Are there 10 fantasy films worth mentioning?

Post by **Tulizar** » Sun Sep 28, 2003 2:56 am

I love most of the movies everyone posted, so I'm not gonna make a list. Seeing Sean Connery mentioned (the 2nd Raiders did blow!) reminded me of a movie called Zardoz. Awesome low-budget, early 70's, sci-fi/fantasy movie filled with cool imagery and goofy special effects. Definitely in my top ten!

Post by **Landwaster** » Sun Sep 28, 2003 3:15 pm

10?

Legend
Princess Bride
LOTR FOTR
LOTR TTT
Time Bandits
Excalibur
The Navigator
Frog Dreaming (in the USA its called "The Quest")
Clash Of The Titans

... hmmm ... seem to have fallen over at 9.

Post by **Ylva Kresh** » Mon Sep 29, 2003 2:53 am

Were SF-films allowed in the top?

Ever After (Cute! Love the prince who never gets to do anything)
Contact (very good!)
Krull (nice horses)
Watership down (Bright eyes...)
First contact (ST)
MP and the Holy Grail (say no more)
Jabberwocky (Monsters? Where monsters?)
Time Bandits (concentrated evil?)
Erik the Viking (now you´ve got all the beards on one side...)
Beetlejuice or Galaxy quest, can´t decide.

Post by **Furls Fire** » Mon Sep 29, 2003 3:31 am

Oh, I loved Ever After. Great telling of the Cinderella story.

Hook was a kick too...Robin Williams as grown up Peter Pan, Julia Roberts as Tinker Bell and Dustin Hoffman as "mean ole Dr Hook." I laughed thru the whole thing..

Post by **dANdeLION** » Mon Sep 29, 2003 5:25 am

LOTR TTT
LOTR FOTR
Princess Bride
Highlander
The Wizard Of Oz
Willy Wonka
Time Bandits
Excalibur
Legend
Dragonheart

As for the most aptly named fantasy film, my vote goes to "The Never Ending Story". Did it ever end? My God, it was so horrible! I gave up around what seemed to me to be the four hour mark, rewound it, and took it back to the video store. I have no idea why it was filmed.

Post by **aTOMiC** » Mon Sep 29, 2003 6:29 am

Willy Wonka? I suppose in place of goblins or dwarves you have oompa-loompas. The time period of the story is certainly ambiguous therefore it may have occured in the distant past and in another realm altogether. Wonka himself did wield a power of sorts. We would normaly call that power utter insanity. Hail Lord Wonka! Power to the chocolate! Power and honor! Death to naughty children who drink from my enchanted chocolate stream!

Post by **[Syl]** » Mon Sep 29, 2003 6:55 am

Heard rumor of a remake of Willy Wonka... or more accurately, a remake of the book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0367594/

Post by **aTOMiC** » Mon Sep 29, 2003 7:02 am

How can there be a sequel to the Never Ending Story?

Post by **aTOMiC** » Mon Sep 29, 2003 7:33 am

I noticed Highlander has been mentioned. Can someone please explain to me what the devil the other Highlander films are about? I’ve watched them all. Highlander II: They’re all aliens? What the heck is that? Highlander III: The mystical forces of the universe aren’t aware that one of the immortals is trapped underground and gives McCloud the gift by accident? “There can be only one.” Should in my opinion apply to how many movies there are. I’ve always found this troubling.

Post by **Landwaster** » Mon Sep 29, 2003 2:08 pm

"Never Ending Story 2" ... that's so amusing ...

Post by **Blue_Spawn** » Mon Sep 29, 2003 2:10 pm

Harry Potter films are a disgrace to the books....hell, they're a disgrace just by themselves.

Why did no one mention Princess Mononoke? Don't tell me there isn't at least one of you here who is familiar with Anime and has seen it.

Also a good fantasy anime: Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.

Post by **Landwaster** » Mon Sep 29, 2003 2:17 pm

Haven't read the Harry Potter books myself ... basically I'm not a very big reading fan ... needs to really hit my buttons to get me interested. But the movies were funnish to me.

Haven't heard of Mononoke (see above for my excuse why), nor of the anime.

But depending on how loosely we are talking about 'fantasy', Time Machine (Yvette Mimeux and aussie Rod Taylor) was a good flick.

Post by **Ryzel** » Tue Sep 30, 2003 7:19 am

I guess I could, with some effort, but all the good ones are probably mentioned already.

Post by **[Syl]** » Tue Sep 30, 2003 8:10 am

Blue_Spawn, check my list again.

I actually didn't care for Mononoke. Thought it was given way too much credit due to the voiceovers. Spirited Away was great, better than Lodoss War artistically, but for me, Lodoss War was more fun. Grave of the Fireflies wasn't really fantasy, but worth mentioning. About as depressing as it gets, though. Vampire Hunter D is good. Ninja Scroll is better... Ghost in the Shell, though it's sci-fi. My favorite anime ever is Samurai Deeper Kyo (I'm working on an avatar from it, in fact). Great fantasy (typical Japanese demon/martial arts stuff), but since it's in 26 episodes, didn't think it would count.

Also worth a mention (series)... Trigun. Berserk. Inu Yasha. Legend of the Overfiend (

)... Hellsing and Naruto both look pretty good, though I haven't seen enough to make a decision. A lot of people really like Cowboy Beebop and Rouroni Kenshin (Samurai X), but I've never gotten into them... so far, anyway.

Heh, but yeah... I likes da anime.

Post by **Blue_Spawn** » Tue Sep 30, 2003 12:52 pm

I did not like Ghost in the Shell...not because I supposably not understood its "deep meaning." But simply because there isn't one. The GitS team also did a very poor job of executing the film.

I think in fact, that many people (especially Japanese anime hardcore fans) flame Mononoke's english voice acters too much. The dubbing, especially for an english one, is exemplerary in comparison to voice acting in DragonBall Z, Pokemon, Serial Experiment Lane, Escaflowne, etc. In any case, I mainly loves Mononoke for its story and anime in general.

Post by **dANdeLION** » Sat Aug 21, 2004 5:24 pm

TOM C wrote:I noticed Highlander has been mentioned. Can someone please explain to me what the devil the other Highlander films are about? I’ve watched them all. Highlander II: They’re all aliens? What the heck is that? Highlander III: The mystical forces of the universe aren’t aware that one of the immortals is trapped underground and gives McCloud the gift by accident? “There can be only one.” Should in my opinion apply to how many movies there are. I’ve always found this troubling.

Bumped, for the simple reason that this rant should be required reading in all college campi around the world.

Post by **theDespiser** » Sat Aug 21, 2004 10:45 pm

Conan the Barbarian
LOTR
Harry Potter flicks
Highlander
Clash of the Titans and Jason and the Argonauts
the 13th Warrior

Fire and Ice was a pretty good animated movie...so were animated Tolkien movies...

I liked Red Sonja when i was younger, but i eventually realised how bad it was, even with Arnold...

King Arthur(from this year) was really good too...at least i thought it was...

Post by **matrixman** » Sun Aug 22, 2004 4:41 am

10 more noteworthy fantasy films (I consider them fantasy) not mentioned before in this thread:

The Mummy (1999) -- Huge fun. Duo of Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz is great to watch. Beautiful photography. The kind of movie Tomb Raider should have been.

The Mummy Returns -- A sequel every bit as fun as the original.

Groundhog Day -- Guy re-lives his day over and over until he gets it right with the gal of his desires. If that's not a fantasy, I don't know what is.

Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey -- Not only is this a VERY funny movie, but the production design and visuals are amazing. The afterlife never looked this colorful.

The Mask -- The ultimate comic superhero? It's refreshing to see one truly indestructible movie hero. Of course, it can only happen in a comedy.

The Muppet Christmas Carol -- the only film version of the story that means anything to me. The Muppets rule!

Jurassic Park -- There's some token DNA science, but hatching living, breathing dinosaurs is still pure fantasy. Best monster movie ever.

Orlando -- Inventive, quirky 1992 film. Not sure how to describe it. Maybe a feminist fantasy...whatever that really means.

Last Action Hero -- Magic movie ticket beams kid into his movie hero's fictional world. Great premise, botched execution. I didn't think it was a bad movie, just one whose parts didn't quite add up.

The Seventh Seal -- deep 1957 Ingmar Bergman film. Knight returns from the Crusades amid the horror of the bubonic plague, his faith in his God shaken. He tries to save a family from the clutches of Death as a way to repent for his actions in the Crusades. The knight playing chess against the Grim Reaper is one of the great iconic images in film.

Post by **Infelice** » Mon Aug 23, 2004 3:09 am

LOTR trilogy
Princess Bride

Shrek... and I expect to add Shrek 2 to this list once I see it.
Big Fish... Im gonna buy the dvd, its a keeper
Excalibur
Legend
The Dark Crystal ... looks like a gelfling
Reign Of Fire.... I like dragon movies
Highlander
Fantasia

There are a couple that were only made for tv that I really enjoyed also...
Dinotopia ( I like dinosaurs) and Merlin... I love Arthurian Legends.

Post by **aTOMiC** » Mon Aug 23, 2004 12:37 pm

When I created this thread I did not take into account the wide and varying definition of "Fantasy" that would be applied here. Given the long list of truly great films that have been mentioned, the original question seems pretty silly. I suppose I should have asked "Can You Name 10 Really Great Sword & Sorcery Films" but I wouldn't have generated the same response as we have here.

Kevin's Watch

Kevin's Watch

Are there 10 fantasy films worth mentioning?