The Perfect Fantasy Adventure Movie

[Quadrophenia]

So, fun question to pose to everyone here-

But for those of you either planning RPG's or fantasy novels of your own that're a little adventure oriented... what's the perfect film you like to watch for inspiration? If you're writing a real sword & sorcery adventure, do you go for Ahnuld's Conan the Barbarian? For a sweeping romantic fantasy, The Princess Bride? For epic fantasy, Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings? For something whimsical and unconventional, Coraline, Alice in Wonderland or Time Bandits? Ooh, or for dark flavoured fantasy Princess Mononoke?

What's your major fantasy film influence?

[Quiver he/him]

Two main points:

PeterJacksons Lord of the Rings. First fantasy film I ever saw. It literally changed my life, coming at a time when I was too young to care about fantasy. I saw it in a wage of 'eh, might be fun'  then spent the next three years obsessed over it.

The original Highlander. Great fantasy movie, incredibly fun premise, and a heart rending romance. I enjoyed the TV show, too; again, remember seeing some episodes of it when I was very young, so that left an impression.

[Sunbird she/her]

The Princess Bride is one of my longtime favorites. And I know they're usually classified as scifi, but the original trilogy of Star Wars movies are also ones that I could watch again and again. A more recent one that I never get tired of is Stardust, one of the few instances where I've liked the movie better than the book it was based on.

[Quadrophenia]

5 hours ago, Sunbird said:

The Princess Bride is one of my longtime favorites. And I know they're usually classified as scifi, but the original trilogy of Star Wars movies are also ones that I could watch again and again. A more recent one that I never get tired of is Stardust, one of the few instances where I've liked the movie better than the book it was based on.

 

 

I don't think it would be controversial to say Star Wars are more high fantasy wearing the coat of science fiction than pure SF at all. So yeah, totally counts!

And that movie had Robert De Niro as a crossdressing pirate, how is that not endearing?

Fun fact, whenever I need a romantic scene for any of my RP's, I always play the love theme from The Princess Bride. 

6 hours ago, Quiver said:

Two main points:

PeterJacksons Lord of the Rings. First fantasy film I ever saw. It literally changed my life, coming at a time when I was too young to care about fantasy. I saw it in a wage of 'eh, might be fun'  then spent the next three years obsessed over it.

The original Highlander. Great fantasy movie, incredibly fun premise, and a heart rending romance. I enjoyed the TV show, too; again, remember seeing some episodes of it when I was very young, so that left an impression.

 

 

Don't forget the awesome soundtrack! 

Edited September 19, 2016 by Quadrophenia

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

This is hard. I can never remember the movies I watch. As in, they r never on the tips of my finger.

Would Wrath of the Titans work here?

 

[Magestar he/him]

I... actually don't watch fantasy movies all that often.  However, I've watched Peter Jacksons LoTR like a dozen times.

And Star Wars is totally Science Fantasy.  Sci-Fa, Ladies and Gentlemen, not Sci-Fi.   

But seriously, that's totally a genre.

[Quadrophenia]

3 hours ago, Darkness Ascendant said:

This is hard. I can never remember the movies I watch. As in, they r never on the tips of my finger.

Would Wrath of the Titans work here?

 

 

Man, someone needs to introduce you to Jason and the Argonauts, Conan and Highlander.

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

56 minutes ago, Quadrophenia said:

Man, someone needs to introduce you to Jason and the Argonauts, Conan and Highlander.

Watched  Conan, already know the story of Jason and the Argonauts, and i have never watched Highlander.

I got one, John Carter?

[DSC01 he/him]

4 hours ago, Darkness Ascendant said:

I got one, John Carter?

I love John Carter. I've seen it a bunch of times, and it's one of those movies that I'm happy to put on when I know I'm probably going to doze off and maybe half wake up a couple of times to sort of register that there are four-armed aliens and airships swooping around. Like Star Wars, it's another science fantasy movie, rather than straight high fantasy, but it's good.

I wish that there were more really good high fantasy movies. There really are almost none. No, I'm not forgetting about LotR; I just wish that an adaptation of the first major high fantasy work--the model for a lot of subsequent work--wasn't the best example of a fantasy adaptation. I was really rooting for Warcraft to be a huge success so that we might see more high fantasy stuff out there, but of course, that didn't happen. I honestly kind of like Warcraft, but I can't in good conscience call it the perfect fantasy adventure movie.

[Delightful]

.....Princess Bride is romantic?

the ridiculousness is a bit too ridiculous for me. 

[Quadrophenia]

3 hours ago, DSC01 said:

I love John Carter. I've seen it a bunch of times, and it's one of those movies that I'm happy to put on when I know I'm probably going to doze off and maybe half wake up a couple of times to sort of register that there are four-armed aliens and airships swooping around. Like Star Wars, it's another science fantasy movie, rather than straight high fantasy, but it's good.

I wish that there were more really good high fantasy movies. There really are almost none. No, I'm not forgetting about LotR; I just wish that an adaptation of the first major high fantasy work--the model for a lot of subsequent work--wasn't the best example of a fantasy adaptation. I was really rooting for Warcraft to be a huge success so that we might see more high fantasy stuff out there, but of course, that didn't happen. I honestly kind of like Warcraft, but I can't in good conscience call it the perfect fantasy adventure movie.

 

I'm really more than okay with it. For instance, cutting out Tom Bombadil? Best decision they ever made. All adaptations will require pragmatic editing, it's part of the medium, it's the sacrifice inherent in the transition. So long as they keep the spirit of the original and it's done with love and the execution is terrific, I have no quarrel. 

As for no decent high fantasy movies? The Dark Crystal, half the Studio Ghibli canon, the original Sleeping Beauty, Legend, Time Bandits, Clash of the Titans, Jason and the Argonauts, Excalibur and the delightful parody that is Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I can also think of a dozen amazing and underrated cult classics that come immediately to mind. 

[Sunbird she/her]

12 hours ago, DSC01 said:

I love John Carter. I've seen it a bunch of times, and it's one of those movies that I'm happy to put on when I know I'm probably going to doze off and maybe half wake up a couple of times to sort of register that there are four-armed aliens and airships swooping around. Like Star Wars, it's another science fantasy movie, rather than straight high fantasy, but it's good.

I am also a big fan of the John Carter movie. I like the way they ended it better than where the plot went in the Barsoom books (at least the first 3 books, which are what I've read so far).

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

WHEN HELIUM FALLS, SO SHALL BARSOOM!!

[ThirdGen]

A recent, really underrated fantasy movie: Darren Aronofsky's Noah.  If you expect a traditional retread, you're going to be frustrated in some way.  It's instead treated as an adaptation of an epic fantasy novel. 

It is.

[Quadrophenia]

26 minutes ago, ThirdGen said:

A recent, really underrated fantasy movie: Darren Aronofsky's Noah.  If you expect a traditional retread, you're going to be frustrated in some way.  It's instead treated as an adaptation of an epic fantasy novel. 

  Reveal hidden contents

It is.

 

The first half is epic fantasy, the second half shifts to a classic Hitchcockian boxed room psychological thriller.

[DSC01 he/him]

On 9/20/2016 at 4:48 PM, Quadrophenia said:

I'm really more than okay with it. For instance, cutting out Tom Bombadil? Best decision they ever made. All adaptations will require pragmatic editing, it's part of the medium, it's the sacrifice inherent in the transition. So long as they keep the spirit of the original and it's done with love and the execution is terrific, I have no quarrel. 

As for no decent high fantasy movies? The Dark Crystal, half the Studio Ghibli canon, the original Sleeping Beauty, Legend, Time Bandits, Clash of the Titans, Jason and the Argonauts, Excalibur and the delightful parody that is Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I can also think of a dozen amazing and underrated cult classics that come immediately to mind. 

I should clarify what I meant here. I don't have a problem with the LotR adaptation. I like it a lot. It is, however, the only major example of a successful high fantasy movie in the 21st Century, when SFX technology began to catch up with the kind of vision one sees in fantasy novels. While people can (and do) quibble about the definition of "high fantasy," it is generally accepted that LotR is the major prototypical high fantasy story. Much of what has come since owes some kind of debt Tolkien, even if it is a reaction against his writing rather than an homage (or ripoff, depending on one's point of view and/or the work in question). So that's what I am unhappy about. In literature, the subgenre that was more or less founded on Tolkien's work has grown well beyond that early vision, but for films, an adaptation of that founding story is the best we've got. 

I know that I'm being reductive in the way I'm casting LotR's importance to the high fantasy genre. The Worm Ouroboros is much older than LotR, and the roots of high fantasy can be traced back thousands of years, really. But when I talk about modern high fantasy (and, again, here there can be some disagreement over what that really entails), it isn't entirely inaccurate to say that "post-Tolkien" is probably an adjective that applies in some way, even if that might make Steven Erikson mad. And we've come a long way since LotR was written. Even The Belgariad, which I would say is nowhere near as good as LotR, builds on the fantasy conventions that Tolkien established. 

So, in that sense, Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans, Sleeping Beauty, Excalibur--none entirely qualify as high fantasy. You've got myth and legend and fairy tales adapted in such a way that it draws very much from high fantasy set dressing, but remains anchored in its roots--at least in my reckoning. I do really love most of those movies, but they're not quite in the same subgenre as LotR. And that's what I really want to see--fantasy movies that exist in a fully realized world that is not just Earth+magic or whatever.

[Quadrophenia]

20 hours ago, DSC01 said:

I should clarify what I meant here. I don't have a problem with the LotR adaptation. I like it a lot. It is, however, the only major example of a successful high fantasy movie in the 21st Century, when SFX technology began to catch up with the kind of vision one sees in fantasy novels. While people can (and do) quibble about the definition of "high fantasy," it is generally accepted that LotR is the major prototypical high fantasy story. Much of what has come since owes some kind of debt Tolkien, even if it is a reaction against his writing rather than an homage (or ripoff, depending on one's point of view and/or the work in question). So that's what I am unhappy about. In literature, the subgenre that was more or less founded on Tolkien's work has grown well beyond that early vision, but for films, an adaptation of that founding story is the best we've got. 

I know that I'm being reductive in the way I'm casting LotR's importance to the high fantasy genre. The Worm Ouroboros is much older than LotR, and the roots of high fantasy can be traced back thousands of years, really. But when I talk about modern high fantasy (and, again, here there can be some disagreement over what that really entails), it isn't entirely inaccurate to say that "post-Tolkien" is probably an adjective that applies in some way, even if that might make Steven Erikson mad. And we've come a long way since LotR was written. Even The Belgariad, which I would say is nowhere near as good as LotR, builds on the fantasy conventions that Tolkien established. 

So, in that sense, Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans, Sleeping Beauty, Excalibur--none entirely qualify as high fantasy. You've got myth and legend and fairy tales adapted in such a way that it draws very much from high fantasy set dressing, but remains anchored in its roots--at least in my reckoning. I do really love most of those movies, but they're not quite in the same subgenre as LotR. And that's what I really want to see--fantasy movies that exist in a fully realized world that is not just Earth+magic or whatever.

 

I can gel with this.