The original is one of my all time favourite movies, beautifully designed, well acted and had the sense of wonder that enthralled me when I was a child. I saw Neverending Story 3 recently, and thought it was absolute garbage with next to no redeeming qualities. NeverEnding Story 2: The Next Chapter wasn't terrible, but I will admit I was disappointed.

The film does look spectacular, with lovely costumes and sets- the image of the silver boats on the river was a beautiful image. The music by Robert Folk was gorgeous, very lyrical and atmospheric. And I did think Xayide was a pretty good villainess and Clarissa Burt was superb playing her, and that Ken Morrison did a worthy job replacing Noah Hathaway as Atreyu. I do admit Hathaway was better, he was born to play the part. Falcor wasn't too bad either, if not as wise as he was in the original movie.

There are flaws however. The plot is disjointed, and there are a lot of unfocused moments in the screenplay. Also that big bird was really irritating. Not to mention some contradictions in comparison to the original, then again NeverEnding Story 3 had a lot more contradictions, and did do an even worse job than this film. Barrett Oliver as Bastian was great in the original, and I do appreciate that they made him older and wiser here, but I did think as the hero Jonathan Brandis was rather feeble, but he did try his best with superficial material.

Overall, disappointing, but it wasn't that bad. If anything I think it is average, so I will give it a 5/10. Bethany Cox

Bastian has a fear of diving and goes back to the bookstore to ask Koreander for help. When he sees 'The Neverending Story', the Childlike Empress asks him for help and he takes the book again. This time he goes right into Fantasia to rescue the Childlike Empress. The evil sorceress Xayide has a plan to steal a memory from Bastian for every wish he makes until his mind is empty of all memories. Atreyu and Falkor return to help Bastian in his quest.

It's six years after the production of the first movie. So most of the actors are different as well as the director. Jonathan Brandis is a lovely boy actor. He's capable but he's a very effeminate boy. I'm not sure what I dislike about him. I think mostly it's the annoying stupidity of the character, the dialog, and his speaking style.

The story is one straight quest. There isn't any originality anymore. It's relying on the goodwill of the original. The action isn't exciting. The acting is weak. The dialog is clunky. The production got bigger but not better.

So the original is a classic and people really love it (deservedly so) - but with almost everything that is succesful, you will get at least one sequel. And it should have stayed at one sequel to tell you the truth, but more about part 3 elsewhere. This one takes the story where we left off, but has different actors in the same roles - which makes sense because many years had passed but they wanted to still have kids in the main roles.

So while this does not hold up to the first one, this is a decent effort overall. As an adult you can see where this is going, but for some kids this may still work. So it is the audience that matters a bit when watching this. There are character traits and downfalls and the puppet work is exceptional again. There are worse movies out there for sure