The Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter

PG

1990

1 hr. 29 min.

Kids & Family

Fantasy

Adventure

List

14%

7 Reviews

Tomatometer

40%

50,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Having saved the magical land of Fantasia from destruction in "The Neverending Story," young Bastian (Jonathan Brandis) is having trouble in the real world. Feeling abandoned by his overworked father, Barney (John Wesley Shipp), he picks up the book that led to his first adventure. He hears the voice of Fantasia's ruler, the Childlike Empress (Alexandra Johnes), telling him that her land needs help. Bastian returns to the kingdom, now threatened by a sorceress named Xayide (Clarissa Burt).

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Chris B

Not as good as the first, but not nearly as bad as others have made it out to be in modern times.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

09/20/23

Full Review

David W

An insult to the wonderful original movie and an absulutely terrible movie in its own right. A text book example of how not to do a sequel.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I have not seen this movie in a long time till now. I have seen some of it but not the whole movie till now. I went with 2 stars for this movie, yea it's not the first one and it is way different/and has different actors then the first. Idk if I would reccommend this movie to anyone and I might watch it again idk. I don't think that it is as good as the first one, but I also don't think that it is as bad as some people say that it is. This movie may not be everyone's cup of tea if you will, and that's o.k. R.i.p. Johnathan Brandis. 2 stars.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/16/23

Full Review

s f

I never saw sequel when I was young thought my wife and I would do 1 and 2 while on Netflix. Holy cow is 2 bad. Absoluty devoid of the charm and imagination of the original. Total skip unless you just have to see it.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

matthew d

A far cry from Wolfgang Petersen's original. George T. Miller's fantasy adventure drama The Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter (1990) is a pale imitation of what magical charm Wolfgang Petersen captured for his classic dark fantasy film The Neverending Story (1984). While Karin Howard's script doesn't compare to the thoughtful and reflective, yet subtle writing of the first film, Michael Ende's novel gets his second half adapted for this secondary picture. It stays true to the heart of the book's idea about youth and adults needing to read, loving your parents, raising your child kindly, using your imagination, staying true to your friends, and being brave in the face of adversity. The entire idea of Bastian being able to wish Fantasia better is expanded upon here in the sequel with deeper significance on a meta level and darker for the consequences of his choices come to fruition. Chris Blunden and Peter Hollywood's slow editing lets scenes go on for too long without interesting cuts to engage viewers making 89 minutes feel like 189. David Connell's cinematography uses beautiful wide shots to capture the lovely matte paintings in the background, yet reveals the dated CGI green screen effects. Connell doesn't use a lot of striking close-ups like the first relied on for emotional cues, so this just has a lot of nice medium shots and pretty wide shots without that emotionally devastating center. The puppetry is average with less lifelike movements than the first movie. They are also not as cute as in The Neverending Story. What happened to Falkor? Robert Folk's score is fairly pretty, but very scarcely used compared to the synth heavy Giorgio Moroder score from The Neverending Story. You only get the iconic theme song at the very end. I missed the music dearly in this lackluster sequel. It's cute and fun, but too childish for the sequel in all regards. Heidi Wujek's costumes are pretty neat for the villainess' dresses though. I must say I am quite impressed by child actor Jonathan Brandis, rest in peace, as the lead actor portraying Bastian this time around. He's so real and moving here, especially during the ending embrace with his cold father, played by an awkward John Wesley Shipp, who gets better as the film progresses. Brandis was a gem of an actor with his expressive eyes and genuine emotional performance, he was skilled beyond his brief years. Kenny Morrison is fine as Atreyu with an authentic friendship depiction, but he's not as compelling as the original actor. Unfortunately, all 3 leads of The Neverending Story quit acting, so we never got a repeat performance from them, thus the recasting in this one. Alexandra Johnes is a cute brunette with a few decent lines, but the original actress for The Childlike Empress was so striking as this sorrowful blonde girl with a tear jerking performance of pleas and wisdom, that this girl does not compare sadly. Clarissa Burt's evil sorceress Xayide is shockingly pretty and really uses her eyebrows, eyes, and smile for effectively conveying her feelings. She's a fun villainess in an otherwise lifeless movie. Martin Umbach's bird character Nimbly is really creepy and annoying in The Neverending Story II. Thomas Hill's Koreander is great as the book shoppe keeper, but underused for certain. Helena Michell is lovely as Bastian's mother Moon Child, but she should have had more flashbacks I think. In all, the hit or miss cast and dated effects with a different score really hurt The Neverending Story II, especially with the changed director that is not as talented as Wolfgang Petersen.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This is as bad as movies get, it's an abomination

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

Full Review

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George Miller

Director

Jonathan Brandis

Bastian

Kenny Morrison

Atreyu

Clarissa Burt

Xayide

Alexandra Johnes

Childlike Empress

Martin Umbach

Nimbly

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Barbara Shulgasser

Common Sense Media

Boy saves books, gains courage in perilous fantasy sequel.

Rated: 3/5

Dec 6, 2016

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Emanuel Levy

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Rated: 2/5

Aug 8, 2005

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Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Spirituality & Practice

Rated: 2/5

Mar 27, 2004

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Ryan Cracknell

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Rated: 1/5

Aug 4, 2003

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Caffeinated Clint

Moviehole

One of the poorest sequels ever.

Rated: 2/5

Apr 27, 2003

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Audrey Rock-Richardson

Tooele Transcript-Bulletin (Utah)

Rated: 1/5

Oct 7, 2002

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Synopsis

Having saved the magical land of Fantasia from destruction in "The Neverending Story," young Bastian (Jonathan Brandis) is having trouble in the real world. Feeling abandoned by his overworked father, Barney (John Wesley Shipp), he picks up the book that led to his first adventure. He hears the voice of Fantasia's ruler, the Childlike Empress (Alexandra Johnes), telling him that her land needs help. Bastian returns to the kingdom, now threatened by a sorceress named Xayide (Clarissa Burt).

Director: George Miller
Screenwriter: Karin Howard
Rating: PG
Genre: Kids & Family , Fantasy , Adventure
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 1, 2007
Sound Mix: Surround

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