Movies that damaged me as a child - Part 1

From the opening song my eyes were glued to the screen. I bet you are singing the NeverEnding Story theme song in your head right now. No shame in that. Very catchy song. It was just as I was hoping, eye candy everywhere you looked. The scenery was beautiful, the characters engaging, the puppetry, oh the puppetry how wonderful. What more could a 5 year old ask for right? Wrong! Fast forward to what would be a soul crushing, heart breaking moment that would live with me forever. I am talking about the Swamp of Sadness scene. Didn't know I was gonna need a tissue at 5 years old.

So I am not gonna go through the whole plot up until this point, chances are you have probably already seen it and if not, I highly recommend you do before you see the attached video. Atreyu (the movie's boy hero) is traveling through the Swamp of Sadness with his horse Artax. This is no ordinary swamp for it makes you sad, it makes you give up hope, and when you do, you sink. The sadness overcomes you until you sink and you are no more. This is what happens to Artax. This horse actually becomes sad to the point that he starts to sink. Just knowing that any animal is sad is enough to tug on my heart strings. To hear Atreyu scream and plead with Artax to fight the sadness and to care makes me want to jump in the screen and help pull Artax out of the murky swamp. Tears streaming down Atreyu's face and that's when I realized that they were on my face too. I had hoped that there was some way that he could pull Artax to safety. That was not to be. I have never read the book but from what I hear it is even more devastating because Artax can talk. I can only imagine him with a voice telling Atreyu to go on without him and to leave him to die. Maybe one day I will give it a read. Ok, now to relive that scene. Check out the video, go ahead, I dare you, just make sure you have some tissues handy. Cue sad music.

See what I mean. Even now it's a tough watch. Just as Atreyu was giving up hope and about to be killed by Gmork, in comes Falkor the luckdragon to save the day. Now who didn't want Falkor to be real and to ride him? He's awesome.

So that's the scene that traumatized me as a child. If that wasn't bad enough it got even more sad with the scene with the Rockbiter sitting there waiting for the Nothing to come and take him away. Geez, how much can a 5 year old take? My only saving grace came when Bastian saved the Empress and was able to use his imagination and wish to restore Fantasia. In one of the final scenes we see all the characters that "died" alive and well, INCLUDING Artax! I'll take it, besides who doesn't love a happy ending? Cue The Neverending Story theme song.