As Peter Jackson proved a … Data was compiled on all fantasy movies to come up with a Stacker score, which represents a weighted index split evenly between IMDb and Metacritic scores. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Crammed with magical horses, terrifying transformations and gigantic genies, ‘The Thief of Baghdad’ made an international star of low-born Indian actor Sabu, aka the Elephant Boy. Upon sharing the same dream world at night, they give romance a try in the real world. By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from Time Out about news, events, offers and partner promotions. ‘Thor’ is essentially a reboot of ‘Masters of the Universe’ – bulging hero heads to Earth to battle skeletal psychopath – but with better special effects and more nod-wink humour. But not here since all critics were wrong about it! Yeah… fairy tales, animated martial arts action-adventure, feel-good anime, etc… a lot of these are not usually considered general “Fantasy”. Meanwhile, certain figures pop up time and time again, such as Tim Burton, Guillermo del Toro, Peter Jackson, George Lucas, and Hayao Miyazaki. Holy hell. Buy, rent or watch ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’. The Best Characters in the Pirates of the Caribbean Movies. Copyright © 2020 Penske Business Media, LLC. Experimental and eccentric, it’s unforgettable. Get The Latest IndieWire Alerts And Newsletters Delivered Directly To Your Inbox. - Metascore: 84 All rights reserved. Much like it's cousin science-fiction, fantasy, which was once a genre dismissed as nerdish, has grown and is headed into the mainstream, thanks in part to Peter Jackson's ‘Lord of the Rings’, ‘Harry Potter’ and a certain HBO vehicle called ‘Game of Thrones’. Copyright © 2018 Fandango. The story of a prima ballerina (Moira Shearer) and the power-mad Svengali (Anton Walbrook) who loves and exploits her, it takes place, for the most part, in the ‘real’ world. ', The 50 Highest Grossing '90s Movies, Ranked. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Pass!’, Buy, rent or watch ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring’. - Metascore: 77 Menu. - Stacker score: 84 The Little Mermaid is a 1989 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney... Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (released in the United States, India and Pakistan as... Beetlejuice is a 1988 American fantasy-comedy-horror film directed by Tim Burton. Magic moment: The first instalment, ‘Siegfried’, features a giant, drooling dragon – a fully functioning puppet that’s the grandfather of Jabba the Hutt. The 40 Best Fantasy Movies of All Time From Studio Ghibli classics to the two entries of the "Lord of the Rings" saga most deserving of inclusion, these movies took us to new worlds. William Dieterle’s supernatural monochrome melodrama has enjoyed a bit of a renaissance since Martin Scorsese echoed the film’s bright green lightning bolt in ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. Whether you’re looking for a brand-new fantasy adventure in the land of dungeons and dragons, a comic book-esque tale of heroes and villains, or a slow-paced, deep-thinking sci-fi parable, we’ve got twenty-five examples of the best science-fiction and fantasy movies on Netflix for fall 2020. This Article is related to: Film and tagged Direct, fantasy movies, Lord of the Rings, Movie Lists, Studio Ghibli. Les aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec (The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec) (2010) 84%. What about The Neverending Story, Labyrinth, Legend, or the family favorite The Dark Crystal. RT – you just havent a clue – on this occasion. Despite its title, this solemn drama is a far cry from traditional ghost stories. You may also like: 111 monumental movies from film history and why you need to see them, - Director: Tim Burton Magic moment: Our hero’s ‘perfect’ day involves anticipating every stranger’s need, saving a life, wooing a woman and rhapsodising the annual Groundhog Day celebration by quoting Anton Chekhov. If Terry Gilliam thought he’d been dragged through the ringer by the studios following his brutalist sci-fi comedy ‘Brazil’, he hadn’t seen nothin’ yet. If movies routinely plunge the depths of human imagination, the fantasy genre goes one level deeper. Les aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec (The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec), Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, The Spirit of the Beehive (El Espíritu de la colmena), 58 Best Christmas Movies of All Time – Classic Christmas Films, Best Hulu Shows to Binge-Watch Now (November 2020), The Best Shows on Amazon Prime to Watch Right Now (November 2020), The Best Movies of 2020 (So Far) – Best New Films of the Year, Best Netflix Series and Shows To Watch Right Now (November 2020). Magic Moment: A lakeside picnic with a woman as eerie as the mist that creeps over the water. ‘Fly my pretties!’. Magic moment: When the Mystics and the Skeksis merge in a cosmic, psychedelic transformational orgy. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), 21. Swiss-cheese plotting, dodgy accents, even dodgier kilts and Queen on the soundtrack: what’s not to love about ‘Highlander’? Providing extra help is an ancient book of potions, which once belonged to the Half-Blood Prince. When the budget is big enough, all impossibilities are made possible. - Runtime: 92 minutes. - Metascore: 77 This list of the good fantasy movies includes action fantasy films like The Lord of the Rings series as well as the Harry Potter movies. Magic moment: Does any single image better encapsulate the darker side of fantasy than the hideous Pale Man, with eyes in the palms of his hands? - Stacker score: 84 The Marvel Cinematic Universe boldly straddles sci-fi, comic-book action and fantasy – never more so than in the ‘Thor’ movies, with their Tolkein-influenced take on Norse mythology and outrageous ‘Flash Gordon’-style fetish costumes. The Princess Bride is a 1987 American romantic comedy fantasy adventure film directed and... Small But Poignant Details Fans Noticed In 'The Princess Bride', Behind-The-Scenes Stories About André The Giant In ‘The Princess Bride’. As with much of Whedon’s work, it’s the sheer generosity that wins out, both to the characters and the audience. An astonishingly poetic movie about the reunification of Germany and what it means to be human, Wim Wenders’s masterful Biblical fantasy uses the gothic landscapes of divided Berlin – shot in sparkling monochrome – as a backdrop for a vivid exploration of the dreamlife of angels. Poet-turned-director Jean Cocteau created hallucinatory reveries in his adaptation of the fairytale – most memorably the disembodied arms appearing through the walls of the Beast’s castle to hoist the candelabras lighting Belle’s path. Reality merges with fantasy, not unpleasantly. The theme tune’s terrific, too. It’s a classic quest story: Jen, a Gelfling, must fulfil a prophecy and defeat the ageing, decaying race of Skeksis in favour of the gentler, wiser Mystics. Somehow, Cuaron took what is one of the series' more muted novels and adapted it into a visually sumptuous, only-just-family-friendly and truly magical film. From its very beginning, cinema was indebted to fantasy, with Georges Méliès leading the way. Thanks for subscribing! © 2020 Time Out England Limited and affiliated companies owned by Time Out Group Plc. 111 monumental movies from film history and why you need to see them, Most famous musician born the same year as you, Experts rank the best U.S. presidents of all time, Manufacturing history from the year you were born, 50 inspiring photos of resilience from American history, People who retire comfortably avoid these financial advisor mistakes, Highest grossing actors over the age of 50. In retelling Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ story with Johnny Depp as the unfinished creation with scissors for hands, Tim Burton created a modern day classic. Set in a fantastical land populated by evolved cyclops, fauns, mages and all manner of mythical fauna who have switched from magic to mod cons, ‘Onward’ is a cometh-of-age tale that makes playful capital from our habit of turning the past into touristy kitsch. To qualify, the film had to be listed as fantasy on IMDb, have a Metascore, and have at least 5,000 votes. Johnny Depp Will Not Appear in Fantastic Beasts 3, and More Movie News, The Mandalorian Chapter 10: Din Djarin and the Child Stray from the Path, Mank First Reviews: Easily One of the Best Films of the Year, Kevin Costner Faces Growing Dread and A Formidable Opponent in Let Him Go. Partly that’s because this adaptation feels much more suited to the down-to-earth, less polished feel of Dahl’s book, while Gene Wilder nails the role of the reclusive confectionary magnate who lets a small group of children into his factory, switching brilliantly between avuncular, withering and creepy. Magic moment: The glistening CG cityscape of Asgard could’ve come straight from a mid-70s Rick Wakeman LP cover. The best fantasy filmmakers — Jean Cocteau, Guillermo del Toro, and Hayao Miyazaki, among so many others — understand the psychological power of escapism. Here is our selection of the 50 best fantasy movies. The debut work from Javier Fuentes-León, it won the audience award for best world dramatic feature at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. A young daughter’s experiences with her doppelganger inject a fantasy element. Now one of the highest-grossing films of all time, ‘Black Panther’ is not just an important movie, it’s also a great movie. Ultrastylish commercials director Tarsem Singh spent millions of his own dollars collecting footage over several years for this entrancingly exotic fantasy, rooted in the medicated ramblings of a wounded stuntman (Lee Pace) who charms a little girl in the hospital with his outlandish tales. - Stacker score: 84 Buy, rent or watch ‘A Matter of Life and Death’. One of director Tim Burton’s most personal works is also one of his most quintessential. King Kong (1933) Film Animation. It’s a starkly original take on the theme of human connectivity. In short, Netflix has a long list of fantasy movies for everyone. Despite cramming together the leads from a decade’s worth of superhero blockbusters, ‘The Avengers’ is so much more than just a wisecracking love-in between a bunch of guys in tights. Magic moment: We all dream of having three wishes – but how many of us would ask for sausages? - Metascore: 74 - Director: Katsuhito Ishii After dying prematurely, a deceased man, played by Casey Affleck, drifts through time as a passive observer. Evil creatures. At first Powell & Pressburger’s towering film looks like a wartime romance, which partly it is. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Buy, rent or watch ‘Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey’. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), 1. Writer-director Guillermo del Toro is the most original and uncompromising cinema fantasist of the modern era, and ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ is his most striking statement. - Runtime: 153 minutes. A pair of grieving elf brothers turn to magic to reanimate, for 24 emotional hours, the dad they never really knew. Dreamed up in a story by Steven Spielberg, the goonies are seven restless kids in a coastal town who, deserted by parents fighting a local real estate takeover bid, discover an old treasure map pointing to famed pirate One-Eyed Willie's galleon. - Metascore: 76 Begun in Britain but completed in California following the outbreak of war, this spectacular adventure based on tales from ‘1001 Nights’ may have had a piecemeal production – and no less than six directors, including the mighty Michael Powell – but you wouldn’t guess it from the result. But the film remains a wounded wonder, crammed with wild ideas, bizarre costumes, berserk characters and a unique sense of giddy, anything-goes experimentation. Imprisoned on a distant planet, the titular hero, played by Chris Hemsworth, must escape and save his home from the wrath of a deadly villain, played by Cate Blanchett. Magic moment: The mournfully psychedelic junkyard sequence strikes a jarring but memorable tone of doom amid all the furry, freaky goings-on. Magic moment: The heartbreaking ending, as the performers recreate the titular ballet without their star dancer, just an empty space where she should have been. This fantasy film list can be sorted by cast, year, director and more. - Director: David Yates Buy, rent or watch ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’. Check out the list of fantasy movies … - Runtime: 85 minutes. Magic moment: Whenever Seu Jorge’s plaintive, Bowie-obsessed ship’s minstrel strikes up, the film enters a whole new mystical realm. Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon! Powerful wizards. Magic Moment: The title character is introduced sucking poison out of a wound, blood smeared across her mouth. For other interesting movie lists check out the, This list of the good fantasy movies includes action fantasy films like. - Director: Taika Waititi But the cinema has a capacity for escape unlike any other medium — shouldn’t that be embraced? If that's the case then fantasy movies are surely the medium's purest and most pertinent forms of transportation, grabbing the viewer and plunging them into distant lands and magical concepts that question our own relationship with the world. Its sense of magic and danger is heightened by the story sitting on a base of grief. - Metascore: 79 Get Stacker's best stories delivered right to your inbox. A list of the best fantasy movies ever made. Best Fantasy Movies of All Time #60. A tornado blowing in over the Kansas plains, the tap-tap-tap of the ruby slippers, the yellow brick road in glorious Technicolor and a witch the colour of alien snot. Ties were broken by Metascore and further ties were broken by IMDb user rating. List of the latest fantasy movies in 2019 and the best fantasy movies of 2018 & the 2010's. TH. Obscure, artful and gleefully avant-garde, the film follows an acid-fried modern Jesus as he meets an alchemist and transcends through the seven levels of enlightenment. Tolkien’s motto in “The Lord of the Rings” also captures one of the things that’s so powerful and intoxicating about the art of movies itself: that feeling of leaping through the screen, leaving your life behind, and being immersed in something totally new. And that’s the reason why Jackson’s ‘Rings’ movies work, and will continue to thrill moviegoers for generations to come: the characters are as important as the special effects. Magic moment: It’s hardly RSPCA-approved, but the re-enactment of the Spanish conquest of South America using frogs and toads is one of the most remarkable scenes in cinema. For the follow-up to their loopy time-travel pastiche ‘Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure’, writers Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson turned to the maddest, baddest fantasy novel of them all: The Bible. Haunting and inventive, this showed us the dark side of ‘The Muppets’ ringmaster Jim Henson, who offered up a gothic world of magic and danger partly inspired by the darkness of the Grimm fairytales. Magic moment: When Orlando transforms again... and again... and again. Funniest new Comedy movies in 2020 & 2019 (Netflix, Prime, Hulu & Cinema List), Best new New-Zealand Movies in 2020 & 2019 (Netflix, Prime, Hulu & Cinema List), 250+ Best new Foreign & American movies in 2020 & 2019 – Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu & Cinema, Best new Fantasy movies in 2020 & 2019 (Netflix, Prime, Hulu & Cinema List). Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010), 12. Each of these masters doesn’t just conjure a unique world, but renders an identifiable style or aesthetic in the process. PG-13 | 178 min | Action, Adventure, Drama Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. 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Two introverted slaughterhouse workers form a magical bond in this Oscar-nominated Hungarian drama. This list of the greatest fantasy films also contains fantasy movie titles that can be clicked on for more information about the film. - Director: Dean DeBlois However, as our list proves, not all fantasy movies are filled with wizards, dragons and epic battles. Magic Moment: The tragic finale: ‘Oh no, it wasn’t the airplanes. Amen. ‘Hunger Games’ director Gary Ross’s pin-sharp satire brilliantly undercuts the American Dream, and the visual trick of gradually shifting the film from black and white to colour to reflect the characters’ cultural awakening is masterful. Director Taika Waititi is reportedly working on a fourth installment. Welcome to Rotten Tomatoes’ compendium of cinema’s best-reviewed tales of swords and sorcery, fire and ice, and dungeons and…you get the idea. Buy, rent or watch ‘The Adventures of Baron Munchausen’. - Metascore: 78 Every film on the list has been considered according to the cinematic history and development of fantasy. The fight choreography has yet to be topped, and every balletic moment of soaring wire-fu reveals something about the character who’s swooping through the air. Magic moment: When Gene Wilder throws away his walking stick. Buym rent or watch ‘Hell Boy II: The Golden Army’. - Stacker score: 84 Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Magic moment: Nicol Williamson’s bizarre, theatrical Merlin weaves a transformation spell. I love all Ghibli films, Disney films, etc… but I wouldn’t put them on a list of “Best Fantasy”, much like I wouldn’t expect to find any of them in the “Fantasy” section at a book store.