The NeverEnding Story III (1996)

People are voting emotionally.

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

The first must-see film of the year.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Fans of The NeverEnding Story are likely to be disappointed by this third installment which differs completely from it's predecessors in turns of characterization and tone. Whilst the first sequel may not have lived up to some expectations, it did at least contain that same sense of wonder and fantastical charm that enriched the original. This third entry abandons our awe in favor of gags and goofs. Bastian this time around is played by Jason James Richter of 'Free Willy' fame. His father has remarried and he has subsequently acquired a teenage step-sister. It's not long before Bastian and his extended family are caught up in Fantasia, his land of imagination. Particularly when a group of comical high school bullies, led by Jack Black, steal The NeverEnding Story book and create havoc in both Fantasia and our world. The creature design this time is by the Jim Henson workshop. Sadly, their renditions of the inhabitants of Fantasia and indeed their personalities are inconsistent with the previous entries. For example, Falkor is reduced from being a noble and brave luck-dragon to a whiny and cowardly puppy dog. And this is what hurts the film the most. To the younger viewer it will be a mildly amusing affair, but to those who have followed the film series, it will appear to be a complete deviation that will have you aching for the Fantasia of old.The actors all turn in good performances but you feel they would all be best served by a more earnest script that employed plot lines from Michael Ende's novel. Still, it's far superior to the live action television series that would later follow.

OK, a few years ago I found at Target a package with all three Neverending Story films, also really cheap, so I picked them up. The first film is one of my childhood favorites and still holds up to this day. I'm not alone in this either, I didn't realize what kind of a following the film had and that others watched it as children too. I watched the second one when I got the package and thought it was alright, I also thought the title was pretty funny. Wouldn't it be hilarious if some person got a lawyer for "false advertising" because of the title of the Neverending Story? Anyways, the second one is just an alright film, a little below average but not terrible. Now, something about the third on gave me chills when I grabbed it, I think I should have listened to my instincts. I don't even know where to start with the badness. Now everything that was charming about the first film, throw it out! Everything that was trying to continue the story in the second film, throw it out! This is what was puked up from the two films and it's terrifying.Bastian Balthazar has begun a new chapter in his life. His father has re-married, and now Bastian has a new step mother, Jane, whose daughter Nicole is displeased at having a new family. Bastian has also started high school, where he has become victim to the Nasties, a quintet of bullies led by Slip. He manages to get them expelled by the janitor after they trap him in the boiler room. He flees to the library where he is surprised to find Mr. Koreander and The Neverending Story. The Nasties locate him, but he uses the book to escape to Fantasia. Bastian arrives in Fantasia, where he is reunited with old friends. However, the Nasties find the Neverending Story and use their cruelty to bombard the land with fireballs and a storm and now plan to steal the amulet to grant their own nasty wishes.See, normally I like bad films, however this was just bad. For God's sake, Valcor was this beautiful majestic wise dragon who spoke so wonderfully and made you feel special, this Valcor looks like a thrown out in the dumpster Chuck-E-Cheese costume. Not to mention the voice is completely different and sounds like some kind of ridicules Gilligan mook. Then the rock monster, who in the first film was the saddest figure, a giant who lost his friends to the Nothing and felt sorrow and spoke so beautiful now has a family, his wife talks like Arnold Schwartzenegger, he's now 1/5 his size and his kid wants to go on a motorcycle ride with him while he sings "Born to be Wild". The villain is no longer an entity; it's a group of bullies called The Nasties being led by Jack Black (LOL).There is nothing redeeming about this film. The acting is terrible and the only decent enough performance is Jack Black who you can understand why he was successful because as much of a bad story as this is, he looked like he was having fun. The costumes are just terrible and don't resemble the first film by a long shot. In short, the story is just horrendous and the magic is taken away in this film. Please take my advice, stick to the first film, it's a wonderful fantasy film that is filled with beauty and wonder. The second film isn't bad either, it's worth checking out in some ways. Take the advice of the movie: We must not give into the Nasty! 1/10

This is the worst sequel ever to escape from the bowels of Hell! It is filled with plot holes, poor writing, and complete horrible character alterations. If you are thinking that this piece of non-biodegradable s@#$ will have the same essence as the other two films, it does not!Even the characters are completely different, as if the film makers just read notes about the previous movies and threw in their versions.My suggestion: Save your time and money and never watch this movie! If you are curious about it, just watch the Nostalgia Critic's review on the film. It's shorter, funnier, and less painful.

Imagine that you are reading an entertainment magazine like "Entertainment Weekly" or "Rolling Stone", and you happen to look in the news section where they give you information about a movie that is in production. It is a children's movie distributed by Miramax, who has made dozens of Oscar-winning films over the last 30 years. It has special effects by Cinemagic and the Jim Henson Creature Shop, and Jack Black stars in it. You would want to see it, right? Well, not if it's "The NeverEnding Story III"."The NeverEnding Story III" is disappointing in every sense of the word. It is by far one of the worst sequels ever made, and it does a disservice to the book by Michael Ende and the original 1984 film on which it is based (My review: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088323/usercomments-250).This movie takes characters from the book and creates a new story that is full of plot holes, bad puns, and very little logic whatsoever. It helps very little that none of the cast members from either of the first two movies were involved in this film.This time, Bastian is played by Jason James Richter ("Free Willy" (1993)). Although Richter looks like a preteen model, he is still harassed by a gang at his new school known as the Nasties (or the Nastys) whose leader is Slip, played by a then-unknown Jack Black.As it turns out, Bastian's new school also happens to be where Coreander, the owner of the book store in the original story, works as a librarian. British actor Freddie Jones plays Coreander in this movie, and fans of the original may be disappointed not to see Thomas Hill reprise his role. I don't blame them.Anyway, Coreander happened to bring the NeverEnding Story with him to this school library. It's a pretty contrived way to bring the book back into the story after the main character has moved away if you ask me.What's even more contrived is when Bastian, hiding from the Nastys, retreats into the world of Fantasia, only to have Slip retrieve the book, realize its powers, and try to destroy the world and Bastian. In the book and the first two movies, the reader had little to no control over how the NeverEnding Story would be told. How the Nastys get control is never explained anywhere in the movie. The NeverEnding Story being an enchanted book is no excuse to cover up such plot holes.When Bastian realizes he has to re-enter the real world to obtain the book and save Fantasia, the movie just gets worse. Even with the Oren (the token worn around the neck that resembles two snakes), Bastian alone can't make it back home. So a number of creatures from Fantasia have to wish with him, and be transported into his world, for him to save Fantasia.Such a subplot wouldn't be so bad if the supporting characters weren't so annoying and intelligence insulting. There's the Rock-Biter's baby boy who talks in annoying "baby talk" that real children under 3 don't use as vernacular, an anthropomorphic tree who talks like an old Jewish comedian except not as funny, and two gnomes (Urgl and Engywook, featured in the first movie but played by different actors) who have a tired running joke about needing to use the bathroom.Oh yes, and who could forget Falcor, the luck dragon? In the first two movies, Falcor was a hero to Atreyu and Bastian, and was the voice of reason in many situations. He also had a voice like Walter Cronkite, which made him ever cooler. Here, he not only looks different from the previous two films, but he's whinier and dumber. When, in the real world, he mistakes an airplane for a female luck dragon, I could only hang my head and wonder, "Why?".To make matters worse, Bastian can't wish the book back after the Nastys stole it because he can't use the Oren to make wishes in the real world. That plot point is well and good, and makes a setup for a great conflict that adds to the story. Unfortunately, the people who wrote this screenplay forget that plot point and failed to explain why Bastian's stepsister Nicole (Melody Kay) could make wishes when she had possession of the Oren. Any script reviser could point out these plot holes, and it most especially amazes me that filming progressed despite these inconsistencies.It is even more amazing that no one in this movie actually acts poorly. Richter does well in his role, despite his voice obviously cracking and no one noticing. I don't bring that point up to be mean. It's just that the filmmakers could have used his voice changing as a good subplot to explain why he's being picked on. But I digress.The point is that everyone involved in this film just could not save the story having so many inconsistencies. By the end, the story bears no resemblance to Ende's original book at all. The Fantasia creatures are also too annoying, trying too hard to be comic relief and inundating their dialogue with uncharacteristic pop culture references. Case in point: the Rock Biter rides his bike while singing "Born To Be Wild" by Steppenwolf. What were these filmmakers thinking?And you would think that the Jim Henson Creature Shop working on your side would be a valuable asset in this film. In this case, none of the recurring characters look like they did in the first two movies (the Rock Biter, looking like a pint-size version of his predecessor, was the biggest disappointment), and they weren't strong characters either. They did not live up to Henson's high standards of storytelling and development. If you don't believe me, try finding this movie on Muppet Central. You would have had better luck finding this film in a theater that ran it for two weeks back when it was released.