The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter (1991)

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Bastian has a fear of diving and goes back to the bookstore to ask Koreander for help. When he sees 'The Neverending Story', the Childlike Empress asks him for help and he takes the book again. This time he goes right into Fantasia to rescue the Childlike Empress. The evil sorceress Xayide has a plan to steal a memory from Bastian for every wish he makes until his mind is empty of all memories. Atreyu and Falkor return to help Bastian in his quest.It's six years after the production of the first movie. So most of the actors are different as well as the director. Jonathan Brandis is a lovely boy actor. He's capable but he's a very effeminate boy. I'm not sure what I dislike about him. I think mostly it's the annoying stupidity of the character, the dialog, and his speaking style.The story is one straight quest. There isn't any originality anymore. It's relying on the goodwill of the original. The action isn't exciting. The acting is weak. The dialog is clunky. The production got bigger but not better.

I'll be brief: you are in for a real stinker when you've noticed the sequel has recycled stock footage from the first film because the original imagination and production value was so high (think Atreyu riding on his white horse, which has magically came back to life in part II). Yes, cutaways and transitions from the first movie were dropped into the second film and that's about ALL the second movie had to do with the first. Even Falcor's eyeballs in the second movie were the wrong color - a weird blood red color. None of the original voice over actors or cast returned and barely any of the same crew returned for part II. As a child, I was really excited for the sequel and remember that I went to see it opening weekend at the theater with friends. As an adult, I went back to re-watch part II and now recall why I forgot so much - it sucked so bad that I purposefully removed it from my brain bank. The script to part II, a film's blueprint, was an epic fail from the first page to the last. No special effects or superb acting could save this thing. I gave it two stars instead of one because, for a brief moment in the closing credits, the production included a short clip of the original Neverending Story theme song.

This film doesn't just lack every charming and wonderful feature from the original, but it also has a lot of absurd things.Let's start from the beginning: music is not worthwhile in the whole film (not even at the opening sequence, in contrast to Limahl's masterpiece).I don't like it when the same characters from a previous film are performed by different actors in a sequel, and this happens here with many ones. To top it all, both Mr. Koreander and the Childlike Empress act exactly the same way and say the same things they did in the first film (but this time she's not so pretty, her pleas are tedious and her hairstyle is just ghastly).What happened to Bastian? Now he's such an impertinent brat who wastes the precious wishes from the Auryn, asking for more and more stairs instead of wishing a hundred of them at once (by the way, why didn't the Auryn grant wishes in the first film? Pathetic). Besides, he could have defeated all enemies with one single wish... so that doesn't make sense.Other characters like the Rockeater are flat. And I don't even want to mention Xayide. What kind of idiot would want to destroy a world where he lives? Is she a suicide? What were the screenwriters thinking? The film reaches its most pathetic level when the father reads the book and quickly believes everything it says, instead of calling the police (a normal person would have think about a kidnapping).That's all I have to say about this rubbish. Some tender moments between father and son, nice special effects and some entertainment make me give it 4/10 and not a sad 1.Manuel Pérez.

THE NEVERENDING STORY II is a wonderful and breathtaking familiar film with adventures and imagination but inferior to excellent original. A lonely and grieving little boy named Bastian(the sadly deceased Jonathan Brandis substituting to Barret Oliver) is only living with his father( John Wesley Shipp in similar role to Gerard McRaney)but his mother has deceased.He seeks refugee in the library where meets a bookkeeper and is taken a fantastic book .Thus, again he enters the storybook world of Fantasia through the ¨Neverending story¨ tale . This time Batian is really in the flick the complete time instead of outside of the pages but happens that with each wish he lost records. There, he goes to Silver City and he meets the young valiant warrior named Atreyu( Kenny Morrison replacing Noah Hathaway)as he must save the magic world of Fantasia threatened for the destruction by the advance of Nothing that will eventually wipe out all the things and rescue the imprisoned childlike Empress . She is detained by evil sorceress Xayide (Clarissa) supported by his large mechanical beetles. Xayide has a dark scheme for Fantasy world and the Childlike Empress. They'll have to fight a magical army of giant bugs on two legs that threaten our friends.The story is an enjoyable fairy tale with great charm from the original novel by Michael Ende,trying to incorporate too much dreamland with fantastic beings like a giant bird named Nimbly, the large flying pink poodle dragon named Falcor ,among others weird and bizarre creatures .They have been made by big puppets and no by means of computer generator effects but at the time had not been invented. The visual beauty of the impressive scenarios give the movie a real sense of wonder.The production design and sets are visually rousing and appealing.The film contains an agreeable moral message about reading books.It's followed by a new sequel, the third part titled: ¨Escape from fantasia¨(directed by Peter McDonald)with Jason James Ritcher. Besides followed by a Television cartoon movies. The movie contains spectacular musical score by Robert Folk and colorful cinematography by David Connell. The motion picture filled with imaginative moments is professionally directed by George Miller though with no originality because takes too many elements from previous film. Miller is an Australian director usually working for television (Tidal wave, Journey to the center of the earth,Attack of the Sabretooth) and occasionally for cinema ( The man from Snowy river Zeus and Roxanne,Robinson Crusoe ). Rating : Passable, acceptable, 5,5.