We pick up today exactly where we left off last week, looking at films from the year 1984. Last week, we looked at the follow up to a beloved and renowned Star Trek movie. It was a good review. I recommend that you check it out. Today, we’re going full-on nostalgic because I’m an 80s kid, and this particular movie has kind of a dubious reputation.
The Neverending Story is a wonderful exercise in not saying what you can show. It’s one of those films where the audience is just dropped into the story without any context, and then the context is carefully built as the plot progresses. We start with the main character, Bastian, having a dream. He’s dreaming of roiling clouds of all things, but we’re told it’s his mom, who recently died, that he was dreaming about. This movie goes right for the nostalgic jugular from the start as the film opens with the pop song of the same name. I’d be really surprised if any of the readers of this fine blog haven’t heard it. It practically defined a generation. During the opening scene, we get shown that Bastian is having trouble with school, skipping classes, and generally disappointing his dad who is a grieving dick apparently. Dad tells him to forget his dreams and keep his feet on the ground, and thus the theme of the film is established.
Bastian heads off to school, only to run into a group of bullies. Man his life sucks. During the encounter, Bastian stops in a bookstore where he steals a copy of the titular book. The real world action at the beginning serves as the bulk of the context for Bastian, who is the main hero, but unwittingly so. He goes to school, and when he realizes that he’s missing a test, he hides away to the attic to read his ill gotten gains. This is where the show really gets interesting. We’re dropped into the realm of Fantasia. We find out through minimal exposition that a great nothing is devouring the land, and a handful of representatives have been sent to visit the Childlike Empress to plead for help. There’s a giant rock eating guy, and a goblin looking guy with a pet bat, and a gnomish looking guy with a snail. They’re not terribly important to the story, but they look really cool, and they do a good job getting things moving.
We cut to the capital, and some guy is talking about a hero named Atreyu. Atreyu shows up, but no one believes that he is who he claims to be because he’s a boy. But don’t let the age fool you, Atreyu is a bonafide bad a. He accepts the quest to save Fantasia a sets off with his trusty steed, Artax… who… dies in the NEXT SCENE?! Excuse me for a moment…
...okay, so Artax dies, and not well, but Atreyu presses on. He talks to a giant turtle who tells him that he needs to consult the Sphinxes to the south. But they’re ten thousand miles away. So that seems helpless. And in the meantime, there’s a giant wolf stalking Atreyu, and he’s about to eat the poor kid! Atreyu, look our! But at the last possible second, Falcor swoops in and saves the day! Yay Falcor! Falcor takes Atreyu to the south where the boy has to pass by the Sphinxes, who totally have naked boobs by the way. They vaporize anyone who tries to pass that is not possessing of true confidence. Atreyu isn’t, but he makes it past somehow anyway. Next, there’s a mirror thing, and it’s in the mirror that Atreyu sees Bastian’s face. This is the trippy cool part about this movie. As Bastian is reading, he’s not just a passive observer. He actually interacts with the story, and has an effect on how things play out to a degree. Because of this, as he’s reading, he’s going through some really cerebral character growth.. It’s the only effective use of vicarious character development that I can think of right now.
Anyway, Atreyu tries to go back to the capital, but he falls off of Falcor and has to fight the wolf thing. We find out that the wolf is helping the nothing, and he says something that I found really profound. He says that the reason that he’s helping the nothing is to rob people of their hope. He says that people without hope are easier to control, and those who have control have power. It’s a great tie-in to the the primary theme. Bastian is told to discard his dreams, and bend to the realities of life, but the movie is telling us that submitting completely puts us under the control of someone who isn’t ourselves. It’s pretty deep for a kid film.
Atreyu is once again saved by Falcor, and taken just as the noting consumes that last of Fantasia. There are bits and pieces floating around in space, but there’s nothing coherent left. However, the capital still remains, and Atreyu pays a visit to the Childlike Empress. She tells him that she knew that everything that happened was going to happen even before it happened. This pisses Atreyu off because this, and he presses for some existential answers. The Empress tells him that through his trials, he brought Bastian back with him to her, and that to save Fantasia, Bastian just needs to give the Childlike Empress a name. This is something that the naked Sphinxes already told Atreyu, but whatever. At this point, the narrative could have been handled just a little better I think. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still great, but it’s a little too cheesy to match the tone of the rest of the film. Bastian has to reprogram his brain and think his way out of his dad’s terrible advice so that he can grasp that he is contributing to the story. At that point, he gives the Empress a name and the day is saved! The name that he gives her is Moonchild. There’s thunder and it’s hard to understand, but I got great ears and that’s totally what he names her, which is consistent with the book, actually. The funny thing is, there’s a point where Bastian muses that he would name the Empress after his mom, who he said had a beautiful name. So apparently, his mom was a hippie.
Anyway, Bastian gets to meet the Empress, excuse me, Moonchild, and she imparts him with a magical grain of sand that will rebuild Fantasia as he makes wishes. He therefore wishes to take flight on Falcor, and I guess he also wishes that all of Fantasia were made whole again because in the next scene, everything is back the way it was before the nothing. Even Artax gets resurrected. And then we get the most blatant bit of nerd wish fulfillment ever. Bastian wishes Falcor into the real world, and together, they bully the bullies! Now, let’s look at that ‘real world’ statement real quick. During a monologue, the Empress explains that there’s an entire multiverse of readers reading the stories of everyone. Bastian is reading about Fantasia, and in turn, someone in a different universe is reading about Bastain. It’s pretty convoluted, but it’s a nifty concept all the same.
So what can be said about The Neverending Story? Well, I love it! It’s hard to not get caught up in. The level of imagination behind it is spectacular, the vistas are breathtaking, the story is fascinating, and the music is fantastic. The acting can leave a little to be desired at times, but not too often. Also there are a couple of cheesy lines, but it’ s just a fun ride. There is a lot packed into a 90 minute runtime, which could have made it feel extremely disjointed, but it holds together well enough. It’s a wonderful representation of great 80s fantasy movies, and I’m not sure why, but I enjoy it a ton better than modern fantasy films. There’s a weight to it visually, and a general feeling behind it that just enraptures me. I dunno, but if you haven’t seen this one, drop everything and give it a watch! And stick around next week to see what other treasures we’ve dug up from 1984!
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