Created by Hironobu Sakaguchi in 1987, Final Fantasy is one of the longest running, most popular and acclaimed video games ever made.
All combined, about 100 million copies of Final Fantasy games have been sold. The games are mainly RPG’s (role playing games) and have a distinct Japanese style, reminiscent of Anime movies and television series, but also outside Japan they are very popular.
The games have great story lines in which groups of good characters usually go on a quest (collecting crystals) and have to fight all sorts of evil. Both fantasy and science fiction elements play a large part in Final Fantasy with characters often relying on magic or on technology and players have to choose which elements to use to reach their goals.
Each new version of Final Fantasy has raised the bar for gameplay and graphics for the entire industry. Also, the use of music is always very impressive and adds a lot to the gaming experience. The games have been mainly released for Nintendo and Playstation consoles.
A total of 13 separate Final Fantasy games and several spin-offs have been made so far. All are considered to be very good games, but especially Final Fantasy VII, X and XII are seen as masterpieces.
Final Fantasy XIV is in development and is expected to be released in September 2010. A preview/ review of the game will follow as soon as possible.
How self-explanatory can a title be? Bioware has announced that it will release Dragon Age 2 on March 8 in the United States and on March 11 in Europe.
Dragon Age 2 is the successor of the very popular game Dragon Age: Origins, which is seen by many as one of the best fantasy games ever.
Based on the new Dragon Age 2 Destiny cinematic trailer I would say that Dragon Age 2 may very well live up to the promise!
Recently, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice premiered in cinemas worldwide. It is a fantasy movie in which the master sorcerer Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage) takes on apprentice Dave (Jay Baruchel). Dave doesn’t know he has magical abilities and is reluctant to believe he has.
Together, Balthazar and Dave take on the evil sorcerer Maxim Horvath who attemps to release Morgana into the world, while at the same time Dave falls in love with a girl. Dave, who is a descendant of Merlin, turns ou to be the only one who can defeat Morgana and prevent her from taking over the world.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is all right to watch. It provides plenty of action and the action/ magic scenes are decently done. The acting is well done as should be expected with a cast of both established and relatively new, talented actors but it is not exactly a character driven movie. It more relies on the fast and action-packed storyline which is, although very cliche, pretty decent.
Concluding, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is an entertaining family movie with nice historical and contemporary fantasy elements but in my opinion nothing more than that. In short, the movie tells the old tale of a reluctant hero who can do amazing things and ends up saving both the world and the girl. It is definitely not a movie that will make it on the list of alltime best fantasy movies.
Click here to go to the movie’s official website. Below the trailer of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel are two contemporary fantasy series, shown between 1997 and 2004. Both series were created by Joss Whedon and revolved around a group of people, lead by the vampire slayer Buffy and vampire-turned-good Angel, fighting evil in the form of vampires and other supernatural creatures. Angel started out as a character in Buffy and got his own spin-off series after a couple of seasons. Boths series were action-packed but also contained a lot of humor which is why I believe they are among the best fantasy TV series ever made.
Question is: which series was the best?
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Buffy was quite the hype when coming to the screen in the late nineties. The idea of a young and hot cheerleader (Sarah Michelle Gellar) who managed to fight vampires and others demons while still trying to hold on to her normal life was a huge hit. Teenagers, both boys and girls, liked the setting and the themes of the series. The combination of action with fantasy/ horror elements and the high school setting with all its issues and relationships proved very entertaining. Together with the lighthearted humor it was a recipe for 6 years of success.
Angel
Angel (David Boreanaz) started out as an enemy of Buffy but turned out to have a good side and became her lover. The character became popular and showed potential for further development resulting in a spin-off series that ran for 5 seasons.
This resulted in a series about Angel being a private detective for dark and occult cases, fighting demons, preventing them from taking over the world and trying to save his own soul. The series had a dark and more grown-up vibe to it while at the same time it was quite heavily action-orientated and had a cynical type of humor.
My favourite is… Angel
For me, the clear winner is Angel. The combination of a darker atmosphere, more sinister and action-packed story lines, the more grown up characters and the humor resulted in a TV series that I believed to have been better and more entertaining than Buffy. In short, the fact that Angel had less of the teenage campus atmosphere that Buffy had, has made Angel my favourite series.
Then again, that is just my opinion so let me know if you disagree.
It is not easy to classify Pan’s Labyrinth as the movie is quite different than most other fantasy movies. Combining fantasy and horror elements, Pan’s Labyrinth is probably best labled as a dark fantasy movie.
The movie is set in Spain during the Second World War. The young girl Ofelia is given several tasks by a Faun to proof she is the reincarnation of a princess Moanna of the Underground Realm. But these tasks are not easy and the difficult circumstances and her evil step-father force her to make some difficult choices before she can return to this Realm.
Released in 2006, Pan’s Labyrinth is one of the best fantasy movies of recent years. The movie has won 3 Oscars and dozens other awards. It is the 70th best movie ever according to IMDb.
As mentioned above, Pan’s Labyrinth contains a mixture of contempory fantasy elements and disturbing horror elements. Thus results in a very intense movie, with breath-taking special effects and impressive story that really gets to you. It is not a movie that every one will like as it is not easy to swallow but I believe it to be a true masterpiece.
A new page has been added to this site, discussing the best computer/ console games related to the genre of fantasy. It is an overview of what I believe to be the best and most influential fantasy games ever made.
While not all games have a strict link with fantasy as we know it from books and movies, several clearly are based on the classical form of fantasy with elves, goblins and the lot. Game characters are likely to have special abilities, like being able to fly, superstrenght and other powers. Also, games are often set in imaginary worlds with creatures such zombies, orcs, elves and vampires that either are playable characters or enemies.
The list of course contains games like World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy but also several games you may not have thought of.
Warner Bros has released a trailer for the movie Harry potter and the Deathly Hallows. This movie will be the first of two movies that will finalise the Harry Potter series. Part one will be released on November 17 2010 (or 18/19, depending on where you live).
Although I am not a big fan of Harry Potter, as I mentioned earlier, I will definitely watch the movie. I have good hopes that the last two movies will be darker and more violent than the last couple of movies. It will definitely be fascinating to see how the end of series is depicted on the big screen, especially in 3D.
Click here to go to the official Harry Potter movie website.
Below the trailer of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I.
The movie The NeverEnding Story has had a big impact on me as a child. As far as I remember this was the first fantasy movie I ever saw. That, combined with the popularity of the movie, is what it has a high ranking on the list of best fantasy movies.
The NeverEnding Story is based on the novel Die Unendliche Geschichte by the German author Michael Ende. The book was published in 1979, the movie was produced in 1984.
The story is about a boy Bastian who, when reading a book, finds himself in the land Fantasia. Fantasy is on the verge of being destroyed by “The Nothing”. The Childlike Empress of Fantasia summons a young warrior from the Plains People, Atreyu, to find a way to save Fantasia. On this quest Atreyu sees an image of Bastian but, despite Atreyu’s best efforts, and those of this fellow adventurers (two gnomes, an urgl and a luckdragon), he returns empty-handed.
The Empress of Fantasia makes clear that Bastian as reader of the book can save the world and he does so by shouting the name of the Empress “Moonchild”. Fantasia is saved just in time and Bastian can then wish the whole world back by means of his imagination.
The NeverEnding Story is a classical eighties movies with corresponding story, visual effects (like the luckdragon Falkor) and music. Two sequels were made but neither were as good and popular as the original.
One of the great classic movies, The Wizard of Oz was released in 1939. The story is one we all know, although many will have come to know it through one of the many remakes.
The story is based on a novel by L. Frank Baum, who wrote it around the year 1900. The 12 year old girl Dorothy is knocked unconscious and finds herself in a strange fantasy world called the Land of Oz. Helped by the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion, she goes looking for the Wizard of Oz who can bring her back to her own world. In the mean time the are pursued by the Wicked Witch of the West. It doesn’t work out the way they planned but in the end Dorothy is able to return to her world by herself.
Although the initial release was not that successful but later releases and the showing of the movie on national American television several times, made the movie very popular and influential. The story, the fact that the movie was made in color (Technicolor) and the songs all contributed to this.
There have been several remakes of the movie and also a cartoon television series. This also ensured that every child growing up in the western world has been introduced to the story. After the success of Tim Burton’s new Alice in Wonderland, there are also plans for producing a new Wizard of Oz movie.
Not only is The Wizard of Oz fun to watch, it has also been very influential and is seen by many as one of the best movies of all time. Even after 70 years, it still is a great movie to watch and one you should have at least seen once in your lifetime.
We all know the story told in the movies based on the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien. The three Lord of the Rings movies are generally considered to be among the best movies ever made and to me they are also by far the best fantasy movies ever. I will provide a short analysis of each movie and then answer the question: when comparing the three movies, which one is the best?
The Fellowship of the Ring
As the introduction to the world and characters of LOTR, The Fellowship of the Ring pulls viewers into the story, amazing them with the rich and detailed world and likeable characters. The movie sets up the complete story line and prepares viewers for what is to come. It is therefore very memorable but at the same time it is somewhat slow-paced with lots of dailogues and less action/ battles.
IMDb rating: 8.8 – Rotten Tomatoes rating: 92%
The Two Towers
The second movie of the trilogy is well balanced: Frodo and Sam go off to destroy the ring while at the same time the rest of the fellowship go on their own quests. This results in several story lines focusing on the struggles of Frodo but at the same time gives attention to the other people and races that inhabit Middle-earth and their fight against the forces of evil. There is much attention for politics, deceipt and mistrust while the dialogues between Legolas and Gimli even provide some humor. The battle of the Ents at Saruman’s tower and the legendary battle at Helm’s Deep between the Rohirrim and the Uruk-Hai are a great conclusion to this movie.
IMDb rating: 8.7 – Rotten Tomatoes rating: 96%
The Return of the King
The third and last Lord of the Rings movie focuses on two major topics: the ever more difficult quest of Frodo to reach mount Doom and destroy the ring on the one hand and the build up to the enourmous battle on the Pelennor Fields at the city of Minas Tirith on the other hand. Together they bring the trilogy to a very tense, tragic and impressively made ending. A minor downside is that it takes a really long time to get there: at some point I felt like ‘just get it over with’!
IMDb rating: 8.8 – Rotten Tomatoes rating: 94%
Comparison and Conclusion
You may already have understood it when reading the short analysis of each of the movies: The Two Towers is my favorite LOTR movie. It has the best balance between character development, the journey to destroy the ring and action in the form of smaller fights and the large battle at Helm’s Deep. The other two movies were great but focused a bit too much on specific themes which to me made them just a little less good.
Still, together I believe the movies to be by far the best fantasy movies made and I do not expect any other fantasy movie to ever outclass them. However, I do hope that one day The Hobbit will also be made into a movie and that it will be of the same quality.
There have been many rumours for quite some time and although producer ABC Studios has not officially said so, several sources are now saying that Legend of the Seeker will be cancelled after it’s second season.
Although I am personally not a big fan of the series and haven’t seen the second year, I do acknowledge Legend of the Seeker as a decent series, probably one of the best fantasy television series around. it would be a shame to see Legend of the Seeker being cancelled this soon.
The TV series has a large fanbase and the episodes had more than reasonable ratings, both in grades and in number of viewers but apparently these have not been good enough for ABC to order a third season.
About Legend of the Seeker
Legend of the Seeker is a television series loosely based on The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. It tells the classical story of the boy Richard Cypher who is destined to become the Seeker of Truth and defeat his evil father Darken Rahl. Richard gets help from wizard Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander, confessor Kahlan and mord-sith Cara.
As indicated above, the cancellation isn’t official yet so there is a chance we will be pleasantly surprised with news that a third season of the Seeker is ordered but don’t count on in.