The Dark Crystal, The Never-Ending Story, and other fantasy classics

[JD]

Re: The Dark Crystal, The Never-Ending Story, and other fantasy classi

I've given up hope of the sequel actually being made.
I wouldn't mind seeing The Jim Henson Company and Creature Shop do another fantasy movie in the style of it and Labyrinth though. They did do MirrorMask, starring a pre-Defiance Stephanie Leonidas, but it's creatures and effects were all CGI.

 

[JediKnightButler]

Re: The Dark Crystal, The Never-Ending Story, and other fantasy classi

The 10th Kingdom, though based on well-known fairytales, is a great miniseries IMHO. Tin Man, an adaptation of The Wizard of OZ, gets an honorable mention.

 

[Unicron]

Re: The Dark Crystal, The Never-Ending Story, and other fantasy classi

Dark Crystal is, literally, my top favorite movie of all-time. Yes, it contains some creatures that are archetypal in all fantasy movies & books, but on the whole it was probably one of the most original and imaginative movies I've ever seen in my life. Sadly, with all the problems they've been having to make the sequel, I doubt it will be as good, but I am hoping.

Jim Henson once said during an interview that one aspect he enjoyed of doing a fantasy film was the ability to design the creatures' attributes in accordance with their role in a literal way. The Skeksis are the villains, so they're naturally less attractive. The design of the Mystics was inspired by some of Brian Froud's troll illustrations, and Brian came up with the finalized Landstrider after one of the performers (who was a stilt walker as part of his profession) was in the studio showing off his stilts one day. The script called for the Landstriders to be fast and capable of long distance traveling, so it was a relatively easy matter to have an actor with four stilts who could do very broad, unusual movements.

Incidentally, I think one of my favorite moments in the film were the shots where the urRu sing. They only do it twice very briefly, but I honestly think that's one of the best things in the whole movie. It helped make Thra both more otherworldly and realistic.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Re: The Dark Crystal, The Never-Ending Story, and other fantasy classi

Incidentally, I think one of my favorite moments in the film were the shots where the urRu sing. They only do it twice very briefly, but I honestly think that's one of the best things in the whole movie. It helped make Thra both more otherworldly and realistic.

Oh, gosh, yes. Honestly, I've found it to be deeply moving.

Second to that, I love the orrery.

 

[Marsden]

Re: The Dark Crystal, The Never-Ending Story, and other fantasy classi

I want to add a favorite fantasy movie I didn't notice up thread, Tron.

I love that movie, and at the time computers were not really so ubiquitous as they are now and there was just a little bit of wiggle to almost believe it might be possible, not that there really was any way that programs are people running around in the computer.

Too bad they couldn't move forward with that universe, but there is a great sequel in the spirit of the movie, it's called Wreck-it Ralph. I really like that movie, too.

 

[Christopher]

Re: The Dark Crystal, The Never-Ending Story, and other fantasy classi

I want to add a favorite fantasy movie I didn't notice up thread, Tron.

Good point. The first-blush tendency would be to see TRON as science fiction because of its technological focus, and that's the tack the sequel took. But it really was a fantasy in spirit and approach. The sentient "Programs" in the original weren't deliberately created AI constructs like in the sequel; they were essentially animistic spirits existing within the computer, reflections of the souls of their programmers. You compare it (appositely) to Wreck-It Ralph, but it was also a lot like the Japanese Digimon franchise. You could also see it as similar to Inside Out, using anthropomorphic characters as metaphors for the processes running within a computing device (which is what the brain essentially is).

 

[Vasquez Rocks]

Re: The Dark Crystal, The Never-Ending Story, and other fantasy classi

I really enjoy Walt Disney's The Sword in the Stone and for all of it's flaws I'm still really fond of The Black Cauldron. I would love to see the more violent cut of the film before it was butchered by the studio. Love to see a live action film series based on the books too.

Also, I want to mention Stardust which I think will become a classic in a few more years time. It's still probably considered too new for this topic, but I love the hell out of it.

 

[Orphalesion]

Re: The Dark Crystal, The Never-Ending Story, and other fantasy classi

Also, I want to mention Stardust which I think will become a classic in a few more years time. It's still probably considered too new for this topic, but I love the hell out of it.

Stardust is freaking awesome. Easily the best modern fantasy movie, rivaled only by the Narnia movies.
Those films are the ideal anti-dote to the grey and brown, boring and over-designed look LOTR made standard for the genre.

 

[DigificWriter]

Re: The Dark Crystal, The Never-Ending Story, and other fantasy classi

Stardust, for me, is a modern Princess Bride, and really deserves to get the same recognition as that movie.

 

[JD]

Re: The Dark Crystal, The Never-Ending Story, and other fantasy classi

I watched Stardust a couple years ago and really enjoyed it. I plan on reading the book eventually, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

 

[acappellasaurus]

Re: The Dark Crystal, The Never-Ending Story, and other fantasy classi

I am getting a tattoo of the original Auryn from the first Neverending Story this upcoming Christmas!