All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Average Critic Score: 46 (10 sources)

• 90
  

  
  Variety  |  Staff (Not Credited)
  

  Wolfgang Petersen's The NeverEnding Story is a marvelously realized flight of pure fantasy. Read Full Review »
• 88
  

  
  TV Guide  |  Staff (Not Credited)
  

  Director Wolfgang Petersen combines the elements into a charming film that is excellent for children and won't put any adults to sleep, either. Read Full Review »
• 88
  

  
  Boston Globe  |  Michael Blowen
  

  The Neverending Story, Wolfgang Petersen's sophisticated fantasy film, is so wonderfully appropriate to children that it seems to have been made by kids. But there is enough artistic merit in the tale to enchant adults equally. [20 Jul 1984, p.1] Read Full Review »
• 75
  

  
  The Globe and Mail (Toronto)  |  Rick Groen
  

  Petersen seems to be holding back, telling us about the liberating power of the imagination but never really showing us. Of course, to show us would be to spoon feed the audience, thereby blunting the message and defeating the point. [20 Jul 1984, p.E9] Read Full Review »
• 75
  

  
  Chicago Sun-Times  |  Roger Ebert
  

  The idea of the story within a story is one of the nice touches in The NeverEnding Story. Another one is the idea of a child's faith being able to change the course of fate. Maybe not since the kids in the audience were asked to save Tinker Bell in Peter Pan has the outcome of a story been left so clearly up to a child's willingness to believe. Read Full Review »
• 70
  

  
  Wall Street Journal  |  Julie Salamon
  

  This fairy tale is a weirdly enchanting mixture of old-fashioned whimsy and up-to-the-minute special effects. It brings back the early excitement of reading as a child, when the act of turning pages took on a magical quality. [19 Jul 1984, pg.1] Read Full Review »
• 40
  

  
  Empire  |  Ian Nathan
  

  This was sweet and charming at the time but now it just lacks either the comedy or sophistication of kids' fantasy film that we've all become accustomed to. Read Full Review »
• 30
  

  
  Chicago Reader  |  Dave Kehr
  

  Despite the sophistication of the source material, this 1984 film isn't particularly successful: Petersen insists on forcing the superficial moral lessons, and the half hour removed from the film by its American distributors leaves it with a harsh, choppy rhythm. Read Full Review »
• 20
  

  
  Time  |  Richard Corliss
  

  A lot of it's real pretty, the colors and creatures and all, but these days, you know, every movie is pretty pretty. I guess the only thing that kept me glued to my seat was the gum somebody'd stuck on the upholstery. [16 July 1984, p.71] Read Full Review »
• 10
  

  
  The New York Times  |  Vincent Canby
  

  The Neverending Story is a graceless, humorless fantasy for children, combining live actors and animated creatures in mostly imaginary settings. Read Full Review »