Movie Marathon 2 - Obsequiousmelon travelled on his Luck Dragon through a never ending story.

Name of the Film: The Neverending Story

Starring:  Barret Oliver,  Noah Hathaway,  Gerald McRaney

The Never Ending Story, it’s a classic.  Every one loves it but is it as good as everyone remembers?

80’s kids movies are very cool.  E.T., The Goonies, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth and of course The Never Ending Story are all famous, beloved and rightly considered to be timeless.  The reasons for this are that the film makers working at the time (like Spielberg, Wolfgang Peterson, Jim Hensen) realised that children don’t need to be pandered to.  Not everything has to be shiny and perfect.  Those films were scary and at times dark, often they featured kids from broken homes, but they were also uplifting, joyous and the conclusions were real and rewarding because of the genuine threat that had come before.  Because the threats felt real, so did the story's resolutions.

The Never Ending Story is a great example of a kids film done well.  The story isn’t always happy,  Atreyu’s horse dies as a good example, indeed the whole world is destroyed at one point.  The swamp of sadness evokes genuine fear and we are unsure that Atreyu will survive and that makes what happens after that more valid and more rewarding as a story.

We invest in the characters portrayed because they seem real to us and the threat has consequences even if they are not ultimately fatal.  This makes everything about the film feel genuine.

The Never Ending Story, like all good stories, works on several levels and it’s over riding message of not letting your imagination diminish as the real world affects us is worth thinking about.  The whole film has a strong philosophical theme running through it and it breaks the fourth wall in several ways (follow the link to the IMDB site for a detailed explanation of this http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088323/faq#.2.1.2).  

This is complex story telling and it rewards repeat viewing.  But this isn’t why this film is loved by so many.  It is a good fantasy story, well told, with a hero we can route for wether we are children or adults.  

Every frame shows an imagination allowed to run free without loosing sight of the stories and characters within that imagined world.  That is what makes The Never Ending Story so magical, that is what makes it a classic.

Did I enjoy the film?  Yes

Would I recommend it to my friends?  Yes 

Will I buy it on DVD/Blu Ray?  Yes

If it was a mate would I let it date my Sister?  It’s a bit young but I think so.  It is a classic.