Friday, September 18, 2009

The Neverending Story

"People lose their hope and forget their dreams. People with no hope are easy to control. And those who have the control, have the power."

Gmork
The Neverending Story

I recently watched this film based on the novel. Seeing this film, takes me back to my childhood. Growing up, this was one of my favorite movies.

What I enjoyed about this movie as a kid, I still enjoy as an adult - adventure and imagination. The ability to create and imagine is something I really miss from my childhood days. Thus, the reason for this blog. (See my first post).

As I watched this movie as an adult, I could sense an underlying message. The quote above from Gmork says it all. I think the film is trying to make a statement that as we grow up, we lose our sense of imagination and creativity.

In the first scene, the dad of the main character, Bastian, tells him he needs to get his head out of the clouds and start taking responsibility. His father was upset that his teacher called stating that he was caught drawing unicorns in class and had failed to turn in his homework.

So, we can already see that at an early age Bastian is deterred from using his creativity and imagination. I had a similar childhood experience as well. And, growing up I find that I was also taught to take up more responsibility and be more practical.

Throughout the story, the film tests the main characters', Bastian and Atreyu, faith and belief. There are times when things seem hopeless. Though, the story goes on which shows that persistence and belief is the key. This ties in with the theme of hope and belief - believing in yourself and your dreams. And, I think the film gets this underlying point across very well throughout the story.

What I also find interesting is the symbolism and terms used in the film. For example, the world of Fantasia is an imaginary world where anything can happen. And, as a moviegoer you learn that Fantasia has no boundaries - it's limitless. This message symbolizes our imagination and ability to create anything we want. Our creativity has no barriers - the sky is the limit.

The Nothingness (the cause of the collapse of Fantasia) was also a great symbolic message. To me, the Nothingness symbolized the idea of the real world destroying the imaginary world (i.e. being practical and sensible versus being creative and imaginative). It truly was an eye opener to see that there was only one small grain of sand left of Fantasia at the end. To me, this symbolized the lack of imagination and creativity we tend to lose as we grow up to be adults.

Though, I did enjoy the film ending on a positive note of hope. Hope that we could build up the fantasy world again and exercise our ability to create and imagine. And, that ability is why we still have great stories told today.

If you're in the mood for a fantasy type movie, I definitely recommend this one!

Happy movie watching!

(p.s. Just in case anyone is wondering, the name Bastian gave to The Childlike Empress was "Moon Child" (I looked it up). It's hard to believe that was his mother's name. Go figure!)



Video Link







.

7 comments:

clarabela said...

What a wonderful review of The Neverending Story. It is one of my favorite movies. As a child I loved to read (I still do. I like the way Bastian's reading of the book made it come to life. That is the true power of imagination.

It has been a while since I have seen this movie, but I think I will watch it again.

Action Flick Chick said...

I used to watch this movie as a kid, too. All I remember of it now was that huge dog and how gross he looked. I like the message of your review. Far to many people are forced to "grow up" and be responsible. Stepbrothers has the same message of not losing your dinosaur, and it's a pretty good flick.

Film Gurl said...

I'm glad you all enjoyed the review!

(Clarabela) It's definitely a movie that takes me back . I still enjoy watching it even as an adult. The power of imagination is still strong within me!

(Action Flick Chick) Funny about the huge dog, he's definitely a memorable looking character! I think my theme song is the Toys R Us song, "I don't want to grow up, I'm a Toys R us kid" Sometimes I can still be a kid at heart, I guess! :)

(TinxWinx) I'll check out the website, thanks!

I've been debating whether or not to see Neverending Story II. The first film covers the first half of the book, while the second film covers the 2nd half. Though, reading the synopsis it looks like Bastian actually goes into the imaginary world to help his friends.

If anyone's seen it, I'd definitely be interested in hearing about it.

Thanks everyone for stopping by! :)

Unknown said...

I also loved this movie as a kid, although I was totally horrified when Artex sinks. I couldn't believe that the first time I saw it.

I agree with what you said about growing up and losing a lot of our imagination and creativity. When I was a kid, everything was possible. It seems like this thinking is almost discouraged as an adult, we are told that our feet should be planted firmly in reality and to get our "heads out of the clouds." It's kind of sad, we almost accomplish less because of this mentality.

I loved your review, great work!

Film Gurl said...

I'm glad you enjoyed the review, too! I agree. The scene when Artex sinks is very horrifying and sad. Many people still talk about how upset they were when he lost Artex. I was glad to see Artex again at the end of the story when Bastian saved everyone, he continued the legacy by exercising his creativity :)

I feel the same way about growing up. As we grow up, we're taught to be more practical. I think Gmork was very wise when he said those who lose their hopes and forget their dreams can be easily controlled. Sometimes it seems like society wants us all to be the same like droids/robots. Then, we lose our individuality and our sense of who we are. But, I guess that is another story, lol!

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Karen said...

I liked this movie a lot when I was little, or maybe it was part two. Whichever one had the guy from Seaquest in it. He was a cutie.

Film Gurl said...

Yes, it's definitely a movie I can watch over and over again - it takes me back to my childhood days. If you're talking about part two, that would be Jonathan Brandis. It's a shame about his death and all.

http://tinyurl.com/2phusr

Thanks for stopping by! :)