| The NeverEnding Story | 
 enlarge | Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Actors: Barret Oliver, Gerald Mcraney, Drum Garrett, Darryl Cooksey, Nicholas Gilbert
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $3.50
You Save: $11.48 (77%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  319 reviews
Sales Rank: 69
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 92
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.6 x 0.5
MPN: WARD13277D
ISBN: 0790761580
UPC: 085391327721
EAN: 9780790761589
ASIN: B00005LKHZ
Theatrical Release Date: July 20, 1984
Release Date: September 4, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Join the young atreyu and the faith of a young boy bastian as they battle the unknown of the nothing to save the creatures of fantasia and their childlike empress. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 08/09/2005 Starring: Gerald Mcraney Barret Oliver Run time: 94 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Amazon.com essential video
Wolfgang Petersen (In the Line of Fire) made his first English-language film with this 1984 fantasy about a boy (Barret Oliver) visualizing the stories of a book he's reading. The imagined tale involves another boy, a warrior (Noah Hathaway), and his efforts to save the empire of Fantasia from a nemesis called the Nothing. Whether or not the scenario sticks in the memory, what does linger are the unique effects, which are not quite like anything else. Plenty of good fairy-tale characters and memorable scenes, and the film even encourages kids to read. --Tom Keogh
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| Customer Reviews: Read 314 more reviews...
 Imaginative and beautiful November 20, 2008
This is one of the most wonderfully imaginative movies that every child should see. It has wonderful imagery as well as a tone that encourages them to do their own imagining.
I remember loving this movie when I was a child. When it came to DVD, I bought it up immediately and found, to my surprise, that I still loved it. That's the charm of a well-told story. This is one that children will eat up and parents will enjoy watching with them: both to see their children's eyes light up as well as to simply watch this movie for themselves.
Some of the effects are a little cheesily done by today's standards, but you might be surprised to find that the vast majority are still quite nice even under the more jaded scrutiny of today's audience. That is a testament both of the love and care that was put into constructing this film, and also the simple fact that simple effects, used effectively, can be just as powerful to a story as full CG rendering.
The magic of this film gets diluted in the followups, but this is a classic that all children should see.
 Imagination isn't all you need... November 12, 2008
While I do appreciate this film for at least having some very grand and unique visuals, I can't say the same for the actual plot. Well, maybe not the plot itself, but the pacing. This movie goes by WAY too fast. I don't feel any real connection to Atreyu because the plot moves along to fast and doesn't pose any real threat to him until the very end. First, after the horse that I didn't care about and is INCAPABLE of emotion died after sinking into the swamp of SADNESS, Atreyu looks pretty depressed, but does he, a human CAPABLE of emotion not sink to his death, well eventually he starts to sink, but why doesn't it happen right away? Second, why did the film introduce us to the goblin, the rock-biter, and the...other guy, and spend so long establishing them if they have nothing to do with the movie at all. Lastly, and this is just a personal gripe, who in all hell has been so scared by a book where they have actually screamed out loud.
"And all of a sudden, the head of a giant turtle popped out"...
AAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!
Holy s**t, that was absolutely terrifying.
 Childhood classic October 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
There are a few negative reviews of this movie, mostly "omg the book was so much better" and "neverending? it's only an hour and a half long!"...
I haven't read the book, but I have always enjoyed this movie. I think it's a movie that everyone should see at some point in their lives. As far as the people who expected the movie itself to actually NOT END... that is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. If you actually pay attention to the movie, the point is that as long as people have hopes and dreams, the HUMAN story never ends.
The DVD itself isn't the best quality, but the movie was filmed in the early 80s.
The movie is $5. Buy it and decide for yourself if you like it or not. If you don't, you can always trade it in at a used video store. I also recommend checking out the sequel.
A pleasant experience. October 26, 2008
You could actually follow the story, once things kicked off because the action was gripping and you wanted the hero to win.
It was funny to watch how the boy would read the story and that made things happen in the dream world.
The chosen boy (Atreyu) to seek out the saving grace for Fantasia was very strong-minded and wouldn't give up for anything.
What was most interesting was that I liked this a lot as a kid and could watch it now as a 23 year old adult.
Probably worth another watch in a few months.
3.8 stars.
 "We Are All Part of the NeverEnding Story" October 9, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
German director Wolfgang Petersen, the man responsible for the harrowing WWII epic Das Boot, may seem like an odd choice to direct a film adaptation of Michael Ende's children's book, The Neverending Story. However, his knowledge of technical filmmaking and his passion for adventure stories proved to be the perfect combination, as can be seen in this campy classic 1984 film.
The story concerns young Bastian, an imaginative boy who prefers to retreat into books rather than face the harsh truths of reality, as he borrows a magical book from a bookstore and reads it in the creepy attic of his school. All his life Bastian has been bullied by other kids at school and misunderstood by his overly practical widower of a father. But as Bastian's mind absorbs the details of the book, The NeverEnding Story, he finds both escapism and empowerment while reading of a heroic young hunter named Atreyu. Atreyu is a member of the Plainspeople and he was chosen to save his world, Fantasia (in the book the fantasy world is known as Fantastica), from the devastation of The Nothing, a living void which spreads across Fantasia devouring all in its path and leaving nothingness in its wake. As Bastian follows Atreyu's daring exploits, he becomes astonished to discover that Fantasia really exists and that he may be the only one who can save it from oblivion, so long as he finds the courage in himself to do as he dreams.
Since the film's release, it has become something of a family classic, but after almost twenty-five years it's hard to imagine this film having the longevity of the fantasy classics that preceded it. The film is charming and entertaining, but it lacks the heart of films like The Wizard of Oz and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and lacks the sophistication of a film like The Dark Crystal. The film does, however, have some ingenious special effects and some truly bizarre costumes and make-ups, which are at time reminiscent of the first Star Wars film.
The plot itself deviates from that of the book, but does so in order to make the film accessible to the average viewer.
With a wondrous array of characters and creatures including a Rock Biter, a racing snail, a fearsome wolf-like creature known as the Gmork, a Luck Dragon named Falkor, and the fragile and beautiful Childlike Empress, it's not hard to see why the film has such great appeal.
Also recommended:
Labyrinth
The Princess Bride
Willow
The Pagemaster
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