80s Movie Review - The NeverEnding Story

Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Genre: Action/ Drama/ Adventure/ Fantasy
Runtime: 94 minutes
Year: 1984
Starring: Barret Oliver, Gerald McRaney, Drum Garrett, Darryl Cooksey, Nicholas Gilbert, Thomas Hill, Deep Roy, Tilo Prückner, Moses Gunn, Noah Hathaway, Alan Oppenheimer, Sydney Bromley, Patricia Hayes, Tami Stronach

Description: A troubled boy (Barret Oliver) dives into a wonderous fantasy world through the pages of a mysterious book.

Review: Wolfgang Petersen, known for his epic films “Troy”, “The Perfect Storm” and “Das Boot”, was also responsible for the fantasy film from the ‘80s. “The NeverEnding Story” is based on the book by Michael Ende. A movie that impressed and mesmerized me as a kid.
“The NeverEnding Story” is made for a younger audience, but for the small ones it’s pretty scary. With that, the message and the way the story is told is probably too complicated for little kids.  There are plenty of creatures in the film that will entertain us all and the kids can identify with the children in the movie, who are the actual heroes.
The beauty of “The NeverEnding Story” is that the story inspires you to new ideas. Petersen does wat Tim Burton later did with “Big Fish”, make up and tell stories to keep the fantasy alive. This is actually also the main theme of the film. Fantasia is world made up by people, in this case Bastian, who is stuck in the real world. This world is threatened to disappear because of the  lack of hope and fantasy of mankind. It’s original. Both worlds eventually come together, where Bastian who is bullied can play the role of the hero.
The film is filled with beautiful creatures, like the evil wolf Gmork or the talking rock, but most memorable will always be Falkor the luck dragon. As a kid I always referred to him as the flying dog.
“The NeverEnding Story” is an unique film that I loved as a child, but unfortunately won’t be appreciated as much by kids today.

Rating: 4,5/ 5