10 Fantasy Movies That I Knew Would Be Masterpieces From the First 10 Minutes

Published Oct 26, 2026, 3:41 PM EDT

Born with Autism (formerly classified as Asperger syndrome), Tyler B. Searle has been obsessed with storytelling since he was old enough to speak. He gravitated towards fairy tales, mythology, the fantasy genre, and animated movies and shows aimed at family audiences. When not writing, Tyler enjoys watching more cartoons and reading fantasy books in his home in Ontario, Canada.

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Fantasy is the oldest genre of storytelling, and by far the most creative. Limited only by the imagination of the storyteller, this beloved and enduring genre uses legendary beasts and daring heroes to present the mundane world as something more mystical and shows that our fears can be beaten.

Movies have proven to be one of the best genres for fantasy, as new technologies have allowed for more believable and inventive worlds to come to life. Since fantasy takes place in secondary worlds, it's essential that the crucial opening minutes pull you in. Indeed, the following movies establish themselves as masterpieces from the first 10 minutes, thanks to the way they meld exposition and character-establishment together, using every minute efficiently.

'Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End' (2007)

Image via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Disney was making lots of films based on their theme park rides during the 2000s, but none proved to be more successful than Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Audiences loved its flashy sword fights, bombastic music, and memorable characters, especially Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp). Two sequels would be filmed back-to-back, and the third in the trilogy, At World's End, wastes no time in establishing its tone via a mass hanging.

The movies always had a dark edge to them, but seeing dozens of people killed for even having a small connection to someone accused of piracy is something else. It establishes how powerful Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) has become since the end of movie two, while the song that the prisoners begin before the title drop is a haunting track of defiance that gets the audience curious to learn its significance. It then jumps to Singapore so we can catch up with the protagonists and begin their quest to the land of the dead.

'Spirited Away' (2001)

Image via Studio Ghibli

Hayao Miyazaki is among the most recognized and admired of Japan's directors of animated films. He has directed many classics in his time, but his magnum opus is Spirited Away, the first foreign animated film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. It starts off slowly, with Chihiro (Rumi Hiiragi/Daveigh Chase) and her parents traveling to a new home, but then they stumble upon the spirit world and things change quickly.

After some more buildup via the abandoned resort town, a young boy named Haku (Miyu Irino/Jason Marsden) orders Chihiro to flee before the sun sets. Unfortunately, it proves to be too late, and shadowy spectral figures start to appear and bring the town to life. As for Chihiro's parents, they have been transformed into pigs, meaning that our heroine is alone in a strange world of magic and mystery, and it leaves you excited to see how she'll escape it.

'Kung Fu Panda' (2008)

Image via DreamWorks

DreamWorks has been responsible for some of the best animated film franchises in recent years. One of the best is Kung Fu Panda, a film that brings the beautiful iconography of Chinese art and mythology to life through gorgeous animation, fast-paced fight sequences, and mature themes about finding inner peace and self-acceptance balanced with comedy. The first film sets the tone perfectly with a stylistic dream sequence narrated by Po (Jack Black), as he imagines himself as a mighty kung fu master.

2D animation was used to bring the dream to life, and the style pays homage to classic Chinese shadow puppetry. This approach results in some gorgeous action sequences and offers a strong contrast when we transition to CGI when Po wakes up. From there, we have some good jokes with Po's father, Mr. Ping (James Hong), and finish laying the foundations for the Hero’s Journey.

'Shrek' (2001)

Image via DreamWorks Animation

Shrek is one of the most important animated films ever made. It cemented that CGI was the way going forward over hand-drawn animation, and offered audiences something new with its raunchy and satirical humor, which satirized Disney and fairy tales in general. It also boasts a truly iconic opening, with Shrek (Mike Myers) literally wiping himself with a fairy tale, before "All Star" from Smash Mouth plays over the opening credits.

Not only is the song a perfect choice to subvert audience expectations after a decade of Disney musicals, but it allows the movie to revel in its grossness as Shrek goes through his daily routine in the swamp. It's followed by a confrontation with an angry mob to set up Shrek's main conflict about being treated as an "other," before introducing the audience to Donkey (Eddie Murphy) as he's about to be turned over with the other fairy tale creatures. Events are well paced and never overstay their welcome, allowing our two leads to quickly meet up and progress with the story.

'Puss in Boots: The Last Wish' (2022)

Image via DreamWorks

Shrek 2 introduced Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) to the franchise, and he became a fan favorite thanks to the brilliant combination of cat jokes with tongue-in-cheek parody of The Mask of Zorro. He got a spin-off film in 2011, and a sequel in 2022. With the original Puss in Boots being a perfectly average film, audiences were not prepared for The Last Wish to break all expectations in its opening minutes.

After Puss narrates a fairy tale about the wishing star that serves as the MacGuffin of the film, we meet up with the feline outlaw as his party is interrupted by an angry governor (Bernardo de Paula). The fight ends up waking a sleeping giant, leading to a stunning action sequence as Puss leaps across rooftops to rescue townsfolk while the giant uses a bell as a makeshift flail. The animators play around with the foreground to create some truly beautiful images, while the choice to animate on twos gives the action sequences a more stylistic look, which complements the aesthetic of a fairy tale book come to life.

'Princess Mononoke' (1997)

Image via Studio Ghibli

The 1990s were full of environmentally conscious films, but many of them were too preachy and failed to leave an impact. That can't be said about Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke, which presents its environmental message through an epic story of humans and animal gods struggling to survive in an ever-changing world. It sets the stage very quickly, with its opening featuring the boar god Nago (Makoto Satō/John DiMaggio), now transformed into a demon, attacking a hidden village and coming to blows with its prince, Ashitaka (Yōji Matsuda/Billy Crudup).

First off, the animation is some of the best to come out of Studio Ghibli: the backgrounds look realistic at times thanks to the level of detail put into the forests, while CGI was used to animate the blood-worms that cover Nago's body, giving him an otherworldly feel. Dynamic camera shots also capture the desperation of Ashitaka as he tries to talk down the rampaging demon, before remorsefully putting him down with a few well-placed arrows. This opening does a good job of quickly establishing what kind of hero Ashitaka is, and establishes a mystery as to what caused Nago's rampage, which sets our hero off on his quest.

'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' (1975)

Image via EMI Films

Monty Python is easily one of the most recognized and beloved British comedy troupes, and, at the height of their popularity, they tried their hand at filmmaking. While their first film, And Now for Something Completely Different, was just a collection of old sketches, they followed it up with Monty Python and the Holy Grail, a satirical take on Arthurian legend and the medieval period. It has since been consistently ranked among the funniest films ever made, and you can see why immediately during the opening credits.

The pythons start the film out right with a series of gags involving vaguely Swedish subtitles and an obsession with moose that sees people getting sacked. And just when you think the joke is done, it keeps finding new ways to keep it going, before ending in a flash of colors, Mariachi music, and references to llamas. If you've never seen the pythons before, this is a hilarious introduction to their style, and it transitions into the intro of King Arthur (Graham Chapman) and the legendary debate about coconuts and swallows.

'Beauty and the Beast' (1992)

Image via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

After two decades of stagnation in their Dark Age, Disney found itself on top of the world during their Renaissance between 1989 and 1999. While The Little Mermaid was the film that began Disney's winning formula of Broadway-style musicals, Beauty and the Beast was the film that perfected it. The movie opens with the backstory concerning the Beast (Robby Benson) told through gorgeous stained-glass imagery, before jumping into the first song, named after the beauty, Belle (Paige O'Hara).

This opening sequence is perfectly paced, delivering exposition in a stylistic way and establishing the characters with a catchy song. Alongside showing Belle's longing for a more exciting life, we also meet the main antagonist, Gaston (Richard White), and learn his goal of marrying Belle. Alan Menken and Howard Ashman struck gold with this song: Menken's music is as magical as you'd expect a fairy tale to be, while Ashman's lyrics have a beautiful flow that gives Belle, Gaston, and the townsfolk distinct voices and characters.

'Conan the Barbarian' (1982)

Image via Universal Pictures

The 1980s were a golden age for dark fantasy movies, and one of the best is Conan the Barbarian. Based on the character by Robert E. Howard, it wowed audiences with its epic score, gritty world, and a strong performance by Arnold Schwarzenegger that led to him becoming a beloved action star. It begins with a narration by Mako to set the tone of the world, before playing the opening credits over a mythical scene of a sword being forged.

From there, we see a young Conan (Jorge Sanz) learning the Riddle of Steel from his father (William Smith), establishing the level of mysticism in this world. Unfortunately, Conan's village is attacked by raiders led by Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones), who takes Conan and sells him into slavery with the rest of the kids. It's a brutal introduction to just how cruel and harsh this world can be, and is the perfect setup for a revenge story.

'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' (2001)

Image via New Line Cinema

Sir Peter Jackson broke new ground with his Lord of the Rings trilogy, based on the books by J. R. R. Tolkien. Groundbreaking technology brought Middle-earth to life like never before, and it proved that fantasy movies could be blockbusters. However, there was a lot of stuff he had to cut from the books, and a lot of backstory he was going to need to tell the audience before they could get the plot going.

What he came up with is a truly legendary prologue narrated by Cate Blanchett, which covers the forging of the rings of power, the Last Alliance of Men and Elves that toppled Sauron (Alan Howard), and how the One Ring found its way to Bilbo Baggins (Sir Ian Holm). That is a ton of information to present, yet Jackson and his crew manage to condense it down with smartly worded dialogue and epic visuals. Afterwards, we see the idyllic lives of Hobbits in the Shire, which establishes the status quo that the characters are going to fight to protect.