The Never Ending Story

Last week my mother reminded me about a movie I loved when I was a child. Last night, while digging through my parents' old VHS tapes, my sister and I found a bootleg copy of the movie. We could not resist and spent the next two hours reliving an aspect of our youth as we watched the Never Ending Story.
Even thought this film was produced in 1984 it really was ahead of its time in many ways and I think it is particularly appropriate in the recent context of fantasy movies like Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia. The Never Ending Story tells of a fantasy land Named Fantasia. You may think that name sounds familiar. Remember the American Idol turned R&B pop star named Fantasia? Want to guess when she was born? No need to look, I already did: 1984 (just after the German release but weeks before the American release of this flick).

In the movie the mystical land of Fantasia is disappearing in parallel to the decline of imagination in the real world. A boy reads a book aptly titled The Never Ending Story which chronicles the happenings in Fantasia. The boy gradually learns that his own imagination and participation is necessary to save Fantasia. It is a cute story with a flying luck dragon (see image above), a giant rockbiter, a childlike empress, a warrior hero named Atreyu, and more. Have I sparked your interest? Well here is the 1984 trailer for the film:

Plus, the movie theme song is awesome. Just watch the associated music video released by the artist named Limahl (I'm guessing he is German). Youtube disabled the embed option so you have to click on the link if you want to see it. Try to keep the laughter to a minimum. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MccmHwA-c4U

The best part is that you too can own this movie for less than $10. Isn't the internet wonderful?