The NeverEnding Story

The NeverEnding Story is a 1984 German-American epic fantasy film based on the novel of the same name written by Michael Ende. The film was directed and co-written by Wolfgang Petersen (his first English-language film) and starred Barret Oliver, Noah Hathaway, Tami Stronach, Moses Gunn, Thomas Hill, and Alan Oppenheimer as the voices of Falkor and Gmork. At the time of its release, it was the most expensive film produced outside the USA or the USSR. It was then followed by two sequels: The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter and The NeverEnding Story III: Escape From Fantasia.

Plot
Bastian Bux (Barret Oliver), a quiet boy who loves to read, is accosted by bullies on his way to school. He hides in a bookstore, interrupting the grumpy bookseller, Mr. Koreander (Thomas Hill). Bastian asks about one of the books he sees, but Mr. Koreander warns him it is "not safe." Nevertheless, Bastian "borrows" the book, leaving a note promising to return it, and races towards school. He then hides in the school's attic to begin reading The Neverending Story.

The book describes the fantasy world of Fantasia which is being threatened by a force called "The Nothing," a void of darkness that consumes everything. The Childlike Empress (Tami Stronach), who rules over Fantasia from the Ivory Tower, has fallen ill due to the Nothing, and she has summoned Atreyu (Noah Hathaway), a young warrior from the Plains People, to discover the means to end the Nothing. Atreyu is given AURYN, a medallion to protect and guide him. As Atreyu sets out, the Nothing summons Gmork (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer), a vicious, but highly intelligent wolf-like beast, to kill Atreyu.

Atreyu's quest directs him to an ancient being called Morla that resides in the Swamps of Sadness. Though AURYN protects Atreyu from its effects, his beloved horse Artax is lost to the swamp. Atreyu continues through the swamp, and is surprised when Morla reveals itself as a giant tortoise-like being. Bastian, reading, is also surprised and lets out a scream; when he continues reading, Bastian is curious that Atreyu and Morla appeared to have heard his scream. Morla does not have the answers Arteyu seeks, but directs him to the Southern Oracle, many thousands of miles distant.

Atreyu attempts to trek through the Swamps but even AURYN cannot protect him indefinitely. Atreyu blacks out, but awakens, clean and restored, next to the luckdragon Falkor (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer), who had rescued Atreyu at the last minute and brought him to the Southern Oracle. Two gnomes who helped restore Atreyu explain what they know about the Oracle, including the trials that one must face before reaching it. As the Darkness nears, Atreyu completes one trial and is perplexed when the second trial, a mirror that shows the viewer's true self, reveals a boy matching Bastian's description sitting in an attic reading a book. Bastian recoils in shock and throws the book aside, but cautiously continues reading after setting up candles in the darkened attic. Atreyu, past the trials, stands before the Oracle, who tells him the only way to save the Princess is to find a human child to give her a new name, but such a child can only be obtained beyond the boundaries of Fantasia. Atreyu and Falkor flee before the Nothing consumes the Oracle.

The two try to locate the boundary of Fantasia, but the power of the Nothing has grown, and Atreyu is knocked from Falkor's back into the Sea of Possibilities, losing AURYN in the process. He wakes up on the shore of an abandoned town, and as he explores, he finds a series of wall paintings describing his quest to the present, including one of him facing against Gmork. Gmork reveals himself, and explains that Fantasia is humanity's hopes and dreams, but that the Nothing, which represents human apathy, cynicism, and the denial of childish dreams, eats away at it. The beast then attacks as the Nothing starts to consume the town; Atreyu is able to kill Gmork with a sharp rock. Atreyu fights against the pull of the Nothing, but as he gives out, Falkor arrives to save him, having found AURYN earlier.

When Atreyu recovers, he finds they are flying in a black void with the only remnants of Fantasia floating around. Fearing his quest has failed, Atreyu is elated when the Ivory Tower appears. After landing, Atreyu races to see the Empress and apologizes for his failure. To his surprise, the Empress declares that he was successful, as he has brought the human child, Bastian, with him through his adventure. As the Nothing starts to consume the Ivory Tower, the Princess pleas directly to Bastian to give her her new name before it is too late. Bastian races to the attic windows and shouts the name "Moonchild" before the wind outside extinguishes the candles and sends the room into darkness.

Bastian finds himself in a black void with the Empress. She shows him a single grain of sand, the last remaining part of Fantasia, but insists that Bastian's imagination, through the power of wishing, can restore Fantasia from it. After a moment's thought, Bastian wishes for the restoration of the land, and finds himself riding Falkor over the restored Fantasia, including Atreyu reunited with Artax. Bastian whispers into Falkor's ear; in the real world, the bullies that had chased down Bastian at the start suddenly find themselves being chased by Bastian and Falkor. A narrator states that Bastian had many more wishes and adventures, but those are tales "for another time".

Cast

 * Barret Oliver as Bastian Bux, a young boy with a large imagination. He takes the Neverending Story from Mr. Koreander's bookstore and reads it. He is soon revealed to be the key to saving Fantasia.
 * Noah Hathaway as Atreyu, a warrior from the Plains People, who along with his horse, Artax, is sent to search for a cure to the Empress' illness. He is protected by the AURYN.
 * Tami Stronach as The Childlike Empress, the ruler of Fantasia who has fallen deathly ill due to the presence of the Nothing.
 * Alan Oppenheimer as the voices of Falkor, Gmork, Rock Biter, and the Narrator
 * Thomas Hill as Mr. Koreander, a bookstore owner whom Bastian meets. He forbids Bastian from taking the Neverending Story. Bastian, however, disobeys, leaving a written promise that he will return the book when he's finished.
 * Deep Roy as Teeny Weeny, a messenger riding on a racing snail. (Only his voice was dubbed in the original English language version).
 * Tilo Prückner as Nighthob, a messenger riding a narcoleptic bat.
 * Moses Gunn as Cairon, a servant of the Empress who gives Atreyu his quest and AURYN.
 * Sydney Bromley as Engywook, a gnomish scientist and expert on the Southern Oracle.
 * Patricia Hayes as Urgl, Engywook's wife and a healer.
 * Gerald McRaney as Mr. Bux, Bastian's widowed, workaholic father who worries about Bastian's inattentive behaviour and frequent daydreaming.
 * Darryl Cooksey, Drum Garrett, and Nicholas Gilbert as Ethan, Todd and Lucas, three cruel children who pick on Bastian. Their pursuits of him lead to his adventures. Bastian eventually takes revenge with the help of Falkor.

Production
This film adaptation only covered the first half of the book. The majority of the movie was filmed in Germany, except for Barret Oliver's scenes, which were shot in Vancouver, BC, Canada. It was Germany's highest budgeted film of the time. The novel's author, Michael Ende, felt that this adaptation's content deviated so far from his book that he requested they either halt production or change the name; when they did neither, he sued them and subsequently lost the case.

Music
The film score of The NeverEnding Story was composed by Klaus Doldinger of the German jazz group Passport. The theme song of the North American release of the film was composed by Giorgio Moroder with lyrics by Keith Forsey, and performed by Limahl (lead singer of Kajagoogoo) and Beth Anderson. This song, along with other "techno-pop" treatments to the soundtrack, are not present in the German version of the film, which features Doldinger's orchestral score exclusively.

The theme song performed by Limahl was released as a single in 1984, it peaked at No. 4 on the UK singles chart, No. 6 on the US Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, and No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. The American theme song has been covered by The Birthday Massacre, Creamy, Dragonland, Kenji Haga, and New Found Glory. Norwegian synthpop group Echo Image covered the song on their 2001 maxi-single Skulk, and German techno group Scooter covered the song on their 2007 album Jumping All Over the World.

An official soundtrack album was released featuring Doldinger's score and Moroder's theme tune (Moroder also rescored several scenes for the version released outside Germany). The track listing (Doldinger is responsible for everything from track 6 onwards) is as follows:

In Germany an album featuring Klaus Doldinger's score was released.

Differences from the novel
Since the film only covers the first half of the novel, some plot points and characters were altered and removed. The film introduces Bastian's relationship with his father and being chased by bullies, though it does not reveal his full name. The novel does not start until Bastian bursts into Mr. Coreander's book store.

In the novel, Bastian's widower father has sunk into despair at his wife's death. In the film, it is Bastian himself who is in the depths of sorrow at losing his mom, while his dad urges him to move on and meet his responsibilities.

Several characters such as the will-o'-the-wisp (Blubb) and the giant shapeshifting Ygramul were cut from the film, likely due to difficulties portraying them during the time the film was produced, their roles given to other characters. The Southern Oracle character does not have a physical form in the novel, but does in the film, appearing as a pair of glowing blue sphinx creatures identical to the Sphinx Gate from earlier in the film; the third gate to reach the Southern Oracle was also cut.

In the novel, the Childlike Empress has white hair and wears a simple smocklike garment. In the film, her hair is dark and she wears a child-sized version of bridal attire.

In the novel, Atreyu meets Falkor by releasing him from a web and saving him from "Ygramul the Many", a gigantic Spider, while in the film version Falkor instead saves Atreyu from sinking in the swamp and from Gmork's initial attack.

Atreyu and Falkor are separated by the Nothing in the film, while they are blown apart by the four Wind Giants in the novel. The meeting of Atreyu and Gmork is different from the novel; Gmork is not chained to a wall nor dying as he is in the book, but attacks Atreyu before being killed by the latter who stabs him with a sharp rock.

The Nothing is different from its novel form. It appears as a giant formation of stormclouds and according to Gmork, it was created from the people who have no hopes or dreams, causing it to destroy Fantasia (Fantastica in the English translation of the novel). In the novel, the Nothing not only destroys Fantastica but approaches people who have lost their faith and have given up on hoping, and then the people have the sudden urge to jump into the Nothing and be transformed in human lies, according to Gmork shortly before his death.

The ending was altered as the first half of the novel moved right into the second half. In the novel, after Atreyu returns AURYN to the Childlike Empress, she visits the Old Man of Wandering Mountain and forces him to read his chronicle, re-reading the entire Neverending Story which Bastian has read (along with the events involving Bastian first obtaining the actual book) until Bastian gives the empress a new name and arrives in Fantastica. The film's ending was changed so the Empress brings Bastian to Fantasia by pleading with him, the film ending with the land reborn and Bastian and Falkor flying after bullies in the real world.

In the novel, Bastian is overweight and Atreyu has blue hair and green skin, while in the film, Bastian is a wiry youngster, and Atreyu has tanned skin and dark hair. Some early attempts to paint actor Noah Hathaway green were deemed unsuccessful. Artax speaks in the novel, but is mute in the film. Also, it is not until the third NeverEnding Story film that the character of the Old Man of Wandering Mountain is depicted.

Critical response
The film opened to generally positive reviews, and at Rotten Tomatoes has a score of 86% based on reviews from 21 critics. Metacritic gives the film a score of 46% based on reviews from 10 critics. Film critic Roger Ebert gave it three out of four stars and praised its visual effects, saying that they gave the illusion "an entirely new world has been created", a comment echoed by Variety. Joshua Tyler of CinemaBlend referred to it as "One of a scant few true Fantasy masterpieces".

Vincent Canby jeered the film as a "graceless, humorless fantasy for children" in a 1984 New York Times review. Canby's criticism charged that parts of the movie "sounded like 'The Pre-Teenager's Guide to Existentialism'...." He further criticized the notable cast of special effects artists for creating "tacky" special effects, and that the construction of the dragon looked like "an impractical bathmat."

Box office
Despite this, the film underperformed at the box office, grossing only $20,158,808 in the USA on a budget of $27,000,000. This was far less than contemporary movies with similar themes such as Time Bandits and The Dark Crystal, both of which grossed more than $40,000,000. The worldwide gross was $100,000,000. When released on video the movie became one of the highest selling videos ever released and has also become a staple on Christmas Day television.

Home media
The Region 1 DVD was first released in 2001 by Warner Bros., containing only the North American release of the film. The only audio option is a 2.0 stereo mix in either English or Spanish. The theatrical trailer is the lone extra feature presented.

Europe has had a few releases of the film on DVD, the most lavish being a 2003, 2-disc special edition with packaging shaped like the book from the film and containing both the North American and German releases of the film. Various extras, such as a 45-minute documentary, music video, and galleries, are presented on the second disc. However, there is no English audio for the German version of the film. This edition is out of print; the standard 1-disc edition is available for the Region 2 market.

A Dutch import has also appeared on the Internet in various places, which only contains the North American release of the film but also includes a remastered DTS surround track, which is not found in either the German or the Region 1 release.

Also, in 2008, Czech and Slovak language DVD versions appeared in Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The first Blu-ray release was a region-free Dutch edition on 24 March 2007.

On 2 March 2010, Warner released a Region A Blu-ray edition of the film. The disc includes a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track (and marks the first time a 5.1 surround track has been included on a home video of the film in the US). No special features or theatrical trailer are included.

Legacy
The film has since been the inspiration for popular culture. The American metal band Atreyu derived their name from the character of Atreyu. Another American rock band, Bayside, have used quotes from the film as titles of their songs. Examples include "They look like strong hands" and "They're not horses, they're unicorns."

Second adaptation
Warner Bros., The Kennedy/Marshall Co., and Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way are in the early stages of rebooting the franchise by re-adapting Michael Ende's novel of the same name. They intend to "examine the more nuanced details of the book" rather than remake the original film by Wolfgang Petersen.

The Internet Movie Database lists 2014 as a tentative release date for the new film.

Awards
This film won two awards in 1984 and three in 1985


 * 1984 won the Bambi Award for: National film


 * 1984 won the Golden Screen Award


 * 1985 won the Saturn Award for: Best Performance by a Young Actor


 * 1985 won the Brazilian Film Award for: Best Production


 * 1985 won the Film Award in Gold for: Best Production Design

Nominations
This film was nominated for three awards in 1985


 * 1985 nominated for the Saturn Award for : Best Fantasy Film, and Best Music


 * 1985 nominated for the International Fantasy Film Award for: Best Film


 * 1985 nominated for Young Artist Award for : Best Family Motion Picture, Best Young Actor, Best Young Supporting Actress.