It's been a solid 30 years since I'd last seen "The NeverEnding Story", and the only things that stayed with me were the sadness in the swamp (not the horse!), a flying dog and an unbelievably scary wolf (I was six, what can I say). So you can imagine the curiosity that lingers in an adult mind as to how scary that wolf really is.
Turns out not all that much.
But I wasn't expecting such an engrossing story. I got sucked right in, and the imagination in this thing is crazy. Sure, a cynic will poke holes in the effects and look for the wires, but the movie creates a fantastic world out of physical props (impressive, given the age group being targeted here). The funny thing of it is that it apparently didn't hold up very well for my wife (who was a little older when this came out), but it sure did for me. If I have one complaint, it's the Moroder synth (I can't help it, he's never floored me), but that's easy to overlook in a movie that basis its world on the goodness of childhood dreaming. I mean, really, how can you fault a message like that? Can I say they don't make kids movies like this anymore? Because it sure feels like it.
7/10
Turns out not all that much.
But I wasn't expecting such an engrossing story. I got sucked right in, and the imagination in this thing is crazy. Sure, a cynic will poke holes in the effects and look for the wires, but the movie creates a fantastic world out of physical props (impressive, given the age group being targeted here). The funny thing of it is that it apparently didn't hold up very well for my wife (who was a little older when this came out), but it sure did for me. If I have one complaint, it's the Moroder synth (I can't help it, he's never floored me), but that's easy to overlook in a movie that basis its world on the goodness of childhood dreaming. I mean, really, how can you fault a message like that? Can I say they don't make kids movies like this anymore? Because it sure feels like it.
7/10