A boy who needs a friend finds a world that needs a hero in a land beyond imagination!


Wolfgang Petersen adapted Michael Ende's children's story for this charming fantasy film that spawned several sequels. Bastian (Barret Oliver) is dealing with his mother's recent death. His father (Gerald McRaney) is an imperious sort who continually lambastes Bastian for daydreaming and falling behind in school. On top of his father's badgering, he has to contend with a bunch of school bullies waiting for him in the schoolyard. One day he decides to play hooky and walks into a strange bookstore, where in the attic, he discovers a book called "The Neverending Story". As Bastian reads the book, he's enveloped in the unfolding tale. A sickly child-like empress (Tami Stronach) from a land called Fantasia is concerned about who will take over the land if she dies. She decides it is best for Fantasia if she remains alive, so she dispatches a young warrior named Atreju (Noah Hathaway) to find a cure for the empress's malady. It turns out the land is consumed with a plague called The Nothing, generated by blighted dreams and hopeless fantasies. As Atreju continues onward to search for a cure for The Nothing, he encounters an assortment of strange creatures. Bastian is so consumed with the tale that he finds himself catapulted into the land of Fantasia himself. Atreju realizes that the only way to save the land from its blight is with the help of this strange earth boy, Bastian.


The NeverEnding Story is a 1984 West German 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.[1] 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.[2] The film only adapts the first half of the book, and consiquently does not convey the message of the title as it was portrayed in the novel.


he film opened to generally positive reviews, and at Rotten Tomatoes has a score of 80% based on reviews from 31 critics.[4] Metacritic gives the film a score of 46% based on reviews from 10 critics.[5] 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",[6] a comment echoed by Variety.[1] Joshua Tyler of CinemaBlend referred to it as "One of a scant few true Fantasy masterpieces".[4]
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 effects artists for creating "tacky" special effects, and that the construction of the dragon looked like "an impractical bathmat."


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.[9] 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.

Release Date: July 20, 1984

Distrib: Warner Brothers


Boxoffice: $20,158,808 2013: $48,957,100