Review: ‘The Neverending Story’ on Blu-ray

Robert Greenberger

Robert Greenberger is best known to comics fans as the editor of Who's Who In The DC Universe, Suicide Squad, and Doom Patrol. He's written and edited several Star Trek novels and is the author of The Essential Batman Encyclopedia. He's known for his work as an editor for Comics Scene, Starlog, and Weekly World News, as well as holding executive positions at both Marvel Comics and DC Comics.

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5 Responses

  1. Jason M. Bryant says:

    "The movie fails, though, to make us care."I cared. I cared a gigantic mountain of a lot. I absolutely loved this movie when I was a kid.If there were massive differences from the book, okay. If people who read the book enjoyed it less than me, that's valid. However, I really loved the movie and loved the characters you didn't like.

  2. Amy Goldschlager says:

    Of course Ende was pissed off. By adapting only half the book, the filmmakers gutted the book and missed the point; I understand why they did, because it would have been an unattractive point to most audiences. By ending the movie where they did, it's got a "nerd makes good" message. But the point of the book is exactly the opposite: Bastian utterly FAILS as a hero–given the opportunity, he becomes a power-hungry ass and loses all the qualities that made us like him. And that's why the book's so great, because Bastian's behavior is painful, but utterly believable.Frankly, I think the movie's painful to watch whether or not you know the source material (ideally, the hardcover with the red and green type); but if you have read it, it's infinitely worse.The Princess Bride is proof that you can adapt source material to make it more appealing to movie audiences, while still maintaining many of the things that made people love the book. The novel's message was that "Life Isn't Fair," and Buttercup was utterly dim. But the movie works anyway. Of course, it's an unfair example, because Goldman is an accomplished screenwriter who adapted his own novel. (On the flipside, you have Dahl adapting his own novel, and gutting the point of it: Charlie SHOULD not have drunk the soda. But that's an argument for another time.)

    • mike weber says:

      Classic example of a film that adapts only half (well, two-thirds) of the source novel, works quite well as a film … and still disappoints readers of the original book: "The Last Detail".By ending where it does, it ends on an up note. And won an Oscar.Had it used the Rather Depressing book ending – who knows? (Depressing or not, it's still an excellent novel about the Navy mindset.)SPOILER ALERTThe book, ends on a definite (but appropriate) down note, with Billy dead, Moon a prisoner, and the Chief MAA telling some other sailor "You got chaser duty – you're taking the Badass home."

  3. fluffysasha says:

    i just loved this movie!!!!! i dont know anything about the book but still i loved the film version!!!