It was from the point of view of a child so it had their emotional state as well. Historically it was a pretty risky venture...in 1981, films about children (pre-teens) were box office poison an had been for a long time.
They were box office poison because Disney had cranked out nothing but crap for a long time, which nobody wanted to see.
Really if it had just been advertised that way I might have liked it. But it wasn’t, it was advertised as a grown up movie and I came out of the theater feeling lied to and insulted. I’ve never tried to watch it again, first impressions are lasting impressions.