Blu-Ray Review: Marvelous Fantasy of ‘The Neverending Story’ Deserves Better Release

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CHICAGO – I think it’s funny that so many parents commented on “Where the Wild Things Are” being too dark and scary. Clearly, they didn’t grow up in the same era of ’70s and ’80s fantasy films as I did when kid’s movies could be honestly terrifying. “The Dark Crystal,” “Labyrinth,” and, of course, “The Neverending Story” recognized that kids need a good cry and a true scare as much as they need to be entertained. Wolfgang Petersen’s excellent adaptation of the beloved book by Michael Ende was dark, complex, and riveting. It’s nice to own it on Blu-ray but it deserved a better release.

Blu-Ray Rating: 3.0/5.0

It seems likely that the HD version of “The Neverending Story” is timed by Warner Brothers to release on the same day as Spike Jonze’s masterful “Where the Wild Things Are” because they are both dark fantasy films but I wish more time and effort had been put into Petersen’s mesmerizing trip to the other side. The video transfer is mediocre at best and sometimes worse with a few shots so heavy with grain and visual degradation that they look borderline VHS. The sound mix, available in 5.1 for the first time, is better but not spectacular.

The Neverending Story will be released on Blu-ray on March 2nd, 2010.
Photo credit: Warner Brothers Home Video

Worse than the technical specs of “The Neverending Story” is the fact that WB couldn’t scrape together one special feature for this beloved film, one that spawned sequels and surely has legions of fans who would love a commentary or a retrospective more than a quarter-century after its release. Why couldn’t Petersen or some of the cast and crew take another look at the film for an audio track? It’s more likely that no one asked them than that they declined and that’s a shame. “The Neverending Story” deserved a better Blu-ray than this quickie release.

Synopsis: “When young Bastian borrows a mysterious, ornately-bound book, he never dreamed turning a page would draw him into a shimmering fantasy world of racing snails, hang-glider bats, soaring luckdragons, puckish elves, a Childlike Empress, the brave warrior Atreyu and a slab-faced walking quarry called a Rock Biter. Follow The NeverEnding Story to the limits of the imagination, thanks to director/co-writer Wolfgang Petersen (The Perfect Storm) and a superstar team of technical tinkerers and magicians (with credits including 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien and The Empire Strikes Back) who bring to life the most delightful characters ever. You’ll cherish this wide-eyed adventure and discover The NeverEnding Story is your story.”

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com