YMMV / The NeverEnding Story (1984)

• Accidental Innuendo: A rather infamous example in the Spanish dub. Engywook's line "To the winch, wench!" was translated as "¡Dale al manubrio, mujer!". At the time the dub was made, "manubrio" was a somewhat-antiquated word referring to a crank. Nowadays, however, it's better known in Spain as a slang word for "penis". It comes across as Engywook demanding Urgl to jerk him off.
• Adaptation Displacement: In the English-speaking world, the first movie is far better-known than the book, despite covering only roughly half of the book's length.
• Alternate Character Interpretation: When Bastian brings back Fantasia at the end, did he really bring everyone back to life, or has he created new versions of the characters?
• Audience-Coloring Adaptation: A lot of people are only familiar with the movie and do not remember the novel. The most common misconception is that people do not know the movie is an incomplete adaptation, oblivious of what happens in the other half of the novel. (In addition, the supposed sequel The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter changed its theme and plot too much to the point it barely resembles the novel.)
• Awesome Music:
  • The title song by Limahl. Inspired countless remixes. The lack of it in the third movie was greatly missed.
  • Both Klaus Doldinger's original score and Giorgio Moroder's re-score have plenty of memorable tracks:
    • The Sphinx Gate. So much great tension and suspense, up until those last heart-pounding moments.
    • Falcor's theme is one of the most uplifting pieces of music in film.
    • The majestic Ivory Tower theme, including its reprise and extended version. It was so awesome, in fact, that the reprise and extended version would be used for sporting broadcasts: NBC re-used the reprise in their baseball broadcasts for the rest of the 1980s while BBC used the extended version for the starting grid music of Formula One races in the mid 1980s to early 1990s.
• Base-Breaking Character: Bastian. He's either a cute and endearing Audience Surrogate, or whiny and annoying.
• Catharsis Factor: Atreyu facing down and killing Gmork, who has been hunting him throughout the entire movie, is extremely satisfying.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Artax, no pun intended. He has five minutes of screen time, most of which is him dying, yet the Gut Punch of his death is one of the most remembered parts of the movie. Fortunately, he was revived alongside everyone else in the end.
• First Installment Wins: Neither of the two sequels are considered anywhere near as good as the first. Opinions as to whether or not the second film is still watchable despite the drop-off in quality vary, but virtually nobody will defend the third film. Though the decreasing budgets (and increasing distance from anything resembling the original novel) helped, too.
• Iron Woobie: Atreyu. He suffers one crushing setback after another, rarely seems to make any progress on his quest (or even know where to go next), and in the end believes - with much justification - that he's failed to save Fantasia from the Nothing. Yet he never whines about his fate and he never gives up.
• It Was His Sled: Artax drowns in the Swamp of Sadness. It’s one of the most memorable parts of the movie due to it being a famous Gut Punch of a scene.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "Come for me, G'mork! I am Atreyu!"
  • That shot of Bastian cheering as he rides Falcor.
  • A common joke to make is that The Neverending Story ended, but Final Fantasy is nowhere near its final installment, seeing as both fantasy franchises have opposite titles that are ultimately non-indicative of how they ended up.
  • A little Manipulative Editing can turn Falkor into a creepy child molesting monster.
  • Warner Home Video Presents: The Part in The Never Ending Story Where Artax Dies on Loop for Three and a Half Hours
• Moral Event Horizon: Gmork crosses this by trying to kill Atreyu and cause Fantasia's destruction purely out of a selfish desire for power. Atreyu has no problem killing him after learning this.
• Narm:
  • When we first see Morla, Bastian looks up from the book and randomly screams at the top of his lungs, creating a hilarious moment. The shot feels like he paused and then gave a loud scream deliberately for absolutely no reason.
  • As terrifying as the animatronic of Gmork is, don't slow down the film's speed when he has to "lunge" out of the hole in the wall he's been situated in or you'll experience Mood Whiplash into hilarity.
• Narm Charm: By all rights, the Swamp of Sadness scene should not work at all. We've barely seen anything of Atreyu's bond with Artax, and it's hard to believe that a horse could become depressed after walking through a few miles of swampland. But Noah Hathaway's performance combined with the music completely sells the emotion of the scene, and made it an iconic Tearjerker for everyone who saw the film as kids.
• Never Live It Down: Bastian's incomprehensible screaming of his mother's name is a frequently heard joke.
• Sacred Cow: This film is considered to be one of the most cherished works by many lovers of fantasy flicks.
• Signature Scene: Artax sinking in the Swamp of Sadness is the most widely remembered moment of the film thanks to how much conviction Noah Hathaway puts into making it feel like a genuine tragedy. Consequently, the scene is widely brought up by people who grew up with the movie as one of the most iconic Tear Jerkers of the 1980s.
• Special Effect Failure: The optical effects haven't really held up over the years, to say the least.
• Superlative Dubbing: The German dub is preferred by some. The voice acting is quite good, and the German script itself is rather more complex than the original.
• Unintentional Uncanny Valley: Falkor's appearance, even in the first movie, can have this effect on some viewers. His face is... well, almost like a dog's. Almost.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The practical effects are nothing short of impressive, particularly in the way of the animatronics and the very convincingly realized world of Fantasia.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: Quite a few mistook Atreyu to be a girl.
• The Woobie: Bastian. He spends most of the story being chastised by his dad, or bullied by bigger kids, or becoming increasingly terrified by a magical book that is making him part of its world. And his only sin is daydreaming too much.

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