The Neverending Story (1984)

Kate says it's confession time! I saw this movie when I was a young teen and thought it very boring. (I also thought the movie was much longer than it actually is.) However, the young boy I saw it with was enraptured. I wanted to see the movie again, mostly to see how much of my reaction was teen-angst and how much of it was, well, the movie.

Here's my most recent experience:

The opening is classic with a clearly defined problem (considering the movies on this particular list, all I can say for their writers is "Thank goodness for bullies.").

The "book" story itself is radically less impressive. A few Muppet-like creatures go a very long way, and I got my surfeit with Labyrinth.

But my reaction to the Muppet-like creatures did help pinpoint my problem with the movie when I was a teen (and, unfortunately, now). I'm just not that interested in non-human antagonists (the Muppets being a notable exception since they are so very funny, humanoid, and play opposite humans).

I've also never been all that interested in the adventures of children. Even as a kid. Keep in mind, at age 6, I was smitten with 26-year-old Mark Hamill playing Luke. (Granted, he looks about 17 in Star Wars IV, but at least he wasn't some cutesy, mop-haired kiddie bragging about his stupid robots.) After all, the Pevensie kids (Chronicles of Narnia, my standard) act like adults (thank goodness the movies increased their ages!).

Plus screaming children make me want to slap them. Atreyu screams a lot. (So do mop-haired kiddies--see above.) Bastian, the reader of the "book," is far more interesting. The ending with him and the empress, she of the adorably quirky smile, is quite memorable.

The strength of Bastian's arc has made me wonder if the extraordinarily bad dialog and acting in the "book" is on purpose--that the film is supposed to be a story as told, understood, and experienced by the young boy.

This possibility does bring up the theme of the movie, which is rather cool: stories--"mere words," as Jose Chung would say--are enough to carry us through all the extremities of emotion and experience. I am currently reading a 2-book series about time traveling in World War II. Each book is about 500 pages. I've measured out my reading simply because I know I can't finish the books in 1-2 sittings (I do have to work!). This means that for over a week now, I've been living in this author's world. "Escapist" is the last word on my mind. Escape? I can't escape from the freaking books!

C.S. Lewis once wrote, "But in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself . . . Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do." The power of fiction is a magnificent power indeed!

And I can see how this movie--which floods us with images and tests and trials and emotions--could captivate viewers while proving the power of being caught up in story.

It just doesn't work so much for me.

Mike says I'm not entirely sure when I first saw this movie. All I really know is that for as long as I can remember, this was one of the family's favorite movies. The actor who played Bastian was also a staple from my childhood...he was in at least half a dozen movies we re-watched often.

As a kid, I think I enjoyed the movie because it was full of magic and adventure. I also loved Bastian's story. I've always loved to read, and as a kid, this was the one movie that really seemed to capture that feeling of being lost in a story, to the extent to where you almost feel a part of it.

Watching it now, the movie doesn't really feel old or dated. Instead, the magic has worn off a bit. While I was enthralled with the landscape and the scope of the story and quest as a kid, watching it now as a cynical jaded adult makes me question the basic premise in a rather silly way. "They want him to go on a quest with no idea of what to do?" "Bastian can hide in the school attic with no one noticing? really?" And so on.

But the film does explore a really cool idea. That there exists a place where all things of the imagination live is a very cool idea, and that books are our link to that world is something I can totally get behind. The film itself is also fairly well-made, and the scope of it is actually quite impressive. A giant turtle that doesn't look fake? A full size dragon puppet? WOW! My favorite touch is the murals showing Atreyu's quest.

Overall, I think the film is a great bit of magic for kids and families. And I own it for that very reason. But watching it alone as an adult leaves me a little bored and disappointed. But I don't think it's the film. This time, it's probably just the viewer. But I am curious to see what my sons think of it.