The NeverEnding Story is one of my all time favourite movies, it is just so magical. The music is brilliant, and the story is a magical, simple and effective one. The scenery, sets and costumes were visually a feast to the eyes, just gorgeous to look at, and if it didn't get any awards for best art direction, then that is a massive shame, because it was so beautiful to watch. Falcor was a fantastic character, a very warm and loving character, that you just have to love. I have to admit though, Gmork is very scary. The acting is fantastic, Barret Oliver very spirited as Bastian, and Noah Hathaway born to play Atreyu. And Tami Stromach as the Childlike Empress has a small but wholly relevant role in the film. This film is practically perfect in every way and has a wonderful message, don't miss it! The second film's okay, but the third one is god awful and should be in the bottom 100. 10/10 for this though. Bethany Cox

An '80s classic which I've only now had the chance to encounter for the first time, THE NEVERENDING STORY is a masterpiece of action and special effects. It magnificently conjures up the magic of reading a good book in a way similar to the later but less successful (at least for me) PRINCESS BRIDE, and I loved the whole breaking of the fourth wall at the climax. The story itself is an dramatic adventure narrative in which a heroic child must find a way to stop the "nothingness" (which reminded me of THE LANGOLIERS) destroying his world.

Where this film shines is in the effects, which are extensive and elaborate and much better than our modern CGI. There's lots of back projection, wonderful set design and magical landscapes, and a whole slew of creatures. Some of them look like Jim Henson creations, while others are brilliantly conceived and animated, such as the Luck Dragon or the huge mountain troll creature. It's imagination writ large on screen, uninhibited and at its best, and you can't ask for more than that.

Bastian is a troubled boy who lost his mother and bullied by schoolmates. While running from school bullies, he escapes into a book store where the owner warns him about a book called 'The NeverEnding Story'. He get curious and takes the book. He hides in a storage room at school and starts reading.

The book tells the story of the fantastical world of Fantasia. It is slowly being destroyed by a Nothing. The Empress is deathly ill. It's understood that a great warrior named Atreyu will come to save the day, but he turns out to be a Native American boy.

After the award winning 'Das Boot', Wolfgang Petersen goes in a different direction with this interesting children's movie. It's filled with fantastical creatures, and wild adventures. It's a visually memorable film. The kids aren't really the best actors or the most memorable. That's probably the most obvious deficit. They are sufficiently average cute kids for the job. As for the conceit of the movie, it's trying for something very interesting but it's meanders. It probably works great for kids as they watch the movie. It's probably quite effective to be a kid being talked directly to.