The Fantasy Hall of Fame

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You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
Yeah I was a little surprised that nobody took Wonka, Wizard of Oz, or any of the Harry Potter films (Goblet of Fire would have been very interesting to see the reaction) but it's a good group.

I think The Wizard of Oz was already nominated in a HoF, but it didn't win. I usually try to nominate movies that haven't been nominated in a previous HoF.

I'm pretty sure that it's my fault that none of the Harry Potter films were nominated. I went to the trouble of digging out my HP DVDs just in case they were nominated. If I left them alone, there probably would have been 2 or 3 of them nominated.
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You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
Kiki's Delivery Service (1989):
This was a very enjoyable movie, but as the movie went on, I found Kiki was getting a bit annoying. I couldn't understand why she was so rude to Tombo. He clearly liked her, but she treated him like he was a monster. She treated adults nice, but she was just nasty to the kids in the movie. It's not surprising that she couldn't make friends in her new town.

I liked her cat, especially when he recognized himself on the mug and in the stuffed animal. But how did he hang on to the flying broom without falling off?

I enjoyed the movie, and I liked that this was a unique "coming of age" story, but there were little things about it that bothered me. For example, why weren't the townspeople surprised that she was a witch? Are witches common in their town? (She seemed to be the only one there.) And why did she lose her witch powers? Was it just that she lost confidence in herself? Unless I missed it, that wasn't explained in the movie.

And one last thing. Did Tombo remind anyone else of Curious George when he looks through binoculars?






Kiki's Delivery Service (1989):
This was a very enjoyable movie, but as the movie went on, I found Kiki was getting a bit annoying. I couldn't understand why she was so rude to Tombo. He clearly liked her, but she treated him like he was a monster. She treated adults nice, but she was just nasty to the kids in the movie. It's not surprising that she couldn't make friends in her new town.

I liked her cat, especially when he recognized himself on the mug and in the stuffed animal. But how did he hang on to the flying broom without falling off?

I enjoyed the movie, and I liked that this was a unique "coming of age" story, but there were little things about it that bothered me. For example, why weren't the townspeople surprised that she was a witch? Are witches common in their town? (She seemed to be the only one there.) And why did she lose her witch powers? Was it just that she lost confidence in herself? Unless I missed it, that wasn't explained in the movie.

And one last thing. Did Tombo remind anyone else of Curious George when he looks through binoculars?



To me, the reason she didn’t like Tombo is because much of this movie is about “old vs new”. Aka how Kiki helps bake bread in the older oven when the newer one stops working. And even though she has magical powers she was raised in a more traditional and rural setting. Thus, she’s probably grown up with the notion of traditionalism and seeing Tombo run after her without being “proper” just makes her upset. Or she could be quite literally just nervous, since many times Miyazaki lets us interpret for ourselves what exactly a character is feeling.

To answer your other questions: I think it’s implied that this is a world/universe where witches are seen as “rare” but people know they exist. They’ll still be shocked to see one at first but after a while they’d get settled in. I also believe the movie explained that Kiki was the first witch in town for a while, and that each witch finds their own “town”. Why she lost her witch powers is yet another thing that I love about this movie: it’s not made obvious or completely explained, but that’s sometimes how life is. We lose our motivation and our passion for whatever reason and have to find some inspiration to bring it back.



To me, the reason she didn’t like Tombo is because much of this movie is about “old vs new”. Aka how Kiki helps bake bread in the older oven when the newer one stops working. And even though she has magical powers she was raised in a more traditional and rural setting. Thus, she’s probably grown up with the notion of traditionalism and seeing Tombo run after her without being “proper” just makes her upset.
Agreed. Kiki does say to Tombo when he first tries to talk to her, that it's rude of him to address her without them being properly introduced. This is a Japanese film from 30 years ago and reflects their culture. Come to think of it I've seen the same scene done many times in old American movies where a woman is approached by a brash man and indignantly rebuffs him with the reason that 'they haven't been properly introduced yet'. But the real reason is from a production stand point it creates a chance for comic tension with the pay off at the end that the couple will get together. I'm sure Cary Grant was rebuffed by some leading lady in a movie the same way


To answer your other questions: I think it’s implied that this is a world/universe where witches are seen as “rare” but people know they exist. They’ll still be shocked to see one at first but after a while they’d get settled in. I also believe the movie explained that Kiki was the first witch in town for a while, and that each witch finds their own “town”.
Yup, that's how I took it too. Witches were known, they were never feared and in fact they're admired. Which I though was cool!

Why she lost her witch powers is yet another thing that I love about this movie: it’s not made obvious or completely explained, but that’s sometimes how life is. We lose our motivation and our passion for whatever reason and have to find some inspiration to bring it back.
that's how I took it to be.


Did both of you watch this in English dub or in Japanese with subs? I think it can make a big difference in how one responds to the film.




The Dark Crystal (1982)

I believe it helps to have grown up with The Dark Crystal to be a solid fan of the movie. For myself, I'd never seen it until now.

While I was amazed at the sheer amount of intricate detail and artistry that went into the production, I just couldn't buy into the story. It was clear to me that a lot of the film was based on the puppetry creative skills of Jim Henson, whilst the storytelling itself was threadbare.

The first scene where the narrator explains the world of the dark crystal, went on and on. I found myself thinking, yes we get it, please start the movie...I had to laugh at the bad guys, the Skesis, when the two would-be emperors battled for the control of their evil clan. They had these nasty looking swords but what did they do with them? they fought a large rock! But then the defeated Skesis had to pay the price. Surly I thought he was to be killed, but no, they merely undressed him and sent him outside...BUT I then reminded myself that this was made for children and so judging it by adult movie standards wasn't fair. And in that vein I could see how children and teens could've loved this film back in the day.

I did enjoy the film once the Gelfing Jen went on his adventure. I dug the house with the one eyed goat lady and the big planetarium device, very cool set. And I flat out loved the forest sets! and the swamp too! My eyes darted around trying to capture all the uniqueness of the fauna and life that was there. That scene did environmental world building so well, what a joy to see...and that's where Jim Henson's talent truly shined.

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Did both of you watch this in English dub or in Japanese with subs? I think it can make a big difference in how one responds to the film.
I’ve seen both versions. I like the Japanese a bit more but I can still really enjoy either. You’re right though that it can make a big difference.



I’ve seen both versions. I like the Japanese a bit more but I can still really enjoy either. You’re right though that it can make a big difference.
I bet GBG seen the English version, that's what I watched. I did however see bits of the Japanese version and the voice of Kiki was done with more polite shyness and charm. She might have had a different reaction had she seen that version.




The Dark Crystal (1982)

SkekSil the Chamberlain is my favorite character...



I even have this crystal bust of him



and all I can say is I wish I had a lot of money to randomly spend

https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Searc...t=dark+crystal



Just watched Kiki's Delivery Service, but it'll probably be tomorrow evening or the next day before I write anything about it. I'll just say for now that it is one of the best Ghibli films I've seen. It makes me wonder if I should give Totoro a chance as well, since that's the other big Miyazaki fan favourite I haven't watched.




The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)[/center]

I will admit that I actually expected to like The Return of the King the least out of the three movies. Because throughout the series, the moments and scenes that stick with me the most were the intimate character interactions; Sam and Frodo; Aragorn and Arwen; Legolas and Gimli even, in some ways. The scenes where both characters feel so much hurt, and they can only look to one person to share their pain. In short, I expected The Return of the King to be heavy on the "epic battle" side of things and not so much on Frodo and Sam pouring their feelings out to each other.

Well, I was wrong. The Return of the King is somehow both the most intimate and epic of the three films. It does not rush slower moments. It does not make fast moments drag. It makes us hold our breaths and literally pray while Frodo and Sam (and Gollum) reach the top of that mountain. I'm not kidding when I say there are few scenes in film history that are more emotionally complex than Frodo, Sam, and Gollum on the mountain. Ok, maybe quite a few, but still, that's more a testament to the amount of amazingly crafted films and less an understatement of how perfect this film is.

Every character is not only "wrapped up", but they are given new adventures and choices. The story doesn't end here. We're left wanting so much more, but in the best way possible; we're left caring about the characters and what they do. What did Frodo see in his journey? How is Sam doing in the Shire? What about Aragorn? All of these people I have come to care so much about, and even though I don't want a sequel, I love each character to death.

So here is how to get a film series right. Truly - the music is exceptional, perhaps my favorite film score of all time; the cinematography is gorgeous; there are scenes where I'm left wondering how on earth Peter Jackson did it. It's filmmaking of the highest order - completely and utterly perfect in it's imperfections. It made me cry at least five times in the last forty minutes. It made my heart throb, first with pain, and then with immense joy.

In short, ****ing thank god we have Lord of the Rings. Even if this was my first time watching the final movie, it's an experience to last a lifetime.


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I had still not seen the movies - instead, my orchestra teacher played for us a little clip of the Howard Shore's magnificent score for the series. It was magical, breath taking music. I later remember sitting for hours and playing through the entire 4-hour YouTube video, absolutely taken to this magical fantasy world.
The Rohirrim theme is one of my favourite pieces of music of all time. The violins never fail to give me chills. It's a shame that The Two Towers is not as well regarded as Fellowship and RotK, because that music alone is worth watching the film for.



Its a picture from the movie of Chamberlain.
A movie called Chamberlain? I looked at IMDB and didn't see anything like that. I know who the character is, but the image is more detailed than the puppet I seen in the movie last night. So I wondered if that was fan art?



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
I bet GBG seen the English version, that's what I watched. I did however see bits of the Japanese version and the voice of Kiki was done with more polite shyness and charm. She might have had a different reaction had she seen that version.

I only watch the subtitles version if I can't find the dubbed version. I hate reading subtitles. It takes my attention away from the movie itself, and I find that I miss things and have to rewind occasionally.



A movie called Chamberlain? I looked at IMDB and didn't see anything like that. I know who the character is, but the image is more detailed than the puppet I seen in the movie last night. So I wondered if that was fan art?
It is actually a puppet. It looks more detailed because it's from The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, a prequel series on Netflix that just came out last year.



A movie called Chamberlain? I looked at IMDB and didn't see anything like that. I know who the character is, but the image is more detailed than the puppet I seen in the movie last night. So I wondered if that was fan art?
No I dont think so.. yes.. Chamberlain is the character from The Dark Crystal.



It is actually a puppet. It looks more detailed because it's from The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, a prequel series on Netflix that just came out last year.
I started that on Netflix but I couldn't get over the "love relationship" between the two characters... Jen and Kira.. they had a relationship in the Dark Crystal but it wasn't as heavy as the new show.

did you ever see the series, The Jim Henson Creature Shop? They had one that was where the contestants had to create Skeksis.



Im glad Brian Henson gives Brian Froud credit for creating them.