This film is a defining influence in the lives of many of my contemporaries. As a child I think I only watched it twice. I recall several scenes quite well but I never searched for The Never Ending Story as an image suitable for me. This is strange, for I was also a lonely child who would read a lot. One would imagine that many aspects of the story would strike a chord with me, but they did not. It seems to me that the movie was more enjoyable than I initially thought as an adult, but at the same time I could better see its weaknesses.
Bastian (portrayed by Barret Oliver), a ten-year-old, is devastated due to the loss of his mother. Furthermore, his father (character played by Gerald McRaney) is indifferent to the situation and is rebuking his son for having a liking for fantasy. One day while running away from the bullies on the way to school, Bastian stumbles on a second hand book store and finds a book called The Never Ending story. Ignoring the proprietor’s warnings, Bastian purchases the book and heads towards the attic of his school where he immerses himself in the narrative. In the story, ‘A force called The Nothing is desolating out the realms of Fantasia’, and only a brave young man, Atreyu (Noah always has a chance of killing off the world. If only the young hero would try to save the world for once.
There are some rather Nice components of The Never Ending Story. The storyline is quite engaging, and as for the story itself, the special effects are decent. No, I do not believe that it was ever going to compete with ILM’s and other production houses including for Lucasfilm and the spectacular puppets which Jim Henson was perfecting, but it is good. The Rockbiter, the Luck Dragon and also the Childlike Empress are some good characters which hold ones attention.
I understand why a child would enjoy this movie, it has some very intense parts while being a work of fiction. But the movie has a lot of technical issues bordering on the storytelling side to, and the most glaring issue is that the movie does not have a defined conclusion. The movie becomes tedious the more it progresses. One facet that is particularly interesting is the meta commentary regarding how the movie does not clearly define what is the ‘real’ and what is merely part of the movie, but again the movie does not elaborate on that point, it is just a part of the movie that exists. The two leading actors completely hacked the role, as obesity has plagued Hollywood over the past few decades coupled with the fact that a large pool of child actors were supposedly involved in the 1980s which explains the suffocating performances. I get the bearded dude was casted as he fit the look of the movie, but his performance was dull at best.
There has been speculation on how an AI-driven movie might look. With that said, this movie is what that might have looked like at its peak. It isn’t particularly captivating, since all we are shown is a sequence of events without any semblance of wholeness. This explains why Bastian’s abrupt transformation into an active character in the movie feels like such a lack of effort. Otherwise, an otherwise fantasy film would have managed to go down a path that was refreshing at the very least. No, it prefers an absurdist absurdity, which achieves a lot of nothing. As I understand, this film and the second are remnants of the book, and this sparks an interest within me to get my hands on the novel as it may be executed more effectively on paper.
The Never Ending Story appears to be from a class of its own, particularly when compared to fantasy greats from Lucas, Spielberg’s and Henson. It is important to note, however, that all of these directors possess both the vision and ambition to create multi-faceted worlds. There exists a clear understanding of the stakes and the protagonists in the story. But in case of the Never Ending story, there is a clear lack of such understanding of Atreus, unfortunately. His role in the film is that of a cliché that fails to connect with the viewers. He is portrayed as an antagonist but the storyline tries its best to prove that otherwise, to little avail. The film`s aim is to show how engaged does Bastian get during his read, but for some reason, the viewers are unable to experience those same emotions.
The directors could have definitely opted for a better approach rather than ending the storyline abruptly with “Bastian goes on a lot of other incredible adventures. Who knows? Maybe sometime we’ll make another movie.” which only leads to further confusion regarding the movie’s coherence. That statement told me everything I needed to know: even the creators had no idea what to do with the story after that. It is a movie which solely relies on aesthetics to tell its story and that of its character but unfortunately, it simply isn’t enough. There are numerous issues with the editing.
Maybe I am wrong, but it seems like all of the characters have been re-dubbed due to ADR considering they were mostly German with accents.
On the topic of core themes, grief seems to be one of the most unremarkable motifs the film includes and fails to discuss in full. The Nothing sounds like a good metaphor for degradation and absence of the will and imagination. its healing, and the film does not consider that. There are no other effects due to his father, and this too is left unfinished. Similarly, the problem with the bully seems to be only partially addressed.
Bastian has the immense luck of being able to fly through a city on a dragon and scares away his bullies then it goes to the freeze frame. The people who made this movie had good intentions and wanted to create a well-crafted story appropriate for children. They did however construct a number of appealing as well as superficial sequence without any preceding concept.
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