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Some films have only gotten better with age. 1984’s The NeverEnding Story, with its extensive use of props and puppetry to bring the creatures of Fantastica to life, remains extremely watchable forty years after it first came out. It is hard to recreate the magic of a timeless classic like that, but that is what the upcoming adaptation of The NeverEnding Story is going to have to try to do.

Variety has confirmed that See-Saw Films, who are most famous for their Oscar-winning film The King’s Speech, will work with Michael Ende Productions to make another adaptation of Michael Ende’s 1979 fantasy novel. The partnership has just been announced so it will likely be several years before we see how they intend to recreate Fantastica and some of the iconic creatures within it, but we do hope they’ll stick with the practical props and puppets (and the epic theme song) that filled the original film.

After 40 years of seeing luckdragon Falkor fly through the sky in The NeverEnding Story, we can’t imagine him being rendered in more modern visual effects. As far as technology has come, there is something wonderfully visceral about the way you feel like you could reach out and touch the world. It feels more real and wonderous knowing these things exist out in the world somewhere. There are some things that CGI just can’t quite replace.

With the involvement of Michael Ende’s estate in the upcoming adaptation, we expect the new film to be closer to his original novel than the 1984 version, which only adapted the first half of the story. How much they dare to differ from the version generations have grown up with might determine how successful the film ends up being. They might even be able to talk Chris Evans into hopping on board.

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