Before the noughties’ rejuvenation of the genre with the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings‘ film franchises, pure fantasy movies were a much maligned species – in many ways the ugly sister of science fiction and graphic novel adaptations. Most of the attempts were aimed purely at children or were so niche as to appeal to no one other than a die-hard audience (Dungeons and Dragons movies, I’m talking about you!). There were of course some shining exceptions to this trend, perhaps the best loved of them being Rob Reiner’s 1987 film The Princess Bride. Based on the 1973 novel by William Goldman (who also wrote the movie screenplay, thus ensuring its faithfulness to his original text) the film was heralded as a cult classic almost as soon as it was released. Full of wit, picaresque adventure, action, romance and magic, this was not your typical fantasy film. This is what has perhaps ensured its longevity and even today it regularly comes near the top of lists of romance and comedy as well as fantasy films.
Top Posts & Pages
The Inn at the Edge of the World
Click image to read my short story 'The Inn at the Edge of the World' in Bardic Tales and Sage Advice, Vol. 8.
The Witch of Wicken Fen
Click image to read my short story 'The Witch of Wicken Fen' in Aphelion, the Webzine of sci-fi and fantasy.
Tolkien
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Another Road to Middle Earth
Fifty years after its first publication, The Lord of the Rings found a new and even larger audience in a new medium, the three films directed by Peter Jackson and released in successive years 2001–2003. These are some of the most successful films ever made. The three between them had taken some £1,279 million at the […]
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After the King: Tolkien’s heirs
It is something of a relief, having looked last month at his critics, to turn this time to Tolkien’s many admirers. It would not be true to say that there was no such thing as epic fantasy before Tolkien: there was a tradition of English and Irish writers before him, such as E R Eddison and […]
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Tolkien: The Monsters and the Critics
“This is not a work that many adults will read right through more than once.” With these words the anonymous reviewer for the Times Literary Supplement (25 November 1955) summed up his judgment of J R R Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. It must have seemed a pretty safe prophecy at the time, for of […]
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The Wolf in the Attic
1920s Oxford: home to C S Lewis, J R R Tolkien and, in Paul Kearney’s novel The Wolf in the Attic, Anna Francis, a young Greek girl looking to escape the grim reality of her new life. The night they cross paths, none suspect the fantastic world at work all around them. Anna lives in a […]
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Of Wood Woses and Wild Men
In The Lord of the Rings a strange and primitive folk named the Woses came to aid the men of Gondor in breaking the siege of Minas Tirith. These wild woodland people lived in the ancient forest of Druadan, below the White Mountains. In form they were weather-worn, short-legged, thick-armed and stumpy-bodied and they knew wood-craft […]
Fabulous Realms 