- The NeverEnding Story [DVD].
Wolfgang Petersen (In the Line of Fire) made his first
English-language film with this 1984 fantasy about a boy (Barret
Oliver) visualising 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