The fantasy genre reached an all-time low during the 1990s. After a drought in the '70s and an experimental interlude in the '80s, the '90s saw the genre go through a campy, erratic phase that didn't amount to much. Fantasy would roar back to life in the noughties thanks to the popularity of The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, but it was slim pickings during the '90s.
That said, the '90s did have their fair share of fantasy gems, most of which flew under the radar with audiences. From quaint entries to pitch-black comedies, these forgotten fantasy movies of the '90s deserve more praise from modern fans.
10 'Dragonheart' (1996)
Image via Universal PicturesDennis Quaid stars in 1996's fantasy-adventure Dragonheart. The plot centers on a disgraced knight and the last dragon, who run a scamming operation across their land. When the knight learns a secret about the land's despotic king, he feels compelled to act against his tyrannical rule.
With an entertainingly exaggerated voice performance from Sean Connery as the originally-named dragon Draco and quaint visual effects, Dragonheart is a delightful '90s film. Lighthearted but charming enough to satisfy, Dragonheart perfectly blends '90s sensibilities with a classic, medieval tale of chivalry and fantasy.
9 'What Dreams May Come' (1999)
The late Robin Williams stars opposite Cuba Gooding Jr. in Vincent Ward's fantasy drama What Dreams May Come. The story centers on a recently deceased man sent to heaven who travels to hell to rescue his wife, who committed suicide after his passing.
The film admittedly deals with many old-fashioned concepts about heaven and hell that might put some people off. However, What Dreams May Come is a visual marvel featuring spectacular, surreal landscapes that will make it worth the audience's time. Coupled with a winning performance from Williams, What Dreams May Come is among those films that get better with age.
8 'The Swan Princess' (1994)
Image via Nest Family EntertainmentDisney isn't the only studio capable of making charming animated classics. 1994's The Swan Princess adapts the popular ballet Swan Lake and tells the story of a beautiful princess cursed to turn into a swan by an evil exiled magician who lusts after her.
Charming, elegantly animated, and with a great voice cast, The Swan Princess is a sweet and romantic fairy tale. The film meets most criteria for a great animated film, including memorable characters, a wicked but endlessly entertaining villain, and a suitably sweeping theme in the overly sentimental "Far Longer Than Forever."
7 'Truly, Madly, Deeply' (1990)
Anthony Minghella directs Juliet Stevenson and the late Alan Rickman in the 1990 fantasy romance Truly, Madly, Deeply. The plot revolves around a grieving woman who gets visited by the ghost of her recently deceased partner. However, when a new chance at love presents itself, she must reconcile her feelings about her past and potential future.
Truly, Madly, Deeply is a joyous and thought-provoking wonder elevated by one of the great Alan Rickman's most charming and winning performances. Sweet without being overly saccharine, the film is a thoughtful portrayal of grief, love, and the painful realities of romance in the modern age.
6 'Switch' (1991)
Image via Warner Bros.Ellen Barkin gives a riotous, unforgettable performance in the 1991 fantasy comedy Switch. The film centers on a sexist womanizer who gets killed by his former lovers. After making a deal with God, he gets sent back to Earth to win a woman's true love and earn redemption in the body of a thirty-something woman.
Switch's premise could've easily gone south, but the film never goes all-in with it. Still, Barkin gives such an infectious, irreverent performance that she single-handedly carries and elevates the film, turning it into a hilarious and original entry into the fantasy canon of the '90s.
Collider Exclusive · Middle-earth Quiz
Which Lord of the Rings
Character Are You?
One Quiz · Ten Questions · Your Fate Revealed
The road goes ever on. From the green hills of the Shire to the fires of Mount Doom, every soul in Middle-earth carries a destiny. Ten questions stand between you and the truth of who you are. Answer honestly — the One Ring has a way of revealing what we most want to hide.
💍Frodo
🌿Samwise
👑Aragorn
🔥Gandalf
🏹Legolas
⚒️Gimli
👁️Sauron
🪨Gollum
BEGIN YOUR QUEST →
01
You are handed a responsibility that could destroy you. What do you do? The weight of the world falls on unlikely shoulders.
AAccept it. Someone has to, and running changes nothing. BStay by the side of whoever carries it. They shouldn't go alone. CStep forward and lead. This is exactly what I was made for. DIt's mine now. I won't let anyone else have it.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
Your closest companion is heading into terrible danger. You: True loyalty is revealed not in comfort, but in crisis.
AFollow them without hesitation. I'd rather die beside them than live without them. BRally others and forge a plan to help — strength in numbers. COffer wisdom and guidance. My counsel may save them where swords cannot. DLet them go. Only the strong survive, and sentiment is a weakness.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
Enormous power is within your reach. Your instinct is: Power corrupts — but only those who reach for it.
ADestroy it. Nothing good comes from power this absolute. BUse it to protect those I love — just this once. CWield it wisely. I have the will and the knowledge to do good with it. DSeize it. I have waited long enough. It belongs to me.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
What does "home" mean to you? Where we long to return reveals who we truly are.
AA simple, peaceful place — green hills, good food, no adventure required. BWherever the people I love are. Home is a feeling, not a place. CA kingdom I must earn before I can truly claim it as mine. DI lost it long ago. That loss is what drives everything I do.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
When a battle is upon you, your approach is: War reveals what we are made of — whether we like it or not.
ASurvive by any means. I'm not a fighter — but I'll do what I must. BFight for the person beside me, not for glory or honour. CLead the charge. Nothing inspires an army like a king at the front. DStrike from range, fast and precise — never let them get close.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
Someone comes to you for advice in their darkest hour. You: Wisdom is not knowing all the answers — it's knowing which questions to ask.
AListen, then offer honest encouragement. Sometimes people just need belief. BGive them practical help — words are fine, but action is better. CSpeak carefully. I have seen much, and I know what counsel can cost. DTell them what they want to hear. Trust is a tool like any other.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
How do you see yourself, honestly? Self-knowledge is the most dangerous kind.
ASmall and ordinary — but perhaps that's exactly why I was chosen. BDefined entirely by who I serve and love. I am nothing without them. CForged by hardship into something the world has not yet fully seen. DDiminished from what I once was — and consumed by the need to reclaim it.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
Which of these best describes your relationship with the natural world? Middle-earth speaks to those who know how to listen.
AI find peace in it — forests, rivers, open skies. Nature restores me. BI prefer the earth underfoot — stone, mines, solid and real things. CI have watched the world change for longer than most can comprehend. DNature offers hiding places, cold water, raw fish. That's enough for me.
NEXT QUESTION →
09
You encounter a wretched, pitiable creature who has done terrible things. You: How we treat the fallen reveals the height of our character.
AShow mercy. Even the most broken souls deserve a chance at redemption. BPity them — but never trust them. They made their choices. CSee them as a tool. Their knowledge or skills may still serve a purpose. DDestroy them before they can cause more harm. Mercy is a luxury we cannot afford.
NEXT QUESTION →
10
When the quest is over and the songs are sung, what do you hope they say about you? In the end, we are all just stories.
AThat an ordinary person did an extraordinary thing — and came home. BThat I never abandoned the person who needed me most. CThat I was worthy of the crown — and everything it demanded. DNothing. I don't need songs. I needed it, and now it's gone.
REVEAL MY FATE →
The Fellowship Has Spoken Your Place in Middle-earth
The scores below reveal your true character. Your highest number is your match. Even a tie tells a story — the Fellowship was never made of simple people.
💍 Frodo
🌿 Samwise
👑 Aragorn
🔥 Gandalf
🏹 Legolas
⚒️ Gimli
👁️ Sauron
🪨 Gollum
You carry something heavy — and you carry it alone, even when you don't have to. You were not born for greatness, and that is precisely why greatness chose you. Your courage is not the roaring, sword-swinging kind; it is quiet, stubborn, and terrifying in its refusal to quit. The Ring weighs on you more than anyone can see, and still you walk toward the fire. That is not weakness. That is the rarest kind of strength there is.
You are, without question, the best of them. Not the most powerful, not the most celebrated — but the most essential. Your loyalty is not a trait; it is a force of nature. You would carry the person you love up the slopes of Mount Doom if it came to that, and we both know you'd do it without being asked. The world needs more people like you, and the world is lucky it has even one.
You were born to lead, and you have spent years running from it. The crown is yours by right, but you know better than anyone that right means nothing without the will and the worthiness to back it up. You are tempered by loss, shaped by long roads, and defined by a code of honour you hold to even when no one is watching. When you finally step forward, the world shifts. Because it was always waiting for you.
You have seen more than you let on, and you say less than you know — which is exactly as it should be. You are a catalyst: you do not fight the battles yourself, you ignite the people who can. Your wisdom comes not from books but from an age of watching what happens when it is ignored. You arrive precisely when you mean to, and your presence alone changes what is possible. A wizard is never late.
Graceful, perceptive, and almost preternaturally calm under pressure — you see things others miss and act before others react. You do not need to make a scene to be remarkable; your presence speaks for itself. You are loyal to those you choose to stand beside, and that choice is not made lightly. You have lived long enough to know that the most beautiful things in this world are also the most fragile, and that is why you fight to protect them.
You are loud, proud, and absolutely formidable — and beneath all of that is one of the most fiercely loyal hearts in Middle-earth. You don't do anything by half measures. Your friendships are forged like iron, your grudges run as deep as mines, and your courage in battle is the kind that makes legends. You came into this fellowship suspicious of everyone and ended it willing to die for an elf. That is not a small thing. That is everything.
You think in centuries and act in absolutes. Order, dominion, control — not because you are cruel by nature, but because you have decided that the world left to itself always falls apart, and you are the only one with the vision and the will to hold it together. You were not always this. Something was lost, or taken, or betrayed, and the version of you that stands now is the answer to that wound. The tragedy is that you're not entirely wrong — just entirely too far gone to course-correct.
You are a study in contradiction — pitiable and dangerous, cunning and broken, capable of both cruelty and something that once resembled love. You are defined by loss: of innocence, of self, of the one thing that gave your existence meaning. Two voices war inside you constantly, and the tragedy is that the better one sometimes wins, just not often enough, and never at the right moment. You are a warning, yes — but also a mirror. We are all a little Gollum, given the right ring and enough time.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
5 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (1999)
Image via Fox Searchlight PicturesMichael Hoffman's 1999 adaptation of William Shakespeare's classic play A Midsummer Night's Dream stars a slew of A-listers, including Michelle Pfeiffer, Kevin Kline, Stanley Tucci, and Christian Bale. The plot concerns four lovers and their romantic entanglements with the King and Queen of the fairies.
A Midsummer Night's Dream features a spectacular cast, but Pfeiffer and Flockhart dominate the film as the seductress Titania and the spirited Helena. Maintaining the whimsy of Shakespeare's original text, the film is a lush and delightful tale of romance and fantasy, although the excessive bicycles are a peculiar and somewhat distracting choice.
4 'The 13th Warrior' (1999)
Image via Touchstone PicturesAntonio Banderas stars as a Muslim ambassador exiled from his land in John McTiernan's epic fantasy film The 13th Warrior. The plot draws influence from the epic poem Beowulf to tell Ahman ibn Fadlan's story with the Vikings and their fight against a legendary and powerful dark force.
Looking beyond the questionable casting of Banderas, The 13th Warrior is a rather impressive epic. The film has some of the most memorable portrayals of Vikings, especially in the 20th century, and spectacular action setpieces that justify its now-infamous stratospheric budget. Immersive and with rich production values, The 13th Warrior is an unfairly-maligned epic on its way to becoming a classic.
3 'Death Becomes Her' (1992)
Image via Universal PicturesRobert Zemeckis' delightfully wicked satirical black comedy, Death Becomes Her, might be a modern cult classic, but that's still not enough. Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn play two rivals who drink magical potions that grant them eternal youth; however, their envy and bickering over the affections of a soft and meek doctor, played by Bruce Willis, lead to unexpected consequences.
Hilariously cruel and featuring two fabulous performances from Streep and Hawn, Death Becomes Her is camp humor at its finest. Although the film is an outright classic in the LGBTQ+ community, Death Becomes Her deserves mainstream recognition as a biting and uproarious commentary on youth, envy, and society's obsession with perfection.
2 'A Little Princess' (1995)
Image via Warner Bros. PicturesAlfonso Cuarón's 1995 fantasy masterpiece A Little Princess might be his most underrated film. The plot concerns Sarah, a girl working as a maid in the prestigious boarding school she once attended after her father seemingly dies at war. Forming a friendship with a fellow girl working at the school. Sarah escapes to a world of fantasy to cope with her harsh reality.
Magical realism takes flight aided by Cuarón's camera, turning A Little Princess into a magical and awe-inspiring journey to childhood fantasies. Delightful but surprisingly dark, A Little Princess is a mature fairy tale about the hardships of life and the power of innocence and youth dreams.
1 'Pleasantville' (1998)
A pre-Spider-Man Tobey Maguire and a pre-Election Reese Witherspoon star alongside several other A-listers in the 1998 teen fantasy Pleasantville. The plot follows two brothers who get accidentally trapped in Pleasantville, a '50s-themed TV show, and their arrival causes unforeseen trouble.
Pleasantville captures Americana like few other films, subverting the traditional 1950s values rampant throughout the decade to deliver a thoughtful and original challenge to conventions. With striking black-and-white visuals and excellent performances from veterans like Joan Allen and Jeff Daniels, Pleasantville is a one-of-a-kind picture that every fantasy fan must see.
Pleasantville
Release Date October 23, 1998
Runtime 124 minutes
Director Gary Ross
Writers Gary Ross
English (US) ·