Review: The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter

Bastian (Jonathan Brandis) has a fear of jumping from the high board, which sends him running from the pool to the bookstore of Mr. Koreandor (Thomas Hill). There he once again sets his eyes on “The NeverEnding Story”, and (once again) despite the warnings of Mr. Koreander, he picks the book up yet again. Things are different from the last time he read it, however. The words are all over the place and seemingly disappearing. The Childlike Empress beckons Bastian to come back, as she and Fantasia itself urgently needs his help. Bastian indeed ends up transported to Fantasia, actively taking part for the bulk of the story this time as he joins boy warrior Atreyu (Kenny Morrison) on a new mission to stop The Emptiness, a force which has imprisoned The Childlike Empress and drained Fantasia of its very essence. They are met by bird-like creature Nimbly (Martin Umbach) and his mistress Xayide (Clarissa Burt), who attempt to befriend Bastian. However, Xayide is really the one behind The Emptiness and who is trying to use Nimbly’s ingratiating (more like creepy) nature to dupe Bastian into making ‘wishes’, and therefore unwittingly hand over his memories to Xayide. Or something like that. Meanwhile at home on Earth, Bastian’s dad (played in more humanised fashion by John Wesley Shipp) searches for his missing boy, and ends up at the bookshop.

 

As far as I’m concerned, “The NeverEnding Story” is one of the greatest fantasy movies of all-time, and one of the greatest family movies of all-time. Even as a 10 year-old, I knew this 1990 follow-up from the ‘other’ George Miller (“The Man From Snowy River”, “Les Patterson Saves the World”, “Prey”) was a wholly inadequate continuation of the story. The biggest drop off in quality from original to sequel? Quite possibly.

 

Scripted by Karin Howard (who went on to write for the short-lived TV series of this franchise), and adapted from basically the second half of the Michael Ende novel that the first film was based on (but it apparently still takes a lot of liberties with the text), this is a miserable mixture of “Return to Oz” and the first “NeverEnding Story”. The late Jonathan Brandis is a vastly more charismatic child star than was Barret Oliver, and Bastian has a bit more personality this time around (he was kind of an avatar in the first film), but that’s about it for niceties. This is a dud, and given it had a bigger budget and the talented Derek Meddings (“Live and Let Die”, “Superman”, “Batman”) involved with the special FX, it really ought to not look as cheapjack as it does. The blue screen work is seriously poor for 1990.

 

Early on in the film, bookstore owner Thomas Hill (the only returnee actor) says ‘Books change each time you read them’. It’s true, this is one of the times where the book disappoints you greatly the second time around. It’s especially heavy-handed in its messages, with Bastian lacking courage, and the idea that Bastian gives Fantasia its meaning by reading its story is delivered far too overtly. It’s a great message and worked fine in the first film, this one overstates it again and again and again and again. Meanwhile, there’s so much “Return to Oz” in this that it’s unbelievable, especially considering how much of a turd that film was. Both films have an evil queen with different faces, and ‘Tri-Face’ is very “Return to Oz” meets “Snow White”. It’s not even subtle pilfering. Fantasia looks way too much like The Emerald City, it can’t be denied. Only the colour scheme is different. There’s even a place called Silver City. For fuck’s sake, right?

 

We get a new actor playing boy warrior Atreyu, who looks about 10 years younger and a lot like Pocahontas. He’s no Noah Hathaway, and frankly uncharismatic. His little helpers are the most idiotic wannabe Happy Meal toys you’ve ever seen. The Rock Biter turns up again, and this time he has a toddler. It’s idiotic. Speaking of idiotic, dopey birdman Nimbly is ridiculously weak, annoying, and frankly really creepy. Like childhood nightmares, creepy. Also, Alan Oppenheimer has apparently been replaced by the deep baritone of Barry White to voice Falcor. Shut up, it’s totally Barry White. Or Dr. Hibbert. It’s definitely ridiculously inappropriate, whoever the voice belongs to (Donald Arthur, apparently). As for the unseen plague sweeping Fantasia, instead of The Nothing we get…The Emptiness! Seriously? That’s not even remotely creative. Super-rushed, underwhelming finale is the arsenic-laced icing on this turd cake.

 

I hated this. If you’re around my age (36), this crushingly disappointing sequel is every bit as bad as you recall from your childhood. Despite a slightly bigger budget, it looks cheap, the message is overstated to a cheapening degree, and the whole thing is a rip-off. 

 

Rating: D