{"id":5302,"date":"2008-02-15T18:50:52","date_gmt":"2008-02-16T01:50:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5302"},"modified":"2021-01-31T01:19:52","modified_gmt":"2021-01-31T08:19:52","slug":"neverending-story-the-1984","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5302","title":{"rendered":"NeverEnding Story, The (1984)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Don&#8217;t you know anything about Fantasia? It&#8217;s the world of human fantasy. Every part, every creature of it, is a piece of the dreams and hopes of mankind.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Poster-215x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"215\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-22666\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Poster-215x300.jpg 215w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Poster-92x128.jpg 92w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Poster.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 215px) 100vw, 215px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen a lonely boy (Barrett Oliver) discovers a fantasy book called <em>The NeverEnding Story<\/em>, he&#8217;s transported to the world of Fantasia, where a young warrior named Atreyu (Noah Hathaway) has been sent on a mission to save the kingdom&#8217;s dying empress (Tami Stronach). Soon Bastian (Oliver) learns that his participation as a reader will play an essential part in the story&#8217;s outcome, and that he must have faith in the power of his wishes.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fantasy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nAs Peary notes, this &#8220;flawed&#8221; adaptation of Michael Ende&#8217;s popular young adult novel &#8212; which received mixed reviews upon its release &#8212; is both &#8220;imaginative&#8221; and &#8220;visually spectacular&#8221;, and contains a positive message for kids about the importance of hopes and dreams. Barrett Oliver is sympathetic and believable as a young boy devastated by the recent loss of his mother and bullied mercilessly by his classmates, who finds refuge in books and fantasy; less remarkable is Noah Hathaway as Oliver&#8217;s doppelganger warrior, who comes across as appropriately handsome and plucky yet ultimately two-dimensional. More important than the performances, however, are the film&#8217;s stunning special effects, which effectively transport viewers into a new and exciting universe: while I&#8217;m less than thrilled by the rather insipid, puppet-like dragon Atreyu rides through the skies of Fantasia, other creatures &#8212; particularly the massive Rock Biter &#8212; are truly breathtaking. The dramatic ending (clearly paving the way for <a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0100240\/\">a sequel<\/a>) is both exciting and heartwarming.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> Because the film contains a number of &#8220;difficult&#8221; scenes &#8212; including Atreyu&#8217;s beloved horse dying in a Swamp of Sadness, and Atreyu being persistently pursued by a vicious werewolf &#8212; <em>The NeverEnding Story<\/em> seems most appropriate for adolescents and adults rather than young, impressionable children.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Barrett Oliver as Bastian<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Oliver.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Oliver-1024x543.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"339\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-47333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Oliver-1024x543.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Oliver-300x159.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Oliver-128x68.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Oliver-768x407.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Oliver-1536x814.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Oliver.png 1723w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Impressive animation &#8212; particularly the gigantic &#8220;Rock Biter&#8221;<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Rock-Biter.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Rock-Biter-1024x522.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"326\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-47335\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Rock-Biter-1024x522.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Rock-Biter-300x153.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Rock-Biter-128x65.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Rock-Biter-768x391.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Rock-Biter-1536x783.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Rock-Biter.png 1729w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Many exciting sequences<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Exciting.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Exciting-1024x488.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"305\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-47334\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Exciting-1024x488.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Exciting-300x143.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Exciting-128x61.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Exciting-768x366.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Exciting-1536x731.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Exciting.png 1737w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>The heartwarming ending<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Finale.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Finale-1024x501.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"313\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-47336\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Finale-1024x501.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Finale-300x147.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Finale-128x63.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Finale-768x375.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Finale-1536x751.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Neverending-Story-Finale.png 1741w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, but it&#8217;s recommended. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0088323\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1984\/07\/20\/movies\/neverending-story-a-fanfasy.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/the-neverending-story-1984\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.moriareviews.com\/fantasy\/neverending-story-1984.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t you know anything about Fantasia? It&#8217;s the world of human fantasy. Every part, every creature of it, is a piece of the dreams and hopes of mankind.&#8221; Synopsis: When a lonely boy (Barrett Oliver) discovers a fantasy book called The NeverEnding Story, he&#8217;s transported to the world of Fantasia, where a young warrior named Atreyu (Noah Hathaway) has been sent on a mission to save the kingdom&#8217;s dying empress (Tami Stronach). Soon Bastian (Oliver) learns that his participation as&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5302\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5302"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67334,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5302\/revisions\/67334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}