Magical Fantasy

For those who love fantasy, there are all kinds of movies to choose from. The immensely popular Harry Potter series comes to mind, of course, an embodiment of all things magical, from wizards to spells, and not to forget, teen romance. Then there is the epic saga, The Lord of the Rings, with an entire world woven out of fantasy, with hardly anything at all resembling our real world. And so the list goes on, with Narnia, The Golden Compass and older classics such as The Wizard of Oz.

The genre of fantasy movies is sometimes hard to define. Fantasy is what is made up by our imagination, what is not real, but movies like Star Trek, or Superman, while certainly not realistic, are still classified as separate genres. The loose general consensus is that there are two types of fantasy movies to be classified, namely High Fantasy and Swords and Sorcerers.

High Fantasy involves a very detailed alternate or fantasy setting, with clearly defined borders between Good and Evil. The protagonist is usually someone who is initially unpromising and from humble origins, but finds his potential as the story develops and eventually leads the forces of Good in the battle against Evil. A typical example of the High Fantasy model is The Lord of The Rings. Swords and Sorcerers movies, on the other hand, are more focused on the storyline itself than the fantasy world in which it takes place, and there is often also a struggle between good and evil. The battle, however, is usually not of epic proportions, but rather more personal: A humble but still very brave warrior fighting to save his lady love from the evil wizard. Whatever type of Fantasy it is, it is the wonderful magic of imagination coming out to play.