Never ending story is film, released on 20 July 1984 is an epic fantasy captured the imagination of kids as well as adults worldwide, scripted based on the epic novel The Never Ending Story by Michael Ende. It changed lives of countless children and even after about 30 years of its release, it is one of the favorite fantasy movies all around the world. The movie is about Bastian Balthazar Bux, a shy young kid, who finds a magical kingdom in a mysterious book, which he borrowed from the local bookstore. He hides the book from his classmates, starts reading it and gets involved in the mysterious journey of the flying dog from never ending story.
Character of the flying dog from never ending story
The book which Bastian finds in the store is about Fantasia, the kingdom, and the faceless force ‘Nothing’ which is determined to destroy it. The Fantasia’s emperor, Childlike Empress, is sick and Atreyu, the second protagonist, is set to find a way to cure her, as he believes that this can save Fantasia from the imminent danger. Later, as Bastian proceeds with the book, he was very surprised to find out that people in the book knew about him.
The intriguing character of the film, the Never Ending Story dog name is Falkor which is a luck dragon. He is a friend of Bastian and Atreyu. However, in the novel, his name is Fuchur, which is possibly a Japanese name and means luck dragon. It seemed, in the movie, the name changed for simplicity of its pronunciation.
The dog with miraculous power:
The character Falkor, the dog from never ending the story, is cheerful, intelligent, noble and always ready to lend a hand. He has a long body of around 43 feet and soft fur of white light color covering his entire body. The back of Falkor is in white and pink scales and has graceful paws and tail. The color of the eyes of the flying dog is ruby red. However, they are frequently mistaken for being dark brown. Falkor does not like being alone and is always in search of companions. Another interesting characteristic of Falkor is that he can also sleep while he is flying. Falkor does not eat, and he can breathe out a fire in blue in color.
The dog in never-ending story, the Falkor is an excellent character. In an adventurous expedition, he helps Atreyu to stop the dreadful force of Nothingness. He rescues Atreyu from the Swamps of Sadness and cares for him, as he knows how to shelter people who are hurt or unconscious. The luck dragon then proceeds to help him further, not only with fast flight but also provides him with much-needed support and hope.
As the name suggests, Falkor has incredibly good luck by his side in everything he does. This helps him in finding Atreyu who got lost in the brutal blinding storm.
Watch the link for how Falkor carrying Atreyu:
The introduction of Falkor in grand style:
The introduction of Falkor in the movie, The Flying Dog Never Ending Story, is brilliant and classic. With great graphic support, you can see the flying dog appear leaving behind a thick hazy orange cloud structure. He then flew low over the Swamps of Sadness and saved Atreyu’s life as he was drowning. The Falkor lift him and carry him for more than 9,000 miles to his place and rescue mission was a thrilling frame of the movie.
The Empress falls ill:
In-between, during the period, Fantasia started facing the problem with “the Nothing” and the existence of Fantasia looked bleak and the empress, Childlike, fell ill. The responsibility to save Childlike Empress becomes the task of Atreyu. For the mission in never ending story flying dog, Atreyu uses a medallion, Auryn, which is powerful enough to protect Atreyu from any impending troubles. During the mission, Atreyu fought with Gmork, assigned by Nothing. Auryn protects Atreyu during the fight, but he lost his trusted horse, Artax.
Traveling towards Southern Oracle:
Another character in never ending story dog, Morla, a big turtle, who is an advisor of the Swamps of Sadness appears at this time. Bastian scream in this context and both Morla and Atreyu hear the scream. Morla was unable to answer Atreyu, however, asked him to travel towards Southern Oracle, which is 10,000 miles away from there. The voyage was terrible, and Atreyu was struggling. The flying dog, Falkor saved him from Swamps and took him to the house of two Gnomes who lives near the entrance of Southern Oracle. The Gnomes explained the obstacles of trials that Atreyu has to face before reaching Southern Oracle.
Hard tests:
During the second trial on his way to Southern Oracle, Atreyu saw in one of the mirrors a genuine self of the viewer. Bastian recognized the image as his own and kept away the book. Finally, Atreyu meet Southern Oracle. The flying dog from never ending story, turns further from here as Southern Oracle told Atreyu to travel beyond Fantasia, and search for a human child who can give the Express a new name.
By the time, Nothing started attacking Southern Oracle. Falkor and Atreyu tried to escape from there and in the scuffle with Nothing, Atreyu faints and fell off to the Sea of Possibilities and he loses the Auryn. The story is a bit complicated for kids to get a proper sensible thread but still it is interesting. Atreyu saw Gmork there and informed him that he was waiting for Atreyu. He provoked Atreyu and in the ensuing scuffle, Atreyu killed Gmork. By the time, Falkor was able to locate the lost Auryn. Meantime, Nothing starts to consume the rubbles of Fantasia and with the help of Auryn; Atreyu saved once again from the impending trouble. With no time wasted, they traced the Empress’s Ivory Tower and met the Empress.
The climax of the movie:
It is the pinnacle moment of the film, flying dog from never ending story, because Nothing was about to swallow the Tower and the only way to escape from the impending catastrophe was to call out the new name of the Empress. The Empress asked Bastian to call her new name, and Bastian uttered “Moon Child,” and he fell unconscious.
When Bastian woke up, there was nothing except few rubbles of Fantasia. But, the Empress consoled him by saying that the medallion Auryn has the power to restore Fantasia. With the help of Auryn, Bastian revived the entire Fantasia. Before the end, Atreyu unites with Artax and the mission completes there. Falkor carries Bastian, on his back and flies away. Towards the end of the film, Falkor asks Bastian for any wishes to be full filled, he then takes Falkor to the real world of present time and engages with evil forces.
Conclusion:
The film is particularly targeting the young audience. The storyline is bit complicated and in some junctions, it seemed very scary. However, there are many intriguing characters such as Gmork, the evil world, the talking rock, etc. The kids will like this film, because of these unusual characters, who are the protagonists and antagonists of the movie. The story of the flying dog from never-ending story, Falkor is inspiring.
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