Avoosl Wuthoqquan Wrote:
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>
> The Neverending Story by Michael Ende, ...
>
> ... a well-known tale for children, in
> which a nerdy boy finds a magical book and at a
> certain point while reading it ends up literally
> inside the story it contains. I remember first
> reading it at the age of nine or so, and running
> upstairs to tell my mother that I had found “a
> book that contains everything!” Re-reading it
> first as a teenager and then as an adult, I found
> that my appreciation for the second half of the
> book, which has a more melancholy tone than the
> opening adventures, got to me more and more.
>
>

How do you feel about the film adaption? I haven't come round to watching it yet, but I really like the look of the (mammalian) dragon.

I love the movie (which, incidentally, only covers the first half of the story), but how much of that is nostalgia I wouldn’t be able to tell. Probably more than 45%, though.

My main complaint is that certain scenes that are psychological in nature in the book have been dramatised as action sequences. For those who are familiar with the story, I am thinking of Atreyu’s making it past the sphinxes and the Gmorg’s final moments, in particular.

The sphinxes can only be passed by “someone who knows his own worth”, but our hero makes it past because he runs and jumps at the right moment. I really don’t know how you would have translated the book’s ideas into cinematic terms otherwise, but this really weakens the message of that scene.

In the book, the Gmorg (our hero’s arch enemy), at a climactic moment in the story, simply gives up out of despair and waits for his imminent death. Heavy stuff for a children’s novel! In the movie, however, he goes for one last lunge, which may be more thrilling to the audience, but again undermines what the scene is trying to say.

There is also a subplot in which the main character’s mother has recently died, presumably to give him some more ‘motivation’. I notice this happens a lot in somewhat recent children’s movies: the idea seems to be that unless the main character is burdened with just about the worst thing in the world, he/she is not worth the audience’s attention. (See also the recent ‘woke’ remake of The Witches). However, the one scene relevant to this comes early in the movie and is so well-acted that I don’t really mind.

Some of the dubbing is atrocious, but as a lover of Eurotrash movies I don’t mind that, either. And Atreyu does not have green skin, as he does in the book, which irked me greatly as a purist ten-year-old, but which I am fine with now.

Certain characters are extremely memorable, such as the Rock Biter, Morla the Ancient (a giant turtle who is hilariously indifferent to things) and especially Falcor, the dragon. Falcor is supposed to be a (Chinese) luck dragon, but he totally looks like a dog. He is also an irresistible character and probably the thing audiences will remember about this movie more than anything else.

(Unless you want to include that scene of the horse drowning, which probably emotionally scarred more kids of my generation than anything else in cinema. Think of it as Bambi’s mother for Generation X.)

Some last remarks: the title tune is enchanting, cult actor Sydney Bromley shows up and is hilarious, and the girl who plays the Childlike Empress does an amazing job. I don’t think she ever acted in anything again, but she would have made a great actress, I’m sure.

The sequel is a cute movie in and of itself, but has almost nothing to do with the book.

Thank you, Avoosl. That was interesting, and also says something about the differences between the two mediums book and film. Each has its limitations, and favors.

I have just watched the film. I must say, the basic premise, of a book that is so real that its story presses forth and interweaves into the real World, and envelopes it, was quite moving, and very inspiring!

No CGI, only real special effects, everything constructed, and painted! Some scenes were marvelous, and I especially enjoyed the dragon. Yes, he is very memorable.

I didn't find the scenes by the sphinxes so lacking; there was still a visible moment where Atreyu internally struggled with his own confidence, to dare go past.

The Nothing made me think of C. A. Smith's notion of the Abyss. The film has some great philosophical moments. And some awkward ones, like this little child who becomes autistic or psychotic, shirks class and hides in the school's attic, without even going home at night, becoming completely separated and unrealistically independent from grownups' world; perhaps not a very healthy influence of rebelliousness on children. Or otherwise, perhaps, at the same time, an inspiration for children to manage things and struggle on their own? Overall it is a daring children's story, in many ways.

Avoosl Wuthoqquan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There is also a subplot in which the main
> character’s mother has recently died, presumably
> to give him some more ‘motivation’. I notice
> this happens a lot in somewhat recent children’s
> movies: the idea seems to be that unless the main
> character is burdened with just about the worst
> thing in the world, he/she is not worth the
> audience’s attention. ... However, the
> one scene relevant to this comes early in the
> movie and is so well-acted that I don’t really
> mind.
>
>

Yes, it may certainly give more motivation to flee into books and fantasy.

Well-acted scene indeed. I love the little detail where the boy impromptu folds his fingers over each other. I used to do that as a kid. I tried now, and can just barely do it. Such odd details from real life help build up verisimilitude, ... but never appear in generic productions.

I love all novels by Patrick O'Brian (Master and Commander, et al). But that's not terribly connectable to this forum.

I remember loving The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath by HPL as a young guy...I love Jack Vance's Dying Earth works. I love some of his lesser known fantasy and science fiction works, like Night Lamp, and Rhialto the Marvelous (I wrote a foreword to that novel).

I like the Cugel Saga, Cugel the Clever etc very much...

I was quite affected by the interplanetary fantasy novel A VOYAGE TO ARCTURUS by David Lindsay, when I was young, and also ER Eddison's THE WORM OUROBOROS. Also THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH, a great sf/fantasy/horror/ metaphysical social-satire and all around powerful book by CS Lewis. I admire all of Tim Powers' modern fantasy novels... they have science fiction elements but really they're fantasy...I really like Michael Moorcock's Dancers at the End of Time books and his Elric cycle...Most of JG Ballard's latter day works are high on my list...

Oh, how about THE CIRCUS OF DR LAO by Charles Finney! I could go on.

Welcome aboard, John!

;^)

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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John Shirley Wrote:
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> I love all novels by Patrick O'Brian (Master and
> Commander, et al). But that's not terribly
> connectable to this forum.
>
> I remember loving The Dream Quest of Unknown
> Kadath by HPL as a young guy...I love Jack Vance's
> Dying Earth works. I love some of his lesser known
> fantasy and science fiction works, like Night
> Lamp, and Rhialto the Marvelous (I wrote a
> foreword to that novel).
>
> I like the Cugel Saga, Cugel the Clever etc very
> much...
>
> I was quite affected by the interplanetary fantasy
> novel A VOYAGE TO ARCTURUS by David Lindsay, when
> I was young, and also ER Eddison's THE WORM
> OUROBOROS. Also THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH, a great
> sf/fantasy/horror/ metaphysical social-satire and
> all around powerful book by CS Lewis. I admire all
> of Tim Powers' modern fantasy novels... they have
> science fiction elements but really they're
> fantasy...I really like Michael Moorcock's Dancers
> at the End of Time books and his Elric
> cycle...Most of JG Ballard's latter day works are
> high on my list...
>
> Oh, how about THE CIRCUS OF DR LAO by Charles
> Finney! I could go on.

Going on is what we do here. : )

Thank you! Glad to come aboard. It's a stout ship, with fine sails and--what's that on the horizon? Is that thing real?

I also want to mention THE HOUSE ON THE BORDERLAND by Hodgson, a very influential book. And 9 PRINCES IN AMBER by Zelazny. And one more, THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson.