The NeverEnding Story

4.67
    The NeverEnding Story
    1984

    Synopsis

    While hiding from bullies in his school's attic, a young boy discovers the extraordinary land of Fantasia, through a magical book called The Neverending Story. The book tells the tale of Atreyu, a young warrior who, with the help of a luck dragon named Falkor, must save Fantasia from the destruction of The Nothing.

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    Cast

    • Noah HathawayAtreyu
    • Barret OliverBastian
    • Tami StronachThe Childlike Empress
    • Moses GunnCairon - Empress' Servant
    • Patricia HayesUrgl
    • Sydney BromleyEngywook
    • Tilo PrücknerNight Hob
    • Gerald McRaneyBastian's Father
    • Chris Eastman1st Bully
    • Darryl Cooksey2nd Bully

    Recommendations

    • 90

      Variety

      Wolfgang Petersen's The NeverEnding Story is a marvelously realized flight of pure fantasy.
    • 88

      TV Guide Magazine

      Director Wolfgang Petersen combines the elements into a charming film that is excellent for children and won't put any adults to sleep, either.
    • 88

      Boston Globe

      The Neverending Story, Wolfgang Petersen's sophisticated fantasy film, is so wonderfully appropriate to children that it seems to have been made by kids. But there is enough artistic merit in the tale to enchant adults equally. [20 Jul 1984, p.1]
    • 75

      Chicago Sun-Times

      The idea of the story within a story is one of the nice touches in The NeverEnding Story. Another one is the idea of a child's faith being able to change the course of fate. Maybe not since the kids in the audience were asked to save Tinker Bell in Peter Pan has the outcome of a story been left so clearly up to a child's willingness to believe.
    • 75

      The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

      Petersen seems to be holding back, telling us about the liberating power of the imagination but never really showing us. Of course, to show us would be to spoon feed the audience, thereby blunting the message and defeating the point. [20 Jul 1984, p.E9]
    • 70

      Wall Street Journal

      This fairy tale is a weirdly enchanting mixture of old-fashioned whimsy and up-to-the-minute special effects. It brings back the early excitement of reading as a child, when the act of turning pages took on a magical quality. [19 Jul 1984, pg.1]
    • 40

      Empire

      This was sweet and charming at the time but now it just lacks either the comedy or sophistication of kids' fantasy film that we've all become accustomed to.
    • 30

      Chicago Reader

      Despite the sophistication of the source material, this 1984 film isn't particularly successful: Petersen insists on forcing the superficial moral lessons, and the half hour removed from the film by its American distributors leaves it with a harsh, choppy rhythm.

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