|
|
Post by Ayen on Dec 16, 2020 6:26:02 GMT -6
The NeverEnding Story is a fantasy family film directed by Wolfgang Petersen and distributed by Warner Brothers. It is based off the novel of the same name written by Michael Ende and stars Noah Hathaway, Barret Oliver, and Tami Stronach. It features a young boy by the name of Bastian getting his hand on a mysterious book from a book store and embarking on an adventure with Atreyu who sets out to stop the Nothing from destroying the fantasy world of Fantasia. Without further ado this is the NeverEnding Story!
Story: So, I’m going to be completely honest with you here. The first half of the movie is boring. Yes, yes, it introduces Bastian to us and the fact that he’s bullied, shy, and has a wild imagination, that it tells us he lost his mother and only has his father left and he loves books. It sets up for the better half of the movie which happens by the second half of the film, but after repeat viewing it’s so boring getting through this part of the movie.
The movie doesn’t really start until you get to Atreyu and his quest to stop the Nothing and save the Childlike Empress, but even then it really doesn’t get good until you get to the Swamp of Sadness. From there it gets more interesting the further into Atreyu’s quest you get and the little clues that the book is well aware of Bastian’s presence and existence.
The thing is we don’t know that much about Atreyu’s backstory. Who his parents were. What the Great Plains people are like. We just know that he’s a young warrior more than willing to take on the quest to save Fantasia from the Nothing and he has a close relationship with his horse Artax. He develops a new found friendship with a luck dragon named Falkor and meets with the Childlike Empress near the very end of the movie.
Now it’s when you get to the Childlike Empress that the movie gets really interesting. The Childlike Empress is easily my favorite character in the whole movie and Tami Stronach gives an amazing, and frankly, kind of creepy performance when everything is revealed to Atreyu and Bastian at the end. Needless to say it has a happy ending, but it gets real dark in certain places.
Characters: The main characters to watch are Bastian, Atreyu, and the Childlike Empress. We also have Bastian’s father, Mister Coreander, Falkor, Gmork, and minor characters like the Rock Biter and Moria the Ancient One, as well as some gnomes.
Bastian is frankly kind of boring, but he’s meant to be a shy outcast who loves books so I can forgive him for that. Atreyu is the interesting one worth watching and is the character you can tell Bastian wants to be. Brave, strong, and intelligent. Also loving and fun. He has his doubts and flaws, but you genuinely want him to succeed and feel sorry for him when all hopes seem to be gone.
The Childlike Empress is mysterious, and like Atreyu, we don’t know much about her. She’s very wise and knows things that happened even outside of the realm of Fantasia making it seem like she’s another entity altogether, but the problem is she just sits there and waits to be saved. Now I have read the book and it shows another side of the Childlike Empress. She actually gets off her butt and does something to ensure Bastian saves her world. Here she’s just sitting there crying and hoping Bastian calls out to her. Kind of weak. I mean I would’ve saved her ten minutes ago because she’s awesome, but what the heck?
Falkor is very laid back throughout the entire movie. Steaming confidence that everything will work out with a little luck. This is easily his best portrayal in the entire film trilogy, if we want to acknowledge the third one even exists, that is. He’s a good companion for Atreyu and is very soothing to listen to. I could fall asleep at just the sound of his voice.
Then we have Gmork. One of the scariest characters in the entire movie. While I was never scared of him growing up, I know plenty of people that were. His inclusion really makes it scary for younger children and you may want to wait until your kids are a little bit older to handle his presence in the movie, but his conversation with Atreyu and explaining what the Nothing was very good. Though you don’t really know what Gmork is. It explains it better in the book, but the movie kind of glosses over those details.
Special Effects: The movie was made in 1984, so the effects aren’t anything to brag about. They had to use practical effects. Animatronics for creatures like Falkor and Gmork, probably filmed on location, green screen where needed. I mean you can tell where the green screen was used and it kind of takes you out of the movie a little, but a kid isn’t going to notice all that stuff their first time watching so it’s harmless. The animatronics are fine for the most part, even if the words don’t sync up to their lips all the time.
Flaws: Like I said before, the movie is boring throughout the first half of the story. It isn’t until you get into the meat of Fantasia and Atreyu’s quest that things get good. The green screens are obvious and there’s a lot of background details that is glossed over for the sake of getting to the main plot. The Nothing, is represented by a storm, so it’s technically something. While in the book it was literally nothing. Just a blackness that made you feel like you had your eyes closed. That probably wouldn’t have translated well into film, but who knows. They changed a lot from book to movie, like they always do, but some stuff is just ignored and doesn’t make any sense.
Summary: Overall, I can’t hate on a kids’ movie. It’s a nice film for children to watch and explore their imaginations. The characters are fleshed out enough to carry the story to where it needs to go and the ending with the Childlike Empress will always be a scene worth watching for me, and is worth the price of admission. If you have kids, or some extra free time on your hands, by all means give it a world. Just remember it is perfect by no means, but then again no film is.
Try it!
|
|
