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Discussing Sea quest DSV invariably leads to a discussion about the untimely death of Jonathan Brandis. Brandis was quite famous during the 90s. He was part of a Sci Fi television show for which he got quite a lot of attention and earned the nickname “Dolphin Boy.” While he was revered by teenage girls all over the world for his charming looks, he was also equally mocked as a doofus.
I was never aware that Jonathan Brandis was part of The Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter until I was so bored with the film that I did a little bit of digging. It is safe to say that Brandis is far more captivating than this cringy sequel.
The Neverending Story may not hold up today, but it’s uniqueness makes it unforgettable, especially for those who watched it during their childhood. A child reading a book that unfolds based on his actions is an interesting concept. The locations and puppetry, in addition to the childish acting and plot, is worth watching at least once. Even if the movie is ridiculed for its overblown antics, it’s got parody worthy things. The flying pink luck dragons are a hint towards that.
Compared to the previous one, the subsequent installment is in complete disarray. It has not figured out how to use a toilet properly, often splashing urine uncontrollably when it loses focus throughout the movie. The filmmakers ignored the brilliant idea of reading the book while it is taking place, and instead, they unceremoniously dump Bastion 2.0 (Brandis) into Fantasia through the book, which has now been transformed into a pathetic portal. Bastion lands in a Wizard of Oz reject sales lot where a gigantic portion of the budget gets spent on costumes and nice looking sets that are completely devoid of any essence or actual meaning. It is like browsing through the sketchbook of a shy junior high student who enjoys doodling some of the more cliched aspects of fantasy; you know that one day he will refine his skills, but for now, what he is putting down is not even remotely interesting.
So, why is Bastion there? This time, he takes The Neverending Story from the bookshop owner (again) and finds to his horror that the words are disappearing from the pages. The Childlike Empress (who has perhaps the worst character name ever, I wonder if she ever got tired of peoples calling her that? “Call me Betsy!’ she screamed to the court one day.) tells him that our world’s is imagination less and devoid of love for fantasy is giving death to Fantasia, and the vague model witch is the whole thing Bastion is supposed to set right. First of all, where are we, Never Never Land? I believe in you Tinkerbell, I believe! I clap with all my might to bring you back to life! Gimme a break. Only really young children would actually swallow the idea that no one in our world cares about the fantasy genre, which, last time I checked, is quite a booming industry.
It’s as if low bidders are rebranding and repackaging used fantasy ideas. TNES2’s notion that Bastion has a magic token that grants him wishes, only for him to lose a memory every time he makes one, is certainly the worst. The film fails to highlight how the “evil” characters manage to execute the plan or how Bastion loses around fifteen memories for making a single wish, but it does show that wonderous at making wishes he is. If wasting memories is what he seeks, then he should make more grandiose wishes, instead of limit his options and waste his memories on trivial and singular situational problems. For someone that possesses as much power as he does, he shouldn’t wish for a lady to disappear, or to set things right. But for some reason, he does wish for a stair case.
Scene: Bastion is in a singular position and hanging, needing to lift himself higher. As he dreams of new opportunities, he gets a random stair each time he wishes for one. Bastion only wishes for one stair, only to receive two additional feet of space to himself. Now all he needs to do is pull on the final steps until he finally gets to the top.
He wishes on separate steps, never once thinking to ask for the entire stairway, or for the monster to be killed off. Only individual stairs. What an idiot.
Brandis as an actor is another low mark that, along with others, makes up Neverending Story II. He was not a very good child actor, but there was something off about him… Moocken are changing the pacing of the rival. Midway through the film, I finally understood. Brandis doesn’t act like a bad child actor, he acts like a bad adult actor. Bastion is far too confident, too fake as a kid, too eager to head slap, and drop does slapstick too much. He never sold me as a realistic kid, but instead he’s the epitome of a cinematic “superkid,” the kind of children who always know what to say to get on top of any situation and are far smarter than any adult around them. Leaves a bad taste in your mouth, don’t it?
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