Fantasy Movies

Roman · Feb 24, 2004

Would anyone have any recommendations on what fantasy movies are worth seeing (apart from the LOTR films which I have already seen)? Thanks!

Frostmarrow · Feb 24, 2004

I saw Ladyhawke last night. It was pretty good, apart from the horrible horrible eighties synth/orchestra/rock/what-was-that-stuff-anyway? music.

thullgrim · Feb 24, 2004

I would probably recommend Dragonslayer from the eighties, along with Ladyhawk. Both should be available to rent. Lets see what else, Conan the Barbarian (NOT THE DESTROYER), Krull, Willow, and many more.

Thullgrim

Mach2.5 · Feb 24, 2004

Krull was a pretty good movie.

Legend is another, if you can stomache Tom Cruise, its very worth watching the usually comical Tim Curry portay one mean mutha of a devil.

Dragonslayer was the best dragon movie I've seen to date (Reign of Fire doesn't even come close).

The Princess Bride, while a bit more of a light hearted fairy tale, was still a worthwhile flick.

Beastmaster was another classic with some pretty interesting ideas all around. Just avoid the sequels (in fact, avoid almost any fantasy movie sequel).

Clash of the Titans, while not very true to grecko-roman myth, was mostly enjoyable when it came out, boasting some great stop animation effects.

The Dark Crystal is a definate must see. Like most fantasy flicks, the main characters are lame, but the supporting casts and villains are what make the film (in this case, the Skeskis).

Excalibur, from the mid 70's, was a somewhat long but yet still very well made movie of the full King Arthur legend. Plus, it shoes that Patrick Stewart was born without hair.

Dungeons & Dragons, the Movie. Lame. Simply lame. Watch it merely for the sake of having seen it and pumped a few more bucks into the RPG industry.

Labyrinth. Ignore some of David Bowies worst pop scores for the flick (and the fact that seing the man in tights was just a bit too much) and you've got another fun little flick worth seeing (in order to steal ideas for your home game of course).

Neverending Story (why do all the kiddie flicks come to mind first?!?!?). Interesting. Not great, but not too bad.

Sword of the Valiant, staring Miles O'Keif, is at times as lame as the rest of the Miles' fantasy movies, but at other times its a good movie. When it hits, its quite good, when it misses . . .

Dragonheart. This one is lumped into the catagory of "watch it only so you can bash it."

The made for TV mini-series 'Merlin' was an interesting take on the Arthur legends, taking more than a few artistic liberties, but all in all it wasn't that bad.

While not 100% fantasy, Time Bandits fits nowhere else, and it was such a cool arsed movie. The best fantasy flick that Monty Python never made.

There's a ton of others out there. Do a simple search for some fantasy fansite lists and pick and choose. Unfortunately, due to the early 80's low budget 'pump out' of fantasy, there's far more crappy movies (Gor, Barbarians, She, any other movie with Miles O'Keif, Deathstalker, etc) than there are good ones. I'm sure I've missed quite a few (or even trashed someone's fav, but hey, its all interpretation and personal tastes).

johnsemlak · Feb 24, 2004

There's a lot more discussion of this topic in the Movie forum.

There may be some good fantasy movies on the horizon, now that LotR has established Fantasy as a more respectible genre.

Wippit Guud · Feb 24, 2004

Have you seen the trailer for the upcoming King Arthur? (now available at quicktime.com) Such a sweet-looking movie, completely changes the whole Arthurian legend.

Allanon · Feb 24, 2004

Wippit Guud said:
Have you seen the trailer for the upcoming King Arthur? (now available at quicktime.com) Such a sweet-looking movie, completely changes the whole Arthurian legend.

And that's a good thing?

Calico_Jack73 · Feb 24, 2004

Mach2.5 said:
Unfortunately, due to the early 80's low budget 'pump out' of fantasy, there's far more crappy movies (Gor, Barbarians, She, any other movie with Miles O'Keif, Deathstalker, etc) than there are good ones. I'm sure I've missed quite a few (or even trashed someone's fav, but hey, its all interpretation and personal tastes).

Now now... some of those 80's movies were actually pretty cool. The only reason Conan stood out was that Arnold actually made something of himself afterwards and of course they had James Earl Jones. The best thing they ever did was limit Arnold's lines in that movie which is why the Destroyer was so terrible by comparison.
My personal faves come from the 80's. I Beastmaster was pretty cool as was Deathstalker. Hawk the Slayer is a sleeper that most people forget about. My absolute fave of the 80's (might have been late 70's) was The Sword & The Sorcerer. Talk about a great villain! Any sorcerer that can rip someone's heart out of their chest at 30 paces is cool enough for me. Besides that, it was the first of those movies that acknowledged that spellcasters are physically taxed by casting spells. What D&D fighter wouldn't want a 3 bladed sword that could shoot off two of the blades somewhat like a RPG launcher. The heros of the low budget fantasy films are usually terrible but the villains are just right for any D&D game.