The NeverEnding Story

The NeverEnding Story is one of my all time favourite movies, it is just so magical. The music is brilliant, and the story is a magical, simple and effective one. The scenery, sets and costumes were visually a feast to the eyes, just gorgeous to look at, and if it didn't get any awards for best art direction, then that is a massive shame, because it was so beautiful to watch. Falcor was a fantastic character, a very warm and loving character, that you just have to love. I have to admit though, Gmork is very scary. The acting is fantastic, Barret Oliver very spirited as Bastian, and Noah Hathaway born to play Atreyu. And Tami Stromach as the Childlike Empress has a small but wholly relevant role in the film. This film is practically perfect in every way and has a wonderful message, don't miss it! The second film's okay, but the third one is god awful and should be in the bottom 100. 10/10 for this though. Bethany Cox

A modern fantasy fairy tale based on the book of the same name by German author Michael Ende. It is a pretty faithful and loyal adaption of the first half of the book. Don't worry it is not open ended and you will even not notice that there is more to it. Side-note: The sequel is not the other half of the story. It is the story of Bastian Balthasar Bux who is bullied at school and escapes to a book store where he finds “The Neverending Story” book. He starts reading it. This is the story of Atreyu, who is on the quest to save Fantasia which slowly destroyed by the “The Nothing” that devours everything. As the story progresses you learn that there is more to the story than you had imagined. It has a clever story full of fantastic ideas and themes. This is also valid for the characters. I must admit the fail a bit in comparison to the book but this was expected. I wont spoil the twists as it would be a crime. It is one of the best journeys in fantasy. The practical effects were pretty got for its time. The visuals, sets and costumes were pretty good. Remember this is a German production from 1984 and not Hollywood. There is also the excellent soundtrack. Limahls Never Ending Story became a classic that is still played in radio. The rest is a pretty good soundtrack. I must warn you as there is a scene that has traumatized many peoples childhood involving Atreyus horse Artax. Overall a solid adaptation and great movie. Bonus knowledge: The book is even better by a magnitude and I will recommend it. The unfilmed second half has a great story about corruption of power starting with best intentions, true friendship and probably the greatest final battle in fantasy. Think all battles of Lord of the Rings combined and all sides have fantasy creatures like Dragons, Rock-eaters, Centaurs and more on their side. Also both sides think that they are the good guys fighting an evil menace so that neither side can give up and let evil win. The conclusion was so heartwarming that I had tears in my eyes. Michael Ende was a genius author who created also Jim Knopf and Momo. He fought hard to stop this movie but lost. I thing he wanted to stop the sellout of ideas and that people read his books as some things can be well transferred. I think I should thank him here for his awesome works. There are other adaptations for his stories but that is another story;-).

I'm not really sure what to think of this movie. Sure, the effects were 80's era, but whatever. The real reason this confused me was that it felt even more like a Jim Henson acid trip than Labyrinth. I couldn't tell if this was fantasy, adventure, drama, or what. The whole sub-plot with the kid having to "rename" the princess? Not needed. All in all, this movie was a bit confusing, but a fun 80's classic. My last item: That werewolf-dog thing. Oh Jesus. That was the freakin' scariest thing when I first saw this. Dear God.

I am genuinely underwhelmed by this film, and to tell the truth many adventurous family fantasy films from past decades nearly live up to their fame, the most notorious one is THE PRINCESS BRIDE (1987), and now TNS is another competent contender (the first three STAR WARS are the scarce exceptions). The film is Petersenâ

Wolfgang Petersen, le réalisateur du fabuleux Bateau a comme qui dirait pété un câble : il s'est mis à torcher en 1984 une niaiserie à chiards ! certes, il faut saluer de jolis effets spéciaux (et non pas numériques...) à une époque où les ordinateurs n'étaient que de grosses calculettes, ce qui devait réprésenter un sacré boulot à l'instar des plus gros films de SF de ce temps-là, on s'en doute... Malheureusement, ça ne sert ici que le propos niaiseux d'un vague conte de fées pour chiards qui chient dans leur bac ou leur benne et cela semble en effet "sans fin" tellement on s'ennuie vite ici... Une grosse bizarrerie donc dans la filmographie d'un réalisateur réputé pour d'autres choses qu'une espèce de fable poussive, ballote et sans génie aucun, loin de là même...