"The NeverEnding Story" was one of the major events of my childhood. It was also a trauma, but that's the way movies were in the 80's.
I saw "The NeverEnding Story II" in theaters and was disappointed by it - even as a young kid who was apt to like any movie, I was disappointed by it.
I don't remember when I first heard there was such a thing as "The NeverEnding Story III" but I know that it was a while back. Perhaps it was imdb, I don't know. Regardless, I decided to watch it tonight.
I don't have the impulse or energy to pore over the minutiae of all the ways this movie misses the mark, but fortunately I can give a quick sketch by describing one part of it and then we'll all move on with our lives.
Early on in the first movie there's a giant character completely made of rock who rides through the forest on a bicycle made of rock. It's an iconic fantasy movie image. This movie brings that character back, riding the bicycle again, except this time, as he's riding the movie plays "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf on the soundtrack. Yes, that's something that happens. Nothing says surrealist, escapist fantasy world like "Born to be Wild."
"The NeverEnding Story II's" criticism of the first movie was that there were no annoying characters. "The NeverEnding Story III's" criticism of the second movie was that there weren't enough annoying characters.
Whereas the first two were about a kid going in to a magical fantasy land, this movie switches it up by asking "what would happen if the characters from that land were brought to our world?" It's a fair idea if you had to make a third movie but that's the thing - you don't have to make a third movie - the entirety of the original source novel was already covered in the first two movies. This movie is entirely a cash grab with the barest connecting threads to the original.
Also notable is the main kid in it is from "Free Willy" and the main villain is a young Jack Black. Even Jack Black is ashamed of this movie and Jack Black usually doesn't seem to be ashamed of anything.
