MovieChat Forums > The Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter (1991) Discussion > Why couldn't they just get actors who re...

Why couldn't they just get actors who resembled the original actors?


My biggest problem with this movie is that it doesn't feel like the first movie at all. All the characters look completely different (except Coreander; was it the same actor?), the world looks different, and the tone just isn't the same.

Anyway, if they would've just gotten actors that resembled Bastian, Atreyu and the Empress that would've markedly improved the film in my eyes.

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Brandis was the best Bastian, and this Atreyu looks more authentic. That's an all around upgrade.

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Barrett Oliver was good enough as Bastian, I thought, and the only way Atreyu could've looked more "authentic" would be if he had green skin like he did in the book. Even so, I would've preferred maintaining continuity with the first movie in terms of the characters' appearances.

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Noah Hathaway was great as Atreyu but I think people are letting their nostalgia get to them if they think Barrett Oliver did great acting in the first. His acting was very understated sure but he didn't emote much. Brandis went the complete opposite direction and emoted too much.

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Bastian didn't play a significant part in the first half of the book (aka the first movie), and was basically the frame story based around the main story in Fantastica (or Fantasia, as it's called in the movies), in which Atreyu was the protagonist. Emotion wasn't really called for from Bastian in the movie, but it's the sequel, in which Bastian is absorbed into the fantasy world and is the protagonist, where he really should act out and emote.

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Very true.

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Probably should have just dyed Brandis hair to match the Olivers. Besides that the movie has way more holes than the characters. As the original one essentially had the same theme or idea as the matrix. Don't believe me, watch and listen to everythjng empress says go Atreyu atbthe end. It blew my mind watching it as an adukt.

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This honestly is what killed it for me back when I was like 10 and first saw it. It was such a distraction that they, seemingly purposefully, got all actors that looked as far opposite from the originals as possible. I don't remember anything about the story and I never watched it again.

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