While everyone loves a good fantasy film series or franchise, there's no question that Hollywood movies have become more and more reliant on the idea of sequels in recent years. Massive franchises like Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean dominate box offices to the point that out of the 10 highest-grossing fantasy films of all time, every single one is either part of a film series or a remake of an older movie.
That isn't to say that sequels are bad, but there is a certain power to a movie that doesn't need a sequel. Fantasy films that stand alone and tell complete stories can be far more satisfying to watch than ones that are clearly putting far more energy into establishing franchise potential than into crafting a compelling narrative. And, of course, there are fads like Disney's avalanche of 90s direct-to-video sequels, with their shoestring budgets and disappointingly outsourced animation. Thankfully, these ten films are some of the most incredible – and self-contained – fantasy stories ever put on the silver screen.
10
Escaflowne (2000)
Directed by Kazuki Akane
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Escaflowne: The Movie is an animated fantasy film directed by Kazuki Akane. Set in a mystical world, it follows Hitomi Kanzaki, a disenchanted high school student who finds herself transported to the planet Gaea. There, she allies with Van Fanel, a young king, and his transforming mecha, Escaflowne, to thwart an impending war. The film offers a darker and more streamlined narrative compared to the original TV series.
While many anime series eventually get cut together into compilation films for theatrical releases, the film adaptation of the seminal 1996 isekai mecha anime The Vision of Escaflowne is a complete reimagining of Shōji Kawamori's original story with entirely new animation. The original Vision of Escaflowne was entirely a production of Sunrise Studios, but the Escaflowne film was animated by Bones, a studio comprised of ex-Sunrise animators that split off in 1998, but remained in close partnership with their parent company.
The Escaflowne film is an incredibly beautiful work of animation. Much of the original show's production team – director Kazuki Akane, character designer Nobuteru Yūki, mechanical designer Kimitoshi Yamane, and composer Yoko Kanno – returned for the film, as did the original voice cast. Voice actress Maaya Sakamoto, the original voice of protagonist Hitomi Kanzaki, gives a particularly compelling performance, especially given the film's far darker tone than the original show. With absolutely stunning animation of the combat sequences between the massive steampunk mecha Guymelefs, particularly the titular Escaflowne, the film is a gorgeous, stunning, and deeply romantic standalone fantasy adventure.
9
Brave (2012)
Directed by Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
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Pixar's Brave follows Princess Merida of DunBroch (Kelly MacDonald), the daughter of a clan chief in medieval Scotland. When Meridia is told she must marry the suitor of her parents' choosing, she refuses, defying an age-old tradition and causing chaos in the kingdom. This starts a chain of events that causes Merida's mother, Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson), to fall victim to a magical curse, the princess sets off into the wild to rescue her.
Release Date
June 21, 2012
Runtime
1h 33m
Director
Mark Andrews
, Brenda Chapman
, Steve Purcell
It's Disney's nature as a company to churn out as many sequels as possible (or profitable) for its numerous films, especially the ones with princesses in them. That makes Brave all the more remarkable for its standalone nature, especially compared to its predecessor Tangled, which got two short film sequels and a spin-off television series. Yet even without the weight of its own mini-franchise backing it up, Brave was a wildly successful Disney/Pixar film.
Brave was such an ambitious film to animate from a technical perspective that it helped lead to Pixar developing entirely new in-house animation software for it, known as Presto. A smash critical and financial success thanks to its compelling and heartfelt story about repairing familial relationships, Brave also netted numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA, and a full sweep of all four awards it was nominated for at the 11th Visual Effects Society Awards. Best of all, Brave star Kelly MacDonald adamantly opposes a sequel.
8
MirrorMask (2005)
Directed by Dave McKean
MirrorMask is a fantasy film directed by Dave McKean, written by Neil Gaiman, centered on a 15-year-old girl navigating a surreal world of opposing kingdoms. Tasked with locating the legendary MirrorMask, she embarks on a journey to save the kingdom and return home. Released in 2005.
Release Date
January 25, 2005
Runtime
101 minutes
Cast
Stephanie Leonidas
, Jason Barry
, Rob Brydon
, Gina McKee
, Dora Bryan
, Stephen Fry
, Robert Llewellyn
, Lenny Henry
, Nik Robson
, Simon Harvey
, Eryl Maynard
, Andy Hamilton
, Eve Pearce
, Victoria Williams
, Rick Allen
, Iain Ballamy
Director
Dave McKean
This criminally underrated Jim Henson Company production was an unfortunate commercial flop, only grossing just shy of a million dollars at the box office from its limited theatrical run – less than a quarter of the film's $4 million budget – despite its warm reception at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Originally conceived of by the Hensons as a direct-to-video sequel to either Labyrinth or The Dark Crystal due to both of those films' phenomenal DVD sales at the turn of the millennium, MirrorMask evolved into its own unique, beautifully flawed creation.
With a strange and heartfelt story about circus girl Helena (Stephanie Leonidas), whose fear over her sick mother sends her stumbling into the conflict between the strange and wondrous City of Light and the ominous Land of Shadows, MirrorMask asks subtle questions about why we hide the most delicate parts of ourselves from our loved ones. While there are many similarities to Laika Studio's later film Coraline, right down to both using stories from author Neil Gaiman, MirrorMask mostly utilizes CGI to create its bizarre characters, with some practical effects very much in the spirit of the Jim Henson company.
7
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Directed by Robert Zemekis
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Who Framed Roger Rabbit combines live-action and animation to create a world where humans and cartoon characters coexist. Set in 1940s Hollywood, the film follows a private investigator who is contracted to work on the case of a cartoon framed for murder, despite his dislike of cartoons. Bob Hoskins, Charles Fleischer, Christopher Lloyd, and Kathleen Turner all star.
Release Date
June 22, 1988
Runtime
104 minutes
Director
Robert Zemeckis
Loosely based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, for which Wolf actually wrote two sequel books and a prequel after the film's success, Robert Zemekis' first foray into directing animation remains one of the greatest screwball buddy comedies ever released. The antics of washed-up private investigator Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) and the titular toon Roger Rabbit (Charles Fleisher) not only continue to entertain after almost 40 years, but also remain some of the most impressive footage to ever integrate live-action and animated characters interacting.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit director, Robert Zemckis, has said that the reason a sequel will never be made is because of current Disney sensibilities.
Netting four Oscars, a BAFTA, a Hugo, and two Saturn Awards, Who Framed Roger Rabbit proved forever that animated films, even extremely goofy ones, don't have to be kiddie fare. It inspired the construction of the Toontown sections of Disney's theme parks, and was even selected for preservation by the Library of Congress in 2016 for its cultural and historical significance. And of course, every groundbreaking film has its successors and imitators, of which Who Framed Roger Rabbit has a multitude, such as Cool World, Space Jam, and Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
6
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003)
Directed by Tim Johnson and Patrick Gilmore
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Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas is an animated adventure film featuring the legendary sailor Sinbad, voiced by Brad Pitt. The plot follows Sinbad as he is wrongly accused of stealing the magical Book of Peace and must embark on a perilous journey to retrieve it. Alongside his loyal crew and childhood friend Marina, voiced by Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sinbad confronts fearsome creatures and overcomes numerous challenges.
Release Date
July 2, 2003
Runtime
86 minutes
CastBrad Pitt
, Catherine Zeta-Jones
, Michelle Pfeiffer
, Joseph Fiennes
, Dennis Haysbert
, Timothy West
Director
Patrick Gilmore
, Tim Johnson
Loosely mixing some of the Arabian classic One Thousand and One Nights with a generous helping of Greek mythology, DreamWorks' animated take on the story of Sinbad the Sailor was originally meant to be a Disney production in the early 90s, but got shelved; when Jeffrey Katzenberg left Disney in 1994 to help found DreamWorks, he brought the seed for Sinbad with him.
Sadly, Sinbad was considered a box-office failure, especially considering that after its first week in theaters it was blown out of the water by the release of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and that failure meant DreamWorks has been unwilling to risk making any traditionally animated films ever since. Still, Sinbad was a far better adventure film than even its studio was willing to give it credit for, and in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert said it best:
[Sinbad is] a reminder that animation is the most liberating of movie genres, freed of gravity, plausibility, and even the matters of lighting and focus. … [A]s we watch it, we are sailing over the edge of the human imagination. (via RogerEbert.com)
5
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
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Princess Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind embarks on a perilous journey to save her people and the environment from a spreading toxic jungle filled with dangerous creatures. Gifted with the ability to understand and communicate with the jungle's giant insects, she seeks to find a way for humans and nature to coexist. As she battles against opposing factions and uncovers the truth behind the devastation, Nausicaä's courage and empathy become the keys to healing her world.
Release Date
March 11, 1984
Runtime
117 Minutes
Cast
Sumi Shimamoto
, Gorô Naya
, Yôji Matsuda
One of the last films made by Japanese production studio Topcraft before it folded and was reborn as the immortal Studio Ghibli, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is the movie that showed the world how Hayao Miyazaki was a master of environmental storytelling. The story began as a manga that Miyazaki began releasing in serial form in the magazine Animage; the original contract between Miyazaki and the magazine forbade him from ever releasing Nausicaä as a film, which Animage backpedaled on once the story proved popular enough among the magazine's readers.
Nausicaä's constantly relevant messages of empathy and conservation are ones that have echoed through the entirety of Miyazaki's work, particularly once Studio Ghibli was founded a year after the film's release and began working on movies like Castle in the Sky and My Neighbor Totoro. In fact, Nausicaä is usually considered the first Ghibli film, as well it should be, as without its massive success as both a manga and a film, Studio Ghibli would likely never have formed.
4
The Shape Of Water (2017)
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
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Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water is set in Baltimore, Maryland in 1962, and follows Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins), a shy, mute woman who works as a custodian at a secure government facility. While at her job, Elisa meets and falls in love with a human-amphibian hybrid man, who is being held and experimented on at the facility by the evil Colonel Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon). Risking her life and the lives of her friends, Elisa hatches a plan to help her amphibian lover escape, pursued by Strickland and his forces in the government.
Release Date
December 1, 2017
Runtime
123 Minutes
Director
Guillermo del Toro
Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro is well-known for his love of monsters. His filmography is almost entirely composed of horror films and fantastical explorations of the monstrous; even his kaiju-smashing action epic Pacific Rim notably drew a parallel about the monstrous nature of the film's massive Jaeger mecha, with the line "To fight monsters, we created monsters of our own." Del Toro's modern fairy tale The Shape of Water is notably much less focused on the horror aspect of his monsters, though. Instead, del Toro's aquatic monster is far more sympathetic than terrifying.
The Shape of Water, which tells the story of deaf janitor Elisa (Sally Hawkins), who works at a high-security US government facility and falls in love with the captive Amphibian Man (Doug Jones) held there against his will, is a beautiful exploration of the ways that people othered by social forces can find community and affection together, despite what the establishment says about their differences. It was a smash hit critically and won four Academy Awards out of the thirteen categories it was nominated in, with the distinction of only being the second fantasy film to ever win Best Picture.
3
Troll Hunter (2010)
Directed by André Øvredal
Troll Hunter is a Norwegian fantasy film released on October 29, 2010. It follows a group of students investigating mysterious bear killings, who discover the activities of a clandestine troll hunter. As they join this hunter, they uncover encounters with mythical beings within Norway's wilderness.
Found footage films, especially mockumentaries, are often extremely polarizing and often limited by the nature of their premise; when a movie is forced to look like it was entirely shot on a handheld camera, it often also has the commensurate production value. Yet despite those limitations, Troll Hunter remains a phenomenal film; although the cinematography is occasionally messy by design, it more than makes up for it with the fantastic visual effects and deep understanding of Norway and its long-lived cultural obsession with trolls.
The digital effects creating the various trolls are only a part of Troll Hunter's stunning visuals, though, as the vast spectacle of Norway's fjords and forests are as much a part of the film's visual language as the trolls. The cast, mostly Norwegian comedians, play the dialogue as straight as possible for maximum effect from their dry Nordic wit. With favorable reviews both by Norwegian critics and international ones, as well as winning an Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking award at 2011's Newport Film Festival, it's no wonder Troll Hunter is considered the Norwegian answer to The Blair Witch Project.
2
The Princess Bride (1987)
Directed by Rob Reiner
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Based on the 1973 novel by William Goldman, The Princess Bride is a comical fantasy adventure film that tells a swashbuckling tale of a hero and a princess, read to a young, sick boy in bed by his grandfather. The story itself follows farmhand Westley, who embarks on an epic journey to save his beloved princess from an evil prince as he meets strange but reliable companions along the way.
Release Date
October 9, 1987
Runtime
98 minutes
Cast
Mandy Patinkin
, Chris Sarandon
, Robin Wright
, Cary Elwes
, Christopher Guest
Director
Rob Reiner
Few fantasy films have had the same kind of stunning cultural impact as The Princess Bride. Its modest initial box office success didn't dissuade critics from heaping the film with praise and awards, or from being selected as a 2016 addition to the Library of Congress. It helped launch the film careers of Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Wallace Shawn, and Robin Wright.
While no one has ever tried to make a sequel to The Princess Bride, which is only fitting given how nicely the narrative ties everything together, there have been attempts to remake or reboot the film. In 2019, Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra brought up the idea in an interview in Variety, but the immediate backlash both from the public and the original film's cast and crew shut the idea down before it got any more traction in the Hollywood reboot machine. Cary Elwes' response, in particular, was all that needed to be said on the matter:
1
Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
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Directed by Guillermo del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth follows Ofelia, a ten-year-old girl living in 1940s Spain who learns she is actually a long-lost fairy princess. With the help of a faun, she is set a series of tasks to complete in order to return to her true home in the fairy underworld. Ivana Baquero stars as Ofelia, with Sergi López, Maribel Verdú, and Doug Jones making up the rest of the main cast.
Release Date
January 19, 2007
Runtime
118 minutes
Cast
Sergi López
, Doug Jones
, Ivana Baquero
, Ariadna Gil
, Maribel Verdú
Director
Guillermo del Toro
Del Toro's 2006 supernatural horror masterpiece Pan's Labyrinth is explicitly an anti-fascist parable, warning about the societal ill that comes from refusing to stand against those who consider blind obedience as a virtue. The film clearly draws a connection between the monstrous Pale Man (Doug Jones), who serves both as a narrative parallel to fascist soldier Captain Vidal (Sergi López) and a general condemnation of the societal ills perpetuated by the Catholic Church.
Pan's Labyrinth was a smash success internationally, for which specific credit must be given to del Toro, who personally wrote the movie's English subtitles after seeing how the subtitles for his previous Spanish-language film, The Devil's Backbone, poorly rendered the dialogue (via AFI). Del Toro's attention to detail led to Pan's Labyrinth winning a stunning number of awards, as well as winding up on dozens of critics' end-of-year lists for 2006. In 2007, del Toro did announce he was working on a sequel, but scrapped the project to instead film Hellboy 2: The Golden Army.
Custom image by Zahra Huselid
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