Particularly adults are huge fantasy enthusiasts, and many of them experience nostalgia when thinking about the characters, themes, setting, or even soundtrack. Some adults might, however, want their fantasy movies to be a little darker and more mature given that the majority of fantasy films aimed towards children attempt to keep their themes lighthearted. Here are some options for mature substitutes for children’s fantasy films.
1. Meet Joe Black To Twilight
Director- Martin Brest
William Parrish and Joe Black come to a most unusual gentleman’s agreement. Wealthy media tycoon William Parrish enjoys a luxurious life until Death shows up at his door. It makes a startling offer: he’ll put off William’s impending death in return for a tour of life. Joe upends William’s world of affluence and business intrigue with his innocence, mysticism, and frequently funny antics. However, Joe makes threats to alter the rules after falling for Susan, William’s stunning daughter. In this bittersweet tale of life and death, William must now battle for those he loves rather than for his future.
Some might not exactly consider the vampire and lycanthrope epic to be romantic-movie gold. However, Meet Joe Black is a great choice for fans looking for a thoroughly fun supernatural romance.
2. Christopher Robin To The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh
Director- Marc Forster
As he departs for boarding school, Christopher Robin bids farewell to his friends Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet, Owl, Kanga, Roo, and Rabbit. Years later, he has a young daughter and is married. Although he has a respectable career, he is neglecting his family because of his work. Now that he has an apparently intractable business issue to resolve over the course of the weekend. Now, who should he run across but Winnie the Pooh.
Those who spent their formative years with the stupid, elderly bear wouldn’t mind visiting the Hundred Acre Wood occasionally. Disney’s Christopher Robin perfectly captures a large portion of the audience walking in the protagonist character’s footsteps.
3. Snow White And The Huntsman To Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs
Director- Rupert Sanders
After the untimely death of the gentle Queen Eleanor, King Magnus is enchanted by the seductive beauty of the imprisoned Ravenna and resolves to marry her. However, he is fatally lured on the wedding night. As a result, Snow White is exiled to the castle’s solid jail by the evil usurper Queen Ravenna. The one who dreams of being an immortal. However, the evil king needs Snow White’s pure and unblemished heart. In order to change into an everlasting entity and become the fairest of them all. The prized prisoner will soon escape. As the huntsman who was dispatched to capture Snow White joins forces with the legitimate princess of the land. Now her devoted and valiant army of rebels prepares for the decisive battle.
With an ax-wielding Chris Hemsworth added to the story of a wicked queen. Along with a magic mirror, a sleeping curse, and seven dwarfs, it already has the makings of a great fantasy. Compared to other versions of the fairytale, this high-fantasy adaptation has a little more action and darker overtones.
4. Stardust To The Princess Bride
Director- Matthew Vaughn
To deliver a fallen star to his beloved Victoria, a privileged girl who doesn’t love him. But has pledged to marry him if he keeps his word. The awkward adolescent Tristan Thorn crosses the wall separating his town from the magical realm of Stormhold in the 1800s. In the fantasy realm, he encounters the star Yvaine and holds her captive with a magic rope. While pledging to free her when he meets Victoria. The terrible King of Stormhold’s magical ruby. He has promised his throne to the son who could find the stone, struck Yvaine. The two sons of the dead King are also looking for Yvaine. Since she is wearing the necklace with the potent ruby. While three bad witches commanded by Lamia are searching for her to devour her heart. Hence, make them young once more.
Shakespearean allusions and other fantasy and fairytale motifs are reworked and reimagined in Stardust to produce a distinctive and enchanting fantasy journey.
5. Tales From Earthsea To The Sword In The Stone
Director- Goro Miyazaki
The country is experiencing something strange. The kingdom is slipping away. People are starting to behave strangely. What’s even stranger is that people are starting to spot dragons, which aren’t supposed to exist in the realm of humans. Ged, a wandering magician, is looking into the origin of all these strange occurrences. Prince Arren, a young teenager who is upset, is a character Harry encounters along the way. While Arren may appear to be a bashful young adolescent, he actually has a serious dark side that gives him power, hatred, and brutality. Especially when it comes to protecting Teru, this dark side gives Arren no mercy. This is the ideal chance for the witch Kumo. She can use the boy’s “fears” against Ged, the very person who could be of assistance to him.
However, Wart is not the first young man who was taken away on a fantastic journey with a cunning old wizard. The legend of King Arthur predates the fantasy genre itself. It’s a fantastic anime epic when you add in a love story, dragons, and a Willem Dafoe warlock.
6. Pan’s Labyrinth To The Chronicles Of Narnia
Director- Guillermo del Toro
In Spain after the Civil War, in 1944, rebels are still engaged in mountainous battles with Falangist forces. Ofelia, a young and creative girl, travels to the country with her pregnant and unwell mother Carmen Vidal to meet and live with her violent and sadistic stepfather Captain Vidal in an old mill. Ofelia encounters a fairy during the night, and the two of them travel to a pit in the middle of a maze where they see a faun who claims that Ofelia is a princess from a subterranean country. He also says that although her father is waiting for her, she must first complete three difficult, hazardous, and gory tasks.
In the meantime, she befriends Mercedes, a servant and the sister of a rebel who is actually supporting the organisation. Ofelia strives to do her tasks in a harsh, dangerous, and evil world while yet managing to see her father and the king.
There is a tiny girl in the story, even though there is no lion, witch, or wardrobe. This story deals with darker themes and ideas more than other similar lighthearted fiction.
7. Spirited Away To Alice In Wonderland
Director- Hayao Miyazaki
During a family outing across the countryside, 10-year-old Chihiro and her parents come across an amusement park that appears to have been deserted for quite some time. Despite Chihiro’s warnings about the eerie environment, her parents investigate the area and ultimately find and savour a deserted restaurant serving up fresh cuisine. Due to their infidelity, they are magically transformed into pigs, which scares Chihiro away. She meets the mysterious Haku, who informs her that this place is truly a magical bath house—a sort of resort—where supernatural beings go to escape the earthly realm, and that she must work there—laziness is forbidden here—in order to release herself and her parents from the enigmatic country.
Similar images and themes are employed in both films, including a creature that smiles and likes to vanish, a villain that is game-obsessed, the importance of names, and an unintentional separating from reality.
8. The Shape Of Water To Beauty And The Beast
Director- Guillermo del Toro
Elisa Esposito, a lonely and desolate mute woman, works as a night janitor in a top-secret underground research facility in Baltimore during the height of the space race and the Cold War. Her days are ordinary and unremarkable. Elisa will be delighted to learn that an Amazonian Amphibian Man has unexpectedly arrived at the enormous corporation. Elisa has just two pals, Zelda, her overbearing coworker who does all the talking for them, and Giles, her elderly painter neighbour. The mysterious scaly monster, kept on a short leash within a small water tank, is unavoidably the centre of attention; yet, as a tentatively developing sympathetic and almost magical relationship between species, this rare specimen’s very life depends on a weak and unlikely hero.
The most well-known version of the story is probably the cartoon version of Beauty and the Beast, but there are countless other tales that feature a romance between a beautiful person with a kind heart and a monstrous creature who harbours a prince.
9. Clash Of The Titans To The Lightning Thief
Director- Louis Leterrier
Perseus, the demigod son of powerful Zeus, the king of the gods, was born a god but was nurtured by humans. When he sees his mortal family perish, Perseus swears to exact revenge on Hades, the dreadful ruler of the Underworld. Hades threatens to release the mythical sea monster, Kraken, unless the fair Princess Andromeda voluntarily gives herself as a sacrifice, forcing the doomed city of Argos to transform into a battlefield as the race of men musters the will to rebel against the gods of Olympus. Now that he has nothing left to lose, Perseus sets out on a brave, perilous journey to thwart the forces of evil before Hades throws the world into anarchy and darkness. Perseus must first accept his destiny in order to survive the never-ending barrage of demons and formidable foes.
It’s a passable stand-in, but the traditional mythological themes and ideas that gave the novels their unique identity are largely absent. Fortunately, fans need not travel far to get a movie that will scratch their craving.
