Fantasy is a broad genre that offers many exciting stories, but the 2000s offered some fantasy films that haven’t aged well. Film is one of the best formats for telling a fantasy storyas proven by many iconic fantasy films. Film is also a broad format that divides the genre into several categories, increasing the opportunity to tell fantasy stories that are always inventive and with different flavors. There are amazing animated fantasy films, science fiction fantasy films, and historical fantasy films that establish their own cultural impact.
Fantasy films also vary depending on the decade. There are decades, like the 1980s, that have released several fantasy films that provide magic and wonder. There are several iconic fantasy films from the 2000s as well. However, while the 2000s were a great decade for the genre, it also had several fantasy films that made specific narrative or production decisions that terribly impacted the film. While these choices may have seemed good at the time, they have aged poorly since then.
10
The Road to El Dorado (2000)
The Road To El Dorado romanticizes Spanish colonization
THE Road to El Dorado was DreamWorks’ next big film after the incredible success of The Prince of Egypt. However, although DreamWorks has taken appropriate steps to ensure that The Prince of Egypt was respectful and precise, they didn’t take the same care with The road to El Dorado. The animated film is based on a legend created by Spanish colonists and leaves out the brutal consequences of that myth.—that is, the indigenous cultures that were severely impacted along the way. In reality, this legend incited much violence and destruction against the indigenous populations of Latin America.
The Road to El Dorado may have crossed many children’s minds when it was released, but the film is evidently rooted in racism and colonialism.
Furthermore, The road to El Dorado has a female protagonist named Chel, who embodies misogynistic and racist stereotypes about indigenous women. According to The indigenous geek girlChel was highly sexualized and written to be a love interest for one of the Spanish colonizers. She also abandons her indigenous community in favor of Túlio and Miguel, even returning with them to Spain at the end of the film. The road to El Dorado may have crossed many children’s minds when it was released, but the film is evidently rooted in racism and colonialism.
9
Dungeons and Dragons (2000)
Dungeons & Dragons contains terrible acting and does not honor the role-playing game
Dungeons and Dragons is a fantasy film released in 2000, loosely based on the iconic RPG. Although the film had a lot of potential, aged poorly due to poor acting and disrespect for the original game. It’s almost like a production I never played the game or consulted experts during the film’s production. Furthermore, Dungeons and Dragons portrays racist caricatures. Fortunately, there is already a new movie based on the game. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves it fixes the terrible mistakes of the 2000 film and is a much better film based on the game.
8
Click (2006)
Click capitalizes on fatphobia while containing inappropriate jokes about Michael Jackson and Britney Spears
Click is a science fiction and fantasy film released in 2006, starring Adam Sandler and Kate Beckinsale. The film revolves around Sandler’s Michael Newman, who finds a universal remote control that allows him to alter reality. While the film teaches important lessons about love, life and materialism, it also contains several scenes that do not age well. During the film, Adam Sandler wears a fat suit for the 2017 version of his character to mock Michael Newman’s weight gain. Not all fat people are that way because of food, and it’s incredibly hypocritical to treat larger people as such.
Also, in 2017, Michael Newman hears the news that mentions Britney Spears and Kevin Federline having their 23rd child together as a joke. Now that it’s been almost 20 years, Britney Spears has been speaking and writing about her troubles during this turbulent era, so Click making fun of her retroactively is in bad taste. The news also mentions that Michael Jackson cloned himself and is now suing himself for sexual abuse. Not only did Michael Jackson die unexpectedly in June 2009, but jokes about sexual abuse are also highly inappropriate and cannot go without criticism today.
7
Eragon (2006)
Eragon is a bad adaptation of Christopher Paolini’s novel
Eragon is a film adaptation that made a decent profit, but it wasn’t a good film. The film adaptation did a disservice to the characters, diluting their personalities and essential traits. Eragon examined the world-building in the book, one of the reasons why the film’s novel counterpart is a compelling story. The CGI and effects didn’t create a fantasy vibe; they were simply noteworthy. Eragon it didn’t even have time to tell the story properly because the film eliminated critical aspects of the novel. Overall, it’s not a film that has aged well.
6
The Golden Compass (2007)
The film Golden Compass changed the most fundamental aspects of the book
The Golden Compass It’s another book adaptation where the film hasn’t aged well, although for a different reason. The production ended up diluting the book series’ criticism of religion in the adaptation to reduce the reaction from religious organizations. However, this decision received a lot of criticism, and rightly so, because The negative side of institutionalized religion is a central theme of Philip Pullman’s story. Without this, The Golden Compass the film tells a completely different story, despite the film’s attempt to include some of the trilogy’s themes.
Furthermore, the director controversially removed the final three chapters of the first book to The Golden Compassintending to save it for the next installment. However, The Golden Compass never had a sequel, opting instead for a TV adaptation, Your dark materialsinstead of. This TV show was a much more faithful adaptation, and many of the changes from the book to the screen Your dark materials created were positive choices that improved the story. General, The Golden Compass failed to capture the magic of Philip Pullman’s work Your dark materials trilogy, proving that film productions should not be afraid to adapt books – even the most controversial aspects.
5
Ember City (2008)
City Of Ember changed the stakes of its book counterpart
Ember City It had a fantastic cast, so it’s surprising that the film has aged poorly. However, considering the significant narrative changes from book to screen, it makes sense that this fantasy film wouldn’t be remembered fondly. The main problem with this film is that the stakes are completely different from those in the book.. In The City of Emberthe underground city of Ember is only expected to last 200 years, meaning that Ember is no longer habitable as it has been over 200 years. The protagonist, Lina Mayfleet, discovers this crucial information during the novel.
|
Ember’s Books |
|
|---|---|
|
Title |
Publication date |
|
The City of Ember |
May 13, 2003 |
|
The People of Sparks |
May 25, 2004 |
|
The Prophet of Yonwood (Prequel) |
May 9, 2006 |
|
The Diamond of Darkhold |
August 25, 2008 |
However, Ember City these circumstances are already established at the beginning of the film, causing the adaptation to miss one of the book’s main twists. In Ember Citythe characters already know they must escape because their civilization is in decline, which removes much of the emotion and compelling aspects of the narrative. Ember City it has aged so much that the books have essentially been forgotten, giving them a bad reputation despite the fascinating history. Hopefully a new adaptation that will tell this story faithfully will eventually emerge.
4
Twilight (2008)
Bella and Edward’s romance is scary
The Twilight Saga It’s not just a popular book or film series – it’s a cultural touchstone of the late 2000s, especially the first two films. However, the series has several controversial aspects that contribute to its terrible aging. Duskin particular, it has one crucial factor that kicked off the noteworthy aspects throughout the series – the development of Bella and Edward’s relationship. At first, Bella is intrigued by Edward, although he seems to watch her in a frightening way. Edward becomes obsessed with Bella before they even meet.
When Bella discovers the truth about Edward’s vampirism, it doesn’t confuse her – which makes sense, since she’s in love with him. However, learning about Edward’s stalkerish behavior doesn’t faze her. Bella seems to be fine with Edward’s possessiveness, obsession, and stalking tendencies.. As a result, Edward’s behavior normalizes, although Bella and Edward’s relationship illustrates toxicity. Dusk is a popular film that popularized the books which became a cultural phenomenon. However, that doesn’t change the fact that the circumstances surrounding Bella and Edward’s romance are troubling and have not aged well.
3
Inkheart (2009)
Inkheart dramatically sped up the narrative by skipping two books in the trilogy on which it is based
ink heart It’s another film that has aged poorly due to adaptation problems. In this case, the ink heart the film tells a different story from Cornelia Funke’s trilogy. Although there are three books, the production behind ink heart I did some narrative decisions that sped up the film’s pace and made it feel like a standalone film rather than the first chapter in a trilogy. The magic and whimsy of the books more or less completely disappears from the film adaptation. It is incredibly disheartening that ink heart It has aged poorly because children’s fantasy books deserve so much more love and appreciation.
2
Dragonball Evolution (2009)
Dragonball Evolution is notorious for glossing over the iconic manga series
Dragonball Evolution is a loose adaptation of Akira Toriyama’s book Dragon ball manga series. The film was so bad that even Toriyama criticized it for not succeeding”capture the world or characteristics [of Dragon Ball].” (through Kotaku) Dragonball Evolution is a failed adaptation for several reasons, including a lack of authenticity and disloyalty to Toriyama’s work. However, the biggest aspect that contributes to Dragonball EvolutionThe terrible aging is whitewashing. Dragon ball features Japanese characters and manga is a form of Japanese comic strip. Whitewashing used to be common in Hollywood films, but fortunately, it is now very frowned upon.
1
17 Again (2009)
Zac Efron’s character kisses his wife at 17 and his daughter hits him without knowing
Zac Efron 17 again It’s a great film, but that doesn’t change the fact that some aspects of the film have aged poorly. When Mike O’Donnell goes back to high school, it makes up for several awkward and inappropriate scenes. For one, Mike makes a joke about Afghan women and their rights when talking to Scarlet, his soon-to-be ex-wife. Mike lectures his daughter’s friends about self-respect, all because they flirted with him, thinking he’s 17. He also kisses Scarlet on her 17 year old body, completely forgetting that although her brain is 37, her body is 17.
17 Again is available to watch on MAX.
The strangest part about 17 again That’s when Maggie hits on Mike, not knowing he’s her father. Of course, Maggie doesn’t know that she tried to initiate sex with her 17-year-old father, but she exaggerates to the point that this scene doesn’t exist today. If 17 again were made today, Maggie may have a crush on Mike like Mark, but she wouldn’t go that far, especially since she touches him without his consent. These scenes illustrate why 17 again It’s a near-perfect fantasy film, but it could have been better.
Sources: Average, The indigenous geek girl, Kotaku