“The NeverEnding Story – 40th Anniversary Limited Edition 4K UHD + Blu-ray Exclusive Replica Storybook Packaging – Imprint Collection #365” (1984)

Fantasy

Running Time: 94 minutes

Written by: Wolfgang Petersen and Herman Weigel

Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen

Featuring: Noah Hathaway, Barret Oliver, Tami Stronach, Patricia Hayes, Sydney Bromley, Gerald McRaney and Moses Gunn

Rock Biter: “They look like big, good, strong hands, don’t they? I always thought that’s what they were.”

Few fantasy films have endured in the collective memory quite like The NeverEnding Story. Released in 1984, directed by Wolfgang Petersen (who had just found international acclaim with Das Boot), the film stands as a landmark of 1980s fantasy cinema — ambitious, flawed, enchanting, and utterly sincere in ways that modern movies often shy away from. Though it is an adaptation of only about half of Michael Ende’s 1979 novel (and controversially so — Ende famously hated the film), Petersen’s vision succeeds in conjuring a world that feels genuinely limitless, even despite budgetary constraints.

The story follows Bastian Balthazar Bux (Barret Oliver), a sensitive, bullied boy grieving the death of his mother and the emotional absence of his stern father. Seeking refuge from his everyday misery, Bastian hides in an old bookstore and steals a mysterious book titled The NeverEnding Story. As he reads, he discovers that the fantasy world of Fantasia is being consumed by a malevolent force called “The Nothing.” Meanwhile, a young warrior, Atreyu (Noah Hathaway), is tasked with saving the realm by finding a cure for the ailing Childlike Empress (Tami Stronach).

What sets The NeverEnding Story apart is its metafictional structure: Bastian’s reading impacts the story, and the story demands his participation. This elevates the film beyond a simple fairy tale. It becomes a meditation on grief, imagination, courage, and the loss of innocence. Fantasia is explicitly stated to be the realm of human imagination, underlining a surprisingly melancholy point — that when people stop dreaming, wonder itself disappears.

The underlying sadness of the story, a recognition that childhood fades and magic dims, gives the film an emotional weight that makes it endure.

For its time, The NeverEnding Story boasted one of the largest budgets in West German cinema history, and it shows. The practical effects, while occasionally creaky to modern eyes, possess a tangible, hand-crafted beauty that CGI rarely replicates. The film’s creatures — such as the giant Rockbiter, the racing snail, Morla the giant turtle, and, most famously, Falkor the luckdragon — have a tactile reality that makes Fantasia feel like a place you could actually touch.

The design of Fantasia itself is varied and ambitious, ranging from sweeping plains to decaying swamps to the crystalline Ivory Tower. The Swamps of Sadness scene, where Atreyu loses his horse Artax, remains devastating precisely because of the physical reality of the set. It’s muddy, suffocating, and grim — a symbolic landscape of grief rendered literal. Scenes like this give the movie a mythic resonance far greater than most children’s films.

Composer Klaus Doldinger, with Giorgio Moroder providing additional music (including the infectious title song performed by Limahl), gives the film a soundscape that is both dreamy and driving. The iconic synth-heavy theme song may be kitschy by today’s standards, but it’s undeniably memorable — a sonic time capsule of 1980s fantasy.

The child actors are uneven but earnest, which arguably suits the tone of the story. Barret Oliver captures Bastian’s vulnerability without becoming whiny, and Noah Hathaway as Atreyu carries a stoic but believable sense of duty and loss. Tami Stronach, appearing as the Childlike Empress, has a haunting, ethereal presence that lingers in the imagination far longer than her brief screen time would suggest.

The adult cast is mostly peripheral, but they help ground the frame story. Particularly notable is Thomas Hill as the curmudgeonly but kindly bookstore owner, who understands the power of the book in ways Bastian cannot yet grasp.

Michael Ende’s disdain for the film was well-publicized — he felt Petersen’s adaptation dumbed down and distorted the philosophical heart of his book. And indeed, the film truncates the novel’s deeper metaphysical explorations. In the second half of the novel (which the movie does not cover), Bastian himself enters Fantasia and confronts his own darker impulses. The movie ends on a triumphant but arguably simplistic note: Bastian saves Fantasia and gets to ride Falkor for revenge on his bullies.

If there’s a major flaw to The NeverEnding Story, it’s this: the pacing feels a bit off in the second half, where emotional beats occasionally get rushed. And the final scenes — wherein Bastian’s adventures become wish-fulfillment fantasies — feel slightly at odds with the more somber, introspective mood that dominates the first two-thirds.

Additionally, while the visual effects are often brilliant, a few moments (like the flying scenes with Falkor) show their seams. However, these technical imperfections somehow contribute to the film’s old-school charm.

Despite its rocky relationship with Ende, The NeverEnding Story was a commercial success and has since become a cult classic. It spawned two inferior sequels — The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter (1990) and The NeverEnding Story III (1994) — which lack the mythic ambition and emotional depth of the original.

Today, the film is remembered not only for its fantastical imagery but for its emotional potency. It’s rare to find a children’s movie willing to confront grief, despair, and existential dread so openly. Petersen treated his young audience with respect, assuming they could handle sadness, confusion, and even terror — and because of that, The NeverEnding Story has remained beloved for generations.

Special Features and Technical Specs:

Disc One: Original US Theatrical Cut on 4K UHD

• Dolby Vision presentation of the 94-minute Theatrical Cut on 4K UHD, restored from the original 35mm negative by Imprint Films
• Audio Commentary by writer/director Wolfgang Petersen
• Audio Commentary by ‘Future Noir’ author Paul M. Sammon (2024)
• Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
• Audio English DTS-HD 5.1 Surround / LPCM 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English Subtitles

Disc Two: Original US Theatrical Cut on Blu-ray

• 1080p High-definition presentation on Blu-ray of the 4K restoration of the 94-minute Theatrical Cut
• Audio Commentary by writer/director Wolfgang Petersen
• Audio Commentary by ‘Future Noir’ author Paul M. Sammon (2024)
• Finding Fantasia: Adapting The NeverEnding Story – featurette on the book adaptation with producer/director Lisa Downs (2024)
• Flights of Fantasy: Inside the scores of The NeverEnding Story– featurette with film music historian Daniel Schweiger (2024)
• Reimagining The NeverEnding Story featurette
• The Making of The NeverEnding Story featurette (in German with optional subtitles)
• A World of Fantasies feature documentary (in German with optional subtitles)
• Theatrical Trailer
• NeverEnding Story music video by Limahl
• Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
• Audio English DTS-HD 5.1 Surround / LPCM 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English Subtitles

Disc Three: German Extended Cut on 4K UHD

• HDR10 presentation of the 104-minute German Extended Cut on 4K UHD
• Storyboard Comparison
• Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
• Audio English DTS-HD 5.1 Surround / Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English Subtitles

Disc Four: German Extended Cut on Blu-ray

• 1080p High-definition presentation on Blu-ray of the 4K restoration of the 104-minute German Extended Cut
• Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
• Audio English DTS-HD 5.1 Surround / Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English Subtitles

Disc Five: Life After NeverEnding Story (2024 feature-length documentary) on Blu-ray

• 1080p High-definition presentation on Blu-ray
• Interview with director Lisa Downs
• Bonus and extended interviews
• Alternative scenes
• Once Upon a Time in… Treviso – featurette
• Original Trailer
• Bonus Trailers
• Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
• Audio: LPCM 2.0
• Optional English Subtitles
• Optional German Subtitles