We live in days in which the fantastic genre has come to the fore thanks to the premiere of ‘The House of the Dragon’ and the imminent arrival of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’. As you are going to be well served when it comes to the series, today’s dose of recommendations is going to focus on 4 of the best fantasy movies of the 21st century that you can see on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney + and HBO Max.
I can already tell you that in this list you will not find any of the amazing fantasy movies that I already suggested you to watch on HBO Max a few months ago -and here I am not going to resort to the wildcards of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Harry Potter’-. within the same gender maybe you are also interested take a look at this selection of 4 science fiction and fantasy animated series available for streaming.
In addition, you can also take a look at our review of the best Netflix movies in 2022, the best cinema of this year available on Disney + or the list of the essential movies of 2022 that you have on Amazon Prime Video. Without more to add, let’s go with today’s chosen ones:
‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ (2006)
Address: William of the Bull. Distribution: Ivana Baquero, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú, Doug Jones, Ariadna Gil, Álex Angulo, Federico Luppi, Roger Casamajor, Fernando Tielve, Pepa Pedroche, José Luis Torrijo, Ivan Massagué, César Vea
A dark fairy tale set in post-war Spain that is as twisted as it is imaginative, and that is William of the Bull is capable of moments as beautiful as other cruel situations. Here we play with the contrast between the innocence of the protagonist (wonderful Ivana Baker) and the harsh reality that he has to face, giving rise to a fascinating story in its two aspects, but it is difficult not to be seduced more by the fantastic side, where there is also a great job of design and execution of the different creatures that appear.
Pan’s Labyrinth review
‘Spirited Away’ (‘Sen to Spirited Away no kamikakushi’, 2001)
Address: Hayao Miyazaki. Cast (vocals): Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki, Takeshi Naito, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Tsunehiko Kamijō, Takehiko Ono, Bunta Sugawara
I recognize that there are several Studio Ghibli titles -my personal favorite is ‘Princess Mononoke’-, but it does not mean that we are facing a unique work that uses fantasy to explore various Japanese traditions through a character marked by customs of our time. In its own way, it could be said that it is the Japanese response to ‘Alice in Wonderland’, but to reduce it to that would be a mistake, since it goes beyond imagination and has unique and unrepeatable designs.
‘Life of Pi’ (‘Life of Pi’, 2012)
Address: Ang Lee. Distribution: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Rafe Spall, Tabu, Adil Hussain, Shravanthi Sainath, Ayush Tandon, Vibish Sivakumar, Gérard Depardieu
This jump to the big screen of the novel by yann martin It is one of the best examples of magical realism that Hollywood has given us in a long time. And it is that he knows how to fully squeeze an a priori delusional premise to shape an unforgettable adventure, both for its impressive visual display -one of the few films that really knew how to take advantage of 3D technology- and for its emotional power.
Review of ‘Life of Pi’
Midnight in Paris (2011)
Address: Woody Allen. Distribution: Owen Wilson, Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams, Corey Stoll, Kurt Fuller, Michael Sheen, Mimi Kennedy, Kathy Bates, Léa Seydoux, Alison Pill, Tom Hiddleston, Gad Elmaleh, Adrien Brody
Fantasy is often associated with great worlds in which its authors make a great display of imagination, but here Woody Allen opted for a much simpler approach to explore the lines between reality and fiction with which to offer a clear personal growth to the character well played by Owen Wilson. All this very marked by a look at love far from cynicism and openly embracing a more optimistic approach. All of this that usually sounds good and often gives results that are frankly improvable, but here it works with great precision.
Review of ‘Midnight in Paris’
In Espinof: