The NeverEnding Story

Rating:
Summary: A terribly uneven fable
Review: The quick and dirty is: don't believe the gushing hype from the other reviewers, there are many better fantasy movies and this one isn't worth the time.

The NeverEnding Story, while a unique creation, is little more than a thin and flimsy canvas stretched upon a tired rack. The basic story should be familiar - lonely withdrawn youth finds refuge from worldly troubles in a fantasy book, and through the adventures of the main character grows more confident and whole. All the necessities are there, including a central internal conflict that must be reconciled (the death of his mother), a handful of bullies that in the end get their comeuppence, a wide array of superficially unique creatures, obscure magic forces, a quest to save the world. The problem is that everything is so poorly thought out that the movie becomes an inscrutable connection of disjoint and unsatisfying moments.

a key element to any fantasy is the degree to which its conceiver has thoroughly thought out his/her conception. the grand daddy of them all, tolkein, did an unbelievable amount of behind the scenes 'research' for middle earth, so much so that readers can bore themselves to death pouring through obscure appendicies on the origin of hobbit pipe weed and other trivial and irrelevent details. the upshot of this is that everything is tied together and every creature and race draws upon a complex history, which gives the story itself a tremendous amount of death. nothing in the the middle earth books is simply there; everything is there for a reason, and everything was somewhere else and did other things before it came to be there.

In the NeverEnding Story (NES from now on) nothing has a reason beyond its surface, and the writing to connect the dots of the plot is terrible. our hero, atreus, is summoned before a motley and completely arbitrary collection of 30 or 40 strange individuals who appear to form some sort of world congress. the language of the scene and the acting of the characters is tremendously unconvincing, and it reminded me of the initial meeting between flash gordon and his crew and ming the merciless. flash was a terrible movie, but it was supposed to be terrible and campy, while NES seems to be someone's best efforts at a child's tale. after some verbal sparring atreus is given one inexplicable piece of advice ("you must go alone, and you must go without weapons")and heads off on his quest. He travels from short, absurd vignette to short absurd vignette, buoyed by an enormous amount of deux ex machina, the greatest portion of which is supplied by the funny looking flying dog (a 'luck' dragon) from the movie trailers. to give you a sense of the inanity of the plot devices, the dragon saves the boy from a wolf and carries him while he sleeps 9,900 miles towards the next plot point. when the boy wakes up, for some reason he has to walk the last 100 miles, but at least it only takes him a couple minutes.

On the bright side, The NeverEnding Story is a unique creation, full of vast lanscapes and strange creatures, and it does have a good message. i was disappointed with the creatures. while most are unusual, they are generally either the wrong size of present some sort of contradiction. for example, we see an enormous giant (the presentation of scale is effective) and later on an enormous turtle. we see an enourmous snail that (surprise!) travels very quickly, an enormous flying dog, and some very small people who are helpful. nothing has any depth, and (sorry if i sound like a broken record) the lack of substance leaves one hollow. whoever was in charge of the musical score goes way overboard by way of compensation; the excruciating orchestral backdrops (with the exception of the title song is appropriately simple and joyful) ooze so much heavy feeling that you'll be smearing the emotive goo out of your ears with an oar.

an outstanding alternative to this movie is "the dark crystal", created by jim henson of moppet fame. it is extremely well thought out, well acted and well written. all the characters have a history and all interact with the world as if they really belong within it, as opposed to the pasted on characters of NES. this grounding gives the story a strong foundation on which to build, enabling the culmination of the dark crystal to resonate with meaning.

Rating:
Summary: I Remember...
Review: Watching this film since I was very young. I still have the old VHS tape that I have to have half-worn out by now, but "The Never-Ending Story" is still as entrancing and as luminous as it was when I was four years old. The film focuses on the paralell journies of of Sebastian, a shy and reclusive child in a modern-day metropolis who steals a book from a library while being chased by local bullies. Once safe in a old dingy attic, he begins reading of a fantastic land called Fantasia, a world made from the hopes and dreams of every human. In this story (Called the "Never-Ending Story") as young human boy named Atreyu is called on by the dying Empress of Fantasia to find a way to stop the Nothing. The nothing is best described as a dense, pitch-black cloud but it represents far more. It destroys anything in Fantasia it comes in contact with the broken hopes, dreams and spirits of human beings. Atreyu is sent on this mission to stop it before all of Fantasia is destroyed.

Sebastian follows his quest, as do we. And what we see are incredible visual effects, utilizing artful production design, make-up and convincing puppet-work that makes memorable and instantly connectable fairy-tale characters. For one there is the huge flying dog that Atreyu befriends, a giant being made from rock, the minature professor and his wife and especially that menacing black wolf who aids the nothing. Even though I have discovered other unnerving and disturbing movie villians over the years (Hannibal Lector, Michael Myers) that wolf, named Gemork, is still one of the most menacing and frightening characters I have ever seen put to the screen. Gemork may have only a few minutes total of time on the screen, but he is still makes an impact with a low, growly tone and an indifference to anything in Fantasia that gets destroyed.

And ample credit must be given to director Wolfgang Peterson, who until "The Never-Ending Story" was internationally known for his WWll submarine drama "Das Boot," and some people were very surprised to learn that his first english languange film was a childrens' fantasy. But Mr. Peterson knew what he was doing. That same keen sense of character, pace and story that he has brought to films like "Das boot," and "In the Line of Fire" is still very evident here. He uses the stunning visuals to full effect and fleshes out the theme-filled story well. No wonder I remember this film so well from my childhood...

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully evocative childhood story
Review: Neglected nerd Bastian Bux (Barrett Oliver), fleeing from bullies, enters a mysterious bookstore and picks up "The Neverending Story," about another boy, this time the mighty hero Atreyu (Noah Hathaway) charged to save the kingdom of Fantasia from the encroaching darkness. As he becomes engrossed in the story, he realizes that he can manipulate the events, and that the events can manipulate him. The metaphors become slightly heavy-handed, but the fantastic landscapes are beautifully realized, with magical beings quirky enough to be interesting without becoming tiresome, and a Princess who wisely remains an archetype rather than becoming one of the boys' prom dates.

Rating:
Summary: Memorable movie
Review: Chased by school bullies, reprimanded by his father for daydreaming too much Bastian is lost in his own world. He escapes from the school bullies one day by hiding in an old used book store. After explaining his predicament to an old clerk, Bastian notices a large book with a symbol of two snakes intertwined into an emblem. The clerk warns Bastian that this book is not for him. Bastian disregards the old clerk and sneaks away with the book. Taking refuge in the attic of his school Bastian opens the book and the story begins. The land is being consumed by the Nothingness and the Empress is dying. A warrior named Atreyu is chosen to save Fantasia from the Nothingness. As Bastian reads the adventures, he is drawn into the story, identifying with Atreyu. Soon, he learns what the storekeeper meant about the book when he finds that the characters in the book seem to be aware of him. All seems hopeless as the Nothingness is consuming Fantasia. Although I haven't seen this movie in atleast 15 years, I can still recall it vividly, especially the part about the white horse. This is a fantastic movie for all ages.

Rating:
Summary: A classic from Germany...
Review: It might look a little cheesy now that I'm older, but is still quite a fun moview. This movie would be considered an "indie flick" nowadays (no big hollywood names/budget on this one). Great story, well done characters, and cheesy special effects.
This one is worth owning, whether you have kids or not.

Rating:
Summary: How dare they call it the Neverending Story
Review: How dare they call this the Neverending Story! I mean it ended right. Isn't that called false advertising. I am very dissapointed, I was expecting to have a continous on going story. The title mislead me from the start. Ok so they marde part 2 but where are the rest of the parts. If it truly is the Neverending story then there should be an infinite number of parts, coming out at regular intervals. I give this 1 star since they won't let me give a 0, for false advertising and for misleading the public.

Rating:
Summary: Withering Heights
Review: Owing to its Germanic origin, it is perhaps not surprising that one finds Wagnerian, Heideggerian and Hermetic influences latent if not overt in this childhood tale of fear, despair and escape. Certainly they are clothed in a language made accessible to both child and adult, and even then disguised in the mystical, but endowed with a superfluity of knowledge (the gift of exhaustion) and an eye able to decipher to allusive from the illusive (the gift of youth), it is perhaps possible to decipher such influence with precise poise.

Against the fluster of leaves and the stretch of broad avenues - the North wind that scorches the Earth - a boy, deprived of both grace and intelligence and as such a mere simpleton, has found retreat from a mob of oppressors in a musty bookshop owned by a pipe-clawing, fatigued, bibliophile. Is this Faustus already? No longer satisfied with the world beyond the windows of his bookstore, and in this biblio- debauchery of dust, flaking oak, and sprawling ivy, the old fossil reclines in his chair resisting the lure of handing over his prized tome - to wit, The Neverending Story. Yes, with a frontpiece that depicts the hermetic uroboros and as such signifies unity and completion, bound in both leather and azure, the book understandably lures the boy into thieving it. But knowing that the glare of the sun is an impediment to any prolonged reverie - how we are right to despise its malign rays! - thus the attic, that retreat of dream, cloisters the light with the serenity of a tenebrific winter. The book falls open, the pages rustle, hooves clink to a legato pace, and thus the image unfolds. Fruitbats, snails, Trolls reconstructed from the remains of a Caspar David Friedrich landscape, align in this imaginary world half-lit by idealism, half-shadowed by solipsism, and entitled Fantasia. The Troll, a hideous deformation composed of granite, rock and sulphur, whispers gently whilst lamenting the sudden disappearance of Fantasia by an elusive conjuration known only as The Nothing, or as Heidegger in his short essay What is Metaphysics would have it (das Nicht). Metaphysically aghast, perplexed at their being the presence of a Nothing, the Troll then goes to explain how the Nothing, rather than being a mere void or a dank hole, is contrariwise, simply the absence that lingers once the presence has been removed: an emptiness, known intuitively by poets, that is discernable in the memory of a lost Thing. Memories, stored like the distant aroma of a fading city, spun into absence, emerging only as a dream, and even then cloaked from the dreamer in its apprehension of expression: a world burnt by what it lacks and a society in decline - the tale is familiar, only the characters alter. A flautist, bathing in her tears, chants an Orphean melody and thus calls upon the skies to dispense with their prized equestrian.

An alchemical androgyne, the perfect union between Sol and Luna, and not unlike Tadzio, Atreju is thus sent to render The Nothing a Something through means of the Southern Oracle. But against this allegorical conversion between nihilism and pragmatism, belies a withering princess suffering from a bout of proverbial accidie. Nothingness itself is corroding Fantasia on account of the Princess hysterical malaise! Poor dear, you whisper, how to restore her without her resurrecting her? And so, mounting his horse with fortitude, and across a swamp whose surface incarnates an alchemical distillation stunted in the initial melanophlogite stage that is the hermetic nigredo, he thus encounters Molar the Ancient One whose vast apathy owes itself to his splendid isolation. "We don't even care where or not we care" he drawls through a morass of melancholy. The book falls open, the pages rustle: secluded in an alchemist's laboratory, where bottles of absinthe co-exist with vials, tinctures, mortars, pestles, cauldrons brimming with staunch liquids, and other such arcane devices, Atreju, with the aid of a squalid Sol and Luna, embarks upon traversing the Southern Oracle. The sea of possibilities unfolds, a glimmer of reluctant delight in an otherwise maudlin space - the sensation is known to all: to have ventured towards hope amidst ruin is to have ensnared the distant light that is consciousness. Meanwhile, in exile and on an island resembling Böcklin's Isle of the Dead, Atreju, once again forlorn in a manner that resembles a bloated empire conceding to the failure of his empire, explores a cave the walls of which are imprinted with the relics of his lost memories. Temps perdu, that incurable nostalgia for what is now frozen, lost or otherwise destroyed: banished from salvation the truth of the Nothing thus emerges. Unattainable, remote and displaced, with his hands clamped to his brow, shuddering in disbelief at this Diaspora of disillusionment, only the fiend through whom the entire episode has been cast, an emaciated wolf spiked with infamies, manages to infuse the lingering silence. In this final scene, where the essence is unveiled against a sub-Marxist plot detailing the totalitarian regime used to control those whose aspirations have been vanquished, thus rendering the despot the one who yields the power, against this Atreju subjugates the wolf into submission and thus denies him the source of control.

Unmentionable is the reminder of the plot: quickly dissolving into a moralistic centreplace founded in the potency of the imagination and the celebration of the fantastic, in aspiring beyond its means, the entire structure is thus undermined. No, one is well advised to plaster ones ears and conceals ones eyes at this point. But reclaiming consciousness as the credits unfold, with the detached distance of a clinician, one can gauge this allegorical piece as no less than a sublime creation of fear and trembling.

It belongs to the many.

Rating:
Summary: This movie takes you to a fantasy land
Review: The first time I saw this movie, I was sitting my 4th grade classroom. I'm now 28 and this is still one of my favorite movies. This is a story about a boy (Bastien) who loves to read and finds a book that takes his imagination a bit far -- he finds the book "The Neverending Story," which is about the crumbling of the fantasy land, Fantasia. The princess calls for a great warrior to stop The Nothing, which is destroying their land, Fantasia. Atreju (pronounced a-tray-you) arrives at the castle and accepts his mission. The quest to fight The Nothing proves tedious, but he meets some interesting characters along the way who end up helping him in one way or another (even if he doesn't know it). At the risk of spoiling the movie, I won't go into more details, but this is DEFINITELY a must-watch for anyone who enjoys fantasy.

Rating:
Summary: A dreamer's movie
Review: I first saw this movie when it first came out and it continues to be one of my favorites. Shows that reading can take you beyond your wildest dreams and imagination is one of the most important things a person can have as well as wonderful effects and characters.

Rating:
Summary: One of the most memorable childhood classics
Review: As a child, my best friend introduced me to this movie and it has been one of my favorites ever since. Even though the special effects aren't the greatest, you have to remember that the movie was made nearly 20 years ago, so its not going to be state-of-the-art. But nonetheless, I feel it was beautifully done and it will always live as a classic in my heart.