Fantasy movies?

I OWN that movie! I've never run into anyone else online or off that knows about it. It's great, very funny. Peter Ustinov does the voice of Grendel and all the humans are basically twits...

Oh, indeed. I was working at Wizards of the Coast (the current publisher of D&D) when this came out, so they did a special screening for the employees. Beforehand, the business folks made a point of saying to us, "Please don't laugh, people from the studio will be here today."

That screening was for employees only, so my wife hadn't seen the true horror. About a year and a half later, I was flipping around cable and stopped on the D&D movie for about five minutes during the thieves' guild scene. My wife said, "My god, what is this shit?" I told her it was the D&D movie and she replied, "Wow, this is really terrible." I agreed, but had to note, "And this is the best part." She begged me to the change the channel, which I happily did.

If you want to see an example of how cool a D&D movie could have been if handled by someone who understood the property in any way, shape, or form, check out the anime series Record of Lodoss War. The world and story are actually based on the creator's old D&D campaign and the result is quite good.

I'd also recommend some Hong Kong flicks like A Chinese Ghost Story and Bride With White Hair. Both are classic martial arts films with many fatastical elements. Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain is also cool, but it dates back to the early 80s and you can really tell.

It is, though it would be more accurate to say that it is the movie based on the Beowulf legend. Personally I felt that it was an excelent retelling of the Beowulf legend. I found the characters to be fairly believable and appropriately complex, the villians were sufficiently villianous, and the atmosphere did a superb job of reflecting the carefree attitude in the face of unquestioned doom that permeates so many sagas and epic poems from northern Europe.

I have no real complaints regarding the movie. It must be taken as a fantasy story that makes no real attempt at portraying history, though there are many elements that were derrived from appropriate histories.


On the topic of Watership Down, that film should be enough to convince anyone that animation is not solely for children, even if they've never seen an anime in their life.

I tried to watch record of the Lodoss War once, but I found the animation and pacing to be so poor that I couldn't take it. I've heard the story really is excelent, though. I'm just a bit of a whore for decent animation, and even a little bit of noticable stock footage or repeating is enough to set my hair on end.

[Edited on Jul 16, 2005 by Frank]

And that is a shame. It's such an excelent film. Coming of age, good and evil, nature and technology. Lot's of great stuff, but I haven't seen it in a decade and then it was one of the movies that my library had free to rent.


I second the Brotherhood of the Wolf. I adore that movie.

Also, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, for cheesy italian special effects and lots of monster fighting.

Army Of Darkness.

Star Wars, because it really is fantasy more than it is sci-fi.

Did anyone mention The Rats of Nihm yet?

There are a lot of other Don Bluth movies that would fit in this category. I don't know how well they'd hold up now that I'm all grown up, but I remember that Rockadoodle was a great film.

Sleeping Beauty, the Disney version, because the scene where the prince charges the dread witch's castle, battling goblins and finally the witch herself in the form of a dragon stirs my heart.

The Wizard of Oz is a classic, and for good reason.

The old Narnia films are alright.

The recent miniseries version of A Wizard of Earthsea was alright, though I can't really forgive them for using primarily white actors.

Willow again, because Mad Martigan is quite possibly the best rouge/master swordsman that has ever been brought to life on the silver screen.

The old Eroll Flynn Robin Hood and pirate movies are classics.

Slayers is a fun, if campy, anime series.

Cowboy Bebop probably fits in here, as it is very much a classic tragic hero cycle.

Samurai Champloo. Quirky, fun, often downright odd, but always enjoyable.

Ninja Scroll. Old school anime done right.

Naruto. Very fun, though the story arc is something like a hundred and twenty episodes long and counting. I saw the first sixty or so and they managed to make a very engrossing character driven fighting anime without falling into all the ridiculous nonsense that made Dragonball Z unbearable.

Also, Shrek and possibly Shrek II.



[Edited on Jul 16, 2005 by Frank]

Castle in the Sky is an interesting movie that I have seen recently.
I would suggest some rockin' 1980s movies, but a lot of them have already been listed.

Edited to add that it is an Anime movie.

[Edited on Jul 16, 2005 by RattFinkPink]

Right on. That's one of those films I stumbled onto on mid-afternoon tv, and knew I had to watch, because I'd never get another chance to see it. I actually tracked it down at a video store that specialized in obscure stuff, and watched it again a few years ago. Still entertaining.

I ♥ the last unicorn! You should also check out Flight of the Navigator

I haven't seen this film since I was 7years old and saw it on HBO, but I'm pretty sure it's how I became a romantic in my early, early years.

The Sea Prince & the Fire Child


Oh yeah, my wife is a goomba for the animated Last Unicorn... they're making a live-action version with Christopher Lee in the role of King Haggard.

[Edited on Sep 05, 2005 by chiaroscurox]

The new live action Peter Pan with Ludivine Sagnier was pretty cool...

You should also check out Jim Hensons the story teller , it's not a movie but it's a whole heap of little storys there are some really beautifull ones in it, i havent seen them in ages. I need to get the dvd set sometime.

Shit, nobody has mentioned Excalibur yet? Get the R rated version, and on DVD to boot. The Director's commentary is VERY INFORMATIVE. Amongst all kinds of crap about how they pulled off the SFX in an affordable manner (while still looking incredible) you get the rather odd commentary on what it was like to direct one's own daughter in a love scene. Or should I say a scene of magically seduced incest.

It was a great film. One of my special bits of nerdliness is that I can still recite much of the Spell of Making from memory.

I'm also surprised nobody has mentioned Dragonslayer. Back in the day I liked Conan the Barbarian better, but this film actually was a good and well-made film.

Yip , those are the ones, I know you can get the full set on DVD, I'm not sure if they are in any stores though but you can get them off amazon.