The NeverEnding Story: BD Review
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Page 1 of 3 Warner / 1984 / Rated PG / 94 Minutes / Street Date: March 2, 2010
  The NeverEnding Story bears testament that children’s films can be beautiful, yet tinged with darkness and uncomfortably challenging. Wolfgang Petersen's brilliant film adaptation of a German novel is captivating, compelling, and undiminished by would could have been a more typical Hollywood approach to make the film more benign for American audiences. If you’ve seen The Dark Crystal or The Secret of N.I.M.H. (oh how I want to see that come out on blu) you’ll have a good understanding of how The NeverEnding Story manages to create an entertainment vehicle that’s accessible to children, but at the same time doesn’t shy away from communicating powerful themes, tangible fear, and a quest loaded with suspense-filled moments that will get your heart racing. I first experienced The NeverEnding Story myself as a pre-teen during its theatrical debut in the mid 1980s, yet watching it now I still found the film relevant, surprisingly well crafted, and just as emotionally compelling as I recall from childhood.
If you’ve never seen the film and are unfamiliar with the story, I’d rather not share too many of the plot details so as not to spoil the natural unfolding of the tale when you view. But it’s safe to say that the story begins with young Bastian, a school-aged boy who’s imaginative disposition lends him a scolding by his father in the film’s opening scene. The rather one-sided conversation between the two is a bit harsh for a young boy who has recently lost his mother. But this encounter sets the stage to prepare the viewer that Bastian is no ordinary child in no ordinary circumstances, and that the film isn’t afraid to allow sometimes difficult subject matter onto the table. This latter point is essential: how can a film be good if we really don’t believe it has the power to surprise us, or more importantly, the potential to disappoint us in the outcomes its characters must face? If we can’t risk the possibility to grieve along side our characters, then we also forego the chance to celebrate their joys as well.
 After this introduction, we follow Bastion on his way to school where he’s greeted by some rather unfriendly classmates, and in his attempt to evade their bullying he finds himself in an old book shop, where, as you might imagine, he discovers a book with a lavishly embossed title that you will find familiar. His journey into the book, and alongside its protagonist Atreyu, embarks the film’s quest, and we, the viewers, join Bastian and the characters in his story as they search for a way to save their universe of Fantasia from vanishing into a growing power that threatens to overtake their dream-like world. The villain who’s mission is to destroy Fantasia is no ordinary adversary, and there’s actually a very chilling moment when Atreyu directly asks “who are you, really…” I don’t know if I can recall another children’s fantasy film that so powerfully evokes a sense of true evil as in this moment, and what makes it especially powerful is that the foe being alluded to is not a character in the story at all, but a spiritual enemy in our own very real world.
The NeverEnding Story can entertain, but it can also serve as a springboard for some meaningful conversation with your friends and children about good and evil, and what’s really important. The NeverEnding Story is a film that anyone who appreciates children’s stories should see, especially those who enjoy fantasy films that dig a little deeper and take more risks than most.
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