but I couldn't remember the name. I just remembered key scenes: monster, lake, bikes, train...and there she was...
I was about 4 when I saw this too. It's crazy how much details we can remember from so long ago.
HAHAHA wow... I LOVE HOW WE ALL WERE LOOKING FOR THIS MOVIE!!! Thank God we found it!!!
"Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around" - Vanilla Sky
Hey guys. I thought I completely made up this film in my head too. I couldn't remember much about it except that dongaton word. If you look at the following thread that I started you will see my frustration (and laugh!):
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/board/flat/31847180
"Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are."-Kurt Cobain
i've been looking for this movie as well, checking out ex-rental vhs sales at video stores but to no avail.
i think it's the mystery of the movie, i remembered watching it on a sunday afternoon when i had school the next day (hated school) and it transported me into an adventure in the bushland of australia, i can really relate to that type of country, i guess it was a substitute for being a young kid who should be out riding around on my bike, and going off into the bushland and discovering something. but i was watching television :D
i love australian movies.
I love this movie. WICKED SWEET!
He knows not? Not he knows.
I think I remember this film. Lake is in it? They drain the lake...I REALLY have a VAGUE memory, so I cannot say what it is exactly I am remembering, but it was magical.
I am sure this is the one.
Try, Try, Try to understand, I'm a Magic Man!
I was looking for this too! I remember seeing it when I was about 7 or 8 and could only remember a lake and the word "donkegin". Yay for Google and imdb! I will have to watch this again.
shareUS title is THE QUEST. (there are a few that share that title) Look for the one that stars Henry Thomas. British video title was THE GO KIDS. French title was LE SECRET DU LAC. Everywhere different. I am gratified my film left such an impression.
BTS - director Frog Dreaming
Im right there same story, still in the mail, cant wait
sharethis is just crazy... i swear i have been looking for this movie for atleast like 10 years... i can remember being as young as like 5 and watching this movie over and over... i knew all the words.. this movie was like a part of my childhood.. i had always wondered what the name of it was and if i was ever going to find the movie again and i swear i wondered if i was CRAZY.
i am completely shocked that there is so many of us out there that had this same exact experience
one weird thing was that i never even knew the movie was set in australia- did they have accents??
this is just too cool
same here. i watched this movie as a kid. i can barely remember it. it was spooky, wasn't it?
sharehaha this is crazy. i've been looking for this movie for a while now too. i found the name during a search for another movie and clicking on a link to a random message board. lo-and-behold there is a guy asking about this movie. pretty random, but i'm glad i found it.
sharewow it seems everyone has the same story as me.... i remember this movie from when i was a little kid and have trying to figure out what it was for probably 10 years this is outstanding im going to have to buy it immediately!
shareOk so I agree with all of you about this movie. It was for sure one of my favorite movies when I was a kid and I think my mom may still have it. It will be a while before i see her again so can anyone tell me what happens in this movie. Like i remember the steam shovel looking like a monster and such but why was it coming out of the lake and what was going on.
shareYeah, it's amusing to find that other people have had the same nagging memory. The image of the submerged machinery has stuck with me forever. I remember the lake being really murky and the whole sequence being very dream like(duh, the outback, dreamtime, Frog Dreaming) so for the longest time I believed the image might have just been from a dream. Hope I can find this at the video store.
shareOh man I just had someone point me towards this movie because I remembered it but couldn't find it under 'The Quest' on here.
Great film. Watched it over and over and over again as a kid.
Why is this called "Frog Dreaming"? The version I saw back in the 80's was "The Quest". Where did this other title come from?
shareI went through the exact same thing took me a while to find it coz i couldnt figure out the name but this is one of the best aussie movies ever made
"I'm gonna tell wendy you lost your bloody marbles mate"
the memories...
I recorded Frog Dreaming when I was little and watched it til the tape wore out. All I remember is a hydraulic machine covered in pondweed and a girl who used to be in old school Neighbours from way back. I think she was blond.
This film is up there with my other Aussie childhood films like "Dot and the Kangaroo" and "Dot and the Bunyip". Wish I could see them all again!
Edit:It was Wendy, played by Rachel Friend who was in Neighbours. According to IMDB she played Bronwyn Davies (1988-1990) and was married in real life to Craig McLachlan who played Henry Ramsay. His song "Amanda" was about his relationship with Rachel. She is now married to Australian cricketer Stuart MacGill since 2000 and is now a current affairs reporter. Hasn't little Wendy done well for herself?!
Tamsin West did well for herself too. She also starred in my JENNY KISSED ME. I enjoyed making FROG DREAMING very much back in '85, so it is gratifying to find the film left such an impression. Perhaps Roadshow will bring it out on DVD one day, If sufficient people ask. I make films in the US now, where BMX BANDITS and THE MAN FROM HONG KONG and DEAD END DRIVE IN have a cult following.
BTS
[deleted]
Roadshow Home Video is an Australian company. I do not know what its US DVD status is ( as THE QUEST)
shareI loved this film too, I was about 11 when I saw it in the video shop and I think it said on the cover of the Uk version that if 'you like the Goonies you'd like this' type of thing, although I may be wrong and maybe thats what my mum said because she was sick of renting it. It's definitely one of the those films that defines your childhood.
share[deleted]
Exact same story here. Seriously.
Saw it when I was a kid, forgot what it was called, stuck in my head, had vague and nostalgaic memories of it, have been wondering lately and trying to remember, and just did a Google search for "monster +boy +lake +shovel" and figured it out.
Seriously. That's really, really weird how many people have had the exact same experience with the exact same movie.
Wow! This is also like the #1 movie that I remember from my childhood, probably because of its unique blendy of mystery, magic, and creepiness! I remembered watching this movie with my dad and older brother, probably around age 8 or 9. I only saw it ONCE but it has FREQUENTLY come to mind in the last 15+ years. I've also periodically asked my friends if they knew it and knew what I was talking about, but noone remembered, not even my dad or brother! I totally forgot the name of the movie, too!
It's VERY weird that we all have had the same experience! Another one that captured me was The Neverending Story, but I've never forgotten that name.
All I remembered from the movie was the rail bike, a spooky magic man, and that the monster is like a crane that comes to life or something. I sooo need to buy this, just to revitalize the memories!
[deleted]
So I am 24 and this movie has plagued me since I was about 6 or so. Iv'e been telling friends and family to no avail.After about 7 years I ran into an old friend and told her about this wierd scene with a pond and a scuba diver and for some reason it stuck with me!And honestly thats all I remember. And she gets wide eyed and says" I know! I have been searching for the same movie!" So just today she tells me that she figured it out by posting the question on here, and I dont believe it.I cant wait to see it again. Hate to be redundant but...What are the chances of so many people with the same story?!
shareI got my copy on Ebay and have watched it about ten times since it arrived. My wife thinks it is stupid and doesn't understand why I like it so much. I'm 27 now and watched this movie about 1000 times with the kid who grew up next to me. We lived on a small lake outside seattle and pretended we were fighting donkagin out in a rowboat whenever we could. We were pretty convinced that if the lake were to be drained there would be all sorts of cool mining stuff in it. Anyway, it takes some looking but you can find it on ebay and in good condition because I did. Good Luck!
share[deleted]
I think this is the move you're thinking of:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093075/
This might be it too, I remember the stream in the gravel pit from this one:
http://imdb.com/title/tt0091276/
HAHAHA... I can't believe it!!!
I have been searching for this movie for like, eight years, ever since I got had the internet and I have thought about it ever since I saw it, when I was like five or six.
I always KNEW it was called "The Quest", and that it had "Elliot from E.T." in it, but every time I searched for it, I kept running into the Jean Claude Van Damme movie. But once I found this site and looked up Henry Thomas, I remembered him in this movie and low and behold, I found it!!
I also asked my brother if he remembered this movie and he said he did, and I told him I found it and he freaked out.
It's just unbelievable that we all share the same story.
I just found it too! It took a 45 min google search to find the site:
http://www.simnia.com/film/common_requests.htm
My parents thought I was crazy. It weirds me out that so many of us searched for this movie 20 years later. Whats the deal?
Ok, add my name to the wall....
I saw this on, I think HBO when I was 6...20 years ago. Being that it was a word that stuck out at me at that age, I thought the name of it was "Donkejin" and had absolutely no luck finding it by that title. Been searching for this movie for 20-bloody-years and I am so happy to know the name.
It struck me as an odd, spooky, eerie, fun, adventureous sort of film that boggled my six-year-old brain. I could remember the most notable aspects of it, but not the entire plot.
And yes, for a time, I also thought I was crazy and had made the whole thing up, for lack of an imaginary friend.
Since they've posted here twice already, I'll just say, "Thank You" to the director, as this is a cherished memory from childhood.
Hahaha i just found it too! Seriously i've been looking for this film for a long time! I only remember bits of it from when i was quite young.
"Nazis. I hate these guys."
-Indiana Jones
Hahaha i just found it too! Seriously i've been looking for this film for a long time! I only remember bits of it from when i was quite young.
"Nazis. I hate these guys."
-Indiana Jones
Count me in too! I specifically remember donkejin and the bubbles coming up. It was GREAT!
I too am in the same category in where I watched it roughly 20 years ago when I was 6 or 7.
It was this movie and "The Peanut Butter Solution" that I can vividly remember to this day. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089789/
Crazy stuff!
I've been searching for it for some time too. This was my first childhood experience with movies and being really disappointed with the ending. And I'm always telling friends about it, and hoping they'll know it.
sharehe he he your not alone, I to have been searching for this movie a long time, only parts I could remember is with the brig crane in the lake comes out, when he is walking down the long dock and it looks like he is walking towards some demond, and in the beginning when he is freeking out his mother by pulling a string that is hooked to a branch that scraches on the window lol.
I hope this will come out on DvD soon, I would love to add it to my collection :)
Were all not crazy this movie does exsist lol