Our readers nominated 50 films. They voted 3,814 times (and these votes represented 41 countries). Now, the results are in for the Top 10 Fantasy movies of all time.
In the Number One spot, the winner... as selected by the readers of GeekDad... is...
(drum roll...)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Perhaps this is no surprise. It was with this first film in the trilogy that Peter Jackson and his filmmaking wizards down in New Zealand brought the idea of the fantasy epic to the masses. Of all of Jackson's The Lord of the Rings films, people tend to like the first one, the Fellowship, the best. Why? I think it's the nature of the tight-knit Fellowship itself, and the adventures of this multi-racial band of brothers. There's a kind of intimacy created in this film, before the Fellowship is broken and the plot expands into a Middle-earth-girding war movie in The Two Towers and The Return of the King. (Plus, the cantankerous Gandalf the Grey is much more fun before he becomes the uppity, sanctimonious, back-from-the-dead Gandalf the White in films two and three.)
Here's how the Top 10 went down, in rank and number of votes:
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001): 308 votes
- The Princess Bride: 286
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003): 283
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002): 264
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail: 196
- Highlander: 150
- The Wizard of Oz (1939): 126
- Pan's Labyrinth: 119
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: 115
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: (2012) 106
Some thoughts on the results:
- The brand-spanking-new The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey made the top 10. Then again, the newest movies tend to linger more strongly in our memories. Time will tell if this Hobbit will remain popular and beloved. (Critical response has been mixed.)
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey barely beat out The NeverEnding Story by one vote, 106 to 105. Willow, with 102, also just missed being in the Top 10.
- The Wizard of Oz was not the kind of swords-and-scorcery film we had in mind when we envisioned the "fantasy" category. Where is Dorothy's long sword or the Tin Man's magic staff? Still, it showed its true mettle. Clearly the film is so beloved it deserves its place in readers' hearts and brains.
- The Princess Bride (1987) and Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) have staying power.
- Big Trouble in Little China made No. 15?
Here are the full results, with the film title followed by the votes it received:
Voting still open for these categories:
Top 10 Favorite Fantasy and Science-Fiction Literary Opening Lines
Top 10 Favorite Fantasy and Sci-Fi TV Show Quotes
Top 10 Favorite Fantasy and Sci-Fi Movie Quotes
More poll results in these categories:
Reader's Choice for Top 10 Sci-Fi Movies
Reader's Choice for Top 10 Sci-Fi TV Shows
Reader's Choice for Top 10 Fantasy TV Shows
