Tales from the NeverEnding Story - The Beginning
by Giles Walker
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DVD details
Actor: Audrey Gardiner, Jane Wheeler, Lisa Bronwyn Moore, Stefano Faustini, Tyrone BenskinDirector: Giles Walker
Brand: Gaiam
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 88 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-06-04
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Good Times Video
DVD Reviews of Tales from the NeverEnding Story - The Beginning
DVD Review: Reorganizing The Long-Selling Fantasy
Summary: 4 Stars
This is fairly well organized dramatization of Michael Ende's everlasting fantasy. I must admit it deviates so much from the original story but this dramatization rather make up for what original story left behind. Parallel stories interconnecting each other reflects troubling state of mind Bastian suffers in his real life. He lost his mother in a very tragic accident and his school life goes heywire. He has to move his home and have to face with stranger his father is planning to get married. What an ordeal 12-year old boy has to face. Gmork takes the form of the substitute teacher who always give Bastian a hard time. Why moonchild is adult-like here? I guess moonchild is the reflection of Bastian's mother and Xayide reflects Bastian's fear of facing reality. As a 1984 version of NES fan it really hurts to see the Falkor chained and tortured by Xayide. And Fly Girl (Stefani Buxton) and Atreyu (Tyler Hynes) reminds me of Nausicaa and Asbel in "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind". I am really surprised to see Atreyu skateboarding in Bastian's world. It is very entertaining version and I like the way Bastian get over with his real world problems though Neverending Story.
Verdict: A bit deviated from original story but is finely reorganized.
Rating: 89 out of 100. Cracking password is a crime! Five points taken.
Recommened for Fantasy Novel fans in general who likes Ghibli works or Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia series.
DVD Review: Awful Beyond Belief!
Summary: 1 Stars
You know you're in trouble when you constantly can't help saying to yourself: "I could act better than him, I could act better than her!" After a while I realized I could act better than any character in the entire film! The acting is that unconvincing and poor - it's beyond belief. Some other words to describe the acting talent of the performers is - cardboard, camp, dopey and annoying!
If the acting was not bad enough, the story was even worse! This film was totally devoid of any entertainment value, whatsoever, for the mind of an adult! Personally, I think most children, and certainly teens, would be bored to tears!
It's obvious to me that Tales from the NeverEnding Story - The Beginning is an attempt to make a quick buck off of The NeverEnding Story. To essentially turn a wonderful story into a commodity, like toothpaste or underarm deodorant. If you must see this godforsaken film out of curiosity, at least buy it used so you won't encourage a sequel!
For a MUCH more entertaining approach to Science Fiction/Fantasy see:Zardoz and Enemy Mine and Fantastic Planet and A.I. - Artificial Intelligence (Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition) and Bicentennial Man and Galaxy Quest (Deluxe Edition)
DVD Review: Not never ending
Summary: 3 Stars
This movie got so far from the original that it lost some of the whimsy in the original.
But it was told though different eyes.
DVD Review: If you're a fan of the original neverending story, prepare to be disappointed.
Summary: 2 Stars
This movie is pretty loosely related to the original story. About half of this movie is about Bastian in the real world and he is being attacked by a character who is based off of the wolf from the original story, except he can turn into a human in the real world. The part of the book that is in Fantasia is not even close to how it was in the other story. Atreyu is a clumsy kid from some sort of indian tribe. The nothing is contained in a box and controlled by the child-like empress's evil sister. It doesn't destroy Fantasia either, it just turns people into "drones" that are like the sister's slaves. And I can't recall if this happens in the first or the second one, but the main goal in the first one of giving the empress a new name is not a big part of this one at all and after they do it they are just searching for the luck dragon the whole rest of the time. The only reason this gets two stars is because the ending was so incomplete that I had to go buy the second one to find out what happened next even though I didn't even enjoy the first one.DVD Review: Rewriting a NeverEnding Story?
Summary: 2 Stars
"Tales From The NeverEnding Story" is a series of Canadian TV specials re-imagining Michael Ende's novel. I'd seen it around for a while, thinking it was perhaps a more accurate, fuller interpretation of the book (especially seeing as though there are more of these specials than there are the original movies). Checking it out, here on amazon, I found out it wasn't like that at all. Still, I decided to give it a try. For the most part, it's not that great, and I really feel bad saying that, being a fan of both Ende's concepts and the films they inspired.
Bastian is a big reader, but he's a bigger player of video games. All that changes when he bumps into a Mr Coreander, and drops his gameboy, smashing on the pavement. Mr Coreander, though he thinks its better smashed up, offers to pay for the game with a book, and shows Bastian back to his store. He hasn't any money, so a book will have to do. Bastian ends up borrowing the NeverEnding Story, a book which ends up changing his life forever, and a book who he changes forever by reading.
It's lower budget than the films, I could handle that, and the actors do the best with what they're given, I think. (The trouble is, what they're given doesn't work that well. The directing could have been a bit tighter in places too. The original 1984 film had an atmospheric mystery around everything that happened, The Nothing, the Child-Like Empress, even around real-life characters like Mr Coreander. Here, everything is very clear and all too well explained, leaving very little of that mystery that makes fantasies so interesting to watch (for me, anyway). The concepts draw you in, they always did, so do the new costumes, but here they draw you into a place that leaves a bad taste in the mouth, a place that doesn't feel right. Also a lot of the more famous characters aren't in this one, which was a shame. (No Rockbiter, practically no Luck Dragon, etc.)
Even with everything against it, the last half hour of this 87 minute special is fairly entertaining. It's not what I'd call The NeverEnding Story, but it's a lot more watchable than the start. It could get better, this series, there is definitely a chance, and I'll probably check out the next special to see if it does. As for this one, two and half stars, I think.
Description of Tales from the NeverEnding Story - The Beginning
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