IndieWire's The 40 Best Fantasy Movies of All Time
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From Studio Ghibli classics to the two entries of the "Lord of the Rings" saga most deserving of inclusion, these movies took us to new worlds.
IndieWire Staff
Jul 2, 2020 9:00 am
“Home is behind; the world ahead.” J.R.R. Tolkien’s motto in “The Lord of the Rings” also captures one of the things that’s so powerful and intoxicating about the art of movies itself: that feeling of leaping through the screen, leaving your life behind, and being immersed in something totally new. Escapism is often used as a dismissive term, even by those who use it endearingly. But the cinema has a capacity for escape unlike any other medium — shouldn’t that be embraced?
The best fantasy filmmakers — Jean Cocteau, Guillermo del Toro, and Hayao Miyazaki, among so many others — understand the psychological power of escapism. Sometimes you need to step outside of yourself to look back in. The best escapist entertainments ultimately bring us back to ourselves.
These 40 fantasy films open up new worlds and new paths of understanding and empathy. Space-borne fantasy — “Star Wars” and its ilk, a rich enough world to inspire its own list — is excluded here, as are films in which fantasy is expressed primarily as simply daydreams. These are triumphs of imagination and world-building that seem incapable of losing their power to enchant.
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1 new
Det sjunde inseglet
1957 — a.k.a. The Seventh Seal, in 25 top lists Check -
2 new
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi
2001 — a.k.a. Spirited Away, in 39 top lists Check -
3 new
The Wizard of Oz
1939, in 38 top lists Check -
4 new
Being John Malkovich
1999, in 14 top lists Check -
5 new
Ugetsu monogatari
1953 — a.k.a. Ugetsu, in 25 top lists Check -
6 new
La belle et la bête
1946 — a.k.a. Beauty and the Beast, in 26 top lists Check -
7 new
El laberinto del fauno
2006 — a.k.a. Pan's Labyrinth, in 33 top lists Check -
8 new
Loong Boonmee raleuk chat
2010 — a.k.a. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, in 13 top lists Check -
9 new
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2001, in 31 top lists Check -
10 new
Groundhog Day
1993, in 22 top lists Check -
11 new
It's a Wonderful Life
1946, in 33 top lists Check -
12 new
Tonari no Totoro
1988 — a.k.a. My Neighbor Totoro, in 23 top lists Check -
13 new
Wo hu cang long
2000 — a.k.a. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, in 27 top lists Check -
14 new
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
1988, in 16 top lists Check -
15 new
Edward Scissorhands
1990, in 10 top lists Check -
16 new
Orphée
1950 — a.k.a. Orpheus, in 18 top lists Check -
17 new
The Red Shoes
1948, in 27 top lists Check -
18 new
Big
1988, in 7 top lists Check -
19 new
A Little Princess
1995, in 2 top lists Check -
20 new
King Kong
1933, in 26 top lists Check -
21 new
La montaña sagrada
1973 — a.k.a. The Holy Mountain, in 9 top lists Check -
22 new
The Princess Bride
1987, in 19 top lists Check -
23 new
The Thief of Bagdad
1940, in 13 top lists Check -
24 new
Kaidan
1964 — a.k.a. Kwaidan, in 13 top lists Check -
25 new
La cité des enfants perdus
1995 — a.k.a. The City of Lost Children, in 4 top lists Check -
26 new
A Matter of Life and Death
1946, in 22 top lists Check -
27 new
Mary Poppins
1964, in 15 top lists Check -
28 new
Scrooge
1951 — a.k.a. A Christmas Carol, in 4 top lists Check -
29 new
Mononoke-hime
1997 — a.k.a. Princess Mononoke, in 18 top lists Check -
30 new
The Neverending Story
1984 — a.k.a. The NeverEnding Story, in 2 top lists Check -
31 new
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2002, in 26 top lists Check -
32 new
Aladdin
1992, in 14 top lists Check -
33 new
Excalibur
1981, in 3 top lists Check -
34 new
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
2010, in 6 top lists Check -
35 new
Jumanji
1995, in 3 top lists Check -
36 new
Coraline
2009, in 3 top lists Check -
37 new
The Purple Rose of Cairo
1985, in 7 top lists Check -
38 new
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
2004, in 9 top lists Check -
39 new
A Ghost Story
2017, in 4 top lists -
40 new
Enter the Void
2009, in 7 top lists Check
Last updated on Nov 16, 2020; source