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Title: Beautifully evocative childhood story
Review: Neglected nerd Bastian Bux (Barrett Oliver), fleeing from bullies, enters a mysterious bookstore and picks up "The Neverending Story," about another boy, this time the mighty hero Atreyu (Noah Hathaway) charged to save the kingdom of Fantasia from the encroaching darkness. As he becomes engrossed in the story, he realizes that he can manipulate the events, and that the events can manipulate him. The metaphors become slightly heavy-handed, but the fantastic landscapes are beautifully realized, with magical beings quirky enough to be interesting without becoming tiresome, and a Princess who wisely remains an archetype rather than becoming one of the boys' prom dates.
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