This sequel is just one of those 'one-too-many' bad sequels. There are so many things wrong with it and I am going straight into it.
After the opening credits and then the scene in Bastian's house, look at that, he is just so clumsy as if he would be capable just tearing the house down. I mean, what kind of person manages to pointlessly stab a sandwich only to let it litter the floor, and then procede to successively knock down a box of cereal, a carton of milk, and then a pile of dishes?! The last part looks as though he meant to do so; was this intent on actually throwing in some comic relief for the audience? Whatever that was, it did not work; rather it is a metaphor tht reveals the upcoming disarter. It only made our protagonist (sigh!) look like a downright douche. What happened to the meek and gentle protagonist from the first movie? This is going to be a big dent on his movie career. (Hey, it already has dented his career!)
Now as we progress, it is revealed that Bastian has a fear of heights and does not have an amicable relationship with his father--a stark contrast to the relationship in the first film where they do try to build a stable relationship after his mother's death. In this one, it's a house of cards!
Bastian tries to conquer his fear of heights by visiting a downtown bookshop. He finds the book called The Never Ending Story--the same book from the first movie which did not ever mention Bastian every returning the book to the owner! And this is what I think is a gaping plot hole: if Bastian did return the Book, why would the shopkeeper, Koreander, leave the book unattended so that Bastian or some random stranger could take it again?! I mean in the first film, Koreander was so strict about withholding the Book that he would be cross if anybody took it. In this movie, he left it for Bastian to run off with it! Pure idiocy!
So Bastian makes it home with the book; he opens it and finds out that it is fading. Then he encounters a page with an image of the Childlike Empress; as he stares at the pendent on her tiara, he is literally drawn into the Book and lo, he is in Fantasia already. Really? So Bastian just staring into the pendent will automatically find himself on a small boat without any intermediate transitions. Not what I call a neat conception! So he finds himself drifting on the boat--also a flying giant chicken drops in and acts as his tour guide--on an acid lake towards Silver City--more like Cardboard City--inhabited by a bunch of weird-looking people. Really, looking at them is enough to puzzle me to the end of time; they move around aimlessly, choreographing to nothing--and Bastian calls this fine?! Wake up little man!!! Suddenly, Silver City is under siege, and the culprits are revealed. Halloween rejects called Giants (is the best they could come up with?! No specific names for these monsters whatsoever). Below the ship, we see a bunch of even more visually obnoxious beings--including an oozing pile of excrement! Oh, my! In fact, all those characters retarded! Even a four-year-old child could have thought of something better than that! Gross!
Enough with all this retelling! Time to do something serious already!!! We recall that Bastian has the Auryn, with which he can make as many wishes as possible. Yet, he wastes his wishes on some things unimaginative instead of on anything to save time. Bizarre as it also looks: despite the fact that Xayido admits defeat, Bastian finds himself a prisoner of The Emptiness! I'm not kidding! He is taking comfort with the same villainess whom he is supposed to be his prisoner! Even Atreyu has a hard time talking sense into his thick head! He has lost his mind; he is now her slave and she is taking advantage of the fact that Bastian is losing his memory and his head is emptying at an alarming rate! It looks like Bastian HAS already forgotten his mission. Now there's something confusing here: the Emptiness is amplified to be a wicked force as abstract as the Nothing; yet Xayido professes as though she IS The Emptiness, trying to take control over dreams and imaginations! This movie is disappointing! The first movie shows how Bastian makes proper use of wishes for the good of Fantasia; here, he just wastes them as if he has no idea as to what is at stake, and only exhibits himself to be more menacing than heroic! This guy's career has steered into a tree! He does not even use the Auryn and fight like the hero we were counting on! He is just a bonehead!
And get this: books disappear because children are no longer reading them. So on the same day Bastian's father returns the Book, one minute the store is full of books, the next minute it is just empty; with no visible indications of foreclosure!
The special effects are just crude! Remember when Bastian wishes for Smurg the Dragon, the image of the dragon flying and attacking Silver City was beyond poor--purely cheap! He looked out of scale. Not good at all. Another plot hole: Bastian's father, Barney, read out that 'Xayido and her Giants journeyed deep into the underworld of Fantasia. There they could travel at the speed of darkness, which was faster than the speed of light'. What scientist on the planet would stay quiet about this?! Not me, not anybody! Crap! What a twist in the laws of physics! Abomination!
So we reach the end of the story where Bastian confronts the witch and her Giants, and how does he defeat her? He wishes she 'had a heart'! There! Sounds familiar?! Does Captain Planet And The Planeteers ring any bell? It sure does! So wishing by the power of the heart destroys all the evil plaguing Fantasia and releases the Childlike Empress. Bastian learns that the only way to get home is to, wait for it, conquer the irony: jump the waterfall, the same one he imagined at the swimming lessons earlier on. What a coincident. So he descends, and makes it home--abruptly outside of the house. Again, no intermediate transition revealing how he manages to end up where he is right now! One minute he is in the bottom of the waterfall; the next he is outside his house? No way. Not convinced. Not impressed. He reunites with his father, and the story ends.
So how should I round this up? Sorry, not a very magical sequel to an otherwise majestic one. This one was full of witchcraft, no logic and no real story coherent enough to capture the minds of those who watch the first one. The actor who played the lead character was a shambles; his acting was horrible, and beyond questionable. Above all, while Wolfgang Petersen directed the first critically acclaimed book-to-movie adaptation, George Miller directed this lump of horse turd. Sorry, I am not as impressed with this movie as I was as a kid. This is a disappointment.
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