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Fantasy and adventure would seemingly be the peanut butter and jelly of movie genres. The former naturally often requires fantastical worlds and far-ranging quests, which dually fulfill the requirements for some high adventure. So maybe the metaphor is more that fantasy and adventure are like the rice and beans of genres: similar but complementary nutrients that combined make for a more satisfying meal.
When it comes to the greatest fantasy adventure movies, they span decades of film history, cross over mediums, and feature all different kinds of settings. Variety is the spice of life, and while these movies might have the same basic ingredients, they have vastly different flavor profiles. If you want a fantasy adventure that’s going to be full and satisfying, these are the ten best of all time.
'The 7th Voyage of Sinbad' (1958)
In the pre-CGI era of magic and monsters, no name looms larger than Ray Harryhausen. A visual effects pioneer known best for his stop-motion creature effects, Harryhausen was behind some of the most beloved creatures in fantasy adventures. The Kraken in the original Clash of the Titans, the dinosaurs from One Million Years B.C., and the iconic skeletons from Jason and the Argonauts.
The greatest fantasy adventure film to feature the work of Harryhausen is undoubtedly the swashbuckling classic The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. Starring Kerwin Mathews as the titular sailor of the seven seas, the movie features an island of fantastic beasts brought to life by the mad effects magician. A dragon, a two-headed bird of prey, and, most memorably, a cyclops all feature heavily in this old-fashioned adventure. The effects easily overpower the ropey dialogue and silly performances. Sinbad’s seventh voyage is the most fun the character has ever been on-screen, and with some of the most fantastic effects Harryhausen ever accomplished.
'Time Bandits' (1981)
Terry Gilliam is another idiosyncratic artist, like Harryhausen, whose work is instantly recognizable. The former Monty Python performer and animator has brought his half-past whimsy approach to a number of fantastic classics. Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen are the second and third parts of what Gilliam has informally dubbed his imagination trilogy, but it began with the superlative fantasy adventure Time Bandits.
Gilliam’s second film as solo director, Time Bandits follows a young boy from London named Kevin (Craig Warnock) who’s taken on a whimsical adventure across time by the titular band of thieves. They cross paths with Robin Hood (John Cleese), Agamemnon (Sean Connery), and Napoleon (Ian Holm), among others, while trying to evade the villainous and aptly named Evil (David Warner).Time Bandits is something special, even among the myriad other '80s fantasy adventure films that would become beloved classics, and it’s a sterling sample of Gilliam’s unique sensibilities.
'How to Train Your Dragon' (2010)
DreamWorks Animation found its earliest success with fantasy adventure. Shrekwas a phenomenon that put Disney on notice, at least at the box office, and its success led to several other fantasy adventures from the animation house. From the terrific Kung Fu Pandafranchise to the underrated Rise of the Guardiansand the incredible Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, DreamWorks has proven its worth several times over. Their greatest fantasy adventure came in 2010, with the surprisingly mature and deeply emotional How to Train Your Dragon. It's become a beloved animated classic of its era and remains a high watermark for the studio.
Based on the Cressida Cowell novel, the film is set in the Viking village of Berk, where dragons are a common occurrence. Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) is the scrawny son of the village chieftain, who has struggled to prove his worth to his father. That becomes even more complicated when he befriends a dragon he names Toothless and discovers more about the winged beast's world. Co-directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders, How to Train Your Dragon is a sweeping adventure and visually arresting fantasy filled with colorful characters, lots of aerial action, and a strong emotional core that can charm adults and kids.
'Kubo and the Two Strings' (2016)
Art Stop-motion animation studio Laika has become synonymous with telling tales filled with the fantastic. Their films, beginning with the frightfulCoraline, have all featured some element of fantasy and adventure, but the most bold and beautiful blending of the two is the Japanese culture-infused Kubo and the Two Strings. It's a spectacularly crafted film that engages with its epic adventure and fantastical characters, but also the empathetic storyline that weaves both together.
Kubo (Art Parkinson) lives alone with his mother on a mountain overlooking a village, where he plays a magical instrument to make a living. His father was a great samurai warrior whose disappearance is a mystery, sending Kubo on a grand adventure when the other, more sinister members of his family come after him. Despite the fairly white voice cast for a film steeped in Japanese imagery and lore, there's still a great deal of care in every frame of the magnificently animated Kubo, and it's the greatest adventure among Laika's perfect track record.
'Wolfwalkers' (2020)
Parental figures seem to figure strongly in many animated fantasy adventures. Just as both How to Train Your Dragon and Kubo and the Two Strings feature young leads wrangling with the legacy of their fathers, Wolfwalkershas a young girl torn between her father's legacy of violence and the magical animal kingdom she discovers. Inspired by Irish folklore, the same as co-director Tomm Moore's previous films The Secret of Kellsand Song of the Sea, the film is gorgeously animated using hand-drawn techniques through computer software, which gives it an out-of-time visual quality that stands in stark contrast to the many computer-animated films it shared space with in 2020.
Robyn (Honor Kneafsey) is the daughter of an English hunter who's been summoned to the Irish city of Kilkenny to rid its surrounding woods of wolves. It's in those woods that Robyn discovers the Wolfwalkers, a race of people whose spirits become wolves at night. When Robyn herself begins to experience nocturnal transformations, it puts her between the magical beings and the humans who want to hunt them down. The film uses differing styles of design to differentiate the natural and human worlds to great effect, and the animation overall is a spectacular use of the medium to create a modern representation of classic folklore.
'The Princess Bride' (1987)
Comedy isn't inherent to fantasy, but levity is often a key component of adventure. Thus, fantasy adventure movies that feature a healthy amount of humor abound. Every prior film on this list includes some element of comedy, whether major or minor, and there are those films that would rank as highly for their humor as any other genre element. The film that best exemplifies this specific subgenre is Rob Reiner's cult classic The Princess Bride, a meta-humorous take on a classic chivalric romance that is a genuine fantasy adventure with uproarious comedy.
Adapted by William Goldman from his novel, the film follows the love between swashbuckler Westley (Cary Elwes) and his beloved Buttercup (Robin Wright), who are separated by external forces of evil and fight to get back to one another. It's got a little bit of everything: fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love and miracles. The real miracle is the balancing act that Reiner and his incredible cast manage between the quirky humor and the classic adventure elements. One step too far in either direction and it could have become a snarky slog or tonal mess, instead of the quotable classic it is.
'Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope' (1977)
Not all fantasy needs to take place in some land of antiquity and magic; some take place in galaxies far, far away and have something called the Force instead. George Lucas' totemic blockbuster Star Warsfeatures all the hallmarks of classic fantasy and adventure as filtered through a sci-fi serial sensibility. There's a young boy from the country who's whisked away on a daring adventure by his magical mentor to save a princess from an evil empire. Sword fights become lightsaber battles and mythical creatures become alien species. It's everything a fantasy fan could want wrapped in a sci-fi fan's dreamscape.
Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) adheres to Joseph Campbell's monomyth, following his classic journey template as he joins former Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) on a quest to save Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) with the help of the roguish Han Solo (Harrison Ford). Lucas' reinvigoration of these archetypes was so impactful that future filmmakers would more often use them as the template than any previous iteration, all in an attempt to recapture the magic of this first fantastic adventure. Star Wars has grown from a scrappy group of rebels fighting a battle for a movie that few believed in toa massive empire serving corporate interests, but that doesn't diminish the special place that the original film holds in the hearts of fans or in film history.
'Pinocchio' (1940)
Carlo Collodi's classic tale of a wooden puppet who dreams of being a real boy has been adapted for film in just about every different way it could. They range from fanciful to frightening and from good to bad to starring Pauly Shore, but each iteration is essentially elaborating on the iconic version created in Disney's Pinocchio. As the second feature-length film from the studio after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the film cemented the visual basis that entire generations would associate with the whittled protagonist and his supporting cast. It's an essential animated film and a fantastic adventure.
The film follows the episodic nature of Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio, though it substantially softens the lead character and adds a lot of Disney wonder-filled flourishes. Pinocchio (Dickie Jones) is a puppet carved by the lonely Gepetto (Christian Rub) whose wish to be a real boy sends him on a journey of temptation and selfless sacrifice, guided along the way by Jiminy Cricket (Cliff Edwards). Filled with memorable songs, sequences of wonder and horror alike, and equal measures of fantasy and adventure, it's easy to see why Pinocchiois often still considered the reigning Disney masterpiece.
'Princess Mononoke' (1997)
If there's any animation studio that could come for Disney's crown, it's Studio Ghibli and its co-founder Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki's films are more particularly reflective of Japanese culture, though that can often still carry a broad appeal for international audiences. That applies to his classic animated fantasies My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, and, especially, the epic adventure Princess Mononoke.
The conflict between the natural and the industrialized worlds is at the heart of many classic fantasy tales. It's central to the plot of this Miyazaki masterpiece, which follows a cursed prince whose search for a cure brings him into the middle of a conflict between the Forest Gods and the industrial Irontown. That conflict is not entirely one-sided as presented in the film either, as the crux of the plot's resolution centers on finding balance between the two. Beautifully animated and composed with maturity that demanded more of audiences than many of the typical mainstream Western animated films at the time did, Princess Mononoke is a monumental animated film and a fantastic adventure to take.
'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' (2001)
There’s a pretty big demarcation point marked by the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Peter Jackson’s first chapter in his adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s massively influential fantasy trilogy was the announcement of a new level of fantasy filmmaking on a mainstream level. There had been blockbusters within the fantasy genre before, including the first Harry Potterfilm, which came out a mere month earlier, but Jackson’s film was something different. It was successful, but also embraced by critics, audiences, and the film industry at large. It was nominated for major awards, brought whole legions of new fans to the series, and spawned dozens of epic imitators.
The first film was filmed at the beginning of a nonstop production that produced all three films together. It had its work cut out for it to prove it could invite audiences who hadn’t read a word of Tolkien into his densely populated fantasy world. It did just that through a combination of balanced storytelling techniques, incredibly detailed art direction and production design, and groundbreaking visual effects combined with incredible practical effects. Even decades later, the production continues to astonish, and there’s always some new detail to discover in this staggering fantasy adventure.
