My Favorite Fantasy Movies

#1

Excalibur

• Released in 1981, Excalibur was directed, produced, & written by John Boorman, who also wrote, produced, & directed Zardoz & was director/producer of Deliverance. Excalibur stars Nigel Terry & Nicol Williamson & features Patrick Stewart, Gabriel Byrne, Liam Neeson, & Helen Mirren, who were virtually unknown at the time (in the United States, at any rate).

• The screenplay for Excalibur began as a screenplay for Lord of the Rings, which was then reworked into a screenplay on the Arthurian Cycle, which, ironically, was what Boorman had wanted to make to begin with.
• The music of Excalibur derives mainly from opera by Richard Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen, Parsifal, & Tristan und Isolde.

• The Charm of Making used by Merlin & Morgana in the film is believed to consist of these Gaelic words:
  • Anal nathrach/orth bhais bethad/do chel denmha
• This translates as:
  • Serpent’s breath/charm of death and life/thy omen of making

• Igrayne was played by Boorman’s daughter, Katrine.
• In the film, the knights’ armor changes from darkly hued in the time before Arthur, to shining silver during Arthur’s peak, & goes back to dark during Arthur’s crisis.

• Although Excalibur is supposedly based on Malory’s Morte d’Arthur, several details of the plot diverge from Malory. First, Arthur is the first to wield Excalibur, not Uther. Second, Morgause is Arthur’s half-sister, not Morgan. Third, while Arthur does indeed joust with a knight guarding a bridge, that knight is not Sir Launcelot (whom Arthur could never have beaten even with Excalibur), but King Pellinore. Fourth, Arthur does indeed break his sword, & the Lady of the Lake does help in this situation. But the sword Arthur breaks is not Excalibur. The sword given him by the Lady of the Lake is Excalibur. Fifth, Arthur does not become sick & require healing by the Grail. This is the Fisher King (identified by Malory as Pelles). Sixth, Morgan le Fay does not entrap Merlin. Nimue (the Lady of the Lake) does this. Seventh, Percivale is not the knight who achieves the Grail in Malory (although he is present & is the Grail knight in many other sources). Launcelot’s bastard son Sir Galahad (a character omitted from Excalibur) is the Grail knight in Malory. Excalibur also omits Gawain’s younger brother Sir Gareth, who is a very important character in Morte d’Arthur.
• The end of Excalibur is very different from Morte d’Arthur. Upon learning of Guinevere’s infidelity, Arthur sentences her to be burned. (Ironically, in Excalibur, Gawain accuses Guinevere of adultery. In Malory, not only does Gawain not accuse her, he refuses to assist Arthur in carrying out his sentence.) Launcelot rescues Guinevere & runs away to France with her. Arthur pursues. Arthur returns to Britain when he learns that Mordred has usurped his throne. The rest plays out more-or-less as it does in the film, except that Sir Bedivere casts Excalibur into the lake, not Percivale.
• Nevertheless, Excalibur remains the best motion picture retelling of the tale of Arthur, Merlin, Launcelot, & Guinevere around...

#2

Lord of the Rings Series

The Fellowship of the Ring

• Released in 2001, LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring was directed by Peter Jackson [King Kong (2005)] & stars Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Sean Astin, Viggo Mortensen, Christopher Lee, Liv Tyler, Sean Bean, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, & Cate Blanchett. LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring received 13 Academy Award nominations, winning four—Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup, & Best Musical Score. LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring was a blockbuster hit at the box office, the second-highest grossing film of 2001 & the fifth-highest grossing film of all-time at the time of its release.

• Interestingly, two members of LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring’s ensemble cast—namely, Ian McKellen & Hugo Weaving—had, just prior to LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring’s release, had prominent roles in two other high-profile trilogies of the SF/super-hero genre—McKellen as the villainous Magneto in the X-Men series & Weaving as the equally egregious Agent Smith in the Matrix series. Meanwhile, two other members of LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring’s cast would shortly go on to prominent roles in two other high-profile trilogies of the SF/fantasy genre—Christopher Lee as the Sith Lord Count Dooku in the Star Wars prequel trilogy & Orlando Bloom in the Pirates of the Caribbean series.

• While LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring is perhaps the closest of the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings films to the original JRR Tolkien source material, it contains a number of discrepancies from its literary inspiration. Following are the most significant:
  • In Tolkien, Arwen is a minor character with no active role in the series
  • In the Jackson films, Elrond assumes a far more adverserial role
  • Concomitant with Elrond’s doubts about the strength of mankind, are Aragorn’s doubts about himself, completely absent from Tolkien
  • The encounter with the barrow-wights & Tom Bombadil is omitted from the film

Return of the King

The Two Towers

• Released in 2002, LOTR: The Two Towers was directed by Peter Jackson [King Kong (2005)] & stars Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Sean Astin, Viggo Mortensen, Christopher Lee, Liv Tyler, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, & Hugo Weaving. LOTR: The Two Towers received six Academy Award nominations, winning two. LOTR: The Two Towers was nominated for Best Picture, Best Set Decoration, Best Editing, & Best Sound & won for Best Visual Effects & Best Sound Editing. LOTR: The Two Towers was the second-highest grossing film of 2002, grossing over $900 million worldwide.

• LOTR: The Two Towers is perhaps the farthest of the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings films from the original JRR Tolkien source material. Following are the most significant discrepancies from the literary inspiration:
  • In Tolkien, LOTR: The Two Towers ends with Frodo & Sam’s encounter with Shelob & Frodo’s apparent death
  • In the book, Theoden is not literally possessed, merely recalcitrant
  • Arwen, Elrond, & Galadriel do not appear in the novel version of LOTR: The Two Towers

• Other discrepancies between the Jackson version & the Tolkien version include:
  • In the novel, Treebeard immediately decides to go to war with Saruman
  • In the novel, Faramir immediately decides to allow Frodo to pass
  • In the novel, Frodo & Sam are not present at the Battle of Osgiliath
  • In the novel, no Elven archers (except Legolas) are present at the Battle of Helm’s Deep

#3

Indiana Jones Series

Raiders of the Lost Ark

• Released in 1981, Raiders of the Lost Ark was produced by George Lucas (who also conceived the story) & directed by Steven Spielberg—the two men who were single-handedly responsible for the rebirth of the Hollywood blockbuster & cinematic science fiction. Lucas based Raiders of the Lost Ark in part on the adventure movie serials of the 1930s & 1940s & in part on James Bond. Starring Harrison Ford & Karen Allen, Raiders of the Lost Ark was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, & won four of them. Raiders of the Lost Ark was the highest-grossing film of 1981 & remains one of the 20 highest-grossing films of all-time, when adjusted for inflation. The musical score, including the famous “Raiders March,” was composed by John Williams. Raiders of the Lost Ark is another film given a retronym, which I refuse to accept, to make it consistent with the rest of the series.

• The juxtaposition between the stubble-faced action hero & the bespectacled college professor is one of the most memorable aspects of the film.

• During the scene at Jones’ house in which he prepares to head to Nepal, Marcus Brody warns Jones about the Ark. Jones refers to Brody’s comments as “a lot of superstitious nonsense.” This attitude is reminiscent of Han Solo’s attitude toward the Force.

Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade

• Released in 1989, Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade was the third film collaboration of the legendary George Lucas & Steven Spielberg. Starring Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Julian Glover, & Alison Doody, Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade was nominated for three Academy Awards, winning for Best Sound Editing. Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade was the highest-grossing film of 1989 worldwide & second only to Batman in domestic gross. Returning from Raiders of the Lost Ark (absent from Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom) are Denholm Elliot as Marcus Brody & John Rhys-Davies as Sallah.

• The plot & setting of Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom dictated that Karen Allen not appear. I do not quite understand why Spielberg et al left her out of Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade. Nevertheless, they made an interesting choice in Alison Doody, who played one of the villain’s lackeys in the 1985 Bond film A View to a Kill. Perhaps, in view of Connery as a casting decision, the Bond-like plot device that establishes Doody as both the heroes’ love interest as well as one of the three principal antagonists, while new to an Indiana Jones film, is not coincidental.

• Jones’ pursuit of the Holy Grail as a follow-up to finding the Ark of the Covenant makes a great deal more sense than his search for Sankara stones or psychic, alien skulls. However, “quest” would have been more appropriate than “crusade” in the title.

Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom

#4

Dragonslayer

• Released in 1981, Dragonslayer, was directed & co-written by Matthew Robbins & stars Peter MacNicol, Sir Ralph Richardson, John Hallam, & Caitlin Clarke.
• Dragonslayer was unsuccessful at the box office, garnering just less than $14 million against an estimated $18-million budget.

• Dragonslayer received Academy Award nominations for Best Visual Effects & Best Original Musical Score.

• The dragon, although unnamed in the film, is named Vermithrax Pejorative.

#5

Shrek Series

Shrek 2

Shrek

• Released in 2001, Shrek was directed by Vicky Jenson & Andrew Adamson (who directed Shrek 2 & The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe & was visual effects supervisor for Batman Forever & Batman & Robin) & features the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, & John Lithgow.
• Shrek won the first ever Academy Award for Best Animated Feature & was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.
• Shrek grossed $484 million worldwide against a budget of $60 million & was the fourth-highest grossing film of 2001.
• Shrek was, at the time of its release on DVD, the highest-selling DVD ever.
• Shrek went into active production in 1995 & underwent numerous changes including the recasting of Mike Myers in the lead role (on the death of Chris Farley), recasting Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona upon the termination of Janeane Garofalo, as well as Myers re-recording the entire screenplay in a Scottish accent, which led to several impromptu script changes.

• Shrek was DreamWorks Animation’s fifth film & was the film that made DreamWorks competitive with Disney/Pixar.

• Shrek, of course, contains numerous pop culture references, perhaps the most conspicuous of which refer to the Disney interpretation of fairy tales.
• One of the most innovative aspects of Shrek is perhaps its use of pop music covers rather than the traditional Broadway-style music & songs.

Shrek the Third

Shrek Forever After

#10

Monsters, Inc

• Released in 2001 & directed by Pete Docter, Monsters, Inc—the fourth Pixar/Disney CGI feature-length film—stars Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Frank Oz, Jennifer Tilly, & James Coburn. Grossing $525 million worldwide & $255 million in the US, Monsters, Inc was the fourth-highest domestically grossing film of 2001. Monsters, Inc received Academy Award nominations for Best Original Score & Best Sound Editing & won the Oscar for Best Song (“If I Didn’t Have You”), which was Randy Newman’s first Academy Award.

• Disney/Pixar References:
• Boo has both a Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl doll & a Nemo clownfish doll in her bedroom.
• When Randall is banished toward the end of the film, he is sent to the trailer seen in A Bug’s Life. The Pizza Planet truck is parked outside.
• When Mike does his comedy bit for a child at the end of the film, a Tomorrowland poster is clearly visible on the wall behind the child.

• I question the efficacy of the monster banishment policy. Mike & Sulley had little problem returning to the Monster World after their banishment. Randall could probably return just as easily by finding another child’s bedroom closet door.
• Mike & Sulley are fairly common meet & greet characters at the Disney parks (especially Disney’s Hollywood Studios). Furthermore, in 2006 the dark ride, Monsters, Inc Mike & Sulley to the Rescue, opened at Disney’s California Adventure, in 2007 the interactive, comedy attraction, Monsters, Inc Laugh Floor, debuted at the Magic Kingdom at WDW, & in 2008 the dark ride, Monsters, Inc: Ride & Go Seek, premiered at Tokyo Disneyland.

#12

Darby O’Gill & the Little People

• Released in 1959 by Walt Disney Productions, Darby O’Gill & the Little People, was directed by Robert Stevenson (who also directed Mary Poppins , Old Yeller, That Darn Cat!, Blackbeard’s Ghost, & The Shaggy DA) & stars Albert Sharpe, Sean Connery, Janet Munro, & Jimmy O’Dea.
• The film Darby O’Gill & the Little People was based on the 1903 Darby O’Gill & the Good People & the 1926 Ashes of Old Wishes & Other Darby O’Gill Tales written by Herminie Templeton Kavanagh.

• Darby O’Gill & the Little People is the film in which “Cubby” Broccoli noticed Sean Connery, leading the producer to audition & then cast Connery as super-spy James Bond.

• Connery & Munro did not provide the singing voices for “Pretty Irish Girl” in the film. Brendan O’Dowda & Ruby Murray, in fact, provided the singing voices for the duet in Darby O’Gill & the Little People.