I disagree. I think with that you get the appreciation for dreaming/fantasy/creativity/individuality/etc, which is great, but without the cautionary tale warning against navel-gazing, drug addiction, isolation, spending your life in your mom’s basement, etc. I liked that Bastian had to learn painful lessons the hard way rather than having everything neatly resolved for him. I felt like the book ended with him prepared to tackle the challenges he would face growing up.

And I liked that Bastian was a fat, ugly little schlub, not a handsome, slender boy like Barret Oliver. His challenges felt more substantial to me: he wasn’t just mildly bullied and emotionally neglected, he was emotionally abandoned, an absolute magnet for bullies, and his misery and hopelessness were well on their way to turning him into the caricature of a neckbeard incel.

Admittedly, I’m not sure The Neverending Story in its entirety would make a good movie, and I think there are weird pacing issues and some larger storytelling issues. But I feel like there’s a lot of depth and value to the second half that has been completely discarded.

That happened to me with Cosmos. Not even a new show. It was 30-some years old at the time, I think.