The Neverending Story Trilogy Is Better Than The Lord of the Rings

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The 1980s were a golden age for fantasy movies. New technology allowed filmmakers to bring imaginative worlds from books and dreams to life on the big screen. A particularly well-remembered fantasy film from that decade was Wolfgang Petersen’s, which later grew into a three-part series in the 1990s.

When people talk about great fantasy movies today, The Lord of the Rings is usually the first one mentioned. But before LOTR, The NeverEnding Story captivated audiences with a fantastical world threatened by a unique and frightening danger. Instead of a typical villain like Sauron, this film introduced ‘The Nothing’ – a force that was even more terrifying because it meant the complete disappearance of everything.

The NeverEnding Story Brought Imagination to the Big Screen

Growing up in the 1980s meant there were tons of great fantasy movies, and many people consider The NeverEnding Story one of the best. The film begins with Bastian Balthazar Bux, a shy boy running away from bullies, who ducks into a used bookstore. There, he meets the shopkeeper and is introduced to a special, old book called The NeverEnding Story, recognizable by the snake-like symbol on its cover.

The shopkeeper said the book wasn’t for him, but that just made Bastian even more determined to read it. He cleverly took the book from the bookstore while the owner was distracted, quickly hiding it in his backpack and running home, where his incredible journey began.

I’ve always loved how The NeverEnding Story plays with reality. It starts with Bastian, a kid who’s really struggling – his mom is gone, and his dad is just…checked out. He’s incredibly lonely, and books are his escape. But this book is different. As he reads, the lines between what Bastian is reading and what he’s experiencing start to blur, and honestly, it freaks him out – and me, when I first saw it! It’s not just a story anymore; he’s becoming part of it, and that’s where things get really interesting.

As Bastian reads on, he becomes increasingly involved in the story, while the threat of “The Nothing” shrinks the magical land of Fantasia down to almost nothing. He realizes he’s the hero needed to complete the Childlike Empress’s crucial mission: giving her a name. Throughout The NeverEnding Story, Bastian has been learning to cope with his sadness, and finally being able to do so is deeply healing for him.

While Frodo and Sam’s story is ultimately uplifting, The NeverEnding Story offers a complete and satisfying adventure in just one movie, lasting around ninety minutes. To get the same feeling of resolution from The Lord of the Rings, you have to watch all three films.

The NeverEnding Story’s First Antagonist Is a Far Stronger Enemy Than Sauron

What makes the original NeverEnding Story trilogy so frightening is its first villain, “The Nothing.” While the second and third films feature scary antagonists for Bastian to overcome, “The Nothing” is far more terrifying when compared to even the biggest villain in The Lord of the Rings, Sauron.

The idea of “The Nothing” is a truly frightening villain, particularly for young viewers. It’s a shadowy, nameless force that destroys everything it touches, leaving only emptiness behind. This is especially scary for Bastian, who is already dealing with the loss of his mother and the emptiness her death has created. The thought of “The Nothing” erasing all traces of her – as if she never existed – is deeply unsettling. He even fears it could eventually make him forget himself.

Essentially, “The Nothing” would be the ultimate enemy against Sauron. It wouldn’t simply defeat him, but completely erase him – not just his presence, but all memory of him. Even more terrifyingly, “The Nothing” wouldn’t stop at Sauron; it would obliterate everything connected to him. There would be no War of the Ring, no journey of Sam and Frodo, and no Mount Doom – just complete and utter nothingness.

The NeverEnding Story Sequels Continue Giving Bastian Strength

Throughout The NeverEnding Story trilogy, Bastian develops slowly but steadily, gaining strength from the world of Fantastica. He learns valuable lessons about friendship, self-confidence, and protecting those around him, and his problems become more difficult as he matures. While The Lord of the Rings also increases the stakes as the story progresses, it immediately throws incredibly intense challenges at the characters.

The first movie centers around a challenge Bastian must conquer. The second film features a similar threat, “The Emptiness,” which is created by the villainous sorceress Xayide. This “Emptiness” grows by consuming memories, corrupting anyone who gives in to their selfish wants. Xayide tricks Bastian into believing his friends are betraying him, leading him to make increasingly absurd wishes that strengthen “The Emptiness” and cause him to forget what truly matters.

Throughout the series, Bastian nearly forgets his parents, but his father unexpectedly joins him within the story, saving those memories. By the third film, Bastian is starting high school with a new stepsister. Unfortunately, critics weren’t impressed with the final movie, feeling it lacked the magic of the first two.

Bastian often faced bullies, so it was a surprising choice to build the third movie – which wasn’t in the original book – around a group of high school bullies led by Jack Black. This also unexpectedly connected the magical world of Fantasia with everyday life, highlighting the danger of the Auryn if it fell into the wrong hands. Overall, the three films make a fantastic trilogy and are much more suitable for families than Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings.

How LOTR Compares to The NeverEnding Story as a Trilogy

It’s hard to compare the Lord of the Rings trilogy to The NeverEnding Story – they’re just very different experiences. While both are fantastic fantasy adventures, The NeverEnding Story especially sparks a lifelong love of imagination and adventure in its viewers.

A great thing about The NeverEnding Story trilogy is how relatively short it is. All three movies combined are around 280 minutes long, which is much less time than it takes to watch even the standard The Lord of the Rings trilogy – that one runs for 558 minutes, and that’s before you even consider the extended cuts.

As a total movie buff, I’m telling you, the extended editions of Lord of the Rings are a commitment! We’re talking nine to twelve hours to really dive into everything. Honestly, even I struggle to sit that long. But you know what? The NeverEnding Story—even though the first film came out almost forty years ago—still grabs me and holds my attention way more than those hobbitses and their whole ring business. It’s just timelessly entertaining!

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2026-04-13 02:15