July 15th, 2011
09:26 AM ET
Friday's Top Five: Magical moviesFanatical moviegoers dressed in Hogwarts garb have been standing in line today, casting charms like "ACCIO Milk Duds" while waiting for Harry Potter's final chapter. As a tribute to the spell that J.K. Rowling has cast on the kid in all of us, today's list delves into our favorite whimsical stories. These could include pure fantasies, movies with heroic children or child-like hobbits, and adventures that explore the development and use of magic. If you prefer, just tell us what films you find simply magical for whatever reason. Don’t be hasty with your picks. Give it some thought and approach your list as Hermione would prepare for the O.W.L.’s.
Please spare us any unforgivable curses in your comments or a Cruciatus will be sent your way. Now, ACCIO your top five...here's mine: 1. "Harry Potter" series (2001-2011): “You’re a wizard, Harry!” – Hagrid (Although Mike Newell’s “Goblet of Fire” was a huge disappointment, David Yates managed to save the franchise from a downward spiral with his subsequent installments.) 2. "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy (2001-2003): “My... preciousssss!” – Gollum 3. "The Neverending Story" (1984): “What is the Nothing?” – Atreyu (To this day, I still can’t figure out what name Bastian cries out to save Fantasia from the Nothing...anyone know?) 4. "The Wizard of Oz" (1939): “I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!” – Wicked Witch of the West 5. "Mary Poppins" (1964): “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” – Mary Poppins Honorable Mention:
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Supi Suppi !
To everyone: the name that Bastian calls out is: MOSIAH HOPE. I was on set.
Dream a Little Dream....
Alright I HAVE to call "foul" when a reviewer lumps ALL films in a SERIES under a list of the top 10... This is NOT the Two Twelve, it's a top ten. So which of the three LoTR is the best to make it to the ten? Personally, I'm going to say the second, but that's just me. Oh, hey I noticed that you only picked ONE Harry Potter film, what gives with THAT shouldn't ALL the HP films be listed in that case? Oh, and HEY where IS "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" I mean come on! 🙂
TEEN WITCH! C'mon!
I'm hot, and you're not!
If you wanna hang with me,
I'll give it one shot!
Top that!
What I dig top this day
1: Willow
2: Troll
3: Sword and the Sorcerer
4: Excalibur
5: Krull
6: Lady Hawke
7: Flesh and Blood
8: Dragon Slayer
9: The Dark Crystal
10: Time Bandits
Return to Oz and Willow should definitely be on that list!
All of Harry Potter's movies are good, they showed a different side of the same story!!! But the first one was the most magical of them all!!!
Hmm, I am surprised that there is so much hate out there for the Goblet of Fire. I grew up with harry potter, and it was by far my favorite book at the time I was about 15. Now that I'm older, I would say the 6th book is the best, then the 7th. The epilogue is what kind of ruined it for me. The third book used to be my least favorite.
As for the films, I still think the 3rd is my least favorite because of the way the castle/atmosphere drastically changed due to the director changes. I also thought the 5th movie was a bit dull; other than that, I thought all the movies were good. The 7th, part two is miles ahead of any of the others.
The first two movies can't really be compared the same way. They were young, and it was MEANT to be whimsical and almost amateurish. Rowling's books were written in a totally different style at first, and progressively became more complex.
In no particular order:
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Time Bandits (because it's just goofy)
E.T. (that glowing finger wasn't science)
Spirited Away
I'm older than a lot of you. My favorite magical move was the Theif of Bagdad with Sabu 1941
Excellent selection. I was a little surprised that the Arabian magic movies did not make more of a showing on anyone's list. The various Arabian magic movies were full of magic and mystical beings. Thank you for reminding us.
The 7 faces of Dr. Lao ... An obscure one from the 60's but pretty magical when you're a kid.
I don't know what the author is talking about I liked the Goblet of Fire. The Quiddich World Cup was awesome and so was the Yule Ball.
The Harry Potter books can be considered literature as they are real page-turners and written very well. However, the movies are mostly popcorn drivel...crowd-pleasers for sure, but only the first 2 can be called high-quality fantasy films. They are most certainly not on the same plane as The Lord Of The Rings movies. The LOTR books are pretty much the source of the entire modern fantasy genre.
Although I loved the Harry Potter movies I do agree that Lord of the Rings should be first on this list.
Seriously, whoever makes up these lists has no taste in movies. LOTR's films are far superior to the whiny kids films that are Harry Potter. Harry is a jerk towards his friends all the time and compared to Cedric in a previous film, a crap wizard.
Voldemort would have kicked the bucket at once compared to Gandalf or Sauron.
Neverending story? Really? I was a kid when it came out and thought it was awful then!
I thought you're "Space Movie" list was just as bad, if not worse, so don't feel too bad about this list, I've had these feelings about your choices for a while.
Mary Poppins is soooooooooooo dated and corny. Were they serious?
seems that way now but in its time, it was pretty spectacular. It was nominated for 13 oscars and won 5 including best visual effects. Check out the "Scary Poppins Trailer" on youtube... takes the corny right out of it.
What about Solar Babies, Batteries Not Included, or Ice Pirates... This genre is too expansive to limit it to five!
Nobody mentioned Chris Nolan's "The Prestige". A fascinating movie that contains more than an ample amount of sleight-of-hand.
moonchild the name he shouted and gave a new name to the Child like Empress
Not in any particular order:
1. Labyrinth
2.The Last Unicorn
3. La Belle et la Bête
4. Alice (dir. Jan Svankmejer)
5. The Frog Prince (Muppets)
"the secret of roan inish" is magical!
the secret of roan inish
His mother's name is Moonchild? What!?!?!! There's another reason to hate the Neverending Story–a movie with which the only redeeming characteristics are the song in the opening credits and how cute the flying dog is.
My list:
1. Big Trouble in Little China: "You know what Jack Burton always says at a time like this?"
2. Spirited Away...thanks Jon
3. The Craft...this movie is terrible, but I watch it whenever it's on–something about 4 hot chicks doing magic
4. Pan's Labyrinth...good call LL
5. Beetlejuice: "Beatle Breakfast? Orange Beatle? Beatle Drink?"
Does Beetlejuice count? If not, then I'll replace it with PeeWee's Big Adventure. Pee Wee's way of stocking up on supplies is by loading up with crap from Mario's Magic Shop..."Trick Gum, Headlight Glasses, the Boomerang Bowtie."
I can't believe all this love for The Neverending Story. The movie was complete crap compared to the book. Michael Ende, the author, sued to try to get the movie stopped, since they screwed up the plot so much. When he lost, he made them remove his name from the film.
Get serious Snowveil! These are freaking movies*nothing is real!*pure escapism! Now go find another blog before someone hurts your feelings. Live long and prosper!
The wizard of oz
Good stories with magic in them make us realize the most valuable things can never be found or obtained through magic but by being loyal and doing what is right. Magic reminds us the fact there are wonders beyond reason in this world but it is also the pure form of humanity's evil, bottomless hunger for power. Mankind needs to trust in God, never themselves.
Easy there, Snow! This is only meant to be a fun article about fantasy movies. I can understand your enthusiasm for your beliefs and you might think films dealing with magic might be be wrong, but this is just light-hearted fun about a style of movies. You might as well be getting upset about westerns and ungodly behavior that might pop up in them.
Glad mankind does not possess magical powers. It'd be disasterous to the planet and to each other and it'll sure make lazy students' heads emptier. Dreaming is free. Hope kids would realize they already have much more powerful thing than magic by studying hard or striving for excellence. Human brain is really miraculous.
Haha. It's Moonchild.
Best Magical movies of all time
1. Harry Potter – Chamber of Secrets
2. Harry Potter – Half Blood Prince Pt1/Pt2
3. Harry Potter – Prisoner of Azkaban
4. Harry Potter – Sorcerer's Stone
5. Harry Potter – Order of the Phoenix
1. Harry Potter
2. Lord of the Rings
3. The Princess Bride
4. Sleeping Beauty
5. Labrynth
Such a basic list! But they are what they are
Fantasia on magic mushrooms, sure was great magic for me!
What about Bell, Book and Candle – how many siamese cats were named Pyewacket because of that movie. As for Harry Potter – I've loved them all except for the end of Half Blood Prince – what were they thinking? and thanks for the reminder about Ladyhawke.
The name Bastion cried out in the Neverending story is Moonchild.
Lord of the Rings, yes. Cinderella? Absolutely. Harry Potter? To a point, though I'd stop with Azkaban.
For the other two, Wall-E would reside right under LotR. A robot, a trash compactor no less, who has courage and can love. What could be more magical? Oh yes, he saves the world and loves plants.
The last? Spirited Away, a movie so magnificent it nearly belongs in a class by itself. Instead of trying to describe it, I simply encourage you to see it. If it's your first time, I'm jealous.
I totally agree with "Spirited Away." Actually all of Miyazaki's movies are pretty magical, although "Howl's Moving Castle" is my personal favorite.
Saving Private Ryan
The Illusionist was great! What about Houdini with Tony curtis?
"Magic mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" Snow White was a little scary!
The magic of Disney from my childhood to yours "bibity bobity boo!"
Loved the Hobbits...hated those Orcs!
How about The Beast Master?
Magic is not an all male sport! I was happy to see Hocus Pocus mentioned on your lists, a very funny & interesting movie. Here are my faves: Witches Of Eastwick-Cher, Michelle Pfiffer & Susan Sarandon as witches & Jack Nicholson as Devil! The Craft- Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk (who was also in the Wizard of Oz sequel). Practical Magic- Nicole Kidman & Sandra Bullock! I loved these movies & see them again when they're on. Also, I'm surprised no1 mentioned The Wiz! It was a remake but a cool update with a talented cast, Michael Jackson & Diana Ross!!
Love pretty much all of the movies mentioned. I would also like to add Stardust (based on the book by Neil Gaiman) as one of my favorites.
Conan the Barbarian
Excalibur
Star Wars & Empire Strikes Back
Big Trouble in Little China
Don't forget anime–like Akira and Spirited Away.
Or the Entire Original 'Neon Genesis Evangelion" Series
1-Hocus Pocus
2-Manaquine
3-Disneys Peter Pan-Tinkerbelle-fairiedust-pirates-Big Gator -Tickingclock-Smead-Captain Hook
4-All Harry Potter Movies The Books JK Rowlings
5-Twilight Series–Stephanie Meyers
Twilight, that is just sad!
In no particular order....worthy contenders:
MirrorMask
The Dark Crystal
The Princess Bride
The Lord of the Rings
Pan's Laberynth
Beauty and the Beast (Disney)
The Wizard of Oz
The Neverending Story
Sorry....never got into Harry Potter.–doesn't do anything for me
BTW...why are there so few decent fantasy movies compared to Sci Fi? The movie industry can't seem to get its head around the genre. For example, Legend, which could have been great, ended up bipolar. The first part is great, then suddenly the villain get a crush on the girl. that movie always feels like someone fired the writer and hired someone else to finish the script. And as much as I want to like Willow, I just can't. The brownies with French Canadian accents thrown in for comic relief totally blew it for me. I am grateful Peter Jackson did such a worthy job on LOTR. Now, let's see if Ron Howard can do a worthy job with Stephen King's Dark Tower series.
I could never put the entire Harry Potter Series on such a list because the first two were horrible. Also Goblet is the second best in the series in my opinion. My list of the 5 best Magical fantasy films is the following:
1. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2: Pan's Labyrinth
3. Wizard of Oz
4. Big
5. Marry Poppins
HM: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkanban, Willow and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
OMG! Kurt Russell as Jack Burton and an unrecognizable Kim Catrall are hilarious in BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA! And Gabrielle I hadnt thought of LADYHAWKE in years-love it! But LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy rules!
I concur, Golblet of Fire the worst of the bunch. Never understood why they did not really show the tasks of the Tri Wizard Tourney very much. Half Blood Prince was also unsatisfying for me, in that it took liberities with the book, and came nowhere close to capturing the story. To be fair, it was a HUGE book. This would have been a good movie/story to split in half, too. Too late.
I found that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 was bad movie.
Best magic movie of all time:
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA.
Does Star Wars count? The Force is kinda like magic right?
1. Lord of the Rings-Trilogy
2. Harry Potter Series
3. The Princess Bride
4. Legend
5. Labyrinth
1. Willow – Ron Howard (need I say more?)
2. The Princess Bride
3. Wizard of Oz
4. Labyrinth
5. The home movies of be and my brothers when we were kids.
OK. Ron Howard, stop writing comments about yourself.
Yeah–I wish I had someone's hair in my bag to carry off to war.
1. Neverending Story
2. Harry Potter Series(even the 4th)
3. Legend
4 The Princess Bride
5. Willy Wonka And the Chocolate Factory(Gene Wilder version)
HM.
There are a lot of really magical movies, but thats my list.
Yes! Definitely add Willow to the list!!!
"Kaia!!!!"
"Goblet" a disappointment? I thought that was the last really good one.
Yuck! "Goblet" is the one movie of the entire series I skip over. Disliked it when it first came out, and have disliked it even more since then. Its a shame, too, because the book was very good.
Many good choices on the list so far. I would have to add the following...
"Peter Pan" (1953 Disney)
"Little Mermaid" (1988 Disney)
"Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" (1971 Warner Brothers I think) The real version with Gene Wilder
"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" (1970 [?] UA)
"Doctor Dolittle" (1966 20th Century Fox [?]) This one starred Rex Harrison and has the song "Talk to the Animals"
Definately would include "Dark Crystal" and "Labryrinth" with David Bowie. "MirrorMask" is another fun film as well.
@Melissa & Lou,
The Name Bastien calls out is "Mariah". Watch and listen again.
This is taken from the script of the movie from the IMSDB database of movie scripts. Script of Neverending Story
Childlike Empress: Call my name ! Bastian, please ! Save us !
Bastian: All right, I'll do it. I'll save you. I will do what I dream!
He climbs up to the window and opens it. He leans out into the storm and calls out the name he had chosen for her.
Bastian: MOONCHILD!
NEXT SCENE-
Darkness, pure and black as night. We hear Bastian speak.
It is the same in the movie as it is in the book "Moonchild"
Read the book, Its Moon Child.
No Princess Bride? Inconceivable!
"effyou
No Princess Bride? Inconceivable!"
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Ladyhawke was also very good.
Yes!!! Ladyhawke was wonderful!!! I'm so glad you reminded me of that movie – I need to rent it and watch it again.
Goblet of Fire wasn't good? Could've fooled me, I didn't read the books but that was definitely one of the most entertaining movies of the series!
I'm with you goblet of.fire was one of the better ones for me too
I would have to agree! That was the movie that caught my interest in the movies and almost allowed me to read the books...lol
Great topic for Friday's Top Five!
My list is almost the same.
1. Harry Potter series excluding Goblet of Fire
2. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (the two sequels were not nearly as good as the first to me)
3. The Wizard of Oz
4. Pan's Labyrinth
5. The Never Ending Story
HM
Big
Labyrinth
Beauty and the Beast (Disney)
Legend
good list LL
Good choices!
"The Princess Bride". Complete magic.
What about Dark Crystal, does that count?
Only counts if you're on acid/x listening to Vegas by Crystal Method.
those evil skeksies (sp?) were PURE EVIL!!!
Rachel has it right. I had to read the book to figure it out but the mom's name is "Moonchild".
Let's not forget 1988's Willow! Loved it!
I'm pretty sure in the book Bastien's mother's name is Moonchild
Abracadabra PoofPoof So Long, tracie, you & your trashy talk, be gone!
Meeeee too.
I absolutely love BIG too!! I got my 11 year old hooked on it a few years back and she watches it almost weekly, LOL. Also LOTR is a great story to watch no matter your age, I do wish there were more movies though....
Fast times at Ridgemont High – the swimming pool scene was magical for me
Still love BIG best of all–that was when Tom Hanks made good movies.
Yeah...because Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, and Saving Private Ryan are terrible. It's a good think we have Big to remind us of how truly remarkable Tom Hanks can be.
i beg to differ. As far as Tom Hanks goes, sure he has made some crappy movies over the years but Castaway and The Terminal are my best works of his.
Fantassy movies, Narnia and that other movie they adapted from The Subtle Knife
Big was the only movie I actually liked on that list.I read the harry potter books so I think Ill like the movies If i dont expect much.Im on the last one now,so I wont actually watch any of the movies until Ive finished the book series.
I like "Wierd Science". May not be magical but I like it anyway
Bastien calls out Mary, his mothers name.
Sorry, but Bastian calls out his mother's name which is Martha. Watch again.
Sorry to you both, but the name he calls out is "Moon Child". It's the same as the name he gives her in the book, yelled out the window.
Mama2KOA is right I read the book
Nope...It's Moonchild...read the book and the script.
Bless you! I never read the book, and always wondered what that kid yelled at the end! I always thought it sounded like "Bonzai-ah."
its actually moonchild. like a hippy name. its in the book