10 Fantasy Movies That Are a Blast From Start to Finish
Michael Block is a 14 time GLAM Award nominated writer, producer, and host of the podcast Block Talk. Throughout his time in the entertainment industry, he has worked on and off Broadway as a stage manager, written several produced plays, critiqued hundreds of theatrical performances, drag and cabaret shows, and has produced events randing from drag competitoons to variety concerts!
On Block Talk, he interviews nightlife personalities, covers the wide world of entertainment through features, ranking episodes, and recaps ALL of Drag Race, as well as Dragula and Survivor. He has interviewed hundreds of RuGirls that span the globe at DragCon NYC, DragCon LA, and DragCon UK.
In his free time, he makes one-of-a-kind jewelry and gift baskets with his mom. He is a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community.
Sign in to your Collider account
The joy of watching a fantasy film comes from the exciting adventures it brings. These cinematic adventures take us to places beyond our imagination, and the very best are the ones that keep us smiling and filled with wonder. We are here to celebrate ten fantasy flicks that are an ultimate blast.
From start to finish, these films are utter fun. Reflecting a broad history of the genre, these titles include a beloved toy that comes to life, a practically perfect magical nanny, and a hand-drawn rabbit living in a 3-D real world. Though many other fantasy movies are a blast, these ten represent a strong smattering of styles, eras, and stories.
'Barbie' (2023)
The thrill of Barbie was that the fun began long before the film was even released! With one of the biggest marketing pushes, Barbie was positioned as the most fun you’ll have at the cinema post-pandemic. The Greta Gerwig-directed fantasy comedy follows Barbie (Margot Robbie) as she leaves her ideal life in a colorful paradise to face an existential crisis in the real world, all thanks to flat feet and thoughts of mortality. Guided by Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon), she travels to Los Angeles to find the human child playing with her, joined by Beach Ken (Ryan Gosling).
A satire of consumer culture, the absurdities, double standards, and pressures of gender roles, and self-identity, Barbie brings a plastic paradise to life perfectly. What could have been a sell-out product placement becomes a brilliant exploration of real existential questions about growing up and the messiness of being human. With laughs coming at all times, the more tender, emotional scenes are wonderfully earned. With a stellar soundtrack that gets you moving, grooving, and pining, Barbie was a worthwhile cinematic experience that has high rewatchability.
'Beetlejuice' (1988)
Say his name three times and an abundance of fun is about to unfold. A gothic horror comedy from Tim Burton, Beetlejuice follows a recently deceased couple, Adam and Barbara Maitland (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis), who hire a spirit named Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton) to scare away the new tenants of their old home, Charles and Delia Deetz (Jeffrey Jones and Catherine O'Hara) and their gothic daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder).
Flipping the traditional ghost story on its head, Beetlejuice pairs macabre concepts with manic, hilarious bits. Burton's exceptional worldbuilding establishes a comedic playground for actors to play in, and that includes a bevy of creations, including shrunken heads, sandworms, and everyone inside that waiting room. The story is masterfully balanced in terms of character types. The wholesome, newly dead couple serve as the perfect foil for the eccentric, pretentious New York family with the outcast daughter. And then, of course, Keaton's unhinged energy serves as the cherry on top.
'Enchanted' (2007)
An utterly delightful film, Enchanted is an example of when Disney gets it completely right. Brought to life by director Kevin Lima and writer Bill Kelly, it follows the adventures of an animated love-lorn princess named Giselle (Amy Adams) who is banished from her magical kingdom of Andalasia. She falls through an enchanted well into the modern real world, a place she must navigate in hopes of returning home. Transformed into a live-action human, Giselle bumbles around New York City, where she meets cynical divorce lawyer Robert Philip (Patrick Dempsey) and his daughter, Morgan (Rachel Covey).
Pulling off the perfect balance of parodying the entire arsenal of fairy tale films with a sincere, heartwarming original tale, Enchanted treats magic with love. A wonderful mix of animation and live-action, Enchanted is all about Adams's star-defining performance. With her wide-eyed optimism and dazzling demeanor, Adams is the perfect actress to play a cartoon princess come to life. From start to finish, she commits to the bit, making us eager to go on her fish-out-of-water adventure. Like Adams, James Marsden is pitch-perfect as Prince Edward, playing up the oblivious prince trope and stealing nearly every scene he's in.
'Hocus Pocus' (1993)
Since 1993, a spell has been put on all of us, as Hocus Pocus remains one of the most beloved films we turn to every Halloween. Directed by Kenny Ortega, the fantasy comedy follows the Sanderson sisters (Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy), three 17th-century witches, as they are resurrected in modern-day Salem. They attempt to become immortal while Max Dennison (Omri Katz), his sister Dani (Thora Birch), and his crush, Allison Watts (Vinessa Shaw), try to stop them.
Filled to the brim with magical madness, Hocus Pocus marries '90s nostalgia, campy humor, and a self-aware spooky adventure for the ultimate Halloween watch. A rare blend of cozy autumnal atmosphere and high-energy chaos, it's a true cult classic and a tour de force for Midler, who goes all in on campy territory, providing a masterclass in comedy. With a strict one-night countdown to destruction, the stakes are always high, making the mission immediate for both parties. In essence, it's a non-stop chase until sunrise. Between peak autumn nostalgia and the memorable musical moment in "I Put a Spell on You," Hocus Pocus is the ultimate spooky season classic.
'Mary Poppins' (1964)
A true classic, Mary Poppins was worth the fight to make. Based on P.L. Travers' book, the live-action and animation combination film tells the tale of Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews), a magical nanny, who arrives at 17 Cherry Tree Lane to care for the Banks children, Jane and Michael (Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber), and help heal and reconnect with their busy parents, George and Winifred (David Tomlinson and Glynis Johns).
A practically perfect film in both execution and joy, Mary Poppins leaves a lasting impression, offering teaching moments along the way. A blast from start to finish, it brings an unforgettable score from the Sherman Brothers, groundbreaking special effects, and a heartwarming, smile-inducing story about family. The film thrives, guided by stellar performances from Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, who lead the children and viewers through the charming world of imagination. Thanks to practical magic, like the carpetbag, and dazzling musical numbers, like, well, the entire soundtrack, Mary Poppins is simply a blast.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes What Fantasy World Do You Belong To? Middle-earth · Grand Line · The Continent · Camp Half-Blood
Pick your magic, your crew, where you want to wake up and who you would rather be fighting, and we will tell you which world you actually belong in. Four are open to you: an ancient kingdom living through its last good age, an endless sea full of pirates, a continent that pays people to kill monsters, and a summer camp where the Greek gods are extremely real and mostly a nuisance.
💍Middle-earth(Rings of Power)
👒Grand Line(One Piece)
🐺The Continent(The Witcher)
🔱Camp Half-Blood(Percy Jackson)
01
What kind of power do you want? Every one of these worlds runs on a completely different sort of magic.
02
Who is travelling with you? Nobody gets through any of these stories entirely on their own.
03
Where do you want to wake up tomorrow? The best fantasy is usually just somewhere you would genuinely like to live.
04
How are you making a living out there? Even in fantasy somebody has to pay for the horse.
05
There is something in the woods. What do you do about it? All four of these worlds keep something unpleasant out there in the dark.
06
Who is the villain of your story? The enemy tells you far more about a world than the hero ever does.
07
What do you actually believe in out there? Every world hands its heroes one rule and asks them to hold onto it.
08
A thousand years from now, how are you remembered? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides your world.
The Map Is Drawn Your World Is…
Four worlds and four completely different ideas of what a good life looks like. This is where you belong, what it would ask of you, and what you would get back in return.
Middle-earth
You belong somewhere old enough that the mountains have names and somebody can still tell you who gave them. Middle-earth is for people who think the right thing is worth doing even when it will not be finished in their lifetime.
- This is the only world on the list where doing good is understood as a very long defeat, fought anyway, by people who will never see how it ends.
- You are drawn to grandeur, to white cities and deep forges and the sense that almost everything you touch is older than your entire family line.
- The Rings of Power is set in the last good age before it all goes wrong, which gives every quiet scene in it a slightly unbearable weight.
- You would take the hard road, and you would take it on foot.
The Grand Line
You want the sea, a crew, and absolutely nobody telling you where you are allowed to go. The Grand Line is the world for people whose main ambition in life is finding out what is over there.
- One Piece has run for decades on one very simple engine, which is a group of people who each want something impossible and have decided to go and get it together.
- You collect people. Your ideal crew is a set of misfits who were each written off somewhere else before you turned up and offered them a better idea.
- The world is enormous and deliberately ridiculous, and the emotional gut punches land harder because of that rather than in spite of it.
- You would set sail knowing the map runs out, which is more or less the entire point of it.
The Continent
You would rather be feared and useful than liked and useless. The Continent is a world where the monsters are the straightforward part of the job and the people are where it all gets complicated.
- Witchers get paid to do what nobody else will and resented for existing at all, which is a trade most people would refuse and you would probably accept.
- You have no real illusions about which side is the good one, largely because on the Continent that question tends to have a disappointing answer.
- The best of these stories are not about the fighting. They are about somebody with a rigid code being repeatedly cornered into caring about people.
- You would take the coin, finish the job properly, and be out of town before the story got told wrong.
Camp Half-Blood
You want the myths to be real and loose in the actual world, and you want to find out at about thirteen that you were never anywhere near as ordinary as everybody kept telling you.
- Percy Jackson takes the oldest stories we have and drops them into car parks and diners, which makes the gods considerably funnier and a great deal worse.
- You would be the kid every school gave up on, who turns out to have been built for something nobody thought to test for.
- The series is genuinely about friendship rather than destiny, and it says so out loud every time a prophecy tries to get in the way.
- Camp Half-Blood is the real fantasy here: a place where the thing that made you difficult everywhere else is the thing that makes you belong.
'Matilda' (1996)
Lifted straight from Roald Dahl's beloved children's book, Matilda brings the magic from beginning to end. Matilda Wormwood (Mara Wilson) is a sweet, darling little girl who happens to be super-smart and super-special. She uses her powers of telekinesis to stand up to her mean parents (Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman), who care little about her education, and the awful headmistress, Miss Trunchbull (Pam Ferris), who simply hates children.
A story about the underdog standing up for themselves, Matilda is a triumphant, larger-than-life fantasy adventure. Matilda, both the character and story, is incredibly inspirational because she represents a power in all of us. We root for Matilda as her quiet intellect ultimately outsmarts the cruel adults who hope to hinder her. The villains are presented in a cartoonish manner, but rooted in truth; their nastiness may be a tad over-the-top; their presence is accessible. Matilda is filled with magic and heart, and the tender relationship between Matilda and Miss Honey (Embeth Davidtz) is the core joy of the story. }
'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' (1975)
It might be hyperbolic to some, but Monty Python and the Holy Grail is the greatest comedy of all time. Brought to life by the comedy troupe Monty Python, the absurdist comedy follows King Arthur (Graham Chapman) and his bumbling Knights of the Round Table on a surreal quest across medieval England for the Holy Grail. But their journey doesn’t go according to plan, as they are separated and face everything from taunting French soldiers and the Knights who say Ni to the Lady of the Lake and a killer rabbit.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is proof that a thematic series of sketch vignettes is a recipe for success. From the start, the film breaks the fourth wall, bringing the audience into the joke. From there, the rules are broken, and the quest goes off-kilter. In turn, the hijinks are hilarious, and the gimmicks go on until the abrupt end. Monty Python and the Holy Grail thrives on callback humor, everlasting quotes, and sharp performances from the core cast. If there’s ever a film that is a gateway comedy for fledgling cinephiles, it’s Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl' (2003)
The bar for a theme park ride-inspired film was low. Then Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl arrived and shattered expectations. A high-octane action-adventure masterpiece, the Gore Verbinski-directed film follows Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), an eccentric pirate, and Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), a young blacksmith, who join forces to rescue Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), the governor's daughter, from a crew of cursed, undead pirates, led by Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush).
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl has a witty, unpredictable narrative that’s swashbuckling fun. Depp’s performance lifted the film to extraordinary heights with an eccentric swagger that is simply magnetic. The film blends genres seamlessly, from spooky horror to romantic drama, with comedy sprinkled throughout; Verbinski keeps the tone consistent. If you require an action film to deliver brilliant sequences, Curse of the Black Pearl is the one for you, as the massive set pieces serve as the perfect place for sensational swordplay. The franchise-launching film is truly a blast.
'Shrek 2' (2004)
Now, without the original film, we never would have Shrek 2. While the first film established the universe, the sequel went balls to the wall with a fun, hilarious romp that picks up the fairy-tale parody of the first and pokes fun at everything and everyone in its path. The sequel follows Shrek (Mike Myers) and Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) as they visit Fiona's parents (John Cleese and Julie Andrews) in the kingdom of Far Far Away, only to face resistance from her family and a plot by the Fairy Godmother (Jennifer Saunders) to make Fiona marry Prince Charming (Rupert Everett).
The film does a masterful job of honoring its predecessor while expanding the universe through iconic new characters, namely Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas). The film introduces a hilarious, star-studded parody of Beverly Hills, complete with medieval versions of corporate brands. This allows the script to pack in slapstick comedy for children alongside sharp Hollywood satire, pop culture references, and adult innuendos. Music plays a strong part in the film. From “Accidentally in Love” at the start to the climactic “Holding Out for a Hero,” Shrek 2 utilizes music as part of the storytelling without pausing the action.
'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' (1988)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a mystery comedy set in an alternate 1947 Hollywood where live-action humans and Toons live and work side by side. A down-on-his-luck, Toon-hating private detective named Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) is hired to find out if Jessica Rabbit (Kathleen Turner)—the glamorous wife of cartoon star Roger Rabbit (Charles Fleischer)—is having an affair. The investigation leads to a conspiracy that threatens the very existence of Toontown.
What makes the film stand out is its mix of gritty 1940s film noir and the chaotic, anarchic energy of golden-age animation. With a cartoon dream team on screen, Who Framed Roger Rabbit united Disney and Warner Bros. IP for an immediate, nostalgic thrill ride. The film was made long before CGI took over, yet the fusion of animation and live action is sublime, pushing boundaries to the max. The dynamic between Eddie’s deadpan, cynical world and Roger’s rule-breaking toon logic is the chemistry we deserve. Who Framed Roger Rabbit influenced hybrid films in all the right ways.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
- Release Date
- June 22, 1988
- Cast
- Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, Joanna Cassidy, Charles Fleischer, Kathleen Turner, Stubby Kaye, Alan Tilvern, Richard LeParmentier, Lou Hirsch, Betsy Brantley, Joel Silver, Paul Springer, Richard Ridings, Edwin Craig, Lindsay Holiday, Mike Edmonds, Morgan Deare, Danny Capri, Christopher Hollosy, Jean-Paul Sipla, Laura Frances, Joel Cutrara, Billy J. Mitchell, Eric B. Sindon, Ed Herlihy
- Runtime
- 104 minutes
- Director
- Robert Zemeckis
- Writers
- Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.