The AFI defines a fantasy film as one “where live-action characters inhabit imagined settings and/or experience situations that transcend the rules of the natural world.”
This is a pretty open-ended definition, in my opinion. To me, it means that the movies on this list are not just those technically defined as “fantasy”, but those considered “horror” movies also seem to fit (and, to be honest, “comic book” movies like Superman, Spider-Man, and X-Men).
Anyway…here are my picks for the Top 10 Fantasy Films:
1. Evil Dead
2. Big Trouble in Little China
3. Hellboy
4. Willow
5. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
6. Labyrinth
7. Ghostbusters
8. The Mummy (1999)
9. An American Werewolf in London
10. Clash of the Titans
3 responses so far ↓
Kym // February 22, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Willow ( of course!)
The Princess Bride (This is a classic. How can you leave it off your list?)
The Lord of the Rings (all 3 but the Two towers is the best)
Harry Potter (The whole series isn’t consistently good but several are excellent)
Ghostbusters (Hysterical!)
Dragonheart (Sean Connery’s voice is even sexy)
Ladyhawke (Rudgar Howard–mmm)
A Knight’s Tale (One of my all time favorites)
The Thirteenth Warrior (based on my alltime favorite fantasy poem Beowulf)
Possibly Conan the Barbarian but its been a long time and I may be remembering it better than it is.
Dan // February 22, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Conan’s pretty good, although not as good as Beast Master.
I realized that I left out The Princess Bride, but considered my picks set in stone and immutable.
As for the Potter films…I love the books, but don’t really care much for the movies (although I hear Order of the Phoenix is pretty good).
Kym // February 23, 2008 at 1:26 am
Have you seen A Knight’s Tale?
That is my If-you-could-only-see-one-movie-for -the-rest-of-your-life movie. I would have to pick it. I’ve watched it 7-8 times and been impressed everytime and most importantly, I flat out enjoyed myself.