Almost every '80s kid will remember The Neverending Story.
The fantasy epic centers on a young boy named Bastian, who uncovers a world of luck dragons,
rock-biters, and a childlike empress in the pages of a novel — and turns to the next
chapter of his own story as well.
While that might sound fanciful enough, the film is actually pretty dark and twisty, and
filled with a running metaphor about grief and never giving up.
Watching it as an adult is a whole different experience that reveals some interesting dynamics
about the movie you might not have noticed in your youth.
Here's what you'll only notice about The Neverending Story as adult.
The creepers
There's no doubt that some of the characters in The Neverending Story are meant to be terrible.
There are the Sphinxes, who blew people up just for trying to cross their path without
enough inner bravado.
And let's not forget the wolf Gmork who wants to dispense with Atreyu altogether so that
the Nothing could destroy all of Fantasia.
And that ageless turtle sure is a lazy sack of shell.
"We don't even care whether or not we care."
But then there were also some characters that were supposed to be good — but actually
come off a little creepy upon further review.
Take, for example, that cranky bookseller, who draws Bastian just a little too close
for comfort while describing the forbidden book.
Then, there's Falkor, whose reaction to getting an ear scratch is pretty...suggestive if you
listen long enough.
"Yeahhh, ohhhh.
Uhhhhh huh huh huh."
The cold heart
The whole movie seems to center on Bastian's need to come to terms with his mother's passing.
He's been suffering at school, he's not even trying to fight back against local bullies,
and he's otherwise just having a tough time moving on.
So, when his dad confronts him about him slacking off at school, his reaction is understandable.
He tells his father that he's still having dreams about his late mother, and instead
of helping his young son process that grief, his dad basically tells him to suck it up.
"We can't let Mom's death be an excuse for not getting the old job done right?"
That's some ace parenting, Dad.
It's no wonder Bastian doesn't hesitate to hole up in the attic with just a school lunch
and a book rather than go back home to that guy.
All the depression
As a kid, you probably caught the fact that there's a lot of sadness going around in The
Neverending Story.
After all, who wouldn't be bummed out by the scene where Artax surrenders to the sinking
swamp?
Which makes sense since it's literally called, well, the Swamp of Sadness.
But for grown-up audiences, the harshness of these negative emotions is probably even
more biting than it might be for a kid.
For example, the despair is way too real for Morla, the ancient one.
The giant turtle is so old and tired of life that it's had to make up an alter ego just
to have someone to talk to for the past thousand years.
Then there's the bitter monologue that the Rockbiter delivers after The Nothing snatches
his friends out of Fantasia and into oblivion.
"They look like big, good, strong hands."
Not only does he lament his own part in letting them down, but he decides to give up his own
life to the stormy oblivion, too… just because.
Speaking of which, the Nothing itself is basically one giant metaphor for the non-existence of
hope and imagination, and unlike most movies with happy endings, it largely decimates the
entire otherworldly plane as we know it.
That's a tough pill for anyone to swallow, no matter their age.
But you won't fully comprehend just what the Nothing is until after you've filed a few
tax returns and taken a look at your bank account.
What's in a name
As if conquering bullies, his own grief, and a night in a dusty attic with just a sandwich
and an apple isn't difficult enough, the task of saving Fantasia ultimately falls on Bastian,
too.
He's told that he'll have to table his skepticism about the realness of the story and say, out
loud, a new name for the Childlike Empress.
In a dramatic moment, he leaps up from his seat on the floor of the attic, runs to the
window, and mustering his best barbaric yawp, he shouts:
"Moon child!!!!"
In case you didn't catch that, he says "Moon Child," which was his mother's name, too.
But there may be a reason it's so hard to distinguish what he says.
Some theorize that his chosen name may have been purposefully obscured on-screen to allow
the film's young audience to imagine their own important name, in keeping with the story
theme.
Rumor has it, even the subtitles were left blank during that line, just to keep those
imaginations flowing.
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