The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter

The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter
File:Neverending story two poster.jpg US theatrical release poster
Directed by	George T. Miller
Produced by	Dieter Geissler
Screenplay by	Karin Howard
Based on	The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
Starring	Jonathan Brandis Kenny Morrison Clarissa Burt John Wesley Shipp Alexandra Johnes Thomas Hill
Music by	Robert Folk Theme Song: Giorgio Moroder
Cinematography	David Connell
Edited by	Chris Blunden Peter Hollywood
Distributed by	Warner Bros. (Time Warner)
Release dates	25 October 1990 (1990-10-25) (Germany) 8 February 1991 (1991-02-08) (United States)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United States Germany
Language	English
Budget	$36 million
Box office	$56.4 million

The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter is a 1990 German/American fantasy film and sequel to The NeverEnding Story. It was directed by George T. Miller and starred Jonathan Brandis as Bastian Bux, Kenny Morrison as Atreyu, and Alexandra Johnes as the Childlike Empress. The only actor to return from the first film was Thomas Hill as Mr. Koreander.

This film used plot elements from Michael Ende's novel The Neverending Story (primarily the second half), but introduced a new storyline.

Upon its American theatrical release in 1991, the Bugs Bunny animated short "Box-Office Bunny" was shown before the film. This short was also included on the VHS and Laserdisc release later that year.

Plot

Bastian Bux (Jonathan Brandis) is having troubles at home: his father Barney's (John Wesley Shipp) busy workload is keeping him from consoling Bastian's fear of heights. As such, he then heads to an old bookstore where he again meets Mr. Koreander (Thomas Hill), who proceeds to help find a book on courage. While waiting, Bastian rediscovers the Neverending Story's book, and is shocked to see its words disappear off its pages. Deciding to take the book instead, Bastian returns home and finds himself able to claim AURYN right off the book's cover while hearing the Childlike Empress (Alexandra Johnes) summon him to Fantasia.

Aware of his arrival, an evil sorceress named Xayide (Clarissa Burt) orders a creation from one of her servants to stop him. The servant creates a memory machine that will strip Bastian of a memory each time he uses AURYN, until he is unable to remember where he came from, or why he is in Fantasia. Xayide then sends a talking bird-like creature named Nimbly (Martin Umbach) to persuade Bastian into making him wish. As the two arrive in a populated area of Fantasia called Silver City, the sorceress sends large monsters referred to as giants to attack. Despite Nimbly's attempts to make him wish them away, Bastian is able to escape from them without doing so. After falling into a secret passage, Bastian is contacted by the Childlike Empress, who tells him of a new threatening force to Fantasia, which is keeping her prisoner in her own castle as well as causing the stories of the ordinary world to disappear, and that he must identify and defeat it.

While trying to gather Silver City's inhabitants to help him out, Bastian is reunited with Atreyu (Kenny Morrison), who has heard about what has happened. As the two try figure out how to get there, Nimbly manages to persude Bastian into making a wish, which he uses to create a vicious, fire breathing dragon. However, it goes out of control and flies off with Atreyu trying to pursue it with his horse, Artax. With help from Falkor (voiced by Donald Arthur), Bastian is able to chase the dragon to Xayide's castle, where it is destroyed by its defenses. After a brief reunion with Rock Biter, Bastian and Atreyu, who has caught up, make their way into the castle's entrance with the latter's "army": several wind up toys. Although Bastian gets through, Atreyu is captured. Once getting further into the castle by wishing for climbing steps, Bastian manages to free Atreyu from a giant and the two battle it with the use of a spray can, an item the former had wished for. After the giant falls over and cracks into pieces revealing a hollow shell, Bastian identifies the threat as "The Emptiness", the form of humanity's dying imagination. The two make their way to Xayide in her throne room who admits defeat, stating she had wanted to bring order to dreams and stories, which she consider as forms of chaos. The sorceress is then forced to bring them to the Childlike Empress' castle to free her after Atreyu threatens to kill her.

Having noticed his son's disappearance and the Neverending Story's book, Barney takes the latter to Mr. Koreander's bookstore to ask him of Bastian's whereabouts. The owner simply tells him that he'll find the answers inside the book, much to Barney's confusion. Returning later with a police officer, he is shocked to see the bookstore abandoned as a result of the Emptiness. Looking inside the book, Barney is surprised to see his son's exploits in Fantasia being written by the book itself and that he is mentioned within.

During the travel to the Childlike Empress' castle, Xayide tries to trick Bastian into believing that his friends will turn against him and manages to get him to wish for a series of ridiculous wishes. Becoming worried, Atreyu and Falkor believe that the only way help Bastian is to remove AURYN from him as they have learned of the memory machine and its effects on him. Bastian overhears them, and through a confrontation with Atreyu believes that he has turned against him. The two then fight, with Atreyu being knocked over a cliff and falling to his death. Returning to Xayide, Bastian discovers the memory machine for himself and learns that he only has two memories - consisting of his mother and father - left. In an attempt to use Artax to follow Falkor, who has taken the fallen Atreyu away, he is nearly killed by an attack from Xayide. Now on foot, Bastian is encountered by Nimbly once more, who has had a change of heart after seeing on his memories, and guides him to his friends' location before flying off.

Arriving back in Silver City, now in a heavily ruined state, Bastian finds Falkor with Atreyu's lifeless body, and uses his penultimate memory of his mother to wish the latter back to life. Shortly afterwards, Xayide arrives with her giants and tries to force Bastian to use his last wish to return home. Rather than do so, Bastian uses his wish for the sorceress "to have a heart". Overcome with compassion, Xayide explodes in a blast of light, destroying her giants and restoring Fantasia. Having been freed, the Childlike Empress thanks Bastian for his help and shows him the way home: a cliff overlooking a waterfall to help Bastian overcome his fear of heights. Encouraged by Barney and Atreyu, Bastian jumps off and returns home safely. As he reunites with his father, AURYN reappears on the front cover of the Neverending Story's book.

Cast

Main article: List of The Neverending Story characters

• Jonathan Brandis as Bastian Bux
• Kenny Morrison as Atreyu
• Clarissa Burt as Xayide
• John Wesley Shipp as Barney Bux
• Alexandra Johnes as Childlike Empress
• Thomas Hill as Mr. Koreander
• Donald Arthur as Falkor (voice)
• Martin Umbach as Nimbly
• J. Michael Haney, Jr. as Young Bastian
• Noah Hathaway as Atreyu (archival footage; uncredited)

Reception

The film received overwhelmingly negative reviews from movie critics. The film received a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Richard Harrington's review for the Washington Post was typical of the largely negative reaction to the film, "Unlike its predecessor, there are few effects in 'II' worthy of being called special, and events unfold with uniform flatness. Silver City feels like Diet Oz, the sorceress's castle is more hinted at than realized and several new creatures are right out of late-night comedy sketches".

Chris Hicks, writing for the Deseret Morning News, was more kind in his review, noting that it would be enjoyable to children, whereas the first film was enjoyable to the entire family.

Box office

The film was a box office bomb in the United States alone, grossing only $17,373,527. However, it was a box office success worldwide, earning a total of $56 against a budget of $36 million.

External links

• The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter at IMDb
• The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter at AllMovie
• The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter at Rotten Tomatoes