MovieChat Forums > The Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter (1991) Discussion > Why the Terrible casting for Atreyu and...

Why the Terrible casting for Atreyu and the empress??

posted 14 years ago by reaseltbim
11 replies | jump to latest

I love the Original Neverending story, one of my favorite movies, and also my favorite characters in the movie were Atreyu Falkor and the empress, I totally love them as a kid, to me they were so amazing

Now when I saw the sequel i was probably the most disappointed I've ever been with a movie as young as I was. I just didn't understand why they would change everything so much.

Both Atreyu and the empress were so different this time around. Why? why couldn't they get kids that at least resembled the original characters? I know the original actors were too old by then, But It was like they didn't even try to make this feel like as sequel. It was like these were completely new and different characters.

actually to me, it would have made more sense if Jonathan Brandis was cast as atreyu, I don't only mean looks but acting as well, like they should have reversed roles or something, Jonathan Brandis would have made a pretty good Atreyu in my opinion, he kinda had the attitude that Atreyu had in the first one,
Kenny Morrison was more like a sweet kid, like a best friend or something, not the warrior we saw from the first one. Like i said, they both reminded me of their opposite roles from the first one, the way he acted
Morrison totally kept making me think of the Bastian of the original movie, I guess they shared something, like an innocence to them that Brandis totally didn't have, and Brandis was not a good Bastian either, this movie's characters are all messed up,

The same thing happened with the empress, this is a smaller part in the movie, so is not as bad, but, I still wish they chosen someone that felt closer to the character from the first one, I remember when I saw the empress in the movie I was thinking, who is that? then when i realized it was her again i was like What the hell?

I actually don't think this movie is as bad as everyone else says, I think for me the weak points of the movie are the beginning and the end, but when they are in fantasia it was fine actually, I mean, I didn't hate it, is just, whoever was in charge of casting the parts Completely Failed, that really was an Epic fail, I really wish to know what were they thinking

[–] BlimeyCharlie 14 years ago

I know what you mean. Kenny Morrison didn't manage to bring any of the same sort of magic to the role that Noah Hathaway did - Noah was *amazing* in the original! Likewise, there was just something so sweet and endearing about Tami Stronach as the Empress in the original that Alexandra Johnes just didn't have. I've gotta say, though, her version of the character was far and away preferable to how the character was portrayed in the third film (*shudder*)...

[–] reaseltbim 14 years ago

I really don't want to sound so bitter or mean, against Kenny Morrison either, His acting was good, even better than Jonathan Brandis sometimes, I just wish they would have done something closer to the original

[–] GreenLanternGirl 14 years ago

The only casting change I liked in this more than in the original was Bastian's dad. But perhaps because I loved the original movie so much and the kids in that, that it would have been near impossible to match those kids in casting.

Bastian - Jonathan Brandis in 2 was too moody for me, and he lacked that twinkle in his eye that Barret Oliver had in 1. Barret was a dreamer and full of imagination. I didn't get that sense from Jonathan Brandis.

Atreyu - Noah Hathaway in 1 was clever and smart, not a kid you could pull one over on. He was calculative. Kenny Morrison in 2 wasn't any of that. In the first movie, Atreyu was the hero. In the second, he was the side-kick. That's a horrible way to treat a character imo.

Childlike Empress - You can't beat Tami Stronach in the role. There was something very magical about her presence. When Atreyu walked into her bedroom, she captured your imagination. And when she looked into the camera crying, you felt for her. Alexandra Johnes in 2 lacked that. Her voice irritated me. I also didn't like the curly hair, I thought the hair they did with Tami was perfect.

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[–] scarletminded 14 years ago

"The only casting change I liked in this more than in the original was Bastian's dad. But perhaps because I loved the original movie so much and the kids in that, that it would have been near impossible to match those kids in casting.

Bastian - Jonathan Brandis in 2 was too moody for me, and he lacked that twinkle in his eye that Barret Oliver had in 1. Barret was a dreamer and full of imagination. I didn't get that sense from Jonathan Brandis.

Atreyu - Noah Hathaway in 1 was clever and smart, not a kid you could pull one over on. He was calculative. Kenny Morrison in 2 wasn't any of that. In the first movie, Atreyu was the hero. In the second, he was the side-kick. That's a horrible way to treat a character imo.

Childlike Empress - You can't beat Tami Stronach in the role. There was something very magical about her presence. When Atreyu walked into her bedroom, she captured your imagination. And when she looked into the camera crying, you felt for her. Alexandra Johnes in 2 lacked that. Her voice irritated me. I also didn't like the curly hair, I thought the hair they did with Tami was perfect. "

I don't know, thought the dad was a bit off too. For someone so straight and narrow, the first dad worked better with that. The second dad reminded me of that guy from Full House.

Brandis was too hip for me, making jokes and trying to be cool. He didn't have the same hair, color of eyes or hairstyle/skintone of Barret. Watching NES 1 and NES 2 back to back (like I had on the disk I got from the library) is jarring. The first scene was very 80's for a movie that came out in 1990, so yes, this Sebastian is hip to be square. Barret was more innocent and acted so much better, be it he had to act by himself most of the time in an attic set. It is amazing that child and Stronach did such great work in their roles. I wish they could have reprised them, even if they were five years older.

Hathaway looked like a warrior in the first, Morrison really didn't. He played the part ok, but the spirit of the warrior really wasn't there. It was hard imagining Morrison fighting a wolf and killing him. I agree with what you say about the character being a hero first and then a side kick...ugh...all the more reason for the blonde haired blue eyes wanna be Michael J. Fox to hip to be square in up, 80's style, though it came out in 1990.

Yes, Stronach...she is so otherworldly looking. She looks and acts older than she is, which was the poitn of the "childlike" empress. She could have been 200 years old in Fantasia years and since been a child. She is breathtaking and mysterious, what imagination should be. The second movie made her a bit too teenage Shirley Temple. I didn't get it. Maybe the Child Empress was now Teenage Empress. I still think even if she was 14 or so by the time this film was in production, they could have had her in it and the other characters too. To keep it cohered. If you get the two movies on one disc, it is hard to watch the second one right after, because the actors look so different.

I am going to watch Tales from the NES, which I think is a digital version of the original NES. Which I thought was the newer remake, but I guess there is yet another one out. I haven't been able to find NES in the library, just NES, NES 2 and Tales from the NES.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] donutpower 13 years ago

yea thats what killed the sequel for me. Brandis i didnt mind much but he seemed too whiney and irritable for me. nothing like what youd expect the imaginative innocent kid from the first to become. i wanted a more free-spirited and kinder Bastian.

the Atreyu was just horrendous. i would have been fine if they changed things up so that this Atreyu was from the same tribe but a completely different character. then id have been like ok, hes Atreyu but a different one from the first. had they done that i could have bought the fact that this guy comes off as being a bit slow when trying to interpret Bastian's slang and being less experienced compared to the Atreyu depicted in the first film who should have a lot of experience based on what he went through to save Fantasia.

The Empress was quite bad. i would have rather have seen Tami in the role as the older empress. it could have worked seeing her older just as Bastian was older. maybe do some kind of exposition where she can age slowly but maybe every 100 years or whatever she ends up looking like a young child again.

Bastian's dad i liked only because i knew the actor as THE FLASH from the live action tv series. so he was fun to watch. i think he worked better because you can go through his little journey to finding his son. while the actor from the first film seemed a bit too strict and dull to believe in any of this magical fairy tale stuff.

but yep big letdown, i really wanted to see Atreyu and Bastian reunited for an adventure in Fantasia. but this film came off as being a slightly campy film taking from Return to Oz. putting Bastian back in a very dark dangerous Fantasia. had this film been a bit more serious and dramatic and with the original cast or a cast that can act their way through anything, THEN this would have been a very well received film.

[–] reaseltbim 11 years ago

I honestly wish they cast Jonathan Brandis as Atreyu. He kind of fit the role and the look more. At least from the first one. Have Brandis in black hair and he would have made a great Atreyu.
I really don't know what they were thinking. As for the Empress, I was watching the movie again,
As for the Empress, I would have at least accepted them putting the same outfit and the same hair as the original. That was such an iconic look. I get that they needed a younger girl, But I really do not get why change her look so much. Why give her curls. Where the hell did that idea come from?

I don't know, this movie saddens me because it could have been a little nicer if they at least tried to get the characters right.

[–] donutpower 11 years ago

yep. there was a big lack of consistency with both the look of the characters and the look of Fantasia. it didnt feel like the realm we were introduced to in the first film.

[–] stayprettystockholm 12 years ago

yeah, I'm SURE you're not just whining and moaning

Also, nothing says "fail" like people still saying "epic fail". Are you still in middle school?

And what, Brandis a bad actor? Oh, you kids these days!

I love Jesus AND Jesus-hating atheists and am 100% proud!

[–] virgiltx 12 years ago

The roles for Atreyu and The Childlike Empress were not well written.
Atreyu seemed to be just a figurehead Native American in a costume.

The Childlike Empress had little more to do than deliver a stream of sentences in a childlike voice. And she looked mature, not childlike.

donutpower: "Brandis i didnt mind much but he seemed too whiney and irritable for me."

I don't get what you're saying. Was it JB or Bastian who was "whiney and irritable"? Wasn't that the character as written?

I found JB easy enough to take and certainly easy to look at.

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[–] donutpower 11 years ago

the character is what was annoying. the performance by the actor was also unsatisfactory. he came off very unnatural with some of the dialogue and inflections. granted, he did have a whole lot to work with, but had they put an actor that could have conveyed those emotions to where it was believable and sincere, then i'd have no problem.
i liked Brandis in Sidekicks, thought he did a great job with playing the shy awkward guy with a fascination for action movies. of course he was older when he did that film, but i do like the actor, just not in Neverending Story II.

in the first film Bastian was a young kid who was bullied and sort of disconnected with reality. in this film the character didnt seem like a progression from the first film. seemed like a completely different character that was written. the jealousy thing just didnt work for me after what he had accompilshed in the original. he never came across as heroic or the kid with imagination.