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We are so used to fantasy films coming from books, that whenever a film of this genre is released, our automatic reaction is to go pick up the book in order to compare and see what was left off the film’s adaptation. There’s usually a lot of this.
But when those films surprisingly come from original scripts and not from massively epic books series, we only have that and exactly that. Films. Sure, they’re cut in the editing room, and director’s cuts exist, but everything that was important was probably left in what you saw — it’s the whole picture, because nothing was missing from some adaptation.
Screenwriters’ rooms deserve praise as much as authors’ retreat sites. One art doesn’t sit above the other, and whoever swears by the snobby comment of “books are better than movies” is probably biased. You can’t compare two things so essentially different.
We came up with a list of fantasy films that aren’t based on previous books or literature, projects that were solely based on ideas coming from modern filmmakers. Yes, screenwriters are also filmmakers whether they like being called that or not.
11/11 The Mummy
Stephen Sommers wrote and directed the action adventure film The Mummy, which made us go back to Egypt and believe in the power of mummies again, one of horror’s lamest villains. The fantasy element isn’t very strong, but it’s also not exactly a horror film, just a playful adventure movie that uses fantastical elements and helped solidify Brendan Fraser as an icon.
10/11 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Come on! Attractions in theme parks aren’t books! This is why we felt entitled to include Gore Verbinsky’s Pirates of the Caribbean on the list. This is a fantasy adventure that sparked interest in pirates almost 20 years ago, and people are still waiting for another sequel. Yes, those that came after The Curse of the Black Pearl weren’t so good, but ghost pirates running underwater through the sand will never be removed from our minds.
9/11 Willow
The Ron Howard fantasy film about a magician trying to protect a baby from evil forces is still as cool as it was back in 1988, even if the new TV series has been viciously disliked. No, George Lucas didn’t write it. He actually proposed the story, which Bob Dolman adapted into a script. It’s the one on the list that feels awkwardly “bookish” in its style.
8/11 Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey
Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, the sequel to Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, is definitely a superior film. It takes the concept of Bill & Ted and makes it funnier, yet more visually assured and thematically adult. This is a mix of horror, fantasy, rock n’ roll, ethics, Heaven, Hell, robots, and the Grim Reaper. These could only coexist coherently in a film with a clever script, and Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey has exactly that.
7/11 Time Bandits
Time Bandits is one of Terry Gilliam’s most enjoyable films, and that is a lot to say in a career filled with so many different films. In his fantasy epic, he tells the story of a boy encountering a band of thieves who seek treasures through time. The film still looks great today and is a very different kind of family film.
6/11 Beetlejuice
Tim Burton was bound to show up here, and Beetlejuice is one of his worthiest entries. It’s a fantastical horror comedy about an exorcist of ghosts (who is a demonic entity himself) and a couple trying to get rid of people living in their house after they pass away. While it obviously has horror elements, this is a fantasy film because of how bold it is when displaying its playful horror tone, rarely using horror to scare but instead to provoke laughs and amazement with its magical, supernatural weirdness.
5/11 The Fall
The Fall was written and directed by Tarsem, a visionary director with an impeccable taste and visual style who sadly doesn’t make more films. In this fantasy film, a girl enters another world through the power of her imagination as a hospitalized stuntman tells her stories. It’s Tarsem’s visual style that makes the film noteworthy. But its resolution carries a lot of power as intentions arise during pain. If you give The Fall a chance, you’ll definitely be rewarded.
4/11 Pan’s Labyrinth
Straight from the mind of Guillermo del Toro, Pan’s Labyrinth is an exceptional take on trauma and the burdens of being a child in a house where childhood isn’t admissible. Ofelia has the power of escaping to an unsettling dimension where fairies, eyeless monsters, and kings and queens exist. All through to the power of innocence.
3/11 Spirited Away
Straight from Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away is the only animated film on the list. Yes, it feels like cheating, but the film’s so original in its coming-of-age portrayal that it’s undeniably mature in how it deals with the fantasy elements. It’s a great feature for adults and children, coming from a place where dreams and nightmares can actually come true if you just let yourself go.
2/11 Edward Scissorhands
Tim Burton has two spots on the list, and it isn’t a coincidence. He’s really a master of originality and creativity when coming up with strange universes that look like nothing else in film history. Edward Scissorhands is definitely one of his greatest films, with an aesthetic palette that transforms normal suburbia into a surreal fantasia.
1/11 Labyrinth
The 1986 film Labyrinth was directed by the master of muppets, Jim Henson, whose feature film career was relatively short. In it, a 16-year-old babysitter travels to another land in order to save her half-brother after she wishes him away. In that puppet-infested land, she must face David Bowie’s Jareth, a king of goblins who also rocks a kick-ass hairdo. This could be easily one of the best films in the list, and the only one with an unmade sequel we are definitely craving for.
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