Essential Fantasy films 80s/90s
by bernardo_sena | created - 07 Mar 2021 | updated - 4 months ago | PublicThe best and most magical fantasy films.
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1. Legend (1985)
PG | 94 min | Adventure, Fantasy, Romance
A young man must stop the Lord of Darkness from destroying daylight and marrying the woman he loves.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennent
Votes: 72,473 | Gross: $15.50M
2. Labyrinth (1986)
PG | 101 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Sixteen-year-old Sarah must solve a labyrinth to rescue her baby brother when he is taken by the Goblin King.
Director: Jim Henson | Stars: David Bowie, Jennifer Connelly, Toby Froud, Shelley Thompson
Votes: 149,571 | Gross: $12.73M
3. Ladyhawke (1985)
PG-13 | 121 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
The thief Gaston escapes the dungeon of medieval Aquila through the latrine. Soldiers are about to kill him when Navarre saves him. Navarre, traveling with his spirited hawk, plans to kill the bishop of Aquila with help from Gaston.
Director: Richard Donner | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Leo McKern
Votes: 50,970 | Gross: $18.43M
4. The NeverEnding Story (1984)
PG | 102 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
A troubled boy dives into a wondrous fantasy world through the pages of a mysterious book.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Noah Hathaway, Barret Oliver, Tami Stronach, Gerald McRaney
Votes: 156,929 | Gross: $20.16M
5. Willow (1988)
PG | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A young farmer is chosen to undertake a perilous journey in order to protect a special baby from an evil queen.
Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Warwick Davis, Jean Marsh
Votes: 129,853 | Gross: $57.27M
6. Excalibur (1981)
PG | 140 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Merlin the magician helps Arthur Pendragon unite the Britons around the Round Table of Camelot, even as dark forces conspire to tear it apart.
Director: John Boorman | Stars: Nigel Terry, Helen Mirren, Nicholas Clay, Cherie Lunghi
Votes: 67,159 | Gross: $34.97M
7. The Dark Crystal (1982)
PG | 93 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
On another planet in the distant past, a Gelfling embarks on a quest to find the missing shard of a magical crystal, and to restore order to his world.
Directors: Jim Henson, Frank Oz | Stars: Jim Henson, Kathryn Mullen, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz
Votes: 71,451 | Gross: $40.58M
8. Return to Oz (1985)
PG | 113 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Dorothy, saved from a psychiatric experiment by a mysterious girl, is somehow called back to Oz when a vain witch and the Nome King destroy everything that makes the magical land beautiful.
Director: Walter Murch | Stars: Fairuza Balk, Nicol Williamson, Jean Marsh, Piper Laurie
Votes: 30,355
9. The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter (1990)
PG | 89 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
A young boy with a distant father enters a world of make-believe and magic through a portal within an antique book.
Director: George Miller | Stars: Jonathan Brandis, Kenny Morrison, Clarissa Burt, John Wesley Shipp
Votes: 27,534 | Gross: $17.37M
10. Conan the Barbarian (1982)
R | 129 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
A powerful warrior seeks to avenge the genocide of his people and the murder of his parents at the hands of a snake cult.
Director: John Milius | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Earl Jones, Max von Sydow, Sandahl Bergman
Votes: 162,482 | Gross: $39.57M
11. The Princess Bride (1987)
PG | 98 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
A bedridden boy's grandfather reads him the story of a farmboy-turned-pirate who encounters numerous obstacles, enemies and allies in his quest to be reunited with his true love.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Robin Wright, Chris Sarandon
Votes: 450,907 | Gross: $30.86M
12. Dragonslayer (1981)
PG | 109 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
A young wizarding apprentice is sent to kill a dragon which has been devouring girls from a nearby kingdom.
Director: Matthew Robbins | Stars: Peter MacNicol, Caitlin Clarke, Ralph Richardson, John Hallam
Votes: 19,949 | Gross: $14.11M
13. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
PG | 117 min | Animation, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Warrior and pacifist Princess Nausicaä desperately struggles to prevent two warring nations from destroying themselves and their dying planet.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Sumi Shimamoto, Mahito Tsujimura, Hisako Kyôda, Gorô Naya
Votes: 182,512 | Gross: $0.50M
14. The Company of Wolves (1984)
R | 95 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A teenage girl in a country manor falls asleep while reading a magazine, and has a disturbing dream involving wolves prowling the woods below her bedroom window.
Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Sarah Patterson, Angela Lansbury, David Warner, Graham Crowden
Votes: 18,410 | Gross: $4.39M
15. The Last Unicorn (1982)
G | 92 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
A beautiful unicorn sets out to learn if she truly is the last of her kind in this sparkling animated musical.
Directors: Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin Jr. | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Mia Farrow, Angela Lansbury, Alan Arkin
Votes: 29,533 | Gross: $6.46M
16. Red Sonja (1985)
PG-13 | 89 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
The fearless warrior Red Sonja sets out to avenge her family's murder and rid her kingdom from the tyrannical rule of evil Queen Gedren.
Director: Richard Fleischer | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Brigitte Nielsen, Sandahl Bergman, Paul L. Smith
Votes: 44,882 | Gross: $6.95M
17. Time Bandits (1981)
PG | 110 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
A young boy accidentally joins a band of time travelling dwarves, as they jump from era to era looking for treasure to steal.
Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, John Cleese, Katherine Helmond
Votes: 68,341 | Gross: $42.37M
18. Alice (1988)
Not Rated | 86 min | Animation, Adventure, Fantasy
A surrealistic revision of Alice in Wonderland.
Director: Jan Svankmajer | Stars: Kristýna Kohoutová, Camilla Power
Votes: 13,985
19. Krull (1983)
PG | 121 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
A prince and a fellowship of companions set out to rescue his bride from a fortress of alien invaders who have arrived on their home planet, Krull.
Director: Peter Yates | Stars: Ken Marshall, Lysette Anthony, Freddie Jones, Francesca Annis
Votes: 36,255 | Gross: $16.52M
20. The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe (1988)
Unrated | 29 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
Four kids travel to the magical land of Narnia where they must battle an evil queen with the direction of the lion, Aslan.
Stars: Richard Dempsey, Sophie Cook, Jonathan R. Scott, Sophie Wilcox
Votes: 6,501
21. The Warrior and the Sorceress (1984)
R | 81 min | Adventure, Fantasy
A fearsome swordsman, Kain, crosses the barren wastelands and comes upon a town where two arch enemies fight incessantly for control of the town's only well.
Director: John C. Broderick | Stars: David Carradine, Luke Askew, María Socas, Anthony De Longis
Votes: 2,527 | Gross: $2.89M
22. Mio in the Land of Faraway (1987)
PG | 99 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
A lonely boy who is transferred from his dull life with his adoptive parents to the land where his real father is the King. In that country, he sets out on a quest, together with his new friend, to destroy the evil Knight Kato.
Director: Vladimir Grammatikov | Stars: Nick Pickard, Christian Bale, Timothy Bottoms, Susannah York
Votes: 6,065
23. The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988)
PG | 92 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Men seeking relief from the Black Death, guided by a boy's vision, dig a tunnel from 14th century England to 20th century New Zealand.
Director: Vincent Ward | Stars: Bruce Lyons, Chris Haywood, Hamish Gough, Marshall Napier
Votes: 3,978 | Gross: $1.33M
24. Hook (1991)
PG | 142 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
When Captain James Hook kidnaps his children, an adult Peter Pan must return to Neverland and reclaim his youthful spirit in order to challenge his old enemy.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams, Julia Roberts, Bob Hoskins
Votes: 273,219 | Gross: $119.65M
25. The City of Lost Children (1995)
R | 112 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
A scientist in a surrealist society kidnaps children to steal their dreams, hoping that they slow his aging process.
Directors: Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Stars: Ron Perlman, Daniel Emilfork, Judith Vittet, Dominique Pinon
Votes: 71,661 | Gross: $1.51M
26. The Secret of NIMH (1982)
G | 82 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
To save her ill son, a field mouse must seek the aid of a colony of rats, with whom she has a deeper link than she suspected.
Director: Don Bluth | Stars: Elizabeth Hartman, Derek Jacobi, Dom DeLuise, Arthur Malet
Votes: 45,145 | Gross: $10.14M
27. Snow White: A Tale of Terror (1997)
R | 100 min | Adventure, Fantasy, Horror
In this dark take on the fairy tale, the growing hatred of a noblewoman, secretly a practitioner of the dark arts, for her stepdaughter, and the witch's horrifying attempts to kill her.
Director: Michael Cohn | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Sam Neill, Gil Bellows, Taryn Davis
Votes: 11,373
28. The Witches (1990)
PG | 91 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
A young boy stumbles onto a witch convention and must stop them, even after he has been turned into a mouse.
Director: Nicolas Roeg | Stars: Anjelica Huston, Mai Zetterling, Jasen Fisher, Rowan Atkinson
Votes: 54,646 | Gross: $10.36M
29. What Dreams May Come (1998)
PG-13 | 113 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Chris Nielsen dies in an accident, and enters Heaven. But when he discovers that his beloved wife Annie has killed herself out of grief over the loss, he embarks on an afterlife adventure to reunite with her.
Director: Vincent Ward | Stars: Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding Jr., Annabella Sciorra, Max von Sydow
Votes: 114,402 | Gross: $55.49M
30. Gandahar (1987)
PG | 78 min | Animation, Adventure, Fantasy
An evil force begins to destroy the idyllic paradise of Gandahar, where the citizens are in perfect harmony with nature.
Director: René Laloux | Stars: Glenn Close, Christopher Plummer, Pierre-Marie Escourrou, Catherine Chevallier
Votes: 5,310 | Gross: $0.37M
31. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
PG | 126 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
An account of Baron Munchausen's supposed travels and fantastical experiences across late 18th-century Europe with his band of misfits.
Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: John Neville, Eric Idle, Sarah Polley, Oliver Reed
Votes: 56,859 | Gross: $8.08M
32. Momo (1986)
101 min | Comedy, Family, Fantasy
In the village of Momo the pace of time goes very slowly. Nobody is bothering about stress but everyone has time to chat and rest - until the day the grey men arrive. With a great selling ... See full summary »
Director: Johannes Schaaf | Stars: Radost Bokel, Mario Adorf, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Sylvester Groth
Votes: 2,085
33. Ronia: The Robber's Daughter (1984)
Not Rated | 126 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
Ronja, the only child of robber chief Mattis must learn to survive the dangers of her local wilderness. In secret she also befriends Birk, the son of a rivaling robber Borka.
Director: Tage Danielsson | Stars: Hanna Zetterberg, Dan Håfström, Börje Ahlstedt, Lena Nyman
Votes: 12,114
34. Conquest (1983)
R | 88 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
A young man, armed with a magical bow and arrows, embarks on a mystical journey through a mystical land to rid it of all evil and joins forces with an outlaw to take down an evil witch bent on claiming the magic bow for evil.
Director: Lucio Fulci | Stars: Jorge Rivero, Andrea Occhipinti, Conrado San Martín, Violeta Cela
Votes: 2,799
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