The NeverEnding Story is my all-time favorite movie.
Visually it’s beautiful not only for its time but the only effect I feel doesn’t hold up is Bastian and Falcor in the regular world. It’s a story that speaks to why I love storytelling, and Bastian is pretty much me as a kid, evading bullies and problems in the pages of a book, or a comic, a TV show or movie, and any other type of storytelling. I don’t take it so seriously that I can’t enjoy some fun at the expense of the odder parts of the story.
One of the cool things I got to do at ConnectiCon was attending a press junket with Noah Hathaway, who played Atreyu, and getting to attend a panel with Hathaway and Falcor’s voice, the legendary Alan Oppenheimer. I think that same year I finally got to see it in the theater, as the theater across from the convention center was taking advantage of the con goers with their flashback movie choices. I also did this:
If you can’t draw yourself riding Falcor why are you drawing at all?
Now word has come out that a remake of my favorite movie is in the works. You know, by the same Hollywood that spits on the past, looks to “make it better” for “modern audiences”. That means warping something already good to fit their tastes and worldview. Anything popular NEEDS to belong to the “everything for meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee” crowd. You know they’re going to ruin it.
Strangely, I’m not bothered by this. Why? Because I’m not a hypocrite and there is one mistake this movie made…though it’s a mistake I’m glad they made because it wouldn’t be my favorite movie if they hadn’t. You know how I always say there’s a difference between a good story and a good adaptation? Well, when it comes to The NeverEnding Story that certainly applies. The movie is a great story, my favorite story, but as an adaptation…well, I’ll let someone who actually read Michael Ende’s book explain. It’s an older video and there’s some swearing but it will help make my case.
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It’s an older video, as he doesn’t go by “The Dom” anymore.
I don’t know why they renamed Fantastica into Fantasia, except maybe the latter is easier to say. In those ConnectiCon videos, Hathaway does state that they tested him with green skin and it looked too silly for the story they were going for. He also said those statues Atreyu walks past were actually real…except the soundstage didn’t have room for the heads. It stops right at the neck…and I don’t know if Hathaway hit puberty yet, but the eyes definitely weren’t “up here”. The boobs were, though. The idea of Bastian losing his memories with every wish was a plot point in The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter, with Jonathan Brandis taking over as Bastian for some reason. We don’t acknowledge the third movie here at BW Media Spotlight, I haven’t seen the live-action movies, and the HBO animated series was…watchable.
As you should be able to guess, someone who identifies with Bastian in the movie would not have liked Bastian in the book even if I read the book first. Part of me kind of wants to out of morbid curiosity and because it would make a great Chapter By Chapter review, but that doesn’t sound like a Bastian I can get into, even before he takes the book. A good story draws you into its world, and not only does the movie do that for me but it celebrates that power that books have. It’s fantastic. I’m not usually into darker stories (and I’m sick of people acting like being dark is one of the positives rather than a necessity of the story Ende and the filmmakers were each trying to tell) and I’m not a fantasy person. However, this is my favorite movie. It’s just not a good adaptation.
There have been attempts in the past to make a more faithful adaptation, and this may end up in the same development hell as the previous ones. As Dom noted in the video, most of us who love the movie didn’t even know about the book even though it’s mentioned in the credits and the movie poster. For people who are fans of the novel, and of course Ende himself, a more faithful adaptation would be as wanted as me wanting a faithful Superman adaptation or for Marvel Studios to get back to treating the source material as the source material. I’m certainly not going to deny them that, as I would want that in an adaptation of my favorite books. So go for it…but do it right!
Maybe with modern techniques in make-up and editing they can make the green-skin of Atreyu’s people work. They probably won’t if Starfire from the Titans series is any indication. Considering what little interest today’s writers have in the source material they’ll probably just see the white kid in the Native American style outfit (not a bad inspiration for the plainsfolk he comes from) and stick a Native American in there, calling it good and you’re racist if you want him (or sexist if they go with “her”) green. The movie will probably require a few sequels to flesh out the book properly, ala Harry Potter or Lord Of The Rings. It also means they’ll either keep Bastian white because they get to make him a jerk or race/gender/orientation swap him as well because token stereotypes pretending to be proper representation and not an insult to the very group they’re supposed to represent is how Hollywood works now. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see some director who thinks they know better than both the book and the movie changing so much that neither fan group will recognize it.
I’m not saying they don’t have a record that will indicate they may very well @#$%#% this up royally. I fully expect them to for both of us. However, if by some miracle (or wish granted) they do get a proper adaptation of the book, with Bastian being a bit of a jerk and letting power turn him evil, I’ll accept it. I got “my version”, and I didn’t need “my version” in the first place. It’s here and it’s still my favorite movie, which is why I never look down on someone for enjoying Snyder’s take on Superman even when I find it a total misunderstanding of the character and why I love Superman. Readers have probably wanted a proper adaptation for years and I hope they get it. Make sure to name the first movie with a subtitle so we can tell it apart from the 1980s original in streaming and home video listings. I may even watch it, but it will never replace the version that I have a strong connection to. I would be a hypocrite, though, if I demanded they not do a version faithful to the source material when I complain constantly about it happening in modern entertainment plunging the past for easy ideas and branding. By all means, make a faithful adaptation, and make sure any viewer going in knows that’s what they’re doing so they don’t attack the new movie of ruining the original.
Also, don’t forget to have the right artist work on the theme song. The theme song is awesome!
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