Friday February 29, 2008 The Neverending Story
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For the last couple of weeks, Lynea and I have been reading this book to Duncan at bedtime. Duncan has also been reading from it too. We are working from a copy that uses green and red text to show the two different worlds, which is kind of cool. |
It's a book I'd never read before, and to be honest I still haven't. I'd guess I've now read about a third of it. It's not easy to pick it up every other night and try to work out what's happened while your wife or son has been reading it in between.
Duncan has decided to use this book for his next school book report. This time the book report needs to be in the form of an advertisement for the book. To give him an idea, I showed him the trailer for the film that's on YouTube. It'll be interesting to see what he comes up with.
We also watched the movie last night. Spoilers ahead (if that's possible for a movie that's almost 24 years old). This was the first time that Duncan had read a book and then watched the film of it. If he's anything like me, he was probably hoping for something that was "just like the book". He was mildly surprised to see where it differed and what parts they left out. When it ended, he asked "where's the rest of it?" For those who haven't seen it, the film ends roundabout when Bastian renames the Empress. That's about a third of the way through the book. We mentioned that there are two more films. Oh, he replied. We'll now have to borrow those from the library too.
No doubt if they remade Neverending Story nowadays it would by jam packed with CGI rather than large "puppets". That didn't really spoil the story though. I have to wonder what 24 years would do to the fact the father just left the boy to go off to school on his own at the start of the film, and there was no concern that the boy didn't come home from school again afterwards. But then again, when I was a kid his age, that wasn't a big deal anyway.
Times change.
( Feb 29 2008, 09:11:15 AM PST ) [Listen] Permalink Comments [8]
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I'm not a *huge* fantasy reader, but this is one of my favorite books. I read it when I was about 8, and then a handful of times over the years. I revisited it in college and found it to be very rich in theme, if not a bit "young".
Be sure to watch the second movie; for some reason they split the story over two movies, and with an almost entirely different cast. Kitschy, but enjoyable. Doesn't beat the book, though... never does.
Posted by Andrew Conkling on February 29, 2008 at 10:03 AM PST #
I wouldn't bother with the third movie, it's a different cast again, in a different storyline, and is nowhere near as good.
This book truly lived up to its name when I was a kid, though... I read it more times than I can count.
Another book by Ende: Momo. Its target is younger than The Neverending Story, and it's a bit tough to find, but still good.
Posted by Daniel Lin on February 29, 2008 at 11:09 AM PST #
IIRC the story is that after seeing the movie, Michael Ende tried to
get his name removed from it, and he almost succeeded. Not sure if
that was the case for all movies, or just one.
While I usually dislike fantasy, I liked and still like Ende's books,
but even better is Walter Moers (if the translation is any good at
least). Best start with "13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear".
Cheers
Colin
Posted by Colin Marquardt on March 01, 2008 at 01:10 AM PST #
Thanks everyone. NES II (the movie) is
"in transit" so we'll probably watch that Sunday
(while the story is still fresh in our minds).
I'll also look out for Momo and Walter Moers.
Posted by Rich Burridge on March 01, 2008 at 07:35 AM PST #
I purches The Never Ending Story II. The first movie is awesome, but the second is pure pooh. I have not bothered with the third.
Posted by Maxo on March 04, 2008 at 01:16 PM PST #
We've seen the second movie to now and it's pretty
average. We've requested the third one from the
library, but at IMDB only gives it 2-1/2 stars,
we aren't expecting to much.
Posted by Rich Burridge on March 04, 2008 at 01:29 PM PST #
Ha, I didn't even know there was a third movie. As I recall, the second completed the story in the book; what's in the third, I wonder?
Posted by Andrew Conkling on March 08, 2008 at 08:32 PM PST #
@Rich: "what's in the third" Jack Black for one. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Black#Filmography
Posted by Maxo on March 08, 2008 at 08:43 PM PST #