There are quite a few of them, and most are really bad. Even most of the good ones of some scenes that are horrible. Excalibur is great, but there are some bad moments in it. LOTR has the hobbit bed jumping in slow motion scene. Conan has some horrible scenes and piss poor acting. Those are really the best ones except for Monty Python and the Holy Grail which doesn't have any real flaws. I can think of a few others that are okay, and I like them simply because they are Fantasy movies that aren't horrible. There is a ton of bad Fantasy out there. As a percentage it has a poor hit rate. Horror films also have a large number of really bad ones compared to the number of really good ones. I was just curious why that is. I think because of this low percentage of good ones, Fantasy fans will accept lesser quality movies just because of it.
Like sci-fi, lower budgets If they are true to source material. Usually made into action blockbuster movies If they have a higher budget.
May have something to do with the whole fantasy vs reality thing. The best imagery is always created by our imaginations. That's why we witness greatness when someone adapts a book to the screen and they hit the nail right on the head.
I think it is because there is the temptation not to take the material seriously because it is fantasy. Setting aside Monty Python (which is fantasy the same way Spaceballs is SciFi), the ones you listed generally took themselves seriously, and the parts where they tended to fall down was in moving away from that (from LOTR for example, you have dwarf tossing jokes). That is not to say you can't have humor in good fantasy, of course you can, just like you can have humor in good dramas. Look at Game of Thrones. They take the subject matter seriously and the show is a huge hit critically and with the public, but they inject plenty of humor with Tyrion and Bron, among other people. The worst fantasy movies are the ones that you can tell the actors don't really give a crap about (see Dungeons and Dragons). They key is you have to be just as serious talking about ogres killing everyone in Trollia as another movie would be about the Taliban doing the same thing to a village in Afghanistan. Too often they fail at this because the cast and crew have no respect for the material.
Many great films can have some crappy dialogue or scenes. Whenever I watch Dark Knight I can't get over the joke "have a nice trip, see you next fall" when the cop is arresting one of the mafia members. It just pulls me out but Dark Knight is still amazing. You can't discount LOTR based on that cringey bed scene/35 minute ending. That was an amazing movie. Fantasy films tend to be more cheesy because it is fantasy. You have super nerds writing books/screenplays about dragons and wizards and different super nerds trying to make it into a film. Certain films really pull it off like Reign of Fire (I don't care it is an awesome movie), Harry Potter, Avatar, Game of Thrones (not a movie but close enough), Lord of the Rings, Life of Pi and Pan's Labyrinth. It just doesn't always translate over because of the subject matter. Growing up I didn't have much faith in super hero movies after Batman & Robin, Fantastic 4 (Jessica Alba one but they all suck), Catwoman, Daredevil, Elektra, Spideman 3 and Ghost Rider. All I had was Tim Burton Batman and cartoons. They figured it out with the Dark Knight trilogy and now most super hero movies are pretty good.
Some great fantasy films, FB. Some have already been mentioned, and I'm sure I've forgotten several. I didn't mention the animated ones. Those should be in another category, in my opinion. The Princess Bride The Wizard of Oz Pan's Labyrinth Time Bandits The Adventures of Baron Muchausen Lord of the Rings the Potter films (not a huge fan)
I pretty much love all of those. I do like and enjoy the Harry Potter movies, though again there are some weak parts, though they aren't as glaring. I also love GoT. I think with the expanded time of a series it might be possible to do more and create the world better than just a movie.
I could see a good dungeon escape movie where they need to get around traps as being interesting. Sort of like the Maze and cube. And with a dungeon master involved. Think part of the problem is creating new lore that is not based on lore that already exists like dragons, knights, and elves. That is where I think the Dark Souls game shined. Much of it felt new and why think it would make a great movie.
Great take. I agree with what you said about taking the material seriously. Agreeing with that, it makes movies that are good like LOTR even that much more admirable. I remember when the first Dungeons and Dragons movie came out, I thought it might actually be good since they had good actors. Sadly the movie was horrible, and the best acting job was actually done by Marlon Wayons, maybe because he didn't have to to take his role seriously. The writing on the films could also help or hurt the actors in their job.
I think for some of the best fantasy novels turned movie, it's hard to condense multiple books into even a 3 hour movie and do the movie justice. Then there's the whole R vs PG13 thing. Like could you see Game of Thrones being a 3 hour movie and get it right? Or even a 3 part, 3 hours long series? I couldn't. Then there are some authors who give up creative control and it's just movie execs using the name to prop up some poorly written piece of **** and cash in.
So do I. HBO and the producers of the series, including Mr. Martin, of course, have done a tremendous job. I've read all the books and haven't found anything they've changed that was enough of a change to get me worked up about it. Like Lord of the Rings, I'm stunned that they've done as good a job as they have transferring the books to the screen.
Fantasy films are really hard to make whereas Sci Fi has a little technological truth to it, fantasy is purely out of the realm of this reality GoT feels more historical mostly - The medieval ages Fantasy part - white walkers, forest children, dragons, giants and so on do occupy little screening time overall Human characters are the main narrative
A fair point. I always thought of Sci-Fi and Fantasy as being equally out of the realm of possibility, but what you say makes sense.
